By Connie Sullivan
PV Democrats, Tim Dixon and I were delegates to the 2024 Democratic National Convention in August.
I’m going to assume you watched the 4-day event on TV and have your own opinions about who the best speakers were, so I’m not going to re-cap anything you saw. I’m just going to tell you about what you couldn’t see.
First off, there was an almost constant roar from the floor as delegates chit-chatted through many of the speakers’ speeches, except for the keynote speakers. The TV production filters that noise out, thank goodness.
Secondly, someone with severe claustrophobia shouldn’t attend, as it’s very crowded and the aisles are filled with media people and what seemed like hundreds of still photographers. And on the last night a bunch of new people showed up in our delegation who hadn’t been there the first 3 nights and we had to squeeze them in.
The mood throughout the 4 days was incredibly festive. I’m pretty sure that was evident to TV viewers. Especially wonderful was Tuesday night with the exceptional roll call organized by Stephanie Cutter. She set a standard that will be hard to beat.
The last night was also exceptional and was capped off by the most wonderful balloon drop ever! The last balloons to drop were very large and we all became kids again as we batted them back into the air over and over again.
We delegates spent long hours in our seats on the floor, as we got there hours before the events on TV were aired. Each day we got there earlier and earlier so that on the last day we were in our seats around 2 pm. The convention was gaveled in at 5:30 pm each night, but the televised portion started a couple of hours after that. So, we saw speakers and entertainers that the TV audience did not. One notable performer we saw before the televised portion began was Patti LaBelle. I think she was on Wednesday evening.
So, this was a 4-day party followed by after parties. On Tuesday, Gov. Pritzker hosted a party featuring John Legend and on Thursday, the California Democratic Party hosted a bash at the House of Blues. Yours truly didn’t attend either party, as I like to sleep and the convention went pretty late each night. I didn’t get to bed before 1:00 am each night. Those who attended the parties were up until 3:00 am and were down at breakfast at 8:30 am. Credentials had to be picked up by 10:00 am each morning or a delegate lost their spot for the day.
There was a lot of security, as you might imagine. The first day was pretty chaotic while the security folks figured things out. After that it went more smoothly. Unfortunately, for some delegates there was a pro-Palestinian protest that was reported to have breached the security perimeter (I’ve heard reports disputing this) and that kept some delegates waiting on buses for 3 hours or more. They obviously missed a lot of the first evening. But things went smoothly after that.
So, all in all, it was a very festive 4 day event that I felt very fortunate to be able to attend. Now let’s get to work and elect Kamala Harris and Tim Walz to the highest offices in our land and save our constitutional democracy in the process. I can’t think of a more important thing to be doing for the next 2 months.
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