CHICAGO — On Monday, Kamala Harris and the Democratic Party kicked off Day 1 of her nominating convention in Illinois, with just over two months left to go before the country is supposed to find out whether she or former President Donald Trump will be the next leader of the free world. But for much of the party’s upper crust who are gathering in Chicago this week, this isn’t the start of just any Democratic National Convention. These conventions, after all, are typically four-day-long parties, littered with glitzy sponsored late-night festivities, Hollywood celebs, and (rather importantly) geysers of free alcohol.
This year, things are different — or more dramatic. This convention marks the official starting line of the general-election battle against Trump and — as one Democratic Capitol Hill lawmaker headed to Chicago describes to Rolling Stone — “the fight of our fucking lives.” “I was at an event in my district a couple of days or so after President [Joe] Biden dropped out of the race, and I was with precinct delegates, volunteers, and organizers.
And there was this one organizer who told me: ‘A few days ago, I was ready to do the work, but I was sad about it. But now I’m ready to run through a fucking wall,’” recalls Democratic Michigan state senator Mallory McMorrow, who is in Chicago for the convention. “It’s a vibe shift.
” Among the liberal operatives and luminaries working to keep Trump out of the Oval Office and put Harris in it, the .