The Democratic Party’s biggest names will be in focus next week when the party’s national nominating convention begins in Chicago.
President Biden, former Presidents Obama and Clinton, and former Secretary of State and 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton have been confirmed as speakers at the Democratic National Convention, a source familiar with convention planning confirmed to Fox News.
As the Democratic Party meets at the United Center Arena on Chicago’s West Side from August 19-22, scenes of anger and defiance are likely outside the security perimeter as demonstrators plan to take to the streets to protest the Biden-Harris administration’s support of Israel in the nearly 11-month war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
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Former Presidents Clinton (right) and Obama (left) and President Biden attend a major fundraiser for the 2024 Democratic Party ticket at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on March 28, 2024. (Getty Images)
The Democratic convention comes less than a month after the president’s high-profile July 21 announcement that he was withdrawing his candidacy for re-election and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris, following Harris’ disastrous performance in the late June debate against former President Trump, the Republican presidential nominee.
Biden’s rambling and inconsistent answers at the debate fueled questions about whether the 81-year-old president is physically and mentally fit to endure another four years in the White House, and sparked loud calls within his own party to end his 2024 campaign.
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Democrats, determined to prevent Trump from returning to the White House, quickly rallied around Harris, who was officially nominated by the party in a virtual roll call last week.
Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, take the stage together during a campaign rally in Philadelphia on August 6, 2024. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
Harris has seen a surge in fundraising after she replaced Biden on the 2024 Democratic ballot three weeks ago. Her July fundraising was more than double Trump’s last month. In addition, Harris saw another surge in fundraising after she named Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate a week ago.
The vice president and Walz quickly hit the campaign trail, touring the crucial swing states of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, Arizona and Nevada, drawing large crowds at each stop.
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Although Harris and Walz have been officially nominated, there will be a ceremonial roll call next week in Chicago, according to convention organizers. Both the vice president and Minnesota governor will address the convention in nationally televised speeches next Wednesday and Thursday.
Party officials hope to avoid any repeat of their 1968 convention in Chicago, when fights broke out among delegates and clouds of tear gas and police batons broke up protests as divided Democrats argued over the Vietnam War.
Activists take part in a pro-Palestinian protest near the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC on July 24, 2024. Activists held several protests near the Capitol to protest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Washington and the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
While Democrats are divided over the US response to the rising number of Palestinian deaths in the war between Israel and Hamas, political experts say comparisons with the chaos of 1968 are unjustified.
However Coalition marches to the DNCan umbrella group of left-wing organizations helping organize the planned protests, said in a social media post on Sunday that Democratic Party officials “underestimate our anger, our persistence and our unwavering commitment to the precious life of every Palestinian enduring this horrific genocide. We are fighting back.”
Protesters are locked in a heated exchange with Chicago authorities over where they will be allowed to march during the convention. Activists are eyeing a longer route that they say will better accommodate the tens of thousands of people who will demonstrate there. A federal judge overseeing the dispute between protesters and city authorities has not yet made a decision.
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