The Harris-Walz campaign is riding a wave of euphoria heading into next week’s Democratic convention in Chicago, and Irish-American Democrats are excited too.
While the Irish-tinged characters and stories that dot the vast canvas of U.S. politics are often told, perhaps reflecting a dwindling 20th-century power base, the Irish-American voice remains significant. And as an unforgettable, tumultuous 2024 presidential election prepares to enter its decisive fall phase, a number of prominent Irish-American politicians and public figures gathered on Monday night for a virtual call to action designed to further energize the Irish-American electorate and rally their voice in what will become a fierce battle for every single ballot in crucial swing states in November.
“If you look around the country, you’ll see that we’re running a joyful, people-driven campaign,” Rob Flaherty, an Irish-American from Boston – just returned from a trip to Castlegregory – told the audience after being introduced by Alex Nason, who coordinated the event for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz’s campaign.
“That’s what this election is going to be about: it’s going to be about friends and neighbours talking to their friends and neighbours and showing people loudly and proudly that they support the Vice President. And to me that’s something deeply Irish – finding common ground with people, engaging with them in deep and meaningful ways. We’re the underdogs and we’re playing like we’re behind. It’s going to come down to 50,000 votes on both sides.”
It was, Pennsylvania Congressman Brendan Boyle quipped – quoting Bill Clinton – “the biggest gathering of Irish Americans since Notre Dame last played a home game.” Boyle’s father was born and raised in Glencolmcille, Co Donegal. He told those present that, in addition to their Democratic loyalties, they were “bound by values and culture and a little bit of nostalgia,” before suggesting that despite their shared Irish ancestry, “one of the greatest foreign policy achievements in American history of the last 50 years is the Good Friday (Belfast) Agreement.”
That era, the Irish heritage that Joe Biden carries like an identity badge, and the formative memory of the Kennedy administration were all invoked as speakers sought to place the evolving Irish-American story in the context of this election. Yet the common theme among all speakers, from New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy to Lynda Carter, star of the 1970s television series Wonder Woman, to the versatile House of Cards actor Michael Kelly, whose grandfather emigrated from Donegal to dig roads in Philadelphia, was the deep celebration they associate with their ancestral stories. Documentary filmmaker Rory Kennedy spoke of a recent visit to New Ross with her family, where she followed in the footsteps of her uncle John Fitzgerald Kennedy during his famous visit to Ireland in 1963.
“Jackie (Kennedy) always said they were the happiest four days of his time in office. He was deeply moved by the experiences there,” she said. “So much so that when Jack died, all he had in his pocket was a rosary. And Jackie decided to send that rosary to New Ross. And that rosary – there’s a tiny little museum in the back yard of the town where my family comes from, a very lovely little museum. And in that museum is the rosary that Jack had in his pocket. And I tell this story because our Irish heritage is so significant to our whole family.”
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Tim Walz had barely been informed of his nomination as Harris’s vice presidential nominee when the Sullivans from Wexford were ferreting out his Irish credibility. Dan Kildee, the Michigan congressman who had just returned from a family visit to Ireland with 34 relatives to commemorate a tragic death in the family, told the gathering: “The other part of this, which I think is related to our Irish heritage, is that we find joy and meaning in the greatest challenges we face. And I think there is nothing that sets Kamala Harris and Tim Walz apart from the other candidates more than the embrace of pure joy. America is looking for that – a chance to be optimistic.”
Terry McAuliffe, former national chairman of the Democratic National Committee and former governor of Virginia, will attend his 13th national convention next week.
“We can’t have Trump. I think we all know that. The madness of four more years of Donald Trump. He’s telling (Vladimir) Putin to go ahead and invade NATO countries. He wouldn’t go to a cemetery where the soldiers of those who served our country and carried the flag died. He wouldn’t visit those graves and said that those who lost their lives in battle are losers and suckers. It’s a disgrace.
“We have to win this election. It’s going to be close. We all remember 2000 when Al Gore won the majority of the vote. We didn’t get the prize. In seven of the last eight elections, the Democrats have won the majority of the vote. But we have to get 270 electoral votes. And we’re fighting for a very small portion of the undecided voters that are out there. And we need the Irish because God gave us the gift of oratory. And we’re good orators. There’s no one better at the door. The only problem is that we stand at each door too long – you can’t stand at each door for an hour.”
But this wing of the Democratic Party plans to knock on doors and talk over the next three months.
“I’m from Georgia,” Michael Kelly told the gathering. “And call it a blue state if you want, but it’s very mixed there. A lot of my friends are from the other side of the aisle. And what I want to say to everybody is: talk. Have conversations with these people. Ask them if they’re better, talk to them about all the issues that are important to them, about women’s rights, about personal freedoms. That’s what we’re fighting for here. So… get out there and talk.”
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