In early July, as a growing chorus of Democrats called on President Biden to end his reelection campaign, I warned in these pages that “panicky pundits and skittish elected officials have failed to consider the downside of success. It’s considerable: It would be a nightmare worse than the bad political dream they are having now.” The process of selecting a new nominee could leave the party “deeply divided,” I added: “Democrats would be poised for an August convention that would make their infamous 1968 iteration look like a White House picnic.”
I have never been happier to be so wrong.
Even those who pushed for Biden to drop out—whether as early as last fall or after his disastrous debate with Trump in June—could not have predicted the week we’re witnessing in Chicago. A mere month ago, the party was indeed divided (over the question of Biden’s campaign) and united only in its fear of likely defeat to Trump. Today, Democrats look uncontrollably happy—and yes, uncharacteristically unified. There’s been no infighting to speak out, no generational feuds over party ideology, no bloody floor fight. What could have been a contested convention—whether figuratively or literally—has instead been a pure celebration of Vice President Kamala Harris.
Just watch the highlights from Tuesday night’s roll call, where every state delegation officially nominated Harris for president. Democrats whooped it up, dancing to home state walk-up songs like Atlanta native Lil Jon’s “Turn Down for What”—a stark contrast with the Republican National Convention, where Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was booed during the roll call. Harris, not coincidentally, was across the border in Milwaukee, speaking to a packed stadium where the RNC had held its convention in July.
Or consider how the third night unfolded on Wednesday. Emboldened and giddy at the increasing prospect of a Trump defeat, speakers taunted the former president in between crowd-pleasing appearances by Oprah Winfrey and singer John Legend. “Don’t count the lies,” former President Bill Clinton said of Trump. “Count the “I’s.” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, greeted like a future candidate for the job Harris is seeking, marveled that “Trump rants about law and order—as if he wasn’t a convicted criminal running against a prosecutor.”
In a summer when so much could have gone wrong for Democrats—who are prone to self-harming political behavior—pretty much everything has gone right for the party and for Harris. I had warned that Biden stepping down “would provoke an open fight among different Democratic factions” over who should succeed him, and that even if Harris becomes the obvious choice, “don’t expect a sigh of relief and a seamless move to the general election campaign against Trump.”
What happened was something out of a political strategist’s fairy tale: Biden endorsed Harris right away, and Democratic leaders followed suit. Rank-and-file Democrats also rallied around her, contributing more than $300 million in July (and a stunning half billion dollars in her first full month, her campaign said this week). National and battlestate polling shifted in her direction,