While political big shots and protesters may draw the big headlines at the Democratic National Convention, this year’s largely ceremonial event sealing Vice President Kamala Harris as its presidential candidate depends on the thousands of volunteers and delegates who make it run.
Hours before the doors opened for the evening’s “For the People”-themed festivities at the United Center, hundreds of people began to make their way through security checkpoints. Vendors sold Harris shirts and buttons, while a truck carrying a Trump flag circled outside.
Amy Grossman, 66, traveled from Florida to volunteer in the communications department. Her husband is also serving as a delegate at the convention. A Northwestern University alumnus, Grossman said she’s happy to be back in the city she “loves.”
Especially because she lives in Florida — or as she calls it, “MAGA world” — Grossman said it’s important to support Democrats in any way she can. Grossman said she most aligns with Harris on social issues, such as women’s reproductive rights, and wants someone in office who pays attention to climate change.
“I worry about my kids”, Grossman said, while wearing a scarf with drawings of women leaders such as Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Hillary Clinton and Harris. She also wore a pin with the phrase “Nasty woman.”
She even took a picture Monday wearing the scarf with Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer at a delegate breakfast.
She said she also finds Harris “personable,” and believes she tries to make people feel better rather than that the “world’s going to end.” While Grossman said she liked and respected President Joe Biden, she supported his decision to step aside, believing that it motivated young people.
“I just hope that we keep the spirit going and the positivity because it’s nice to feel happy and not just doom and gloom,” she said.
Paul De Los Reyes and John Yackley, two volunteers wearing white DNC T-shirts, joined the security checkpoint line about 4 p.m. After walking through metal detectors, they were greeted by volunteers cheering and clapping for them as chants from the nearby protests could be heard in the background.
De Los Reyes, 56, of Lake Zurich, said he signed up to volunteer right after the debate between Biden and Trump. He worried that Biden’s lackluster performance would lead to a Trump victory, which he wanted to help prevent. He said he’s felt more energy among Democrats since Harris became the nominee.
“For quite a while it felt like we were apologists for everything,” the father of three said. “Now I feel like we’re more pushing the message.”
Downtown along the Magnificent Mile mid-afternoon, the normally bustling tourist crowd was noticeably thin as convention events kept attendees busy during the day. Aside from a few nurses walking briskly in their scrubs and office workers carrying their takeout lunch in paper bags, many local commuters were expected to work from home this week.
One of 250 buses from the Chicago Transit Authority being used as a shuttle for the convention whizzed down Michigan Avenue, headed to McCormick Place. Behind it followed a blue campervan, “Driving Climate Progress” written on the back and a large dry-erase board of signatures. It was part of the Climate Action Campaign’s “Clean Energy REVolution” tour across six states in six weeks, including a well-timed visit to Chicago to tout and emphasize the economic and environmental benefits of clean energy investment and climate action policy.
Meanwhile, across the street from Millennium Park, Daniel Cunegin, 78, of Racine, Wisconsin, along with his 17-year-old granddaughter, sought to capitalize on the moment by peddling T-shirts.
The pair set up a utility cart full of black T-shirts with only two designs to choose from: One depicted a collage of Harris photos and the American flag, her last name etched on the back like a football jersey, with the number 47 — as in 47th president; the other design had Trump’s mugshot printed and said “Wanted” on the top, at the bottom: “for President.”
He said each design is more popular depending on where he sets up. He said he sold hundreds of the pro-Trump T-shirts at a Trump rally in his hometown mid-June and last month at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. At a recent jazz festival in Kenosha, he said, the Harris shirts were a hit with Black attendees.
But, “I’m nonpartisan,” he noted with a laugh.
He’s heading home Monday night to try selling his shirts in Milwaukee when Harris holds a rally there Tuesday. Then, he’ll be back in Chicago Wednesday.
In the South Loop, the energy was palpable outside a reception for the South Asian American delegation outside the Kalapriya Center for Indian Performing Arts where many said they felt represented as Harris could become the first South Asian American woman to lead a major party ticket.
Anurima Bhargava tied a rakhi — a sacred thread or bracelet — to her longtime female friend’s wrist in honor of their sisterlike bond on the Hindu day of Raksha Bandhan that celebrates sibling relationships.
“We’ve been sisters for a long time, so we’re making sure it’s official!” laughed Bhargava, a civil rights lawyer and activist filmmaker who worked at the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.
Her friend Mini Timmaraju, president of Reproductive Freedom for All, explained the tradition is for sisters to tie the thread around their brother’s wrist as a symbol of their love, followed by a promise from the brother to protect her.
“But we’re progressives,” she held her hand after Bhargava finished the knot, “so we’re doing sister to sister!”
Bhargava got 20 of these bracelets made for the convention — they were braided white, red and blue string and had a wooden amulet with Harris’ face engraved on it. She hoped to give them out to Democratic leaders during the week, especially to U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and U.S. Senator Cory Booker.
“It’s a way to say that we’re family,” said Ameya Pawar, a former Chicago City Council member and senior advisor at the Economic Security Project.
He added that, as an Indian American, there is a sense of pride in the community.
“Watching someone with a similar background be vice president and, I think, be the next president — it is a big win for the Indian American community. It’s a big win for the country,” he said. “And I think there’s just a lot of optimism. One thing I’m detecting is that people are just tired of being angry. People are tired of fighting with their family and friends, and the Harris-Walz ticket represents something to be really hopeful about.”
