Fine, it went on a little long, especially for those of us in attendance. But night one of the Democratic convention was (almost) never boring and was often rollicking, and it established three important points. The Democrats hammered home that they’re on the side of the working and middle classes; they, or some of them, ripped Donald Trump’s character; and most of all, they showcased women, because if Kamala Harris is going to make it to the White House, it’s women who are going to drive that.
That last point is key. As soon as I got the email in the afternoon giving the full list of Monday night’s speakers, the thing that struck me immediately was the proximity of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to Hillary Clinton. They were almost one right after the other, separated only by a short presentation by Harris’s childhood friend and her mother.
This could have been a little weird, given the generational and ideological differences. But it ended up proving that the Democratic Party is capacious enough to include both politicians comfortably. AOC took the stage to thunderous applause, which was great to hear. The Democratic Party, as manifest in that hall, isn’t a lot of Gen Zers from bohemian urban neighborhoods. It’s middle-aged lawyers and public employees and other union workers from the suburbs. It was great to see those people give her that welcome. And she was amazing. She spoke about having been a bartender six years ago and how Republicans want her to go back to that, which she said would be fine because “there’s nothing wrong with working for a living.” She filled in some biography that a lot of people don’t know, about her family facing financial peril after her father died of cancer. That established her as a working-class person and cut against the common picture of her as a lefty elitist. She killed it.
Then, shortly thereafter, came Clinton. If this crowd adored AOC this much, I wondered, was it going to be a little meh about Clinton? But her reception was even more rapturous. She couldn’t even start her speech for two or three minutes. And once she did, she killed it, too. She did a great job of boosting Harris (“this is our time, America, this is when we stand up, this is when we break through”), but she took the lead, wearing the battle scars that gave her the right to do so, in ripping into Trump. “We have him on the run now,” she said. And when she mentioned his convictions and the crowd started chanting, “Lock him up,” well, she didn’t get nervous and shush them. Instead, a smile creased her face. Let the right prattle on about it being tasteless. That smile had a lot of history and truth in it, and every single person in the hall knew it.
Whoever organized the speaking order last night certainly tried to stuff too much in there (poor Representative Grace Meng, who got bumped!), but putting AOC and HRC that close to each other was a risky but brilliant piece of stagecraft. They’re awfully different, but last night, they were part of the same story.
Texas Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett was brilliant. “Kamala Harris has a resume; [Trump] has a rap sheet” was just one of several terrific zingers. She needs a TV show. Michigan State Senator Mallory McMorrow spoke early but was given the important job of talking about Project 2025, and she did a great job of turning its turgid prose into plain, and frightening, English.
And Hadley Duvall, the young Kentucky woman who spoke about being impregnated by her stepfather when she was 12 … wow. Politicians are accustomed to the stage. But when a regular person can stand there in front of however many thousands of people and be that poised and compelling, it’s a special thing. When she started, I was looking at my phone, plowing through tweets. Within a minute or so, I put the phone down. I noticed that everyone around me did, too. Her takeaway line (“what’s so beautiful about a child having to carry her parent’s child?”) was the single most powerful line of the night.
But in the room, the night’s most galvanizing moment was Harris’s quick surprise cameo. She just carries herself so well for someone thrust into this high-pressure role. Democrats now look at her thinking: She can win. She’s going to be Madame President. This makes her a completely different person than she was a month ago.
Men spoke too! Jamie Raskin was passionate on democracy and January 6 and had maybe the night’s best one-liner: “And by the way, J.D. Vance, do you understand why there was a sudden job opening for running mate on the GOP ticket? They tried to kill your predecessor!” Steve Kerr was awesome—it was terrific that a man from the world of professional sports was there, and his Steph Curry-“night, night” closing line was joyous.
Oh, Joe Biden. He was very good. He was in full voice. It was nice to see the appreciation for him. It was also a relief to sit there knowing that he was retiring. I kept thinking over the course of the night, as the hall exploded with enthusiasm over and over, what it would have been like if this had been a Biden re-coronation. Fortunately, that’s a parlor game. The reality is that he did the noble thing. Non-Democrats may not love him, but if Harris beats Trump, a lot of people over time will come to appreciate his historical role in stopping Trump in 2020 and then helping to create the conditions for Trump’s second (and presumably final) defeat.
But overall, it was a night when women set the terms of the debate. This couldn’t have happened a generation ago. That’s what the political party that says it’s on the side of progress is supposed to do.
