Author: Reporter

Barack Obama was days shy of his 43rd birthday and months from being elected to the U.S. Senate when he stepped onto a Boston stage at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. A state lawmaker from Illinois, he had an unusual profile to be a headline speaker at a presidential convention. But the self-declared “skinny kid with a funny name” captivated Democrats that night, going beyond a requisite pitch for nominee John Kerry instead to introduce the nation to his “politics of hope” and vision of “one United States of America” not defined or defeated by its differences. Kerry lost...

The Democratic National Convention kicks off on August 19, with delegates and officials descending on Chicago after a wild few weeks that saw the party switch out its nominee, upending what had already been an unprecedented campaign year. With the departure of President Joe Biden from the campaign, and Vice President Kamala Harris’ swift ascension to the top of the ticket, Democrats have essentially rejiggered the general election fight against the Republican nominee, former President Donald Trump, just months before the November 5 election. The campaign redesign has also required changes in the platform that party officials will adopt...

Thousands of activists are expected to converge on Chicago this week for the Democratic National Convention, hoping to call attention to abortion rights, economic injustice, and the war in Gaza. While Vice President Kamala Harris has energized crowds of supporters as she prepares to accept the Democratic nomination, progressive activists maintain their mission remains the same. Activists say they learned lessons from July’s Republican National Convention in Milwaukee and are predicting bigger crowds and more robust demonstrations in Chicago, a city with deep social activism roots. WHO IS PROTESTING? Demonstrations are expected every day of the convention and, while...

Jacob Reitan said he told Gwen Walz he was gay before he told his parents. Reitan was a student in 1999 at Mankato West High School in Minnesota, where Walz and her husband, Tim, were teachers. In her classroom, Gwen Walz had announced at the start of his sophomore year that her class was a safe place for gay students. “I’d never heard a teacher ever talk about gay issues from the front of the classroom,” recalled Reitan, now a 42-year-old lawyer in Minneapolis. “That act meant the world to me. It made me feel welcome in the place...

Latino voters and leaders say they are enthusiastic about Kamala Harris as the Democratic presidential nominee, but for her to win their crucial support, they want to know where she stands on issues like the economy, immigration, and education. Vanessa Cruz Nichols, an assistant professor of political science at Indiana University, said Harris has considerable potential to appeal to Latino voters but is going to have to win over independents and those planning not to vote in the November election. “She’s got some work to do, reintroduce herself, let people know where she stands on a variety of issues,”...