Elections

2024 Democratic National Convention: Live Updates

Democratic presidential nominee and Vice President Kamala Harris waves on the stage on Day 4 of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center in Chicago, Ill., August 22, 2024. (Mike Segar/Reuters)
The 2024 Democratic National Convention is underway in Chicago, where Vice President Kamala Harris will formally accept her party’s presidential nomination, just weeks after President Biden dropped out of the race and endorsed her to succeed him. Follow along for live updates and analysis from the NR team:
Dan McLaughlin

Kathy Hochul just asked if everyone was ready to elect Kamala Harris the first president of the United States.

Noah Rothman

“Kamala Harris will make building up the middle class the defining goal of her presidency,” declares Gina Raimondo, which makes you wonder: What happened to the middle class under Joe Biden? The attack, like the very premise of Harris’s blank-slate campaign, tacitly indicts Biden’s record in office.

Dan McLaughlin

Raimondo just delivered two messages:

1. Trump is too pro-free-trade and wants to ship jobs overseas.

2. Trump is too anti-trade because he wants to raise tariffs.

This is completely incoherent, and Raimondo is too smart to not know it.

Luther Ray Abel

PBS cuts away from Raimondo going on about tax cuts for the middle class. The crowd sounds unconvinced by a speech that sounds like it would have fit more comfortably at the RNC.

Jim Geraghty

Hey, Dan, if the country needs “a new economic vision for America,” it’s probably because the current Secretary of Commerce is terrible at her job.

Jim Geraghty

No offense to any of the speakers tonight — okay, a little offense intended — but if you’re an elected official speaking tonight, you’re not really considered one of the top tier speakers. The first night usually has the lowest ratings, and this is where the Democrats are sticking all of the big union heads, a trio of lieutenant governors, and Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo. On paper, a speaking gig on a night like this is a sign the party sees some potential, but tonight is the minor-leagues compared to the later nights of the week. (Back in 2004, Barack Obama gave his big star-making keynote address on a Tuesday.) Later tonight we’ll get some bigger names — AOC, Hillary Clinton. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear gets his consolation prize for coming up short in the veepstakes. But we all know the headlines tomorrow will be about Joe Biden and the odd scenario of him speaking the first night of the convention, instead of the last night of the convention, as the party’s nominee.

Dan McLaughlin

“Kamala Harris will give more than one hundred middle class families a tax cut.” I suspect Raimondo didn’t intend that.

Dan McLaughlin

Raimondo claims that Harris has “a new economic vision for America,” which is why she’s trotting out failed ideas like price controls that have been tried unsuccessfully for thousands of years.

Dan McLaughlin

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo is speaking at the convention of a party that melted down at the Hatch Act implications of Cabinet secretaries speaking at Trump’s convention perfectly captures why the Hatch Act is a joke nobody should take seriously, and which should be repealed.

Philip Klein

I kind of think the whole point of the McMorrow speech was to get a photo of her holding up the oversized book that said “Project 2025” on it.

NR Staff comprises members of the National Review editorial and operational teams.
Exit mobile version