Good morning, Chicago.
Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison will gavel-in the party’s national convention today — the first political convention to be held in Chicago in 28 years.
Overall, the way to think about each day’s activities at the DNC is to divide it between days and nights. During the day, it’s time for business. At night, it’s time for showbusiness.
Regular business will mostly occur at McCormick Place, where delegates and other party officials will discuss and debate policy issues and agendas. Following delegation breakfasts at their respective hotels around Chicago, DNC constituency caucuses and councils plan to meet Monday through Thursday until about 3:15 p.m. Varying caucuses on Monday will discuss everything from issues affecting minority communities and LGBTQ+ rights to small business needs and the climate crisis.
But after that work is done, it’s time for the lights and action at the United Center. Convention programming should begin around 5:15 p.m. and will run until 10 p.m. sharp (to align with broadcast television schedules) each night of the four-day convention. Every day will have a theme and today’s is “For the People.” Democrats said the theme was designed in part to contrast with Republican nominee, former President Donald Trump, who “puts himself first.”
Read more on what to expect from the Tribune’s A.D. Quig.
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The nation’s Democratic leaders open their national party convention Monday with diverging themes as they receive a celebratory welcome to Chicago and offer a bittersweet farewell to President Joe Biden.
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New-fangled internet dazzled 1996 DNC in Chicago. Today, experts debate the benefits — and dangers — of online influence.
The 1996 Democratic National Convention in Chicago made history as the first DNC where the internet highly shaped political discourse and dissemination of news, allowing everyday Americans to experience a political convention like never before.
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Chicago skyline
Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune Lights illuminate the Chicago skyline as seen from Northwestern University in Evanston on May 15, 2022.
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Norman Timonera
Carlos Kalmar conducts Mahler Symphony No. 8 with the Grant Park Orchestra and Chorus at Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park on Aug. 16, 2024. (Norman Timonera)
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Viking Press
“The Bookshop: A History of the American Bookstore” by Evan Friss (Viking, Aug. 6, 2024).
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