One week before Vice President Kamala Harris is set to accept her party’s presidential nomination, Democratic National Convention officials and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson took to the United Center floor Thursday to unveil the stage where Harris will deliver her history-making address.
“We’ve been working for over a year to build the figurative and now literal stage for our party and our nominees,” Alex Hornbrook, executive director of the Democratic National Convention Committee, told reporters during the unveiling. “It’s been a long journey, but we’re so glad that the stage is finally here. It’s built, and it’s ready for showtime.”
While Harris isn’t expect to take the stage till the convention’s final day, the program kicks off Monday, when Johnson is expected to speak. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker is set to take the stage Tuesday night.
Evoking Thomas Edison’s incandescent light bulbs at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, Johnson said, “A week from now, the city will be electrified again” as Harris accepts the nomination.
Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, who is Harris’ running mate, is expected to be the main speaker on Wednesday. The convention runs through Thursday. It is the first political convention in Chicago since the Democratic convention in 1996, which was also held at the United Center.