Passionate protests, legions of law enforcement, grandstanding galore — and a city’s reputation on the line.
After more than a year of buildup to Chicago’s Democratic National Convention, delegates from across the country and journalists from around the world descended on the city for the historic nomination of Vice President Kamala Harris in the race for president Nov. 5.
How did Chicago and its biggest power players fare? The Sun-Times takes a look back at a week under the spotlight.
Chicago’s star shined brightly
Tourism officials couldn’t have drawn up a better four-day ad for Chicago. With the help of picture-perfect weather and relatively few logistical hitches, the city’s star shined brightly on the world stage.
In between party functions, visitors found plenty of time to flood social media with Chicago-centric content, from architecture boat tours and Wrigley Field to Italian beefs and Malört shots.
“There are a lot of people who had never spent time here, never had the opportunity to see for themselves or experience for themselves what Chicago is like,” said South Side state Rep. Theresa Mah. “And once they come here, their expectations are completely exceeded.”
Early in the week, lengthy security lines and traffic backups left some delegates waiting up to three hours to get off their buses and into the United Center.
“You’re moving 50,000 people around, you’re gonna have a few glitches,” said Tim Drea, president of the Illinois AFL-CIO. The city “showed that it is really a showplace that’s one of the greatest cities in the world, rather than what the detractors are saying about us. I think people are going to leave Chicago with a very, very positive attitude.”
It’s almost certain to bolster future tourism, even if the immediate boost promised to local restaurateurs and merchants did not materialize because so many downtown commuters worked from home during convention week.
Big stakes for Mayor Brandon Johnson
After unseating former Mayor Lori Lightfoot last year, Johnson inherited the political clout of hosting a convention — along with the pressure of making sure it went off smoothly.
In a welcome, albeit exhausting respite from Chicago’s longstanding challenges, Johnson took full advantage of the opportunity with a dizzying schedule of appearances. He built his national profile, stockpiled political chits by serving as a cheerleader for the Harris-Walz ticket, and solidified alliances with other big-city mayors.
No wonder Johnson ended the week with a froggy voice. It’s amazing Chicago’s mayor had any voice at all when it was over.
“I promised to deliver a safe, vibrant, exciting convention in the greatest freakin’ city in the world, the city of Chicago, and that’s what we’ve done,” Johnson said.
Johnson started every day of convention week making the rounds of state delegation breakfasts and ended each day watching the star-studded convention from a United Center suite and sampling some of the many after-parties.
On Monday, he delivered an exuberant, late afternoon welcoming address to delegates from the rostrum at the United Center. He was so busy hobnobbing, he didn’t bother standing at Gov. JB Pritzker’s side Tuesday while Pritzker cast 176 Illinois delegate votes for Harris during the ceremonial, DJ-anchored roll call of states that turned into a dance party.
Veteran political operative Delmarie Cobb said Johnson “got a lot” out of pulling off a convention with “no riots or chaos.”
“This is a major event that has all kinds of national and international implications, and he was able to step up and pull off a great event. He gained some credibility in terms of those people who were looking at him as a one-termer and had already pegged him as that,” Cobb said.
“It’s not to say that this will change the trajectory of his political career. But what it does do is tamp down that narrative — at least temporarily.”
Gov. JB Pritzker’s prime-time moment
Pritzker was, in one description, the life of the party. The Democratic governor who helped secure the city’s bid for the convention basked in his week of hosting donors, delegates and guests. By the time he took the stage on Tuesday to deliver a prime-time address, his voice was also raspy from all the delegation breakfast visits, panels, interviews and late-night parties and concerts.
Pritzker’s prime-time speech was effective in that it got a reaction from former President Donald Trump, who has a thing about competing with other billionaires. Pritzker blasted Trump’s “stupidity” and challenged his claims of wealth, which is a trigger for the former president.
“Donald Trump thinks we should trust him on the economy because he claims to be very rich,” Pritzker said. “Take it from an actual billionaire, Trump is rich in only one thing: stupidity.”
That was enough to prompt a response from Trump, who called Pritzker “incompetent.”
The convention was a win for the governor — who was called “the host” of the convention in national TV interviews. Since the pandemic, Pritzker has worked to raise his national profile, and the schmoozing this week with national reporters and editors seemed to produce positive coverage.
Pritzker this week even teased that he would push to host the convention again in 2028. The week’s intense spotlight was helpful for a governor who has presidential ambitions — even if he’s not quite sure when he’ll get a chance to run. As for his future, plenty of questions were asked. In one interview, Pritzker said “of course” he’s considering a third run for governor. A day prior, Pritzker joked that his wife, MK Pritzker, is his “term limit.”
The report card on Chicago police
Police Supt. Larry Snelling said for months that his department would be ready when thousands of demonstrators descended on the city for the convention.
When they finally showed up to rally, Snelling was there to meet them at the front lines every day. In the end, he kept his key promises — police allowed protesters to have their voices heard while tamping down unruly and violent behavior.
Through it all, Snelling emerged as the face of the city during his first major test as top cop, fielding questions each day from a horde of reporters from local and national media outlets. On Wednesday, he said one of his key goals was to shift outsiders’ perception that Chicago is inherently dodgy.
“Chicago gets a black eye,” Snelling said. “You know about the dangers of the city and you have people who don’t live here who believe that if you show up here, that you’re going to suffer immediate harm. This is a beautiful city, a beautiful city, and we need to bring back our reputation.”
Although there were contentious moments throughout the week, Snelling repeatedly stood up for his officers and didn’t apologize for their actions.
Some feared that Johnson’s roots as a community organizer would prompt him to tell Snelling to go easy on the protesters. They were wrong. When a Tuesday-night clash between protesters and police outside the Israeli Consulate in the West Loop turned ugly, Snelling led from the front and directed officers dressed in riot gear to shut it down. Police made 59 arrests.
Johnson hailed his top cop for doing “exactly what the people of the globe expected them to do: one, protect the First Amendment right, because that’s fundamental to our democracy. And also to make sure that we keep people safe.”
While veteran Democratic political strategist Pete Giangreco suggested they “got lucky” that protest organizers didn’t draw the up to 50,000 attendees that had been estimated, he called Snelling “a superstar.”
“How much credit will the mayor get vs. the governor? That’s an open question. Everybody knows this was Gov. Pritzker’s show. But it helps around the edges for the mayor, because the city has shown so well,” Giangreco said. “The city has come out of this smelling like a rose.”
A mixed bag for business
DNC organizers promised the West Side would benefit from hosting the convention. While some businesses enjoyed a four-day boom, the influx of out-of-towners didn’t bring a windfall for all small businesses.
The economic overflow didn’t make it to Victoria Davis’ soul food grill a few miles away from the arena at 4231 W. Madison St. “I guess I’m too far down,” she said.
But those at the four-day vendor fair called “DemPalooza” at McCormick Place were excited to sell their wares and gain exposure.
Sip & Savor gave out free iced coffee samples from its pop-up cafe. “A lot of people knew about us already,” Sip & Savor owner and CEO Trez Pugh III said. But being at DemPalooza gave him an opportunity to talk to people from Los Angeles, New York and Texas.
Ald. Nicole Lee (11th) said she’s eager to see a full analysis of what the convention actually produced.
“This was always billed as something that was going to be a big economic generator. I’m interested to see the impact beyond just the hotels and venues,” she said.
Did protesters get their message heard?
On streets outside the convention, groups chanted about genocide and “Killer Kamala” — especially on the DNC’s final night. While the politicians partying inside the United Center acknowledged the protest, they did very little to amplify the message.
President Joe Biden told the crowd Monday that, “those protesters out in the street, they have a point. A lot of innocent people are being killed on both sides.” And Kamala Harris, in her acceptance speech, nodded to the war. But her efforts to balance her support for Israel with her goal of ending the misery in Gaza fell flat for the thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters who had marched for days.
In response, hecklers targeted some of the delegates as they made their way home after Harris’ speech Thursday night.
What really stung for the protesters was that a nearly 24-hour sit-in by a group of uncommitted delegates failed to convince DNC officials to invite a Palestinian American speaker to the stage.
Coming into the convention, comparisons to Chicago’s violent 1968 convention seemed never-ending. But nothing approaching that level of chaos came to pass. The protests were mostly peaceful, and police reported more than 70 arrests for the week. Hundreds were arrested in 1968.
Jay Ulfelder, a Harvard political science professor who studies mass protests, said a redux of 1968 was never likely. With months to plan — and nearly unlimited budgets for security — events like political conventions are difficult to disrupt significantly.
“A lot of local police forces are equipped the way the National Guard was in the 1960s and ’70s,” he said. “What they can throw at containing and stopping people is pretty overwhelming.”
Contributing: Lauren FitzPatrick, Amy Yee, Frank Main, Nader Issa, Brett Chase and Andy Grimm