Vice President Kamala Harris has enjoyed a month of energy and optimism among Democrats, who believe she is the party’s best bet to defeat former President Trump in November. But once Harris secured her party’s nomination on Thursday, reality set in: There is a lot of work to be done in the coming weeks in what is expected to be a very tight race.
“On Friday, I’m going to give you permission to take a three-hour nap. Eat a damn vegetable. And then sign up for shifts to register people to vote, to knock on doors, to hold events, to engage people and make room at the table for people who are so busy they’re not consuming the information like we are,” Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer told California delegates at breakfast. “We can do it. I’m more optimistic than ever. So lace up your sneakers, get out the door, make room at the table, and let’s get this done.”
Polls show that while Harris is doing better than President Biden against Trump, it is still an incredibly close race that will be decided by a small number of voters in a handful of battleground states.
“She put the Democrats back in the game, to the point where it’s kind of a tie now,” John Anzalone, Biden’s top 2020 pollster, said at an event hosted by the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics on Wednesday. “Step 2 is always the hardest.”
“We’ve seen it in every presidential campaign, and Step 2 usually happens after the conventions, after Labor Day, when the bell rings,” he added. “It’s like the battle for the thin universe of — you can call them whatever you want: persuasion voters, swing voters, independent voters — and it’s pretty small. And that’s where each side is fighting.” [spends] “one billion dollars.”
Harris has enjoyed a lot of positive news coverage and Democratic enthusiasm since Biden decided in late July not to seek reelection, her party quickly coalescing around her as its nominee, naming Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate and then accepting the nomination in front of thousands of jubilant Democrats at her party’s convention in Chicago.
The Olympics also consumed significant media attention during this period, leading to Trump being largely relegated to the background (aside from when he falsely claimed, in a room full of Black journalists, that Harris had recently “turned” Black).
But many Democrats acknowledge that this sunny period cannot continue unchecked until Election Day.
“At some point, the honeymoon phase will end,” said Democratic strategist Paul Mitchell, an alternate delegate who lives in Sacramento County. “What I think is really surprising is how good the honeymoon phase has been.”
People leave the United Center after the conclusion of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Thursday night.
(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
There were fears among Democrats that their euphoria of recent weeks could lead to complacency.
“There’s a lot of momentum,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in an interview. “The task now will be to contain it and use it to propel us forward over the next 10 or 11 weeks, leading up to Election Day.”
The general election campaign traditionally begins after Labor Day. And there is a presidential debate scheduled for Sept. 10 at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. Walz and Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance, a senator from Ohio, will face off Oct. 1 in New York City.
“I jokingly said to a couple people, ‘I wish the election was on Tuesday,’” said Los Angeles County Supervisor Holly Mitchell. “I think we’ve been given our fair share of work … Don’t wait to be called. Show up.”
Indeed, a common thread among many of the convention's most prominent speakers was how close the election would be and the need to keep the foot on the gas until November 5.
“We have just two and a half months to get it done. Just 11 weeks to make sure that every single person we know is registered and has a plan to vote,” former first lady Michelle Obama told delegates Tuesday. “So we cannot afford to have anybody, anybody, anybody, America, sit back and wait to be called. … You know what you have to do.”
Obama urged them to “do something.”
“Because, my friends, this election is going to be close. In some states, just a handful of votes in each congressional district could decide the winner,” he said. “So we need to vote in numbers that will remove any doubt. We need to overcome any attempts to suppress us. Our destiny is in our own hands.”
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who won the popular vote but lost the electoral vote to Trump in 2016, urged delegates to act.
“We have to work harder than ever. We have to confront the dangers that Trump and his allies pose to the rule of law and our way of life,” she said Monday. “Don’t be distracted or complacent. Talk to your friends and neighbors. Volunteer. Be proud defenders of the truth and the country we all love.”
Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance and presidential nominee Donald Trump attend a campaign rally at Georgia State University in Atlanta on August 3.
(Ben Gray/Associated Press)
Clinton's surprise defeat was repeatedly invoked as a warning against overconfidence.
“We learned the hard way in 2016 that you have to win not just the popular vote, but the electoral vote, and we can’t take anything for granted,” former California Sen. Barbara Boxer told reporters. “So we learned very, very hard lessons, and we paid the price with Donald Trump for four years, a nightmare.”
Boxer said he has attended every Democratic national convention except one since the 1980s, and that only the 2008 gathering, when President Obama was nominated, had a similar level of “organic excitement.” But this year he is fraught with dread about Trump once again sitting behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office.
Former President Obama warned Democrats about what is at stake.
“Now, the torch has been passed. Now, it’s up to all of us to fight for the America we believe in,” he said. “And make no mistake, it will be a fight. Despite all the incredible energy we’ve been able to generate over the last few weeks, despite all the rallies and the memes, this will still be a close race in a very divided country.”
Times staff writer Noah Bierman in Chicago contributed to this report.
