With President Joe Biden dropping out of the presidential race and passing the baton to Vice President Kamala Harris, donors and delegates from Illinois said Monday that the mood of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago next month vaults from trepidation to elation.
“The mood will be dramatically different,” said John Cullerton, the former state Senate president who, as a member of the Democratic National Committee from Illinois, is a delegate.
With Biden staying in the contest, the convention “would have been depressing. There would have been a pessimism that Biden was not going to win. But now there is an excitement because we are turning the tables on the Republicans because now [former President Donald] Trump is the oldest guy in history running for president,” Cullerton said.
The programming of the four convention nights, starting Aug. 19, is going to be revamped now that Biden bowed out on Sunday. Democrats who didn’t think Biden, 81, had a chance of beating Trump, 78, after the president’s disastrous debate are relieved.
At the convention, Biden will be saluted for his presidential, vice presidential and Senate legacy. When Biden delivers his keynote address, one convention veteran said, he will get a lengthy standing ovation and be treated as a hero.
“We have so many reasons to love Joe Biden,” Harris said when she visited the Delaware campaign headquarters on Monday afternoon. If elected, Harris, who is Black and Asian American, would be the country’s first female president.
Some major donors signaled their distress about Biden staying in the race by declining to write more checks or host events. That concern dissolved within hours of Harris becoming the presumptive Democratic 2024 nominee, with no rival coming forward.
As for small donors, the Harris campaign reported that it raised $81 million in its first 24 hours, calling it a fundraising record for that time span. A call with Harris on Sunday night hosted by Win With Black Women raised about $1.6 million.
John Atkinson, an at-large Illinois delegate and major donor and fundraiser, said after the June 27 debate that “it was difficult to get people motivated to write checks.” On Monday, he said he got a call “from one of my guys who is going to write a $250,000 check.”
Bob Clark, another top Biden donor and fundraiser, was a host of a May event at Chicago’s Palmer House headlined by Biden, bringing in more than $2 million.
With Democrats unifying around Harris, “There is nothing but excitement from my donor base,” Clark said.
Clark has already donated $500,000 to the Chicago Host Committee for the convention and raised $500,000. With Harris reinvigorating Democrats, Clark said, “I’m going to give more and raise more.”
Chicagoan Bruce Heyman, another major Democratic donor and fundraiser, who was a U.S. ambassador to Canada under former President Barack Obama, said with Harris in place, donors are reengaged “in a large way. Democrats are as excited as I’ve seen them in years.”
Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Monday endorsed Harris, then visited the Chicago convention’s West Loop offices, along with Michael Sacks, the major Democratic donor and fundraiser who is leading the Chicago Host Committee. Pritzker led applause for Biden’s 50 years of political service and said he’s committed to showcasing Chicago at the convention, an official said.
Rep. Lauren Underwood, D-Ill., who has been a Biden-Harris campaign surrogate, said Democrats “will be very excited to nominate Kamala Harris to be president of the United States,” adding that the convention will be “a very positive, exciting event, and I can’t wait to attend.”
With no rivals surfacing, the matter of delegates casting votes for Harris is not complicated, said Elaine Kamarck, a fellow at Brookings and an election expert.
“In terms of adjustments that have to be made because Biden dropped out, there are none,” she said.
The Democratic “call to the convention” guides the process going forward. Harris has to get 300 signatures on a nominating petition from delegates, with no more than 50 from the same state.
“And if anybody else gets in the race, they would have to do that too,” Kamarck said.
The outstanding question is over the early, virtual nomination that was planned in order to lock in ballot access in Ohio and other states. On Wednesday, the convention rules committee will meet to discuss what is being called a “framework to select a new nominee.”
According to a memo obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times, the Democrats confirmed that they are going ahead with a virtual roll call. The bottom line, the memo concluded is that the Democrats will have a nominee in place by Aug. 7. Democratic officials are working to create a virtual nominating process with an electronic voting system.