For three nights, the Democratic National Convention was filled with joy bordering on euphoria. I think the word I’ve heard most often this week – more than “Harris,” “Trump” or “Democrats” – is “vibes.” People are saying how good the mood is, asking how the mood is, pondering how the mood has changed since Harris became the de facto nominee a month ago. And while it may be embarrassing to repeat, it’s true: Everyone is feeling great.
But no one seems to be having as much fun as the candidate. Harris hasn’t always exuded such lightness, not during her 2020 Democratic primary campaign and not as vice president, but now she’s feeling it, and so is her party.
“My entire career, I have had but one client: the people,” Harris said in her speech on the final night of the convention. “And so, on behalf of the people, on behalf of every American, regardless of party, race, gender, or the language your grandmother speaks, on behalf of my mother and everyone who has ever embarked on their own extraordinary journey, on behalf of Americans like those I grew up with, people who work hard, pursue their dreams, and look out for each other, on behalf of everyone whose history could only be written in the greatest nation on earth, I accept your nomination for President of the United States of America.”
Harris concluded with an appeal not only to Democrats, but to all voters. “Now it is our turn to do what generations before us have done, guided by optimism and faith: to fight for this country we love; to fight for the ideals we hold dear; and to bear the enormous responsibility that comes with the greatest privilege in the world: the privilege and pride of being American,” she said. “Together, let us write the next great chapter of the most extraordinary story of all time.”
While that was encouraging, it was marked by a sense of serious responsibility rather than the joy of the previous three days. Perhaps Democrats, who had spent the last three days in a state of exultation, were beginning to realize the gravity of the task ahead. On Wednesday night, former Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe told me at the convention that this one was different from the dozens of DNCs he had attended.
“I was chairman of the party. I ran all of these things,” he said. “Usually it takes us a day or two to bring people together, to make concessions in the party platform and to bring the warring camps together. Here? None of that.”
The main point of contention among delegates at the United Center seemed to be whether 2024 would be even more boisterous than the 2008 convention that nominated Barack Obama, or just as good. The optimism was notable because it was still new. “I love Joe Biden, but it’s like a breath of fresh air,” former Ohio governor Ted Strickland told me. “This convention is going to be my absolute favorite.”
Conventions, like Twitter, are not real life. Populated by the most engaged and enthusiastic members of the party, they are bubbles where conflicting talking points don’t arise and the others appear only as the butt of jokes or boos. Still, there is ample evidence that the excitement surrounding the Harris-Waltz ticket is not just a convention chimera – national and regional polls show Harris (narrowly) ahead of Trump, Democrats are raising big money, and Trump appears to be faltering.
The challenge for Democrats now is to figure out how to sustain that energy over the next two and a half months. Given the recent change of candidate, Harris has little campaign experience and is building her campaign on the fly. The most intense part of the campaign and the most aggressive attacks have not yet begun.
When I asked McAuliffe, who has always had a combative and optimistic temperament, whether the Democrats could do it, he scoffed.
“Oh, it’s simple. People don’t want to vote for Trump,” he said. “They don’t want to. We just have to keep offering a good alternative, a good message.”
He told me that Democrats in Virginia had recruited 10,000 new volunteers since Harris entered the race. The people I spoke to this week kept spitting out statistics like this: 24,000 new volunteers in Ohio in eight days. A thousand new volunteers in Georgia in 24 hours.
“We know this is not just a moment,” said Rep. Nikema Williams, chairwoman of the Georgia Democratic Party. “This is a movement, and many people are joining that movement.”
Part of the goal of a convention is to transfer the energy of activists to local voters. “Enthusiasm is like a muscle. The more of it you have, the more of it you can generate,” Ben Wikler, the chairman of the Wisconsin Democratic Party, told me.
The Badger State has become an organizing model for Democrats elsewhere since Wikler took office in 2019, scoring a number of high-profile victories. “What drives enthusiasm the most is the sense that everyone involved can actually make the future better, the sense of possibility and the sense of excitement and joy about what we can do together – not just the fear and unhappiness when we lose, but the joy when we win that can move people forward,” he said.
But that doesn’t mean the fear isn’t there. Like Voldemort, Donald Trump was often invoked but rarely mentioned by name. “I think people understand what’s at stake in the election,” Representative Jerry Nadler of New York told me at the convention.
Every evening, Democrats devoted a prominent section to Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation’s plan for a second Trump administration. Michelle Obama issued a warning in her speech on Tuesday evening: “We must not be our own worst enemies,” she said. “As soon as something goes wrong, as soon as a lie takes hold, folks, we must not throw up our hands in despair. We must not develop a Goldilocks complex when it comes to whether everything is right.”
Hillary Clinton, who did not visit Wisconsin in the 2016 general election and then lost the state by less than one percentage point, warned Democrats against repeating the mistakes of eight years ago. “No matter what the polls say, we must not let up,” she said on Monday. “We must not get caught up in crazy conspiracy theories. We must fight for the truth.”
Those battles will begin before delegates head to O’Hare this morning and the excitement of the party gives way to the hard work of voting. But last night, long after Harris had left and the convention had ended, some delegates remained on the floor, bouncing balloons, shouting slogans and dancing. For the moment, there was nothing but good vibes.
