Politics
Buttigieg Says Democrats Need to Keep DNC Momentum Going: ‘American People Agree With Us’
It’s the penultimate night before Vice President Kamala Harris makes her case Thursday, and the focus is on Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who most Americans probably had never heard of until early this month when Harris picked him as her running mate.
Convention-goers and viewers on Wednesday will hear from former President Bill Clinton and U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg.
Illinois delegates got a preview from the former mayor of nearby South Bend on Wednesday morning, when he stopped by their breakfast.
“I love being back in Chicago,” Buttigieg said. “… It’s bringing back a lot of memories for me. This is the first city I got to know, when my father would occasionally take us up the toll road from South Bend, Indiana, to see what a big city looked like. And years later, this is where I got my first steady job and my first apartment above ground, which was pretty exciting.”
He also said it’s where he fell for and proposed to his future husband, Chasten Buttigieg.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg talks to Democratic Party of Illinois Chair Lisa Hernandez during the Illinois delegation’s Wednesday breakfast, Aug. 21, 2024. (Andrew Adams / Capitol News Illinois)
After the Chicago love, Buttigieg got serious about what’s at stake, saying that momentum might be with Harris and Walz, but they have to keep it up.
“I’ve been thinking about where that momentum is coming from, and there are so many parts to it, but one of them — one that maybe we don’t talk about enough — is the simple fact that the American people agree with us on the issues that matter most in their lives,” Buttigieg said. “We’ve gotta remember that. For some reason Democrats have this habit of sometimes feeling like our views must be unpopular.”
Another guest who visited the Illinois delegation is a walking, talking example of how one election can make a difference: U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, the first Black senator from Georgia, whose 2021 win was instrumental in flipping the U.S. Senate back in Democrats’ control.
Warnock campaigned during the COVID-19 pandemic, and then when George Floyd was murdered by a Minneapolis police officer, which Warnock called “COVID 1619.”
“The ways in which we see mutations of that old virus of bigotry, that doesn’t just hold down people of color, it holds the country down because we’re stronger when all of us can stand together with the sunlight on our face rather than the knee on our neck,” Warnock said.
Once again, on Nov. 5, control of the U.S. Senate and U.S. House will be at stake.
Warnock said voters need to understand how much that matters.
He said while Democrats in Washington, D.C., focused on issues like expanding the child tax credit, investments in microchip manufacturing and reducing the cost of insulin, Republicans are using their control of the U.S. House to carry out witch hunts.
“I mean think about what we did with our majority and what they’ve done with their majority,” Warnock said. “I mean they’ve had a lot of votes. They have … to figure out who would be the speaker of the House.”
U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, of Georgia, on Aug. 21, 2024, tells the Illinois delegation that amid momentum for the Harris-Walz ticket, ‘We got to go down in the valley and do the work.’ (Andrew Adams / Capitol News Illinois)
In Illinois, Democrats have firm control of all of state government.
State Sen. Mattie Hunter (D-Chicago) said the party has used that control to pass a variety of progressive laws. Hunter said she’s tired of Congress’ partisan infighting and continuing budget resolutions.
“These guys can’t even pass a damn 12-month budget,” Hunter said. “It’s ridiculous. And so what they’re doing is holding this country hostage. They’re holding us hostage. And we’ve got to stop this. That’s why we’ve got to take control over both chambers. We can’t wait.”
While Harris is the star of the DNC, Democrats are also using this week to get voters to stay motivated for the presidential race, as well as down-ballot contests.
While, as Buttigieg said, Democrats feel like they’ve got momentum, it’s a matter of keeping it up and getting everyone to vote.
“If you’re single and he asks for your phone number, tell him you’ll write it on the back of his voter registration card, because we don’t date people who don’t vote,” Warnock advised.
Contact Amanda Vinicky: @AmandaVinicky | [email protected]
