The biggest names in the Democratic Party will be center stage next week as the party’s national nominating convention kicks off in Chigago.
President Biden, former Presidents Obama and Clinton and former Secretary of State and 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton have been confirmed as speakers at the Democratic National Convention, a source familiar with convention planning confirmed to Fox News.
While a mostly unified and now energized Democratic Party will meet inside the United Center arena on Chicago’s West Side Aug. 19-22, outside of the security perimeter, there will likely be scenes of anger and dissent – as demonstrators protesting the Biden-Harris administration’s support for Israel in its nearly 11 month-long war with Hamas in Gaza are planning to take to the streets.
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The Democrats’ convention comes nearly a month after the president’s blockbuster July 21 announcement that he was suspending his re-election bid and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris following his disastrous performance against former President Trump, the GOP presidential nominee, in their late June debate.
Biden’s rambling and uneven answers at the debate fueled questions over whether the 81-year-old president had the physical and mental abilities to handle another four years in the White House and sparked a chorus of calls from within his own party to end his 2024 campaign.
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Democrats desperate to keep Trump from returning to the White House quickly coalesced around Harris, who last week was formally nominated by the party in a virtual roll call.
Harris has enjoyed a surge in fundraising after replacing Biden three weeks ago atop the Democrats’ 2024 ticket, and her July haul was more than double the funds raised last month by Trump. Additionally, Harris saw another spike in fundraising after naming Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate a week ago.
The vice president and Walz quickly hit the campaign trail with a swing through the key battleground states of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, Arizona and Nevada that drew large crowds at every stop.
Even though both Harris and Walz have been officially nominated, convention organizers say there will be ceremonial roll calls next week in Chicago. The vice president and the Minnesota governor will both address the convention in nationally televised speeches next Wednesday and Thursday.
Party officials are hoping to avoid any type of repeat of their 1968 convention in Chicago, when scenes of fighting among delegates and clouds of tear gas and police batons used to smash protests as divided Democrats brawled over the Vietnam War.
While Democrats are divided over the U.S. response to the soaring death toll among Palestinians in the Israel-Hamas war, political pundits say comparisons to the 1968 chaos are not justifiable.
However, the Coalition to March on the D.N.C., an umbrella group of organizations on the left that is helping to organize the planned protests, said in a social media posting on Sunday that Democratic Party officials “underestimate our rage, our tenacity, and our steadfast commitment to the precious life of every Palestinian person enduring this horrific genocide. We’re fighting back.”
Protesters are trading fire with Chicago officials over where they will be allowed to march during the convention. The activists are aiming for a longer route which they say would better accommodate the tens of thousands of people they hope will protest. A federal judge overseeing the dispute between the protesters and city officials has yet to make a decision.
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