Go ahead, Democrats, party like it’s 2008.

In just a month, Democrats have gone from dreading their 2024 national convention that starts Monday in Chicago to dying to attend. Some Democratic officials and operatives had scheduled August vacations to have an excuse to skip the four-day affair, I’d heard. Now they’re sorry. Be there or be square.

Different candidate, different convention. Instead of renominating President Biden amid polls showing him behind Donald Trump, the Democrats will crown a far spunkier Vice President Kamala Harris. She’s already gotten under Trump’s thin skin, drawing such large crowds that he claims photos of her rallies are AI-generated, and she’s pulled ahead of him in the same polls that formerly had Biden losing.

Once again Democrats are embracing that hopey-changey thing they last savored 16 years ago, when they made Barack Obama their standard-bearer.

Conventions are political theater scripted to a party’s advantage. (OK, there was that previous Democratic convention in Chicago in 1968, and at this one, thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters could make trouble.) These gatherings are the single biggest opportunity for candidates to grab voters’ attention before the election; 25 million viewers caught Trump’s meandering acceptance speech last month at the Republican convention.

So, enjoy the week, Democrats. It could well be the high point of your 2024 campaign.

Because once Harris leaves Chi-town with her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, they face 10 weeks of trench warfare with a gutter-dwelling rival who knows no bounds. Racism? Misogyny? Trump is already playing those cards. In the weeks since Biden reluctantly exited the race and endorsed Harris, a rattled Trump has cursed the Democrats’ switcharoo and the reversal of his political fortunes.

He ludicrously claims Democrats staged an unconstitutional “coup” against Biden. He unashamedly hurls slurs at Harris to see what sticks, explicitly disregarding advisors’ pleas to stick to issues like the economy. So far, he’s squandering his chance to credibly define Harris and her record, leaving her free to reintroduce herself positively to voters who’d previously recoiled at having to choose between two fogies.

Yet eventually some part of the Trump attacks might land. Harris could and probably will make a mistake; for all her current polish and pizzazz on the stump, Democrats still brace for any sign of the internal dysfunction that quickly derailed her 2020 presidential campaign. Some embarrassing revelation could surface; already Walz has been thrown on the defensive for misleading descriptions of his 24-year service in the Army National Guard and his arrest three decades ago on a drunk driving charge.

The convention itself poses challenges as well as opportunities for Harris.

Were the familiar Biden still the candidate, the show likely would have focused on Trump, painting him as so unfit for another term that voters would shelve their misgivings about Biden — in keeping with the president’s saying, “Don’t compare me to the Almighty. Compare me to the alternative.” With the less well-known Harris as the nominee, the convention must showcase her, not Trump, and in a way that persuades fence-sitters that she can be president, and a president who fights for them.

Sure there will be lots of Trump-bashing; he’s earned it. But until a month ago, Harris — like most vice presidents — was little known and little more popular than Biden. As the convention tells the Harris story, expect to hear a lot about her job at a McDonald’s one summer during college, to blunt her coastal cosmopolitan persona. Harris’ acceptance speech, the convention’s finale Thursday night, will be more crucial than the usual: Typically, nominees come to the podium as familiar figures who’ve been campaigning for up to two years, not four weeks.

In selling herself, Harris also must sell the achievements of the Biden-Harris administration; too many Americans remain unaware or unbelieving. But, more than that, she must flesh out a vision for the next four years beyond just “finishing the job,” as Biden promised.

Another imperative: countering Trump’s “other”-ing of her as not quite a “real American,” the identity that MAGA Republicans claimed for themselves at their convention. Harris’ “We love our country” line wins cheers on the campaign trail, and calculatingly contrasts with Trump’s constant denigration of the United States as a third-world hellhole. She, and Democrats generally, must continue to take back the flag and “freedom.” Might Beyoncé appear to sing her song of that name? Stay tuned.

Beyoncé or not, by the time Harris reaches the podium, she will have had plenty of high-profile help setting the stage. On Monday, prime-time speakers will be Biden, who’s likely to receive a rapturous reception in gratitude as much for passing the torch as for his service, and Hillary Clinton, who’d hoped to be the first woman president but, poignantly, will argue for that honor to be Harris’. Tuesday night spotlights Obama, the first Black president extolling a possible second. Bill Clinton’s turn is Wednesday, followed by Walz’s nomination and acceptance speech.

That lineup telegraphs another contrast between the Democratic Party and a Republican Party dominated by a single vengeful man. Recall the no-shows at Trump’s convention: former President George W. Bush; former Vice Presidents Dick Cheney, Dan Quayle and Trump’s own, Mike Pence, and the party’s 2012 ticket, Sen. Mitt Romney and former House Speaker Paul D. Ryan.

Democrats expect to be one big, happy family in Chicago. And just like actual families, they’ll need their unity and harmony for the inevitable rough road ahead.

@jackiekcalmes

Vice President Kamala Harris’ rise to the top of the Democratic ticket has re-energized Black voters in the key swing states of Michigan and Pennsylvania.

Harris leads former President Trump 70%-9% among Black voters in Michigan and 70%-11% among Black voters in Pennsylvania, according to the results of a Suffolk University/USA Today poll released Sunday.

The results show that Harris has recovered some of the enthusiasm lost when President Biden was at the top of the ticket, with the Suffolk University/USA Today poll finding in June that Biden only led Trump 54%-15% among Black voters in Michigan and 56%-11% among Black voters in Pennsylvania.

TRUMP RUNNING MATE VANCE AIMS TO TURN BLUE WALL STATES RED 

“There is no question that Harris at the top of the ticket has caused an immediate jump in support at the expense of all other candidates and categories,” David Paleologos, the director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center, said in a press release about the new poll. “She is well on her way to unifying the Black community, though she’s still short of the kind of Black voter margins that she must secure to win states like Michigan and Pennsylvania.”

Biden’s slide with Black voters, a critical demographic for Democrats, was of particular concern to the party in the weeks leading up to his decision to drop out of the race. According to exit polls from 2020, Biden won over Black voters 92%-7% in both Michigan and Pennsylvania, two critical swing states likely to determine the outcome of the election.

Former President Trump speaks during a campaign rally at Mohegan Sun Arena in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, Aug. 17, 2024. (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)

TRUMP HAS TAKEN 81 QUESTIONS AT PRESS CONFERENCES, INTERVIEWS COMPARED TO HARRIS’ 14 SINCE WALZ JOINED TICKET

Black voters in both states were asked if they believed Harris represented them, with 61% of Michigan Black voters saying she represents “people like me,” while 27% indicated she did not represent Black voters. In Pennsylvania, 58% of Black voters indicated that Harris represents people like them, while 30% indicated she does not.

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at the Hendrick Center for Automotive Excellence in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Aug. 16, 2024. (Allison Joyce/AFP via Getty Images)

The Suffolk University/USA Today poll was conducted between Aug. 11-14, surveying 500 Black voters in both states. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.

As Kamala Harris prepares for the biggest moment of her political life at the Democratic National Convention this week, I’ve been reflecting on a recommendation I once got from her future former boss, President Biden.

When I was an intern at the White House in 2014, I had the opportunity to pose a question to then-Vice President Biden. How did he balance a seemingly endless list of priorities and problems without losing faith in the potential to solve them? He left me with some cogent counsel: “Pick the fights worth losing.” His point was that regardless of an outcome, the most existential threats to our society demand our opposition.

As I have watched the incalculable suffering of Palestinians over the last 10 months, I return to that advice from the same leader currently providing Israel with billions of dollars in arms to conduct its devastating war in Gaza and who wields the leverage to end it. I have marched with students, made calls to representatives in Congress and donated to relief funds. In response, I see seemingly unshakable support for Israel’s war from this administration.

Almost a decade after I had that exchange with Biden, I was invited to attend a reception at the home of Vice President Harris — just days before Biden dropped out of the presidential race and Harris became the leading candidate for the Democratic nomination. It was an event celebrating Black economic achievements, in many ways a self-congratulatory affair for the Biden-Harris administration. It has provided more money to historically Black colleges and universities than any administration in history, shrunk the unemployment rate for Black communities by half and cut Black child poverty by nearly half from 2020 to 2021.

Regardless of those wins, I declined the invitation. I knew I couldn’t comfortably celebrate with the vice president while the administration she serves continues to send more weapons to Israel than humanitarian aid to Gaza. Rather than the president demanding that Israel allow aid trucks to reach starving Palestinians, we air-dropped food and killed people as the packages crushed them from the sky. The U.S. attempt to create a by-sea route for humanitarian supplies — building a floating aid pier — was a $230-million failure that shut down after operating for just 25 days.

The appropriate solution to this manufactured humanitarian crisis is clear: a lasting cease-fire and unconditional access into and out of Gaza for aid and aid workers. Yet the administration refuses to apply the necessary pressure, such as ending arms transfers or sanctioning ultranationalist Israeli Cabinet members over settler violence in the West Bank.

The Black community in critical elections is called on to coalesce. We’re asked to champion candidates that look like us, come from our neighborhoods and share our values. Harris and I come from the same hometown, Oakland. She has been my attorney general, senator and vice president for more than a decade. Now that she’s the Democratic nominee, a mix of pride and disaffection swells in me as I consider my vote, and as we all uneasily hope for the cessation of bombings in Gaza.

Candidate Harris has an opportunity to take the advice I received from her boss 10 years ago. I hope she will earnestly reimagine our relationship with Israel to make more space for the dignity and humanity of the Palestinian people. The horror of Oct. 7 cannot justify the heinous war Israel is conducting, which includes acts and policies the International Court of Justice and a U.S. federal court have ruled may plausibly amount to genocide. Each day, it becomes clearer that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refuses to negotiate in good faith to reach a cease-fire and return hostages. Meanwhile, the world watches in horror as the death toll continues to rise.

There is room for optimism. Harris has met with activists calling for a cease-fire and expressed sincere concern for the well-being of Palestinians in a way that Biden has failed to do. She can chart a new foreign policy that centers human rights at this critical moment. Americans would enthusiastically support hearing that message of peace at the convention this week.

As I have in each election with her name on the ballot, I will support Kamala Harris for president. But I know too many people who will not. This genocidal war demands more than gestures. She should embrace, not dismiss, an arms embargo against Israel, as many human rights organizations have called for. She should honor the Foreign Assistance Act and promise to cut off funding to Israeli military units that the State Department finds have grossly violated Palestinian human rights, as the Leahy law requires. She should support justice for the Palestinian people. Research shows that many Americans would be more likely to vote for her if she did so.

Demanding an end to the slaughter in Gaza and freedom for the Palestinian people is a fight worth losing. It is also by all means a fight we can win.

Ron Busby Jr. is the head of product at ByBlack, which provides support for Black-owned businesses, and lives in Oakland.