CHICAGO (CN) — The last and biggest night of the Democratic National Convention began Thursday evening in chaotic fashion.
Some were turned away as the halls outside the arena were packed with attendees, members of Congress and celebrities of all stripes as people filed in to see Vice President Kamala Harris accept the Democratic nomination.
The arena erupted into raucous applause when Harris finally took the stage around 9:30 p.m to accept the party’s presidential nomination. She emphasized in her speech the lessons she said she learned from her upbringing, particularly her mother Shyamala Gopalan.
Harris said her mother inspired her with a passion for justice, leading to her career as a criminal prosecutor.
“She taught us to never complain about injustice, but to do something about it … She also taught us to never do anything half-ass,” Harris said.
The vice president pitched herself as a “practical” alternative to Trump, whom she said would be uninhibited and dangerous in a second term.
“Just imagine Trump with no guardrails,” she warned, to the audible sound of screams from the audience.
Harris said she would protect LGBTQ and voting rights, promised to sign national abortion legislation if given the opportunity, and recommitted to military backing for Ukraine and Israel.
“As commander in chief, I will ensure America always has the strongest, most lethal fighting force in the world,” she said to chants of “USA! USA!”
Cries of “Free Palestine!” pierced the air as she declared her commitment to Israel, those these were quickly drowned out by the applause of other attendees. She also said she supported Palestinians’ right to freedom and self-determination.
Her remarks earned rave reactions from some delegates and lawmakers.
“We are jacked,” said Robin Driscoll, a delegate from Montana.
She told Courthouse News that she felt the vice president’s speech was “spot on,” pointing out that she made an appeal to Americans rather than Democrats or Republicans.
“She’s just such a good speaker,” Driscoll added.
Hawaii Senator Mazie Hirono was equally enthusiastic.
“I thought it was really well done,” she said outside the arena. “She showed a lot of strength, but also firmness.”
And California Senator Laphonza Butler, who worked on Harris’ 2020 presidential campaign, told Courthouse News that the vice president gave a “powerful” speech.
Butler also noted the nonpartisan call to action, saying that Harris was inviting non-traditional Democrats into a “movement.”
But not everyone was happy with the content of Harris’ acceptance speech.
“It was nothing that we haven’t heard before from the Biden administration as a whole,” said Sabrene Odeh, an uncommitted delegate from Washington state.
“I think she could have done more to advocate for Palestinian life,” she told Courthouse News. “But we’re going to keep fighting for Palestinian life, whether she calls for it or not.”
Palestinian-American delegates, representatives and allies staged their 24 hour sit-in outside the United Center in protest of how how despite heavy pressure from Democratic lawmakers, labor unions and influencers, the DNC refused to allow a Palestinian-American speaker on the convention stage Thursday.
At 6:30 p.m., leaders of the uncommitted movement held a press conference announcing their deadline to hear back from the DNC had come and gone. Though no Palestinian speaker would take the stage Thursday night, the speakers argued they had achieved a larger victory: forcing the Harris campaign to publicly reckon with Palestinians’ human rights in the U.S. and Palestine.
The congestion in the arena worsened when uncommitted pro-Palestine delegates outside Chicago’s United Center, continuing their 24-hour sit-in protest from Wednesday night, received word that they may not be able to access their floor seats. They marched to the floor entrance with locked arms in response. Many were turned away by security; they again locked arms and formed a circle in one of the hall entrances, chanting “ceasefire now!”
“Here is the scandal, my friends. The scandal is there are forces within the Democratic Party leadership that do not want us to talk about Palestinian human rights,” uncommitted movement co-founder and Michigan uncommitted delegate Abbas Alawieh told press outside the United Center. “But that’s not sustainable. This is a watershed moment … where Democrats all across the country are saying, ‘Free Palestine.’”
The delegates were eventually allowed on the floor as individuals; multiple reasons were given for why they were turned away as a group, though fire safety concerns were the consensus answer.
It wasn’t just the uncommitted delegates who struggled getting access to the arena inside the United Center Thursday night. Reporters and some attendees were also kept waiting in the halls outside.
“It’s packed in there,” one convention-goer told Courthouse News after walking away from an arena entrance on the second deck. He added that he was looking for an area that was less crowded.
A reporter lined up outside another arena entrance on the first floor said that he had gotten three different answers for why some people were not being permitted into the main venue. Staff had told him a medical emergency and a security sweep were causing the holdup — though the rationale eventually settled on capacity issues.
In the nosebleed sections of the arena, press also struggled with access to their designated areas, with reporters crowding stairwells even in the upper decks.
Dozens of other lawmakers made their way through the arena throughout the evening, including New York Representative Gregory Meeks, Illinois Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi and Delaware Senator Tom Carper — who is retiring at the end of his term.
The arena hall was also full of content creators, a DNC focus this week, getting in some last-minute shoots before the big event. Spotted around the convention: Hasan Piker, former The Young Turks host turned politics Twitch streamer; and Matthew Friend, a TikTok star who rocketed to virality thanks to impressions of Howard Stern, Donald Trump and other notables.
Despite the fracas in the arena, the lawmakers were very much on-message for the last night of the convention. Colorado Senator John Hickenlooper told Courthouse News that he expected the vice president to run the gamut on hot-button policy issues.
“I think she’s going to be talking about going forward, about making sure we’re honest about what we’re fighting for — the freedom to love who we want to love, live where we want to live and marry who we want to marry,” he said.
Georgia Senator Hank Johnson forecast that Harris would be sure to thump her record as President Joe Biden’s deputy, citing specifically the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act and the bipartisan infrastructure law.
“She’s going to lay out what they’ve accomplished so far and what she plans on doing as she ascends to the presidency,” said Johnson.
The Georgia Democrat, a leading voice in the fight in Congress for Supreme Court reform, joined some colleagues in appearing nonplussed that the issue barely broke the surface during the weeklong DNC.
“I don’t necessarily think it’s going to be a top-tier issue to talk about at the convention,” he said. “But I am heartened by the fact that President Biden has made it a priority as he moves toward the end of his tenure as president.”
The White House in July formally backed efforts to clamp down on the Supreme Court, coming out in favor of term limits for justices and an enforceable code of ethical conduct.
Balloons fell from the ceiling to mark the end of the convention once Harris finished speaking, with some attendees gathering on the floor to chant “USA,” “Not going back,” “don’t be weird” and other slogans. Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, briefly posed for photos with their respective spouses as the balloons fell, then exited the stage.