The second night of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) featured a roll call vote of delegates selecting Vice President Kamala Harris as their nominee for president — a process that has already happened and was mainly just for show.
Delegates already officially selected Harris as their nominee weeks ago, doing so in a virtual roll call vote, over several days early in August. Dozens of uncommitted votes were also recorded in that roll call as “present,” as no other candidate stepped forward to challenge Harris for the nomination.
Democrats turned the redundancy of the second roll call vote into something of a dance party, with DJ Cassidy spinning popular tunes relevant to the states that were voting and hyping up the audience at various points in the program.
Michigan featured Eminem’s “Lose Yourself,” for example, while Tupac Shakur’s “California Love” was played during the California delegation’s vote. Georgia’s vote featured a live performance from Lil John, who ran through the audience while performing “Turn Down for What” to reach delegates from his home state. Minnesota’s delegation were regaled with two songs by Prince, while West Virginia featured — you guessed it — a cover version of John Denver’s “Country Roads.”
Although campy at times, the delegates in the audience didn’t seem to mind, as the crowd cheered loudly and appeared incredibly jubilant after nearly every state’s vote. Delegates could be seen dancing, laughing, chanting popular slogans for the DNC and overall having a great time.
Notably, the “present” votes from uncommitted delegates were also recorded, and every state delegation voiced those votes out loud, except for one.
“As one of Kentucky’s uncommitted delegates, I am sad to report that 32,908 Democratic Kentuckians’ voices were not upheld at last night’s roll call at the DNC,” Victoria Olds, an uncommitted delegate from that state, said to Truthout. “I am deeply disappointed in the actions of the Kentucky Democratic Party as Kentucky was the only state to not announce their ‘present’ votes in last night’s roll call.”
At the conclusion of the roll call, two states, Minnesota and California — the homes of vice presidential nominee Gov. Tim Walz and Harris, respectively — were given the honor to submit the final delegate votes for the candidates. Harris and Walz, who were campaigning in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, at the same time as the roll call vote, then appeared on the jumbo screen at the United Center in Chicago.
The packed arenas in both Chicago and Milwaukee were demonstrative of just how much the campaign for Democrats has turned around in the past month, since President Joe Biden dropped out of the race and Harris took over as the presumptive — and now official — Democratic nominee for president.
Indeed, according to two Economist/YouGov polls, one from early July and the other published last week, the number of Democrats describing themselves as “extremely” or “very” enthusiastic has jumped up by 33 percentage points, while those who described themselves as “not too” enthusiastic and “not at all” went down by 24 points.
Harris addressed both crowds during her split-screen moment.
“The Democrats at the Democratic National Convention just completed their roll call, and they have nominated Coach Walz and me to be the next vice president and president of the United States of America,” Harris said to her audience in Milwaukee, eliciting a loud applause and cheering from the crowd.
“To everyone in Chicago and across America, thank you … I’ll see you in two days, Chicago,” Harris added, addressing the audience at the United Center.
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