The 2020 DNC was originally scheduled to take place in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, from July 13 to July 16, but due to increasing coronavirus cases across the USA, questions were raised about delaying the gathering of over 5,000 Democratic officials, delegates and journalists. Conventions provide the opportunity to allow for members of a political party to rally their bases and give their message to the American people. 

 The DNC happened on August 17 rather than in mid July, scheduling it only one week prior to the RNC, the Republican National Convention, which was held a week after on August 24 to 27. The convention had already been delayed once, and health experts at the time believed COVID-19 would come back in the fall.

In 2020, the convention took place in Milwaukee with some limitations. The leaders of this convention put in place certain mitigating measures to lower the spread of the coronavirus. According to a CNN article published earlier in the year, the chairs of the convention suggested that candidates attend virtually rather than in person. Because of this, the convention was nicknamed “The Convention across America” due to it being so spread out as it will be held virtually. 

Rather than the Wisconsin Center where it was originally scheduled to be held, the convention was instead held in the Fiserv Forum, the home of the Milwaukee Bucks, to reduce the number of people in attendance. The Forum holds only 17,000 people and that number will shrink even more due to COVID-19 restrictions. The Democratic National convention has been held every four years since 1832. Its purpose is to nominate a Democratic Candidate for the President of the United States who will represent the Democratic party and ultimately deliver a unified party platform. 

During the 2016 election, which featured many democratic candidates such as Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, 50,000 people attended the convention at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. The center was packed with delegates from all 50 states and other people such as journalists and reporters. This year, the number of attendees was downsized to 250 attendees due to an order by the Milwaukee Health Department, capping gatherings to that number.

Eli Moog, a Junior, shared a similar opinion. “There was never a chance the DNC would hold any kind of convention that looked like 2016,” Moog said. The reason for this being the Democratic parties “commitment to science,” which if they held a convention properly would be “discredited.” Moog also pointed out the importance of scaling back the convention and therefore “reaffirmed the party’s commitment to stopping the spread of Coronavirus.” In addition, Moog commented that the Republican party only scaled back their convention when they found out it was not popular and “logistically impossible.”

History teacher Daniel Greenstone had a strong opinion on the virtual convention. “I’m not happy that they’ve had to move the DNC to a virtual convention, but it’s the only choice that makes any sense at all in terms of safety,” Greenstone said.

The convention began very differently to any other past DNC. Rather than a crowd full of people packed into a stadium or convention center, it was all streamed on Youtube or CNN virtually. Day one of the convention started with multiple influential speakers such as former first lady Michelle Obama. In addition to Obama, former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders spoke, as well as current New York governor Andrew Cuomo. All three speakers had speeches that prosecuted the case against president Donald Trump. This was done with the help of stories from real people that have had family members die due to his management of the coronavirus. Obama had fiery attacks on the President’s leadership of the country calling him the “wrong president.” Former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders also asked his supporters to follow Biden and he openly supported him. 

Day two brought the same tone and Joe Biden’s first speech. He started by talking about his wife Jill Biden. Immediately, Biden discussed his experiences of her bringing the Biden family back together. After Joe was done with his speech, it moved to Jill, who expressed her feelings of what good he could do as the next president, saying he will “bring us back together and make us whole.” Her whole speech focused mainly on families, including her own, Biden made a personal case for the character of her husband. She talked about his resolve after their son Beau Biden died in 2015, and said it is what the nation needs amid the coronavirus pandemic. The most important part of day two however was when Joe Biden won the nomination. After Biden’s home state of Delaware delivered the final delegates, the former Vice President appeared live on screen for the first time, standing with his family. 

Days three and four were more of the same. Before she was Joe Biden’s pick for Vice President in 2020, Kamala Harris began a friendship with Biden’s late son, Beau. Beau Biden, who died of brain cancer, served as an Attorney General during the time Harris was an Attorney General, Harris representing California and Biden in Delaware. During her speech, she reflected on their friendship, but also was able to give a perspective on what Joe and Beau’s relationship was like, Joe taking the train home from Washington everyday just to say goodnight to his kids and leaving after his kids went to school. Kamala Harris did not just reflect on Joe Biden, she spoke about how her family came from many different places and lived the “American dream.” 

Another speech that night was Former president Barack Obama’s speech. Going strongly at a message that had become the theme of the night, Obama lamented the delicate state of democracy in America and followed by urging voters to go to the polls in November on a mission to save it. Obama was not blunt with his speech. He brought up mail-in voting and said, “They know they can’t win you over with their policies so they’re hoping to make it as hard as possible for you to vote….That is how they win.” 

The final day of the convention was important, as Biden virtually attended to accept his nomination. To most, his speech was very moving as he spoke about his son Beau saying, “even though he is no longer with us, he inspires me every day.” However, Biden also spoke to voters. During the primaries, Biden struggled to win the vote of the younger population. His speech applauded their activism in everything that is happening around the country. Beau Biden served in the US National Guard, and during his acceptance speech, Joe talked about the Russian bounties on American soldiers saying, “America will not turn a blind eye to Russian bounties on the heads of American soldiers,” when under his leadership.

In regard to democratic debates, Ben Rachel, a Sophomore, believes strongly in keeping the same format as previous debates. Previous debates had strict measures such as social distancing between the podiums of candidates Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden. In addition Rachel firmly believes that not having an audience is a must, to “ensure that everyone stays safe.” In the previous debates the same system has been implemented and instead there were a couple of audience members.