Legislators in Hampton Roads are ready to rally around Vice President Kamala Harris during the Democratic National Convention later this month in Chicago.
Harris, who secured the party’s presidential nomination Friday, would make history if elected, becoming the nation’s first woman president, first Black woman president and first Asian-American president all in one swoop.
“When I was a little girl, this was something I never imagined,” said Del. Jeion Ward, a Hampton Democrat who was born in 1954. “I never saw a white child in my classroom until my last year in school. I lived through some of the last vestiges of Jim Crow. Seeing a Black president and now a Black woman (presidential nominee) — oh my goodness.”
Ward is among several state legislators from Hampton Roads serving as part of the DNC’s Virginia delegation. Others include House Speaker Don Scott, Sens. Louise Lucas and Mamie Locke, and Dels. Alex Askew, Michael Feggans and Phil Hernandez.
Ward said she is looking forward to connecting with other delegates from across the nation.
“At the convention, you are just there to celebrate all that is good with America,” she said. “We exchange ideas and thoughts and hear what people are dealing with in other states. It’s almost like a family reunion.”
Askew, D-Virginia Beach, said the energy is revving up as the convention’s Aug. 19 kick off approaches.
“You go to the campaign offices and there’s more volunteers and we’ve seen across the commonwealth that voter registration is up,” he said. “I think the excitement is palpable.”
Lucas, a longtime Virginia legislator, said this is unlike anything she’s experienced.
“There is a different kind of excitement that I am feeling about this one; it is almost indescribable,” said Lucas, D-Portsmouth. “I wake up thinking about it and I go to bed thinking about it. I hung in there with President Joe Biden until the very last second, but since he decided to step aside, I am 1000% in for Kamala.”
Biden ended his bid for reelection last month after his debate performance in June fueled divisions within the Democratic Party about whether it was time for the 81-year-old to pass the torch to a younger candidate.
Ben Melusky, assistant professor of political science at Old Dominion University, said the recent change puts more emphasis on this year’s convention.
“They lost their incumbent president, their top-of-the-ticket candidate, pretty late in the election cycle,” he said. “There was a lot of talk in the interim before Kamala Harris really emerged about who would be the nominee. So, the DNC is really going to be this culminating moment to bring the party together around this candidate and to bring forward the party’s platform.”
Melusky added that the Republican National Convention last month effectively rallied the GOP around former president Donald Trump.
“There was some worry about whether the Republican Party was a little bit fractured over Trump as a candidate and the various court cases that were taking place,” he said. “After the convention, the word amongst pundits was that the Republican Party was very unified.”
Republicans held their convention last month in Milwaukee. Gov. Glenn Youngkin was among the speakers.
Katie King, katie.king@virginiamedia.com
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