Democrats descend on Chicago as specter of ‘68 convention looms

Democrats from across the country are converging in Chicago this week to lay the groundwork for their upcoming convention, where they will nominate President Joe Biden and hope to avoid the kind of unrest that made this city notorious in the annals of political history.

Party leaders are quick to point out that they are unified at a time when the Republican National Convention has experienced upheaval, with Ronna McDaniel’s exit as party leader.

But Democrats have a juggling act as they plan a convention at the same time protesters are working to get front-and-center access to the United Center, though the demonstrations over the Israel-Gaza war are unlikely to match those over Vietnam in 1968.

Members of the Association of State Democratic Committees will get updates on convention planning, tour venues, including the United Center and McCormick Place, where daytime meetings will be held, and the eight hotels where their delegations will be staying, according to information shared with POLITICO ahead of their visit.

Party Chair Jaime Harrison and convention Chair Minyon Moore will be on hand to give details on logistics for the convention, which is just four months away.

And the word of the week will be unity, as Democrats attempt to make contrasts between Chicago’s Democratic convention and the Republican convention in nearby Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Democrats say they have the convention’s logistics under control and are confident Chicago Police and federal officials will be able to manage the protesters who are expected to converge on Chicago for the Aug. 19-22 convention. Protest organizers expect as many as 30,000 demonstrators could come in August.

Law enforcement officials are working to come up with parameters for where protesters can demonstrate and how to handle activists who break rules including making mass arrests of protesters, a move that is drawing criticism from some First Amendment advocates.

The plans are being made without input from the protesters themselves.

The Coalition to March on the DNC has tried three times to secure a permit to march from the city’s West Side to the United Center but has been rejected every time, prompting the group to file a lawsuit claiming their First Amendment rights are being violated.

Protesters have also written to Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, hoping to appeal to his roots as an organizer for the Chicago Teachers Union.

Bill Ayers, the former anti-war activist who was arrested during the convention that year, says the stalling by city officials echoes the infamous 1968 convention when then Mayor Richard J. Daley's "strategy was to keep the protest groups talking and negotiating, and then to deny, deny, deny. It was rope-a-dope plus delay, then deny.” The goal was to divert attention and energy from planning a protest, Ayers, who lives in Chicago, recalled.

It didn’t work. Protests occurred anyway and became violent when police used nightsticks on the crowd.

Kobi Guillory, a spokesperson for the Coalition to March on the DNC, says protests will happen in August whether or not organizers are able to secure permits.

Democrats aren’t focused on the protests this week but say they recognize demonstrations are a piece of the nationally broadcast event. “Peaceful protests are an important part of American democracy and we respect the First Amendment rights that provide a fundamental freedom to assemble. The safety and security of convention delegates and guests is our top priority,” Matt Hill, senior director of communications for the Democratic National Convention, said in a statement.

The group's big focus this week will be to highlight battleground states during their gatherings by calling attention to the differences between the policy agendas of Biden and former President Donald Trump.

The meetings will also address the “close coordination” between leadership from the Democratic National Convention Committee (DNCC), Democratic National Committee (DNC) and Biden for President (BFP), according to a person familiar with the planning.

And there will also be a side trip to Chicago’s Little Village, a historic Mexican American neighborhood located on the city’s West Side, not far from the United Center.