The Democratic National Convention (DNC) kicks off Monday night, and it won’t look like any political convention we’ve seen before. Rather than an arena full of delegates and a parade of speakers at a podium on a stage, the pandemic-era convention will feature speakers and musical performances via video and live remote footage, with live remote reaction shots from locations around the country.
Monday night’s convention program, themed “We the People,” is headlined by Sen. Bernie Sanders and former First Lady Michelle Obama, and includes speeches by Republican former Ohio Gov. John Kasich; Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto, Amy Klobuchar, and Doug Jones; Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer; New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo; House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn; and Reps. Gwen Moore and Bennie Thompson.
Odds are that Bernie Sanders will be Bernie Sanders, with his proven, popular message about economic inequality.
Michelle Obama is hotly anticipated after her standout 2016 DNC speech, and has recently been in the news for speaking personally on her podcast about the “low-grade depression” she’s feeling amid the pandemic and the experience of “waking up to yet another story of a Black man or a Black person somehow being dehumanized, or hurt, or killed, or falsely accused of something.” She described “waking up in the middle of the night because I'm worrying about something or there's a heaviness”—an experience familiar to so many these days.
Kasich, another of the night’s main speakers, is not as anticipated, at least by Democrats, but the question is whether his presence and message will help lure Republicans with reservations about Trump.
The program runs from 9 PM to 11 PM ET, with broadcast networks planning to air one hour and cable news networks running both hours, which will also be available streaming from various sources. Producers will also be clipping standout segments and making them available on social media.
