DNC attendees discuss top speakers and pressing issues: ‘It’s electrifying’
(CHICAGO) — The Democratic National Convention is in full swing as party leaders and members gather in Chicago to celebrate the Harris-Walz ticket and address the top issues facing the nation.
ABC News spoke to DNC attendees at the United Center on Wednesday who shared their highlights from the convention thus far, the “electrifying” atmosphere and what they hope to see from the campaign in the months leading up to the 2024 election in November.
“So this is actually my first time attending any political convention and I have to say that it’s been one filled with many outstanding speakers and a lot of high energy,” Zach Pahmahmie, vice-chairman of the Potawatomi Nation Tribal Council, told ABC News.
Pahmahmie noted that this year’s DNC will be a “very important” moment in American history.
Echoing Pahmahmie’s sentiments about the energy the DNC has delivered this year, fellow members of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation said watching former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama speak on Day two was “amazing.”
“You could really feel his energy, the emotion, the way he captured the crowd — and it was just really amazing,” Bill Evans said, adding “I am truly thankful that I was able to be here and able to witness and be a part of this.”
Tribal Council member Raphael Wahwassuck told ABC News he hopes the next administration will focus on representing America’s indigenous groups.
“Concentration needs to be focused on indigenous tribes and reservations and all the different nations throughout the United States. We do matter,” Wahwassuck said.
“I think it’s real important right now to make sure we have the correct party on board here,” Wahwassuck added.
The Tribal Council members addressed the economy, saying Harris’ support for the middle class, rather than the top 1%, separates her from former President Donald Trump in this election.
“I think the focus that we’ve heard so far from a lot of the speakers and also Kamala Harris herself is the focus on the majority of America, not just the top 1% of America, and really building up and solidifying the middle class with jobs and the resources they need to make their everyday lives better and to move America forward, in a positive direction,” Pahmahmie said.
Another first-time DNC attendee, Randon Sprinkle, told ABC News the “diversity and inclusion” of the party has been on display in Chicago.
“I just left the LGBTQ+ caucus meeting, and we continue to see that across all of our amazing caucuses … we talked about the need for continued trans representation, not only as delegates but also at the DNC,” Sprinkle said.
“I think we have continued to grow and allow more people at the table,” Sprinkle added of the Democratic party.
Jessie McGrath, a transgender delegate from Nebraska, told ABC News attending the DNC has been “electrifying.”
“We’ve got to hear some incredibly inspiring national speeches. And the mood is just so electrifying. The crowds in the convention hall — it starts off really hot and then it gets hotter,” McGrath said.
McGrath said that watching President Joe Biden hand over the candidacy to Harris was “moving” to witness in person.
“It was so moving to see him and get a chance to say goodbye and to pass the torch, which was an incredibly selfless thing to do,” McGrath said.
(WASHINGTON) — Vice President Kamala Harris is back in Washington and is preparing to roll out her economic plan on the road in North Carolina on Friday, which will mark her first major policy rollout since becoming the Democratic nominee. As Donald Trump looks for a campaign reset, he spoke with Elon Musk live on Tuesday and will deliver remarks on the economy in North Carolina on Wednesday.
Here’s how the news is developing:
Walz falsely claims he is first union member on presidential ticket since Reagan
Speaking to AFSCME members in Los Angeles on Tuesday, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz claimed he was the “first union member on a presidential ticket since Ronald Reagan.”
That claim is false: former President Donald Trump was a SAG-AFTRA member until he resigned in 2021 after the union’s national board found probable cause that Trump violated the group’s constitution by his actions on Jan. 6.
Trump was for years a member of the union, which represents more than 160,000 performers across a variety of media platforms, by virtue of his various appearances in films and television shows. He reported earning a pension from the union in his financial disclosures.
At a fundraiser later Tuesday, Walz repeated the claim, apparently unaware it was false.
Prior to his two terms as California governor, Reagan served twice as president of the Screen Actors Guild.
ABC News has reached out to the Harris-Walz campaign for comment.
Harris, Walz to tour Pennsylvania ahead of the DNC
Vice President Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz will take a bus tour through Pennsylvania on Sunday right before their appearance at the Democratic National Convention (DNC), ABC News has confirmed.
Sunday’s tour, first reported by CNN, will begin in Pittsburgh and will be the first time Harris, Walz and their spouses will appear on the campaign trail together. According to the campaign, they aim to have a cluster of intimate events with voters, ranging from canvass kick-offs to stops at local retail shops.
Trump to deliver remarks on economy in North Carolina
Former President Donald Trump is set to deliver remarks on the economy in North Carolina on Wednesday as the campaign works to recenter its campaign against Vice President Kamala Harris.
“The election’s coming up, and the people want to hear about the economy,” Trump said during an interview with Elon Musk on X Monday, directly blaming the Biden-Harris administration for the current state of the economy.
The economy has been one of the Trump campaign’s central election issues this cycle — the former president often spending a considerable amount of time discussing inflation, gas prices and the job market.
“I just ask this: Are you better off now, or were you better off when I was president?” Trump said Monday night as he was wrapping up his conversation with Musk.
Omar decries ‘shameful’ opponents in primary race
Following her Tuesday night primary victory, Rep. Ilhan Omar told supporters: “We run the politics of joy, because we know it is joyful to fight for your neighbors.”
“We know it is joyful to want to live in a peaceful and equitable world,” she added, per ABC News’ St. Paul affiliate KSTP-TV.
Omar also had harsh words for her main primary opponent Don Samuels, though did not mention him by name.
“I hope that they reflect in the shameful way they decided to divide our district and the incredible people we are grateful to represent,” she said of her challengers.
Squad member Rep. Ilhan Omar wins primary
Rep. Ilhan Omar has won her Congressional primary in Minnesota, multiple media outlets projected Tuesday night.
Omar’s win follows defeats by two of her fellow squad members in their primaries — Cori Bush from Missouri, and Jamaal Bowman of New York.
Omar had been expected to win in her district despite a challenge from former Minneapolis city council member Don Samuels.
Bush lost her primary earlier this month to St. Louis County prosecutor Wesley Bell. He was backed by more than $8 million from the pro-Israel United Democracy Project.
Bowman lost to Westchester County Executive George Latimer in June. Per AdImpact, the race was the most expensive House primary on record, with most of the funding coming from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s (AIPAC) United Democracy Project PAC in support of Latimer. Latimer was recruited to run by AIPAC.
Walz says he’s ‘damn proud’ of military record, thanks Vance for his service
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, in his first solo campaign appearance, defended his military record and thanked his vice presidential opponent, Sen. JD Vance, for his service.
“I am damn proud of my service to this country,” Walz said to applause at the AFSCME convention in California. “And I firmly believe you should never denigrate another person’s service record. Anyone brave enough to put on that uniform for our great country, including my opponent, I just have a few simple words: thank you for your service and sacrifice.”
Vance has repeatedly criticized how Walz has talked about his military record, which included 24 years in the Army National Guard before he retired to run for Congress in 2005. Vance served as a combat correspondent for four years in the U.S. Marine Corps.
Read more about Vance’s comments and Walz’s background here.
Biden says he would attend Trump’s inauguration if he were elected
President Joe Biden on Tuesday, as he was departing the White House, said he would go to Trump’s inauguration in January if he were to win this year’s election.
“I have good manners, not like him,” Biden told reporters after being asked if he’d attend. Trump did not attend Biden’s inauguration in 2021.
Biden also defended his calling Trump “a genuine danger to American security,” a comment he made during his CBS News interview over the weekend. Asked whether that contradicted his calls to cool heated political rhetoric, Biden shot back: “That’s just a statement. That’s a factual statement.”
-Fritz Farrow
Judge’s ruling means independent Cornel West can appear on North Carolina ballot
Independent presidential candidate Cornel West will be allowed on the general election ballot in North Carolina following a judge’s ruling that reversed a decision that would have kept him off the ballot in the battleground state.
In a ruling on Monday, U.S. District Judge Terrence Boyle ordered the North Carolina State Board of Elections to certify Justice for All North Carolina as a political party in the state. That party, started by West’s campaign, is nominating him as its candidate in North Carolina and some other states. The board had previously voted to deny certifying the party over concerns about how signatures were gathered for its petition to become a certified party.
Justice for All North Carolina called the decision a “monumental day for our party” but West’s campaign still faces headwinds. The Democratic National Committee filed a complaint with the FEC alleging that West’s campaign received “illegal In-Kind Contributions” from firms it used to collect signatures for ballot access petitions in Arizona and North Carolina — allegations West has pushed back on.
“We’ve always said we’re going to ensure the third party candidates are playing by the rules, and it’s clear his campaign isn’t playing by the rules,” DNC spokesperson Matt Corridoni told ABC News after the complaint was filed.
-Oren Oppenheim
Walz to make his 1st solo campaign appearance
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Tuesday will embark on his first solo Harris-Walz campaign event as Harris’ running mate with a stop in Los Angeles for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) international convention.
Walz is set to speak at 3:35 p.m. ET.
Walz emerged as a popular candidate among labor unions during Harris’ search for a vice president pick, sources said. AFSCME represents 1.4 million public service members, and the union’s president, Lee Saunders, previously released a statement endorsing Harris for president.
Harris to roll out economic plan on Friday
Harris will outline her economic policy in a speech in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Friday, her campaign announced, making it her first major policy rollout since jumping into the race.
Harris’ speech will detail her plan to “lower costs for middle-class families and take on corporate price-gouging,” a campaign official said.
The vice president has heavily focused her stump speech on the economy while on the campaign trail in recent weeks, saying over the weekend she would look to eliminate taxes on tips earned by service workers — a proposal Trump announced earlier this summer.
Harris’ college sorority creates PAC
The historically Black Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc., of which Vice President Kamala Harris counts herself a member, started its own political PAC last week, according to a filing with the Federal Election Commission posted Monday.
The committee is named Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority PAC, Inc., or AKA 1908 PAC, the filing shows.
Harris has been an AKA since her days as a student at the historically Black Howard University in Washington, D.C. Harris on Monday visited the campus, her office confirmed to ABC News, but it’s not clear why she was there.
In July, before President Joe Biden dropped out of the race, Harris spoke at the AKA’s annual Boulé in Dallas, Texas. Since then, as a candidate, she’s also addressed similar national gatherings of two other historically Black sororities, Zeta Phi Beta and Sigma Gamma Rho.
Trump says he will return to Butler, Pennsylvania after assassination attempt
After discussing the assassination attempt made against him in Pennsylvania in July, former President Donald Trump said he’s planning a trip back to Butler in October.
“We’re going back to Butler; we’re gonna go back in October,” Trump said, adding, “Butler is a big, great area.”
Addressing what he’ll say when he returns, Trump told Musk, “I think I’ll probably start by saying I was so horribly interrupted.”
Trump discusses assassination attempt with Musk, says he turned head at ‘perfect angle’
During his conversation with Musk, former President Donald Trump addressed the assassination attempt made against him during a campaign rally in July.
“It was amazing that I happened to be turned just at that perfect angle,” Trump said of the bullet, which grazed his right ear while his head was turned.
During the discussion, Trump mentioned the man who was killed in the shooting, saying, it was a “very sad situation.”
“We lost somebody that was firefighter, a great Trumper,” Trump said of Corey Comperatore, adding, “He was a just a fantastic family [man] and a fantastic man.”
Trump and Musk’s conversation on X appears to be delayed
The conversation between former President Donald Trump and Elon Musk appears to be delayed, with many X users reporting they cannot access the Spaces conversation.
“This Space is not available,” appeared for some users on X.
The conversation was scheduled to begin at 8:00 p.m. ET.
Judge orders RFK Jr. off New York ballot
A New York judge ruled Monday that the thousands of signatures gathered by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s campaign in the state were “invalidated” after a Democrat-aligned group argued he misled voters by listing as his home an address he rarely visits.
The judge, Christina Ryba, ordered the New York Board of Elections to not include Kennedy’s name on the ballot this fall.
A lawyer representing Kennedy told reporters last week they would appeal any ruling that went against them.
The ruling could prompt Democrats to bring similar lawsuits against Kennedy in other states where he gathered signatures from registered voters to appear on the ballot.
The FBI is investigating alleged attempts by Iran to target the then-Biden-Harris campaign, sources familiar with the matter confirmed to ABC News.
The alleged targeting via spear-fishing emails occurred before Biden announced he would exit the 2024 presidential race, the sources said.
While the campaign was targeted, the alleged hack was not successful, sources added.
The FBI is investigating a purported hack of the Trump campaign, according to a brief statement from the agency earlier Monday.
The FBI did not attribute the hack to anyone in its statement.
A source familiar with the matter told ABC News that Trump adviser Roger Stone has also been informed that his email accounts have been compromised, and that he’s cooperating with any investigation into the matter.
The Washington Post first reported the news.
-ABC News’ Luke Barr, Gabriella Abdul-Hakim, Will Steakin and Katherine Faulders
Biden, Obama, Clintons tentatively slated to speak at DNC: Sources
President Joe Biden, former President Barack Obama, and Bill and Hillary Clinton are all tentatively slated to speak at the Democratic National Convention next week, sources familiar said.
The working speaking schedule, which can always change, is as follows, according to the sources:
Monday: President Joe Biden, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Tuesday: Former President Barack Obama Wednesday: Vice presidential nominee Tim Walz, former President Bill Clinton Thursday: Vice President Kamala Harris
-ABC News’ MaryAlice Parks and Fritz Farrow
Trump posts on X ahead of Musk interview
Trump posted on X for the first time in nearly a year ahead of his conversation with Elon Musk scheduled for Monday night.
The video posted is a previously released campaign ad referencing his multiple indictments and telling supporters, “They are not coming after me, they are coming after you.”
The last time Trump posted on X was Aug. 24, 2023. It was a picture of his mugshot from Fulton County, when he turned himself in to authorities following his election interference indictment in Georgia.
-ABC News’ Lalee Ibssa, Kelsey Walsh, Soorin Kim
Trump to be interviewed by Elon Musk tonight
Trump, in a post to his conservative social media site Truth Social, announced he will be interviewed live by Musk on X at 8 p.m. ET.
It will mark a major return for Trump to X, formerly known as Twitter, since he was banned from the site following the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Trump was reinstated in late 2022 but declined to become active on the site again, despite boasting 88 million followers.
Musk endorsed Trump following the July 13 assassination attempt against the former president. Recently, Musk has amplified misinformation about voting and elections on his X feed.
Walz discusses ‘whirlwind’ 1st week on the campaign trail
In a video posted on his X account, the Minnesota governor discussed what he called “not a normal week” since being named as Harris’ running mate.
Walz confirmed some details reported previously by ABC News and others, including that he informed Harris’ vetting team that he had not used a teleprompter before.
“Not a normal week, which is a good thing. Started by missing a call from the Vice President, pretty important one. And then got that call and honored to join the ticket with Kamala Harris to take us in a great direction,” Walz said.
“After that, it has been a whirlwind. We got on a plane and we flew to Philly, and they told me that in an hour I’d be giving a speech and there would be a teleprompter, something I had never used in my life, so certainly terrified, but was lifted up by the folks in Philly.”
-ABC News’ Will McDuffie
Harris wraps battleground state blitz, Vance makes rounds on Sunday shows
Over the weekend, Harris closed out a cross-country tour that included stops in battleground states Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, Georgia and Arizona, as well as North Carolina and Nevada.
New polling released Saturday showed Harris taking the lead over Trump in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin among likely voters. The New York Times/Siena College polls showed Harris at 50% among likely voters in each state, while Trump polled at 46%.
Vance, too, campaigned in key 2024 states and made the rounds on the Sunday shows. During his cable news appearances, Vance reiterated campaign talking points on immigration and repeatedly hit Harris for not sitting down for extensive media interviews and laying out her agenda. Harris has done brief gaggles with reporters and said she’d unveil an economic policy platform this week.
Vance responds to mass deportation plan: ‘Let’s start with one million’
Sen. JD Vance told ABC News he blamed Vice President Kamala Harris and the Biden administration’s policies, such as ending “Remain in Mexico,” for the ongoing migrant crisis.
When asked how he and Trump would accomplish their stated goal of mass deporting as many as 20 million immigrants — a proposal experts previously told ABC News would be a “nightmare” — Vance said they would take a “sequential approach.”
“I mean do you go knock on doors and ask people for their papers? What do you do,” Karl asked.
“You start with what’s achievable,” Vance said. “I think that if you deport a lot of violent criminals and frankly if you make it harder to hire illegal labor, which undercuts the wages of American workers, I think you go a lot of the way to solving the illegal immigration problem.”
“I think it’s interesting that people focus on, well, how do you deport 18 million people? Let’s start with one million. That’s where Kamala Harris has failed. And then we can go from there,” Vance said.
Harris cautions donors to ‘not take anything for granted’
Vice President Kamala Harris attended a fundraiser in San Francisco Sunday where she maintained her campaign “will win this election,” but cautioned donors to “not take anything for granted.”
“I know there’s a lot of enthusiasm out there,” Harris said, adding, “And you know, I’ve never been one to really believe in the polls — whether they’re up or they’re down.”
“What we know is the stakes are so high and we can take nothing for granted in this critical moment,” she continued. “So we will fuel our campaign as we have, with enthusiasm and optimism, but also with a deep commitment to the hard work it’s going to take, and to campaign.”
Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi introduced Harris at the event, touting the accomplishments of the Biden-Harris administration and the background of vice presidential nominee Tim Walz, several times calling the Harris-Walz ticket “the freedom ticket.”
“[Harris] makes us all so proud. She brings us so much joy. She gives us so much hope,” Pelosi said, calling the vice president “politically very astute.”
(PHILADELPHIA) — Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump square off Tuesday at what could be their only presidential debate, setting high stakes for an event expected to be viewed by millions of Americans and a key sliver of undecided voters.
Harris’ momentum — after her unusual rise as the Democrats’ nominee shot her into a neck-and-neck race — has now stalled, making the head-to-head matchup an opportunity to get that started again if she can adequately make the argument for her own candidacy and cast Trump as unfit for another term.
Trump, meanwhile, has struggled to find a way to consistently and effectively attack his new opponent but has remained highly competitive, thanks to a large base of immovable supporters and the broad swath of Americans who already have fixed views of him. Tuesday’s debate offers him an opportunity to solidify his support while painting Harris in a negative light to an electorate that has less cemented perceptions of her.
The ABC News debate, moderated by David Muir and Linsey Davis, will take place on Tuesday, Sept. 10 at 9 p.m ET. A prime-time pre-debate special will air at 8 p.m. ET. It will air on ABC and stream on ABC News Live, Disney+ and Hulu. Viewers can also stream the debate on the ABC app on a smartphone or tablet, on ABC.com and connected devices.
Here are five things to watch at Tuesday’s debate:
Can Trump stay focused on policy?
Trump has worked to peg Harris as a “California liberal,” letting voters’ perceptions of the progressive bastion paint a picture of a candidate who served as the state’s attorney general and junior senator. He’s also hammered her on immigration and inflation — two voter concerns on which polls suggest he has an edge.
However, he’s also veered into personal remarks, including falsely questioning Harris’ racial identity (she’s Black and south Asian), touting what he says are his superior good looks and promoting vulgar and false allegations that past romantic relationships of Harris’ helped propel her political career.
Staying on message on his four-year economic record, which saw low inflation before the pandemic and less fervor over unauthorized border crossings, is key, allies told ABC News.
Veering into personal attacks would be counterproductive, they argued, drawing media attention away from what they view as a favorable policy issue set.
“I think he does,” former White House press secretary Sean Spicer said when asked if Trump makes an effective contrast on the trail. “If I had a critique, it would be that he’ll make the case sometimes and then, with all due respect, he will sometimes go beyond the case and give the media something else to focus on.”
“He needs to avoid creating a moment that takes the focus away from her record. So, if it’s about her personality or her appearance as opposed to her record, that will change the focus of what people talk about the next day,” Spicer said.
How does Harris introduce herself to undecided voters?
While Trump comes in with nearly universal name recognition, 28% of likely voters in a recent New York Times/Siena College poll said they feel they “need to learn more about Kamala Harris.” That means that while many voters have heard of Harris, she is less defined than Trump in their eyes and thus has more work to do to introduce herself — lest she be defined by her opposition.
Harris has dual goals in Tuesday’s debate: make the case for herself as someone who would be a capable president and get under Trump’s skin to spark a reaction to suggest he isn’t worthy of another four years in the White House.
“I think there needs to be a long litany of just pummeling Donald Trump while also being extremely clear about what your vision is for the future,” said Bakari Sellers, a prominent Harris ally and Democratic media commentator.
Harris on the trail has sought to do both.
Monday, she fleshed out her policy proposals in a new page on her website, her most expansive explanation yet of her platform. And in early stump speeches, she boasted of her time working as a prosecutor and state attorney general combating gangs and other criminal activity, saying to crowds that she knows “Donald Trump’s type,” in a clear reference to his legal travails.
The way she balances those two dictates could offer clues as to the way she and her campaign best think she can march to victory in November.
Will there be any hot mics?
Harris had a memorable debate performance in 2020, when she faced off against then-Vice President Mike Pence. Pence was muscling in on her answers, allowing her to declare, “I’m speaking,” in one of the more viral instances of the night.
It’s unclear whether she’ll be able to replicate such a moment.
The candidates’ microphones will be muted while their opponent is answering a question, something Harris’ team argued against in the hopes of tempting Trump to aggressively interrupt her and come off as unpresidential.
In an election in which policy is largely taking a backseat to personality, producing such a clash might possibly spark one of the debate’s most notable moments.
How big of a role will President Joe Biden play?
Harris has been walking a tightrope since the start of her campaign between recognizing her role in Biden’s administration and touting its achievements while also casting herself as a candidate in her own right, particularly after the unusual way in which she became her party’s nominee.
A recent New York Times/Siena College poll showed that roughly 61% of likely voters said the next president should represent a major change from Biden. Only 25% of them said Harris represented that change, compared to 53% who said Trump did.
Harris so far has appeared mostly on the campaign trail by herself, and in a joint appearance in Pittsburgh and at Democrats’ convention last month, Biden spoke first before handing the stage off to Harris, underscoring her role in the electoral spotlight.
Trump, meanwhile, has at times focused extensively on Biden, particularly in the days and weeks after the president ended his campaign and handed the reins to Harris.
Such a strategy risks focusing too much on Biden rather than Trump’s own opponent — but, allies said, tying Harris to voter disapproval of the way the current president has handled the economy and inflation could be a boon.
“For him to be viewed as having a successful debate, he has to continue that assault,” said one former campaign aide in touch with Trump’s current team. “She’s the vice president United States seeking the second term of Joe Biden. We can make that case.”
Is there a major moment that moves the electoral needle?
The last debate between Biden and Trump was clearly consequential — it ended the former’s campaign. That doesn’t mean Tuesday’s debate will pack the same punch.
Surely, millions will tune in to the latest salvo in a race packed with unpredictable twists and turns, raising the stakes. But many debates make little more than ripples in presidential races — an outcome that might benefit neither candidate.
As it stands, it’s a neck-and-neck race. Harris would like a moment that revives her momentum, which jolted her into contention but now is stalled; Trump would like a moment to erase some of the gains Harris has made and actually reverse her improved poll numbers.
Vice President Kamala Harris having worked there in college has repeatedly been brought up by speakers at the Democratic National Convention — almost as if it’s on a menu — and her campaign is using it as a symbolic, shorthand way of connecting her experience with that of working-class Americans.
Harris has noted in the past and now in campaign ads that she worked a summer job at McDonald’s in her late teens, between her freshman and sophomore years at Howard University in Washington, D.C.
Her early job is a common one among Americans, according to data from the chain which says one out of every eight Americans has worked at McDonald’s.
The giant burger chain did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
Harris and Walz have pointed out that their working-class roots are in sharp contrast to former President Donald Trump’s much wealthier upbringing. Walz took a dig at a campaign event a few weeks ago, claiming that Trump wouldn’t be able to cut it as a fast-food worker.
“He couldn’t run that damn McFlurry machine if it cost him anything,” he said.
Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett took a jab at the DNC.
“Let’s compare their resumes, shall we?,” she said. “One candidate worked at McDonald’s while she was in college at an HBCU, [Howard University]. The other was born with the silver spoon in his mouth and helped his daddy in the family business.”
The McDonald’s connection has extended to second gentleman Doug Emhoff, who not only worked there but also was named employee of the month, which he proudly recounted to the convention crowd, telling how the experience had helped shape his career.
“I still have the framed picture which you just saw, and there was a ring, golden arches and all. And then, I waited tables, parked cars. I was working full-time, so I could afford to go to college part-time. And thanks to partial scholarships, student loans, and a little help from my dad, I got myself through law school, and I got my first job as a lawyer,” he said.
Harris’ time behind the fast-food counter has even impressed one of the most famous — and notoriously frequent — McDonald’s customers, former President Bill Clinton, mocked in “SNL” skits as stopping there while jogging in Washington and eating other customers’ fries.
“She greeted every person with that thousand-watt smile and said, ‘How can I help you?’ Now she’s at the pinnacle of power and she’s still asking, ‘How can I help you?'” Clinton said at the DNC Wednesday night.
“I’ll be so happy when she actually enters the White House as president because she will break my record as the president who spent the most time at McDonald’s,” he joked.
It’s unclear whether Harris herself will bring up her McDonald’s experience during her nomination acceptance speech on Thursday night, but it could very well become something she can say she has in common with working-class voters on the campaign trail.