The final night of the Democratic National Convention saw Scandal stars reunite and sparked disappointment among Beyonce fans who thought she would be taking the stage.
Kamala Harris accepted the Democratic presidential nomination, introducing herself with a speech that capped off the four-day convention in Chicago.
Harris’s speech offered a defense of Israel and its right to protect itself and emphasized the need for a cease-fire deal that would include the release of hostages that have been held by Hamas.
Here’s some other sights and scenes from Thursday as captured by the Washington Examiner.
Cheer-barometer
Vice President Kamala Harris’s speech started out somewhat slow, in no small part because a hotly anticipated appearance from America’s real president never came to fruition (more on that below).
But Harris eventually hit her stride, earning increasingly raucous rounds of applause during her passages discussing housing and tax reform, abortion, the bipartisan border security bill, the war in Gaza.
Beyonce buzz took hold of the arena
The on-again and off-again rumor that super star Beyonce was to perform at the United Center reached a fever pitch in the final minutes of the finale of the convention. Competing news reports on whether the singer was at the United Center were occurring right to the moment Harris took the stage.
Harris walked to Beyonce’s “Freedom,” but unfortunately for attendees, it was no live performance. In the end, The Chicks and P!NK were the two scheduled main acts and the two performances.
Uncommitted delegates gather in United Center on final night
The roughly 30 uncommitted delegates never got their key demand, to have a Palestinian American on stage with a speaking slot, but made headlines with a peaceful protest inside the United Center.
A handful of pro-Gaza protesters also tried a few times to get chants going during Harris’s remarks but were either drowned out by cheers or simply silenced by other people in the arena. The vice president did call for an end to the war in Gaza, and the release of hostages still held by Hamas, but that likely won’t be enough to silence the movement.
‘Scandal’ couple reunited at DNC
Actress Kerry Washington had a starring role on the final night of the DNC where she reprised her starring role in Scandal as political crisis fixer, Olvia Pope. She urged the crowd to take action.
“You are the fixers. Dare I say it, you are the Olivia Popes.” Her Scandal co-star Tony Goldwyn, who played President Fitzgerald Grant, joined Washington on stage for a social media selfie video with the crowd saying, “When we fight, we win.”
Kinzinger gains DNC fans
Adam Kinzinger, a former GOP congressman from Illinois, took the stage at DNC to urge a vote for Kamala Harris, arguing Donald Trump is unfit for office. He’s part of an effort known as Republicans for Harris. One DNC attendee, stuck in a nook at the United Center with a Washington Examiner reporter, marveled: “I like him, even though it’s kinda prostitution.”
As Kinzinger slammed the former president in his speech, delegates gave him a huge response, standing and applauding. At one point they started chanting “USA.”
There was one surprise musical performance
Sheryl Lee Ralph, of Abbott Elementary fame, appeared at a Thursday morning women’s caucus where she roused the crowd with a musical rendition of “We’re not going back,” a key theme of the Harris campaign and the convention.
Press held out of the floor by the fire marshal
In the lead-up to Kamala Harris’s speech (and anticipation for A-list musical guest), the United Center was so crowded that every entrance to get on the floor was full. Journalists were blocked from going onto the floor because of safety concerns.
Journalists were told they could not be guaranteed reentry into the arena if they left to go use the bathroom. Every press entrance was completely full, and many were not able to even be inside the arena.
Jamie Raskin dings RFK and Trump in the same breath
The Washington Examiner wasn’t able to get ahold of the Maryland congressman until Thursday, after he delivered speeches to multiple state delegations including Maryland and Wisconsin. During a quick walk and talk, Raskin weighed in on Hunter Biden, Harris’s policy juggling act, and a burning topic for everyone at home: the imminent end of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s White House bid. Asked if the Trump-RFK endorsement will slow Harris’s momentum, Raskin said no, adding that it “perfects the formation of the Insane Clown Posse party.”
Female delegates wearing all white
The overwhelming majority of attendees at the DNC’s Women’s Caucus meeting on Thursday chose to wear white to celebrate the suffrage movement. That wardrobe choice carried its way to the convention floor, standing in stark contrast to some more garish choices from attendees. Sequined cowboy hats, anyone?
DOJ crashes the pro-Gaza protests
The Justice Department officers met and accompanied a pro-Gaza protest along its permitted route north of the DNC Thursday night.
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This comes after some participants in the March on the DNC coalition broke from the permitted parade route approved by the city and broke through the first layer of security fencing just north of the United Center, roughly 800 feet from where President Joe Biden was slated to deliver the keynote address on the opening night of the convention.
