Six Takaways from the DNC

The News: Six takeaways from seeing Dems in astonishing array

By Ezra Levin, Indivisible Co-founder

I’ve spent this week at the DNC with Leah, and I’m sorry if this gives you FOMO, but, well, it was incredible. But you don’t read my emails to hear about how I’m having a good time. You read my emails to get my takes on the news. So here are my takes.

1. Collective effervescence. Yes, the energy was electric, but it was more than that. Inside the hall, there was a sense of joy, jubilance, optimism, and unity that is difficult to describe. But I’ll give it a shot.

Over the last decade-plus, it's been easy to think about national politics as existing on a spectrum between disappointing and disastrous. We’ve been in the trenches, fighting for inches. Our work was to prevent harm and eke out a win here or there if we were lucky. Being at the DNC, surrounded by teachers, union members, Democratic activists, and Wisconsinites wearing cheesehead hats, yes, you feel a sense of relief and optimism about the election.

But what I didn't expect was this reminder of what politics can be -- it's not just something we consume; it's something we do together to redefine what’s possible. Receiving that reminder along with tens of thousands of others gives this inescapable, irresistibly inspiring feeling that we are part of something bigger than ourselves and that thing is powerful and has momentum.

Beyoncé might not have performed, but in the hall, we achieved a level of collective effervescence normally reserved for her concerts.

2. It’s not just an election, it’s a legislative mandate. Harris couldn’t have been clearer. What did she say she’d do? Sign reproductive freedom into law. Enact democracy reform. When we win in November, we will not just win an election, we will win a mandate for a legislative agenda. That is crucial for our advocacy work after the election. As Leah said at her panel at the DNC: We’re working toward an FDR first 100 days -- Filibuster, Democracy, Reproductive Freedom. Say it with me: FDR.

3. Our bench is deep. Yes, Coach Walz and VP Harris gave incredible speeches; we have fantastic leaders at the top of our ticket. But we have even more than that -- this is a leaderful party. From Raphael Warnock to AOC to Andy Kim to Maxwell Frost and more, I can’t list all the stellar leaders in this party. We get to be inspired by the ticket at the top, and we get to be optimistic about all those following close behind.

4. Not everything at this convention was pitched at me, or you, and that’s OK. I am not an undecided voter. If you’re reading this, then you probably aren’t either. This convention was squarely aimed at creating a permission structure for people who aren’t very politically engaged to get excited about Harris, and for people who aren’t already with us to come over to our side. On that metric (among others), it was fabulously successful.

Did I agree with everything or everyone on stage? No. That’s what it’s like to be in a big, winning, majority coalition -- you disagree on some stuff. There were policies covered over the last four nights that Indivisible has pushed back on in the past, and will in the future. And sometimes we will voice concerns -- for example, echoing many who called for a Palestinian speaker to be included in the convention lineup. At the same time, we’re clear: We’re in “win the election” mode for the next 70 days. Then we get to shift into “get shit done” advocacy mode once we secure the White House and Congress.

5. Harris’s masterful line of attack on Trump: an unserious man, with serious consequences. It’s hard to land the right balance of danger vs ridicule when you talk about Donald Trump. Trump is a threat to democracy, and he does idolize dictators. But he and MAGA relish our anger and want to be feared -- they think that fear feeds their power. The real rhetorical trick we have to land is to ridicule them to take them down a peg, while conveying at the same time the real stakes of the election.

Harris did this masterfully: "In many ways, Donald Trump is an unserious man. But the consequences of putting Donald Trump back in the White House are extremely serious." And then she went on to describe the very real threat of Project 2025. <<Chef’s kiss>>

6. We can win big, but we gotta work for it. This takeaway involves some serious cognitive dissonance. Because when you’re in that convention hall, it sure feels like we’re making history. It feels like we’re on the road to a big win. There is almost a sense of inevitability.

I have to fight that feeling, because I know that none of this is inevitable. If the polls are just marginally off or the campaign takes a slight downward turn in the coming weeks, we could lose Pennsylvania or Michigan or Wisconsin or North Carolina or Georgia or Nevada or Arizona or all of them. Don’t get me wrong, it’s awesome to be part of a collective effort infused with optimism and confidence. But if we’re going to win, we have to make sure those emotions fuel our work, not our complacency. Whether you believe the race is tight or not, we must work like this election will be decided by the last voter we contact.