RICHMOND, Va. -- More than 100 Virginia Democratic politicians, activists, and voters descended upon Chicago this week for the Democratic National Convention.
The Virginia delegation wants to see Democrats come together at the convention as they formally nominate Vice President Kamala Harris as the party's presidential nominee, Democratic Party of Virginia Chair Susan Swecker told CBS 6.
While most Virginia voters have selected the Democratic presidential nominee in the last few elections, voters elected a Republican ticket for the top statewide offices in the 2021 election.
"I believe that there is a lot of buyer's remorse for what [voters] did in 2021," Swecker said. "Voters are seeing it, and we're going to make sure they know what is at stake in this election."
Protests over the war in Gaza are taking place in Chicago and have drawn comparisons to protests over the Vietnam War at the 1968 Democratic Convention, also held in Chicago.
"Democrats want to come out of this convention A, united, and B, really supportive of Kamala Harris," CBS 6 political analyst Dr. Bob Holsworth said. "What they don't want to happen here, and this is the one fear they have, they don't want to have this convention in some ways defined by the demonstrations outside the convention."
Gaza gets little attention inside DNC hall — except from Biden
Thousands of marchers churned through Chicago’s streets protesting U.S. support for Israel during the war in Gaza. But inside the convention hall, the combustible issue went largely unmentioned until President Joe Biden got to the microphone.
Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez got cheers when she praised Harris for working “tirelessly to get a cease-fire in Gaza and get the hostages home.”
Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia made a brief allusion to the conflict.
A handful of delegates who ran on an “uncommitted” ticket protesting Biden’s position on the war unfurled a banner during his speech that read “Stop Arming Israel.” But it was blocked by supporters waving Biden signs before it was wrestled away and the lights over that section of the audience were shut off.
Biden himself addressed the issue head-on, saying he’d keep working to “end the war in Gaza and bring peace and security to the Middle East.”
“Those protesters out in the streets have a point,” Biden said. “A lot of innocent people are being killed, on both sides.”
The crowd cheered, and for a moment the war didn’t seem like it was dividing the party at all.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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