6 takeaways (so far) from the Democratic National Convention

The NPR Network will be reporting live from Chicago throughout the week bringing you the latest on the Democratic National Convention.

Conventions are about unifying parties and spurring rank-and-file voters to action for the remainder of the campaign. And they can also be opportunities to reach out to persuadable voters in swing states and introduce the ticket to a broad audience.

That’s what Gov. Tim Walz, D-Minn., who Vice President Harris chose as her running mate, did Wednesday night before not just the crowd of the faithful in the arena in Chicago, but also to voters watching at home.

Those audiences also heard, though, from President Biden, the Obamas, the Clintons, even Oprah Winfrey, as well as several other speakers before Harris herself takes the stage Thursday night.

Here are six takeaways from the convention so far:

1. “Coach Walz” gives Democrats a pep talk.

Democrats have had a problem with coming across as elitist, as being more head than heart. But Walz, as he did in his first speech when he was introduced as Harris’ pick, showed that he has a common touch. It’s notable that the ticket with the Ivy League degrees is Trump-Vance and not Harris-Walz. (Joe Biden, by the way, was the first president since Reagan not to have an Ivy League degree.)

Walz also doesn’t have roots in San Francisco, as Harris does, but is of the Midwest, from a small town in Nebraska, a former congressman from a once-red district in Minnesota, governor of that state and, of course, football coach. Democrats have really latched onto that last piece of his resume. And Walz leaned into that in his speech, telling the crowd that this is the fourth quarter of the election and that Democrats are down a field goal, but they’re on offense