Inside the Democratic Schmoozefest, Where Hotel Lobbies Are ‘Prime Territory’

They were on the prowl all week. The lobbyists, job seekers, influence peddlers, donors and all manner of ultrarich hangers-on at the Democratic National Convention.

To roam the luxury hotels of Chicago on any given morning or afternoon was to get a peek into the maneuvering of the well-to-do. There was casual talk of ambassadorships alongside the fried pizza bites and afternoon rosé.

At the Ritz-Carlton, there was Jeffrey Katzenberg, the campaign’s co-chair and campaign finance impresario, enjoying lunch. At the Four Seasons, there was Terry McAuliffe, the famous backslapping Virginia politician, working the hotel bar and reminiscing about conventions of yore.

Others spotted making the rounds were Blair W. Effron, a well-connected financier; John W. Rogers Jr., a top donor and the founder of the country’s largest minority-run mutual fund firm; and Ken Chenault, the former American Express chief executive who landed a speaking slot earlier in the week. Among the targets of their attention: Minyon Moore, one of Vice President Kamala Harris’s key advisers, who was seen winding her way through the crowded lobby.

“Hotel lobbies are prime territory,” said Steve Elmendorf, a veteran Democratic lobbyist who compared the schmoozing to a college reunion. “People are unobstructed. You see the governor or the senator walk through the lobby, you can go talk to them.”

It has long been this way on the sidelines of political conventions, where powerful relationships are born and nurtured far from K Street lobbying offices or boardrooms. But there are still 74 days left — at least — until anyone will know whether it is important to get in good with the people wielding authority in a President Harris administration. It may yet be another four