Legislative Update: Democratic National Convention Concludes

The 2020 Democratic National Convention kicked off this week, and as expected, it looks entirely different in the COVID-19 era.

Democrats created a virtual format that showcased heartfelt videos and stories from American citizens while weaving in themes of unity and empathy. Speakers emphasized what is at stake in the 2020 election and the importance of every vote. Democrats’ main message centered on Joe Biden’s character and how his 50 years of public service have enabled him to unite the nation. His supporters attest that Biden is the only person that can restore the “soul of America.”

Democrats celebrated the racial and ethnic diversity within its base and aimed to unify the young and progressive with its older and moderate voters. More significant, Democrats spent a considerable amount of time appealing to and embracing independents and Republicans into its coalition. The convention included elder statesmen speakers such as Collin Powell who appeal to many Republicans, as well as several well-respected Republicans, including Ohio Governor and former presidential candidate John Kasich who pledged to support Joe Biden.

The Democratic convention also presented several historical firsts beyond being the first virtual convention. Kamala Harris made history as the first woman of color to accept the Vice President nomination. Her speech delved into her past growing up in an immigrant family, praised women that fought in suffrage, discussed her experience as a black woman, and highlighted her career as a prosecutor. Another historic first, former President Barack Obama giving an unprecedented emotional speech, sharply rebuking the current sitting president suggesting that the republic and democracy are at stake.

How the Issues Stack Up

While the Democratic convention concentrated most of its time on a character-based message, it did touch on some issues of importance to the party, including trade, climate change, response to the pandemic, the economy, gun violence, and social justice. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico made a case for the need to combat climate change and discussed how her states climate leadership is “laying a road map here of what America can and should look like in the 21st century.”  Biden’s “Build Back Better” plan, including his climate change plan, invests $2 trillion in infrastructure and clean energy. The party featured a video highlighting Biden’s climate change policies while underlining that they will create millions of good-paying clean energy jobs, many of which he says will be union jobs. The convention also hosted a virtual roundtable on corporate sustainability and environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues. Business leaders urged the campaign to work with companies on policies facilitating a shift to a low-carbon economy.

Biden Accepts the Nomination

Joe Biden’s acceptance speech last night capped off the four-day Democratic National Convention. The speech was praised by supporters as one of the most important and best-delivered speeches in his public service career. The theme he outlined was one of “light” vs. “dark,” where he emphasized the divide and crises the country is facing, calling for unity and promising to be “an ally of the light, not the darkness.”  His aim was to overcome this division and promised to work on behalf of all Americans, rather than just the Democratic base.

Biden didn’t refer to President Trump by name, but compared and contrasted his vision of America versus a country that he says has been left unprotected and in social and economic upheaval which he attributed to the current president’s failures and inability to lead. Biden said his first task would be to get control of the coronavirus so the U.S. can quickly restore the economy. He pledged to build back the economy through infrastructure and “with pipes that transport clean water to every community.”  He vowed to create 5 million new manufacturing and technology jobs so the future is “made in America.”  Biden would pay for these investments by rolling back President Trump’s tax plan that he said benefits the wealthiest 1 percent. Biden also pledged to strengthen and expand the Affordable Care Act and protect Medicare and improve the educations system to train people for 21st-century jobs.  Biden said the climate crisis as an “enormous opportunity” for America to lead the world in clean energy and create new good-paying jobs in the process. The former vice president ended with a hopeful message of the nation’s ability to come together to rebuilding America.

The Republican National Convention begins this Monday, Aug. 24 and goes through Thursday, Aug. 27. The Republican National Committee has yet to publicly release the schedule of prime-time speakers, but the convention will primarily be virtual. President Trump is expected to formally accept the party’s nomination on the final day in a speech.

In our next legislative update, the Vinyl Institute will provide an overview of the GOP convention, and a deeper comparative of the critical manufacturing issues brought up in both parties’ conventions.