Democrats from across the country will gather in Chicago this week to celebrate Vice President Kamala Harris's nomination as their candidate to take on former President Donald Trump in November.
The convention marks the start of the home stretch in the election season.
Texas has the third largest delegation out of the states in Chicago. Many arrived Sunday evening and checked into their hotel. Some told NBC 5 they were still processing the historic change on top of their ticket and wanted to know more about Harris's plans and priorities this week.
On Monday night, President Joe Biden will speak to the crowd in the United Center. Earlier this summer, after a rough debate performance and a party divided over his age, he decided to drop out of the race and endorse Harris.
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Biden's political influence still echoes through the Texas delegation.
"I would’ve supported Joe Biden until the wagon wheels came off and came back on again and off again. I was determined to stick with him. When he made a decision that he wanted to step aside and support the vice president. Then I became a supporter of hers," said U.S. Rep. Senfronia Thompson, a Democrat from Houston.
Thompson said she's been to so many conventions in her five decades of politics that she can't remember them all. Two stand out to her: the 1992 nomination of Bill Clinton in New York City and the 2008 nomination of Barack Obama in Denver, Colorado. She wants to learn more about how much the Biden program will continue under Harris. Thompson's looking to the vice president to lay out her top positions so she can help the campaign in Houston.
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Harris will be the first Black woman nominated by a major party to be President of the United States.
"For some time in your lifetime as an African-American, you don’t believe that you’ll be able to see an African-American become president, and I was able to see that," said Thompson, "And then to see the possibility again of that happening is really icing on the cake.”
Luciano Garza, a delegate from Hidalgo County, was fundraising on the hotel's ground floor, selling political swag for the Hidalgo County Democratic Party. Much of the merchandise still had Biden's name on it.
“This says I’m riding with Biden because even though he’s not our candidate, we’re still riding with Biden," said Garza.
He said Biden still has strong support in the Texas delegation because he defeated Trump in 2020. Many view him as a defender of American democracy, and making a historic and personal decision to step down in favor of a younger candidate continues his legacy, said Garza.
“In essence, by passing the torch to our new presidential candidate, he’s still doing that," said Garza.
The Chicago DNC is the first convention for U.S. Rep. Venton Jones (D-TX). He told NBC 5 his goal is to keep the momentum going during the transition from Biden to Harris. He believes a successful convention is key to making that transition smooth.
“You see, as we get closer and closer to November, that groundswell continues to build. You see that here. You see that in the city," said Jones.
