Experts in the News

What to Expect at the Democratic Convention

"They need to demonstrate that the Democratic Party is unified and enthusiastic about the ticket," Lawless says. "Donald Trump and the Republicans are trying to make the case that the nomination was stripped from (President) Joe Biden, that there’s infighting within the Democratic Party, and that the Harris/Walz ticket is somehow illegitimate. If the convention makes clear that such is not the case – and by all accounts they will – then that takes the wind out of one of the sails of a major message Trump has been pushing."

Jennifer Lawless

At DNC, Biden will seek to elevate Harris, burnish his legacy

Biden must show that the decision not to run for a second term was "reached on his own accord," said Jennifer Lawless, professor of politics at the University of Virginia. This is key to invalidate Republican talking points geared to undermine Harris and sow division among Democrats that he was "forced out" and that the nomination was "stolen" from him, she told VOA.

Jennifer Lawless

Will Kamala Harris Answer These 3 Big Questions at the Democratic National Convention?

Barbara Perry, professor of presidential studies at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center, said Harris should lean into her personal biography as the biracial child of immigrants from Jamaica and India; someone who was raised by a single mother and was a renter for much of her upbringing. Harris could also tell voters how as an adult, she became a stepmother to second gentleman Doug Emhoff’s two children.

Barbara Perry