Party delegates from Massachusetts are on their way back from Chicago after this week's Democratic National Convention and the nominating of Vice President Kamala Harris as their candidate.
Springfield resident Ed Collins was in a car on the way to the airport Friday afternoon. What really struck him about the convention was how the Democrats took the idea of patriotism back from the Republicans. And it wasn't just flag waving.
"It was about what it means to care about your community, what it means to care about the future and what it means to respect law enforcement instead of attacking them with an American flag," he said. "And what it means to have a Supreme Court that is not ideologically bound to reactionary motives.
Collins said he also saw democrats attack former President Donald Trump not on his weak points, but ideas that moderate to conservative Republicans consider Trump's strong points.
Among the delegates from Massachusetts at the events was Easthampton Mayor Nicole LaChapelle. She said the convention has been a really good "primer" on how to break rules the correct way.
"I feel that Democrats are - the big D - have figured a way to rewrite, redraw, correct, break whatever they had to do to put together a convention, a campaign, a transition that actually reflects the voices at the very lowest address of Main Street to the very highest. It's joyous," she said.
LaChapelle said she believes, reproductive healthcare is the most important issue this election.
"That a law can be written that supersedes a human's basic dignity, it's just unconscionable. And if we don't put a hard stop to it now, we're going to lose what literally my grandmother fought for and my mother fought for, and I fought for a little bit," she said.
Michele Marantz is the chair of the Dalton Democratic Town Committee, she used to serve in the same position for Longmeadow's Democratic Committee.
During the convention she said she was impressed by the large scale of it all and was excited to be part of festivities.
"It's a place where everyone is happy, everyone is joyful, and you can strike up a conversation with everyone and they pay attention to you, and you come to an agreement about whatever it seems to be you're discussing," she said.
Marantz said she has been looking for this sense of community for a long time.
"You know, we have been since Trump's election, we have been a community joined through anxiety and despair. And now it's totally flipped and it's wonderful. This is what it means to be happy about politics. Wow, what a strange feeling it is," she said.
Now that the candidates have been selected, Trump and Harris are scheduled to participate in their first debate Sept. 10.
For more stories of Massachusetts attendees and others at the Democratic National Convention, visit Unprecedented: Stories from the 2024 DNC online at www.nepm.org/dnc2024.
