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Alex Wroblewski

As protests over the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/israel-hamas-war/" target="_blank" class="contextual_link">Israel-Gaza war</a> sweep college campuses, pro-Palestinian activists are ramping up plans for a major show of force at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, increasingly worrying Democrats who fear the demonstrations could interfere with or overshadow their efforts to project unity ahead of the November election.

If unruly protests unfold during the four days of the convention on Aug. 19-22 — especially if they feature inflammatory rhetoric, property damage or police intervention — they could strike at the heart of the Democratic message that <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/candidates/joe-biden-2024/" target="_blank" class="contextual_link">President Biden</a> represents competent and stable leadership, while presumptive Republican nominee <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/donald-trump/" target="_blank" class="contextual_link">Donald Trump</a> is an agent of chaos and confusion.

William Daley, a native Chicagoan who co-chaired the 1996 Democratic convention in the city and later served as President Barack Obama’s chief of staff, said he has heard more angst in recent days from fellow Democrats about the scenes that might unfold at this year’s party gathering. The convention, with more than 4,500 delegates set to formally nominate Biden for president, will serve as a starting gun for the final sprint to Election Day on Nov. 5.

“This last week has taken the demonstrations to a different level,” Daley said. “It portends that you have the potential for big demonstrations. Whether they get violent — that’s more imaginable today than it was a year ago.”

Still, Daley, who attended the <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/1960s/1968-democratic-convention" target=_blank>1968 convention in Chicago</a> with his father, then-Mayor Richard J. Daley, strenuously pushed back against comparisons to that notoriously violent event, saying the country is not facing the same kind of angry, anarchic violence. In 1968, the streets of Chicago were engulfed in riots and bloodshed, prompting the activation of the National Guard, as the convention nominated Hubert H. Humphrey just months after the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy.

“To analogize what’s going on in the country today with 1968 is ridiculous,” Daley said. “Only people who weren’t alive in ’68 have that idiotic perception.”

Michael Boyer

Democrats involved in the planning of the convention say they expect protests, which have become a hallmark of any party convention. But they say they are confident that the elaborate security arrangements, led by the U.S. Secret Service, will minimize any disruption to the official party proceedings.

“Peaceful protest is fundamental to American democracy, and has been a fixture of political conventions for decades,” Matt Hill, a spokesman for the Democratic National Convention, said in a statement. “While Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans stoke political violence, we support the ongoing security coordination at all levels of government to keep our convention safe.”

He added, “When the country looks to Chicago this August, the unity and excitement of Democrats will stand in stark contrast to the chaos and extremism stewing in the GOP.”

But tensions have already begun to unfold, including over how close protesters will be allowed to United Center, where the convention will be held. Several groups have <a href="https://abc7chicago.com/dnc-2024-protesters-who-want-to-demonstrate-outside-united-center-during-democratic-national-convention-sue-city/14747596/" target="_blank">sued the city</a>, complaining that officials are trying to keep them beyond the vision and earshot of convention attendees.

And whatever happens outside the United Center security perimeter, convention organizers face the risk that delegates or guests inside the hall itself will find a way to mount a protest with television cameras watching — video that could quickly make its way into Republican campaign ads. Biden and Vice President Harris have faced demonstrations at almost all of their public appearances for the past several months.

For decades, political conventions have been designated “national security special events,” the same category as presidential inaugurations or Super Bowls. The designation gives the Secret Service wide latitude to organize the security apparatus, and agency officials say the planning is already well underway.

“While the convention is planned for next summer, teams have been on the ground in Chicago for months preparing an intricate security plan with the full weight of the federal, state, and city government,” Anthony Guglielmi, a spokesman for the Secret Service, said in a statement.

Joshua Lott

Guglielmi said the Secret Service is still in the process of determining the shape and size of the security perimeter around United Center, as agents are meeting with residents and business owners to minimize disruptions to their daily lives. He said protesters will be able to gather within “sight and sound” of the perimeter, but that if permits granted by the city fall within the secure area, those protests will be moved outside the perimeter.

Even before Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7 — killing roughly 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostage, according to Israeli officials — activists were planning a march on the Democratic convention to protest on behalf of “exploited and oppressed people.” As Israel responded to the Oct. 7 attack with a military onslaught in Gaza that has killed more than 34,000 people, organizers of the march decided the effort would be centrally focused on that war.

The groups plan a similar protest in Milwaukee, the site of the Republican National Convention on July 15-18, but their effort in Chicago is likely to be more robust.

“Democrats are the ones complicit in this genocide,” said Hatem Abudayyeh, chair of the U.S. Palestinian Community Network and a spokesman for the coalition to March on the DNC. “They are the ones that are helping it to happen. If President Biden wanted to end it, he could today. He could have ended it in October.”

Israel strongly denies that it is engaged in genocide, saying it must pursue Hamas to defend itself and that the group’s fighters embed themselves among civilians, making it harder to avoid civilian casualties.

Last month, the coalition held a planning conference for the march that included more than 75 organizations and 450 attendees. Abudayyeh said the coalition includes some of the national organizations whose college chapters have been leading the protests on campuses.

“We are very, very proud of the students — the Palestinians, the Arabs, the Muslims, all the supporters, Black, Latino, and all the other nationalities of students — who are coming out in the thousands, in the tens of thousands on these campuses,” Abudayyeh said. “They’re extremely powerful, extremely brave.”

The overriding risk for Democrats, analysts of both parties say, is that the protests could <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/04/29/gaza-college-campus-protests-republicans-attack-biden-chaos/" target=_blank>feed into a Republican message</a> that the country is descending into chaos under an enfeebled Biden, an argument they have previously tied to illegal immigration and violent crime.

With further disruptions likely as colleges hold their commencement ceremonies in coming weeks, followed by expected protests at a NATO summit in Washington in July, a chaotic August convention could play into Trump’s hands as he presents himself as a figure of strength and control.

“So much of Biden’s issues are tied to disorder,” said James Carville, a veteran Democratic strategist. “The border stuff, the overhyped crime stuff. This just adds another thing to it. That’s the danger of it.”

More than 2,000 people <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/interactive/2024/university-antiwar-campus-protests-arrests-data/" target=_blank>have been arrested</a> at pro-Palestinian protests on more than 40 university campuses since Oct. 7, according to a Washington Post tally of news reports and police and university statements. On Thursday, after days of silence, Biden addressed the protests from the White House, noting the right to free speech but condemning the lawlessness and intimidation that he said has characterized some of the demonstrations.

David Swanson

“Destroying property is not a peaceful protest,” Biden said. “It’s against the law. Vandalism, trespassing, breaking windows, shutting down campuses, forcing the cancellation of classes and graduations — none of this is a peaceful protest. Threatening people, intimidating people, instilling fear in people is not peaceful protest. It’s against the law.”

After completing his remarks, Biden told reporters the protests have not led him to reconsider his policies in the region while also rejecting the idea that the National Guard needs to intervene on college campuses.

The protests in Chicago not only present a potential image problem for Democrats, but also could signal an electoral threat.

Core parts of the coalition that helped elect Biden in 2020, particularly younger and more liberal voters, have joined in the protests, and polls show growing numbers of Democrats disapprove of Biden’s handling of the Gaza conflict. An “Abandon Biden” movement, which urges voters to withhold their vote from Biden in Democratic primaries over the issue, has <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/01/31/arab-muslim-voters-work-to-defeat-biden/" target=_blank>caught traction in states such as Michigan</a> and elsewhere.

Trump and his campaign, for their part, have seized on the protests as a political cudgel to depict the country as besieged and out of control under Biden’s leadership.

“Everywhere Joe Biden goes, chaos follows and he is berated by angry Americans who are fed up with his terrible policies,” Karoline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for Trump’s campaign, said in a statement. “Chicago will be no different, as people in the city, particularly Blacks and Hispanics, are suffering from Biden’s illegal immigrant invasion and soft-on-crime policies, and they have a right to make their voices heard.”

As protests over Gaza continue to grow, however, backers of the president point to polling that shows most Americans, <a href="https://iop.harvard.edu/youth-poll/47th-edition-spring-2024" target="_blank">including young voters</a>, rank other issues — such as <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/abortion/" target="_blank" class="contextual_link">abortion</a> and the economy — as more important than the Middle East conflict when deciding whom they will support. Biden officials remain optimistic the president still has time to lock down support even from voters who are protesting his policies, arguing they will recognize that his performance has been impressive across a wide range of issues.

“President Biden has a historic record of accomplishment that everyone in our diverse party can be proud of,” Lauren Hitt, a spokeswoman for Biden’s campaign, said in a statement. “From the largest ever investment to combat climate change to capping insulin prices for seniors, President Biden has shown that a promise made is a promise kept. Joe Biden has never taken any voters for granted, and he’ll continue to work hard to earn everyone’s vote.”

Gerald R. Ford Journalism Prize for Distinguished Reporting on the Presidency, 2022

Northwestern University, BS in Journalism 

University of Oxford, MSc in Comparative Social Policy

Tyler Pager is a White House reporter at The Washington Post. He joined the paper in 2021 after covering the White House at Politico and the 2020 presidential campaign at Bloomberg News. He won the Gerald R. Ford Journalism Prize for Distinguished Reporting on the Presidency in 2022. 

Tyler Pager

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