Though moments from Monday night’s edition of the 2020 Democratic National Convention were a little awkward, things really went off the rails—in a good way—on Tuesday night, during the roll call vote that officially chose Joe Biden as the party’s nominee. Party committees from all 50 states and an assortment of other territories provided mostly pre-recorded statements where they expressed a little bit of local flavor. It could have been a cacophonous mess, but it turned out to be a delightfully ramshackle look at the breadth of the country’s diversity, with a healthy helping of pure American weird.
The DNC previously announced that the roll call vote would take place virtually, adding that they had encouraged representatives to choose lively backdrops. In locations known for their natural beauty, like Hawaii, New Mexico, Alaska, or the Northern Mariana Islands, the delegates stood in picturesque settings. Others opted to feature locations with historical significance, like the Hermitage Hotel in Nashville, Tennessee, where suffragists celebrated the ratification of the 19th Amendment 100 years ago today. A few strange yet endearing ones featured places important to Biden’s own life history. To announce Pennsylvania’s delegates, Senator Bob Casey went to the house in Scranton where Biden was raised, while the Delaware spot was filmed at the Joseph R. Biden Railroad Station in Wilmington, where the former Senator famously caught the Amtrak for decades.
Other videos emphasized the various constituencies of the Democractic party. For some, that meant national politicians, like Representative Barbara Lee of California, the only person in congress who voted against the authorization for use of force in Afghanistan; Senator Amy Klobuchar in Minnesota; and a brief cameo from Bernie Sanders, standing in a group of fellow Vermonters. Others opted for a bit more symbolism. DC Mayor’s Muriel Bowser spoke from a rooftop overlooking Black Lives Matter Plaza; Georgia’s video was filmed in front of a mural of John Lewis; and Alabama’s video was filmed in front of the Edmund Pettis Bridge where the Selma marchers, Lewis included, were attacked. Wyoming’s speech was delivered by the parents of Matthew Shepherd, a gay man who was murdered in a 1998 hate crime, while Florida’s delegation featured Fred Guttenberg, the father of a 14-year-old who was killed in the Parkland shooting in Febuary 2018.
Some moments were just downright bizarre. Pete Buttigieg spoke from a plain mirrored room in Indiana that looked a bit like an abandoned department store. For Rhode Island’s video, party chair Joseph McNamara gave a blurb about the state’s resilience during the pandemic while a chef stood next to him, brandishing a plate of calamari. “The calamari comeback state of Rhode Island,” he said as he awarded the state’s delegates.
It used to be that national conventions really were the place where parties picked their nominee, after hashing out backroom deals. In years where the race was tight, the roll call vote was the height of drama. More recently primaries have been settled far in advance and the in-person roll calls become dramatic because of the promise of gaffes or awkward moments. By turning the tradition into a tonally varied, 60-minute travelogue about America, the 2020 roll call created pathos and real humor amid a show that normally prizes slick optimism over jump cuts and public access TV battiness.