Five things that stand out in the Democratic Party platform

The Democratic National Committee released its party platform on Sunday, ahead of its convention in Chicago this week, as the party anoints Vice President Kamala Harris as its political hope for November.

The 92-page document was passed by the Democratic Party’s platform committee days before President Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race in favor of Harris, and the platform appears as such. Here are some items in the platform that will be voted on by Democratic National Convention delegates Monday evening.

Not revamped for Harris as nominee

Biden dropped out of the presidential race on July 21, but the platform stated, “This election is a choice between two very different economic visions for America: Donald Trump, who sees the world from his country club at Mar-a-Lago; and Joe Biden, who sees it from kitchen tables in Scranton like the one he grew up around.”

Biden’s “second term” is mentioned 19 times despite the president not seeking one now, and Biden is mentioned 271 times.

The policies outlined in the platform also mirror Biden’s proposals, but Harris’s vow to make “price gouging” illegal is not included.

Trump mentioned more than four times more frequently than Harris

While Harris is now the focus of the Democratic Party as its presidential nominee, the GOP presidential nominee, former President Donald Trump, is mentioned 150 times compared to Harris’s 32 times.

The vice president is only mentioned independent from Biden six times, while much of the platform is spent contrasting Trump’s proposals and actions as president with the current administration.

Increased border focus

The 2020 Democratic platform seldom mentioned the border, except when criticizing Trump’s border policies, including his national emergency proclamation about the border situation.

For the 2024 platform, Democrats have dedicated significantly more space to the matter, with a chapter titled “Securing our border and fixing the broken immigration system.”

“In President Biden’s second term, he will push Congress to provide the resources and authorities that we need to secure the border. This includes additional Border Patrol agents, immigration judges, asylum officers, cutting-edge inspection machines to help detect and stop the flow of fentanyl, and funding for cities and states that are sheltering migrants,” the platform stated.

It echoed Democrats’ renewed interest in the matter, which began with the proposed Senate border bill, championed by most Democrats and rejected by most Republicans. Immigration and border security have been key parts of Trump’s platform each of the three times he has been the Republican nominee.

Attacks on the Supreme Court

After years of taking shots at the Supreme Court over decisions they disagree with, Democrats took another shot at the court in the platform by claiming the court has made attacks “on a wide
range of long-established American legal principles.”

“President Biden will continue to appoint justices and judges across the federal bench who
are like Justice Jackson: brilliant jurists committed to defending American rights and
freedoms,” the platform said while noting the racial diversity of Biden’s judicial picks.

The platform also called for sweeping federal voting laws, including restorations of parts of the Voting Rights Act that have been phased out or struck down.

Platform supports Israel despite expected protests

The Democratic National Convention is expected to see fiery anti-Israel protests in the host city, but that does not appear to have influenced the party’s stance on Israel.

In the platform, Democrats said they “believe a strong, secure, and democratic Israel is vital to the interests of the United States” and stood for Israel’s right to defend itself.

While the platform did stand behind Israel, it also called for a two-state solution between Israel and Palestinians and a ceasefire in the war in Gaza that guarantees the release of all hostages being held by Hamas.

“The Administration opposes any effort to unfairly single out and delegitimize Israel, including at the United Nations or through the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement, while protecting the Constitutional right of our citizens to free speech,” the platform noted.

Protesters expected to take to the streets in Chicago have called for the U.S. to suspend all aid to Israel, along with a ceasefire without guarantees for securing the release of hostages held by Hamas terrorists.