Last week in Chicago, the DNC hosted 33 Constituency Caucuses and Council meetings led by caucus and council chairs from across the country. These caucuses and councils met every day of the convention, engaged with community members, celebrated our values as a Democratic Party, and heard from DNC leadership, elected officials, community leaders, and more.

Here’s a snapshot of last week’s meetings: 

Axios: Walz makes flurry of DNC visits to delegates, caucuses on Day 1

By: Torey Van Oot

• Gov. Tim Walz spent his first day at the Democratic National Convention making a series of “surprise” appearances aimed at revving up rank-and-file delegates.

• He then [made] back-to-back stump speeches at caucus meetings for Asian American Pacific Islander, Native, Black, Hispanic and LGBTQ delegates.

• “It meant so much to us that of all the caucus breakfasts he went first to, he went first to the [Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander] caucus,” U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) told Axios.

Atlanta Voice: Democratic National Convention Black Caucus: DNC star power carries over past convention nights

By: Donnell Suggs

• “Donald Trump’s party is a party of fear, we are the party of hope,” said DNC Chair Jamie Harrison that morning. “Only in America do you get a Black man and Black women to convene a convention and nominate a Black woman to be president.”

• A number of speakers were scheduled to address the dozens of attendees during the hour-and-a-half meeting. The speakers ranged from singers to politicians, including DNC Chair Jamie Harrison, who had been seen on stage or in the crowd during the first two nights of the convention.

• Grammy award-winning singer and songwriter John Legend, who performed alongside rapper Common at a DNC party the night before, took the stage on Wednesday morning. He said he was there to be an advocate for voters.

• “I’m here because as citizens it’s our duty to vote,” Legend said, who added that it was a responsibility of his to use his platform to advocate for change and build a fair and inclusive society.

• Legend referenced former United States First Lady Michelle Obama’s speech from Tuesday night, saying “Hope has made a comeback.” Legend gave a 15-minute speech and was equally complimentary of the work the Black Caucus is doing with registering voters, informing voters, and supporting the Harris/Walz ticket.

• “The Wire,” “Jack Ryan,” and “Elsbeth” actor Wendell Pierce also dropped by to speak to the crowd. “I’m an actor, but today I am here as a voter, and more importantly a Black man,” said Pierce.

• Michigan Lt. Governor Garlin Gilchrist II made an appearance during the meeting as well. The first Black Lt. Governor in the history of the state, a crucial battleground state this election season, Gilchirst reflected on the promise of America: The American dream.

• “America’s promise belongs to us too,” Gilchirst said. “A promise was made to Black folks like everybody else. What we have learned is that sometimes you have to take your promises.”

Las Vegas Sun: Horsford, Democrats stress importance of mobilizing Black vote in fall elections

By: Haajrah Gilani and Ayden Runnels

• Horsford joined caucus members, including Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., to echo the sentiments voiced throughout the meeting: Black voters can change the course of November’s election.

• An appearance by the Democrats’ vice presidential nominee, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, took attendees by surprise, energizing voters and celebrating community volunteers. He took time to shout out Nevada campaign manager Shelby Wiltz, who helped sign up more than 5,000 volunteers in Southern Nevada and canvassed until she passed out from the heat.

• “That’s somebody leaving it all on the field,” Walz said. “That’s somebody that understands we’ve got 78 days to make a generational difference, not in just this country, but in the world.”

Latin Times: Hispanic Caucus kicks off DNC with meeting focusing on top Latino priority— the economy

By: Maria Villarroel

• The DNC meeting also focused on the importance of Latino voters, who are expected to play a crucial role in deciding the next president. To drive the message home, Vice Presidential nominee and Minnesota governor Tim Walz made a surprise appearance.

• “We’ve got an opportunity to start making this even a more inclusive country,” Walz said in his quick remarks as the room broke into applause.

• At the Hispanic Caucus meeting, the Vice President’s campaign manager, Julie Chavez-Rogridguez, described Latino voters as a critical swing vote in November, saying the Harris campaign was taking new measures to reach them where they are at.

• The campaign introduced a WhatsApp broadcasting channel to reach Latino voters, which campaign officials say it’s the first of its kind in a presidential election.

WTTW: Asian American Democrats Rally Behind Kamala Harris as AAPI Caucus Highlights Her Identity

By: Eunice Alpasan

• Local and national Asian American and Pacific Islander Democratic elected officials gathered Monday morning at McCormick Place to highlight the role of Asian American voters and rally behind Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris.

• U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth and U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois were among the leaders who attended the AAPI caucus meeting, coinciding with a variety of caucus and council meetings being held throughout the week during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

• A key theme of the meeting included highlighting the importance of capturing the votes of Asian Americans — the fastest-growing racial group in the U.S. — in key battleground states.

• “We are the margin of victory,” Duckworth said to attendees. “We need to reach out to our communities all across the country.”

• During the caucus meeting, speakers also highlighted the fact that Harris, who is of Jamaican and Indian descent, would become the first Black and Asian American woman to serve as U.S. president if she were to win the election.

Native News Online: DNC Native American Caucus Gets Surprise Visits from VP Nominee Tim Walz and Sen. Cory Booker

By: Levi Rickert

• Democratic Vice President nominee, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Democratic Party Chair Jaime Harrison made a surprise appearance and spoke at the first Native American Caucus meeting of the week. 

• Before he started speaking, the Native Caucus attendees started to chant, “Coach!, Coach!, Coach!,” in reference to his time as a high school football coach who led his team to a state championship in Minnesota.

• The appearance of Walz and Harrison energized the crowd of 250 Native Americans as they emphasized the importance of voting in this November election. Among the Native American Caucus were: Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren, Gila River Indian Community Governor Stephen Roe Lewis, Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation Chairman Rodney Butler, Tunica-Buloxi Tribe of Louisana Chairman Marshall Pierite, Tohono O’odham Chairman Verlon Jose, Suquamish Tribe Chairman Leonard Forsman, Oneida Vice Chairman Brandon Stevens,and Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Treasurer Alex Wesaw.

• Walz spoke to the accomplishments made in his home state of Minnesota for the eleven federally recognized tribes in the state. Minnesota passed state legislation on Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) as a safeguard to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that could have nullified ICWA.

• Walz reminded the crowd that if Vice President Kamala Harris and him win the presidential and vice presidential seat, Anishinaabe woman, Lt. Governor of Minnesota Peggy Flanagan will fill the seat as Minnesota Governor. This will make her the highest elected Native. 

• “When we elect Vice President Harris to the presidency and me to the vice presidency, we have a Minnesota woman, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, an Anishinaabe woman, will become the first female governor of a state. A vote for our ticket is a vote for Peggy,” Walz said.

NPR: Democrats court Native American voters at their convention in Chicago

By: Ximena Bustillo

• Party leaders courted Native American delegates at the Democratic National Convention, touting their record on tribal sovereignty as activists noted that Native voter turnout in swing states is what helped President Biden win during the last cycle.

• “There’s something in Minnesota that we take very seriously about tribal sovereignty,” Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, told the party’s cheering party’s Native American Caucus on Monday. “And it’s not when it’s convenient sovereignty. It’s every single day about every single decision that needs to be taken.”

• It has been a long journey for Native Americans, who only won the legal right to vote in federal elections about 100 years ago. At the DNC this week, the party’s Native Caucus held its meeting at the flagship political gathering with about 122 delegates who self-identified as Native Americans.

• Walz has gained national recognition among Native voters for having once been a teacher on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. If Harris and Walz are elected, Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, a member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe, would ascend to the governorship. She would be the first Indigenous woman to become governor.

Philadelphia Inquirer: ‘Abbott Elementary’ star Lisa Ann Walter speaks at DNC Ethnic Council meeting

By: Emily Bloch

• Introduced for her roles in The Parent Trap and Abbott Elementary, Walter endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for president and down-ballot Democratic candidates at the conference’s Ethnic Council meeting Monday. Speaking for nearly 15 minutes, Walter spoke about her Italian-American heritage and its ties to immigration advocacy and American freedoms.
  
• She spoke about Sunday dinners at her great-grandmother’s home in New York City’s Little Italy and her grandfather shining shoes on the Staten Island Ferry so that her mother could go to college — Walter also credited her mother’s wisdom for her win on Celebrity Jeopardy.

• “We hear these stories of overcoming adversity and people working really hard to achieve the American dream,” Walter said. “I’ve been involved in politics for a long time, [but] I don’t think I’ve ever been more excited than this election cycle.”

• She added, “for our parents, our children, and for the next generation of deserving immigrants dreaming of becoming Americans — that’s why I’m here.”

WTTW: Nancy Pelosi, Robin Kelly and TV Stars Get DNC Women’s Caucus Fired Up: ‘Now is the Time to Feel Your Power’

By: Nick Blumberg

• The event kicked off with U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly (D-Illinois), the former chair of the Illinois Democratic Party. Kelly apologized for her raspy voice – and for missing the memo on matching the sartorial theme of suffragette white dozens of people in the room wore. She rallied the crowd around Democrats’ efforts to take back the House and make “my little brother,” Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, the House Speaker.

• “We need to work to win, and as our forever First Lady – I represent Illinois – said, we gotta do something,” Kelly said.
  
• Kelly’s former House colleague, former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge and current co-chair of the Harris-Walz campaign, quoted the Bible verse that for everything there is a time: “sisters, it is our time.”

• U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas), who had a DNC speaking slot earlier this week, made clear what she thinks of her Republican House colleagues, saying the Congress “looks like a kangaroo court.”

• And another starry attendee, “Orange Is the New Black” star Uzo Aduba, echoed the themes of light and joy speakers throughout the week have been employing as a contrast to what they say is the dark vision of Donald Trump.

• “For the next 75 days,” she told the crowd, “we must be the light that drives that darkness out.”

Advocate: Drag icons BenDeLaCreme and Peppermint take on the DNC, urging people to not just watch but to act

By: Christopher Wiggins

• At an LGBTQ+ Caucus meeting during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Monday, drag performers and activists Peppermint and BenDeLaCreme brought their unique blend of charisma, advocacy, and insight to the stage. Their participation was highlighted by a surprise appearance from Minnesota governor and vice-presidential nominee Tim Walz, who delivered a speech to the nearly 1,000 attendees.

• Walz’s unexpected appearance and rousing speech set an optimistic tone for the meeting, attended by prominent figures such as U.S. Reps. Barbara Lee of California, Wisconsin’s Mark Pocan, Florida’s Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey, American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten, Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson, and soccer star Ali Krieger. Each speaker emphasized the critical role of the LGBTQ+ community in shaping the nation’s future and the importance of continuing the fight for equality.

• Peppermint and BenDeLaCreme reflected on the experience of being at the DNC and the significance of drag as both an art form and a political statement in an interview with The Advocate after the meeting.

• “It’s incredible to be part of a moment where we are all motivated by joy rather than fear,” BenDeLaCreme said. She noted that the energy at the convention was infectious, with people excited, motivated, and passionate about the future.

Roll Call: Democrats’ LGBTQ delegates cheer barrier-breaking candidates

By: Daniela Altimari

• Running for a House seat in Texas, a state that has never elected an openly LGBTQ person to Congress, Democrat Julie Johnson is highlighting her identity as a gay woman.

• “My message was, ‘I’m gay. … I’m gay all day,’” Johnson told a room full of LGBTQ delegates at a Democratic National Committee caucus meeting on Wednesday, a few hours before the party convention gaveled into session. 

• “If you’re a candidate, be yourself,” she said. “Don’t hide from your truth, own it. Campaign on it. People value it. They understand who we are. They will vote for you.’’

• Johnson, who serves in the Texas Legislature, is heavily favored to win the seat, which is being vacated by a fellow Democrat, Rep. Colin Allred, who is running for Senate. She would become the first openly LGBTQ member from the entire South, which in recent years has become a testing ground for anti-LGBTQ legislation.

• Johnson wasn’t the only barrier-breaking candidate at the caucus event. Sarah McBride, a Delaware state senator running for the state’s at-large congressional seat, is the favorite to become the first transgender member as a successor to Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, who is running for Senate.

• With the crowd in the downtown McCormick Center meeting room chanting her name, McBride stood at the podium and took in the moment. “I am so moved by today,’’ she said. “If you could have told my 10-year-old self that there would be a room full of amazing Democrats chanting my chosen name, I never would have believed it.”

NewsOne: Youth Engagement Top Priority As Democrats Prepare To Galvanize Young Voters Following DNC

By: Bilal G. Morris

• During a Youth Council forum on the second day of the convention, vice presidential nominee Tim Walz spoke directly to an audience of young voters about climate change, abortion access and education costs, three issues very important to Americans 36 and under.
  
• “Around climate change, [young voters] need to take a role,” Walz said. “You know why? Because I’m going to be dead long before the impact … and you and your generation are going to feel the brunt of it.”
  
• He also encouraged them to stay excited because the race was going to be close.
  
• “[This election] is gonna be close … but it’s going to be won by your demographic,” he said. “You’ve got all the energy … sleep when you’re dead, not now.”

Illinois Times: Kentucky governor, Gwen Walz address Rural Caucus at the DNC

By: David Blanchette

• Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear knows a thing or two about rural America and politics.

• “My first job was bucking a stall at a horse farm,” Beshear said. “And nothing prepares you for politics like bucking stalls.”

• Beshear was one of the keynote speakers at the Rural Caucus during Tuesday’s Democratic National Convention in Chicago. The caucus was primarily concerned with getting rural communities to vote in November and the issues that matter most to rural voters.

• “When we make infrastructure investments in rural areas it improves the lives of all people,” said Beshear as he applauded the Biden administration’s infrastructure programs. “The most important issues aren’t necessarily red or blue. They are what matter to everyday people.”

• A lot of the attention at the Rural Caucus was focused on vice presidential nominee Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota, who is originally from a rural community. Gwen Walz, Tim’s wife, spoke to the attendees. Both Tim and Gwen are teachers by profession.

• Gwen Walz, wife of vice presidential nominee and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, spoke to the Rural Caucus.

• “Tim and I share a belief that education can be transformative, particularly in small communities,” Walz said. “We see the value in every single person and don’t classify them in groups.”

• Former North Dakota Senator Heidi Heitkamp stressed Walz’s appeal to rural America, saying, “If Tim walked through your state fair you wouldn’t recognize him because he looks like everyone else.”

GazetteXtra: Bernie Sanders speaks at DNC labor caucus

By: Stan Milam

• Another speaker at the labor caucus, United Auto Workers President Shawn Fein, highlighted how President Joe Biden, Vice President and presidential candidate Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Harris’ running mate, all walked picket lines for labor.

• “It’s a question of which side are you on,” Fein said. “Either you are like Trump and you don’t give a damn about workers, or you stand with workers.”

• Reents said the IBEW and other labor unions are advocating for the Harris Walz team because all workers will be better off with a Harris administration.

• “It’s not just unions that benefit from a labor friendly administration,” Reents said. “This is a labor movement — a worker movement that benefits everyone.”

• Labor has ramped up its involvement compared to past campaigns, Harwick said.

• “I think we are getting the messaging out earlier now,” Harwick said. “Trump said he was helping workers, and now we know he wasn’t. It may have been that we didn’t educate our members well enough, but that won’t happen this time.”

• Reents said the Biden Harris administration demonstrated support for workers.

• “They know the issues — that’s not a problem,” he said. “But when you see them out on the picket lines, that shows everyone the level of their support.”

• Reents credited Biden and Harris for strengthening the program preserving pension plans.

• “That was a huge win for all workers, including those who were not in a union,” Reents said. “Again, that’s what this is about — all workers benefiting from a pro-labor administration.”

• UAW President Fein summed up the attitude of labor’s involvement in the presidential election. “Stand up, show up and speak up for Kamala Harris.”

Maryland Reporter: Democrats – including Maryland’s Moore – take on GOP proposals to cut vets’ programs

By: James Matheson

• Republican proposals to slash veterans programs have been drawing fire this week from Democratic veterans and delegates, including Maryland Gov. Wes Moore.

• “I’m excited for the fact that we got one of our own that’s about to be the next vice president of the United States,” Moore told the Veterans and Military Families Council at the Democratic National Convention Thursday. “It’s exciting to think that we’re going to have someone like that who’s not just helping to drive our policy, but who’s helping us to remind ourselves of our moral obligation.”

• At issue are plans in Project 2025 – written by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank – to  decrease funding to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

• “Trump’s Project 2025 will slash veteran benefits and force VA hospitals to close across the nation,” Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Arizona, told the Thursday night convention crowd. “Show some respect. So, for the 18-year-old who decides to enlist, for the families like mine who prayed every night that their loved one would come home, for our troops stationed thousands of miles away, for my fellow Marines of Lima Company, let’s Elect Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.”