We’re under 100 days until the U.S. Presidential election and the political world’s attention turns to Chicago beginning Monday for the Democratic National Convention.
Since the Republicans held their convention last month in Milwaukee, the nature of the race has flipped upside down. When former President Donald Trump formally accepted the Republican nomination he was riding high. Following a disastrous debate performance by President Joe Biden and an attempt on Trump’s life in Pennsylvania, the 45th president led Biden by 5 percentage points (52-47) in a CBS News/YouGov poll conducted from July 16-18. However, after Biden dropped out of the race allowing Vice President Kamala Harris to take his place and amid historically bad polling numbers for Trump VP choice JD Vance, Harris now is surging ahead of Trump in five key battleground states and leading nationally by nearly 3 percentage points according to 538.
President Biden, as well as former presidents Obama and Clinton, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, will speak at the convention. Biden is expected to kick things off on Monday, followed by Obama on Tuesday and the Clintons on Wednesday. Vice president nominee Tim Walz will also speak on Wednesday, while Harris will accept the party’s nomination and speak on Thursday.
Will Harris see a convention bump coming out of Chicago? Common orthodoxy has always suggested the existence of a convention bump, but ABC News recently reported that recent years have seen that become less prominent. Either way, nomination conventions remain major events on the political calendar. Here’s some details about how to watch the DNC from Chicago.
NBC
NBC News touts in a press release that they will have seven-plus hours of daily coverage across broadcast and streaming throughout the convention.
NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt will anchor primetime network coverage on Monday from 10-11 p.m. ET, while he will be joined by Today co-anchor Savannah Guthrie on Tuesday from 10-11 p.m. ET as well as Wednesday and Thursday from 9-11 p.m. ET. The pair will also obviously anchor their own shows, Guthrie on Today beginning at 7 a.m. ET from Wednesday-Friday while Holt will anchor NBC Nightly News from Chicago at 6:30 p.m. ET for all four nights of the convention. Meet The Press’ Kristen Welker will kick off the daily coverage in Chicago with Meet the Press NOW on the NBC News NOW platform each day of the convention at 4 p.m. ET.
CBS
CBS News has announced that its daily coverage will begin at 5 p.m. ET each day, with streaming options to include Paramount Plus, CBS News 24/7 and Pluto TV.
CBS Evening News anchor Norah O’Donnell, who will be stepping down from her post after the election, will spearhead the Tiffany network’s primetime coverage, including hosting editions of CBS Evening News each night of the convention from Chicago. The network said in a press release that O’Donnell will be joined in primetime each night from 8-11 p.m. ET by a group including John Dickerson, Robert Costa, Nancy Cordes, Ed O’Keefe, Weijia Jiang and Adriana Diaz. Of those three hours, however, only one (10-11 p.m. ET) appears to be on linear CBS television. The 8-10 p.m. ET block appears to be set for the CBS News 24/7 platform. Its morning show will also be represented in Chicago, as CBS MORNINGS co-anchor Tony Dokoupil will be in Chicago all week and co-anchor Gayle King will join Dokoupil in Chicago for a special edition of the morning program on Thursday, August 22, and the network says the pair will contribute to the coverage across platforms throughout the week.
ABC
ABC’s convention coverage from Chicago will be led by World News Tonight anchor David Muir.
In a press release, the network says it will air one hour of primetime coverage on Monday and Tuesday (10-11 p.m. ET) and two hours of primetime coverage (9-11 p.m. ET) on Wednesday and Thursday. The network says it will stream primetime coverage each day from 7 p.m. to 12 a.m. ET each day on its ABC News Live streaming channel with Hulu showcasing all of ABC News’ coverage. World News Tonight and Prime with Linsey Davis will both emanate from Chicago each day of the convention, while This Week will be anchored by co-anchor Martha Raddatz from the Windy City in advance of the convention on Sunday, August 18. ABC News Live will also have daily coverage beginning at 1 p.m. ET.
CNN
In its press release, CNN highlights that it will offer analysis across CNN platforms from the network’s anchors, correspondents, reporters and experts.
CNN’s coverage will kick off on Sunday, August 18 with State of the Union hosted by Jake Tapper at 9 a.m. ET from inside the United Center, site of the DNC. CNN says it will “offer robust convention coverage across digital platforms, with rolling live story updates, instant analysis around major storylines and vertical video capturing key moments, analysis, and feeds from reporters on the ground.”
Given that CNN is completely devoted to news, it is unsurprising to see that it will offer near 24/7 coverage from Chicago across its entire lineup of shows. As far as primetime coverage goes, Tapper and Anderson Cooper will anchor for CNN each night from 8 p.m. ET to 12 a.m. ET and will be joined by analysts such as Abby Phillip, Dana Bash and John King.
If you’re looking for a different point of view, a pair of comedy shows will hit the road and broadcast from Chicago. CBS’ Late Show with Stephen Colbert will originate from the Auditorium Theatre in something of a homecoming for host Stephen Colbert. Meanwhile, The Daily Show will also take its act on the road to Chicago, broadcasting from Athenaeum Center for Thought & Culture throughout the convention. Both shows are known for the comedic takes on the news of the day, especially when it comes to politics, so it makes perfect sense for the late night programs to go where the action is in the Windy City.
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