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Instead of packing patriotic outfits and hopping flights to Milwaukee, dozens of delegates from across Southern California are gearing up for this week’s Democratic National Convention by laying out their comfiest clothes and checking their internet connections.

Democrats are going 100% virtual for this year’s four-day rally, a move the party made to avoid spreading the coronavirus. Veteran delegates say they’ll miss the connections and enthusiasm that come with a physical gathering, insisting those elements can’t be replicated in video calls and online chats. Still, they believe the virtual event will fire them up. And they plan to complete the political mission of the convention, which is to adopt a platform and formally nominate former Vice President Joe Biden as the Democratic Party’s candidate for president in the Nov. 3 election.

On both issues, some local progressives remain split.

There’s lingering division over support for Biden over Bernie Sanders, the U.S. Senator from Vermont who won California’s March 3 presidential primary by more than 400,000 votes.

Meanwhile, a number of local delegates have replaced a plan to protest at the Milwaukee convention with car caravans they’re holding throughout Southern California. Their hope is to force a virtual floor vote on a Democratic party platform that, for now, doesn’t call for Medicare for all or the national decriminalization of cannabis.

“These issues are important and that’s why we’re going to be persistent,” said Ellie Gonzalez, 26, a Sanders delegate from Anaheim.

“We do want unity. But we need them to step forward first and give us something real.”

Locals join remotely

The convention is slated to kick off Monday morning. Each of the four days will feature caucus and council meetings, including sessions focused on women, the environment, labor, Muslims and more. Each night will include a slate of speeches and musical performances, with Sanders, President Barack Obama, Billie Eilish, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, The Chicks and many others taking the virtual stage. On Thursday night, Biden is slated to close things out with his acceptance speech.

The main events will be carried on local and cable TV news channels each evening. But all of the daily programs will stream live on a variety of digital platforms, including on DemConvention.com, on services such as Amazon Prime or by saying “Alexa, play the Democratic National Convention” to any Alexa-enabled device.

Los Angeles City Controller Ron Galperin, a Democratic superdelegate who supports Biden, said the virtual format does have an advantage — it allows more people to attend more convention events. Still, he and others say, there’s a physical element to generating enthusiasm that’s tough to match digitally.

“These are events designed around in-person contact,” said Christina Bellantoni, a journalism professor at USC.

“A friendship forged in the hallways could lead to amassing presidential power decades later. Deals are sealed … The pandemic wiped that away. And no matter how carefully orchestrated the program will be, you’ve set back your party-building.”

Melahat Rafiei, a superdelegate from Orange and the first First Iranian American in the country elected to the Democratic National Committee, said the white dress she’d picked out for the final night of the convention is no longer needed. And veteran Orange County delegate John Hannah, who’s been attending Democratic conventions since 1984, said he’ll miss the relationship building that comes with rituals like the friendly annual fight to see who takes home the state sign that’s held up on the convention floor.

Still, both delegates said they’re happy to save a few thousand dollars by tuning in from home, and they’re proud of the party for prioritizing public safety.

Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia will speak during the convention, though he couldn’t say exactly when. Party officials said Friday, Aug. 14, that details had not yet been finalized.

“It’s exciting to be able to represent Long Beach and California at the convention,” Garcia said. “It’s an opportunity to talk about why Joe Biden is absolutely ready on day one to be president. And it’s an opportunity to showcase what he wants to do after we win in November.”

Garcia was an early supporter of U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris in her presidential bid, and he endorsed Biden only after Harris dropped out. Now, he said, he’s excited to see Harris become the first Democrat from California on the ticket for a major political party.

“She’s been so great to us, locally,” Garcia said of Harris. “And, of course, just from my perspective, she’s someone that’s a friend and a mentor.”

Rep. Gil Cisneros, D-Yorba Linda, whose 39th District includes portions of Orange, Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties, will hold a virtual rally with his supporters before the main event Thursday night. He said he’s most excited to see Biden and Harris demonstrate how they’ll help restore the American people’s trust in their leaders.

Party divisions remain

The theme of the convention is “Uniting America.” And local delegates — even those who differ from the party platform and chosen nominee — say there is massive unity around getting President Donald Trump out of office.

“When I see Donald Trump kidnapping babies at the border from Latin American refugees, and when I see secret police deployed in Portland and throwing people into unmarked vehicles … it really scares me,” said Joey Aszterbaum, a Sanders delegate from Hemet who’s Jewish and the son of an Argentinian immigrant.

That’s why Aszterbaum said he’ll back Biden on Nov. 3 despite disagreeing with his stance on universal healthcare, decriminalizing marijuana and other policies.

“I don’t have to vote for Joe Biden in order for him to win California. But I believe we need an overwhelming rejection of the fascist Trump administration.”

Other Bernie supporters aren’t yet on board.

Gonzalez hasn’t yet decided if she’ll vote for Biden or a third-party candidate in November.

One issue: If Biden won’t back universal healthcare, Gonzalez said she’d like to see him at least push for the idea of setting a lower minimum age for Medicare.

“Biden needs to give us real concessions here,” she said, “Until he shows me some real support for my community, I don’t think that I could in good faith return the support.”

Sanders delegate William Summerville, a minister and hospice chaplain who lives in Long Beach, said this election feels like 2016, when, in his view, progressives were ignored by Democratic party leadership. He said he can’t get behind Biden, who he feels is trying harder to appeal to disaffected Republican swing voters than to progressive Democrats. So Summerville said he plans to skip voting for president Nov. 3, and instead will focus on down-ballot Democratic candidates.

Some local delegates are frustrated that the virtual format means they won’t have the same opportunities to express these concerns that they would in a traditional convention. That’s why, last week, Summerville and Gonzalez helped organize a car caravan around Disneyland, a move that protested a lack of party support for Medicare for all. And this weekend, in Los Angeles, they’re joining other caravans focused on topics such as police brutality and racial justice.

Gonzalez, who works at Disneyland, said she doesn’t have health insurance.

“That is terrible to be in that position in the middle of a pandemic,” she said.

“I am one of the many people who are saying it is time that we include universal healthcare in our party platform.”

That’s the same reason Zenaida Huerta, 22, and her father, Henry Huerta, 66, — who are both Sanders delegates from Whittier — are among an estimated 900 of the party’s 4,750 delegates expected to vote against official Democratic party platform.

“Not only has Medicare for all always been a core issue,” the younger Huerta said, “but this pandemic especially has exposed a lot of the failures of employer-based health insurance and has affected people’s ability to have employment altogether.”

Four years ago, similar party division helped give Trump enough votes, nationally, to pull out an Electoral College win, as some disaffected Sanders supporters never came around to voting for candidate Hillary Clinton.

Garcia acknowledged that this year’s party platform doesn’t completely align with his own views, although he wouldn’t say specifically where he believes it falls short. But overall, he said, he supports it.

“There are always things in the platform we wish were different,” he said. “But it’s moving in the right direction. The platform is progressive and focused on working people. And it addresses issues around health care and climate change.

“The thing about the (Democratic) party,” he added, “is it’s a big tent, and there’s got to be room for everybody and different perspectives.”

The Republican National Convention will take place Aug. 24-27, with some in-person events in Charlotte, North Carolina. Follow the Southern California News Group for previews and coverage of both events over the next two weeks.