‘Overshadowed By Chaos’: CNN Panelists Identify Key Variable At DNC Which Could ‘Damage’ Harris’s Appeal To Voters

CNN panelists predicted Saturday on “The Chris Wallace Show” that anti-Israel protests at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) could “damage” Vice President Kamala Harris’s reintroduction to voters.

CNN host Chris Wallace began the segment by recalling how anti-Vietnam War protests during the 1968 DNC in Chicago “hurt” Democrats. He then asked panelists whether pro-Palestine demonstrations could spoil Harris’s “coming out party” at the 2024 DNC.

Kristen Soltis Anderson, a New York Times contributing opinion writer, said she expects protests against the war in Gaza to disrupt Harris’s DNC debut. She speculated the vice president’s presidential play could struggle if it appears that “Democrats can’t even control their own convention.”

“I expect that they likely will. They have certainly expressed interest in doing so, and I think that would be really, really big problem for Harris because she is using this convention week to introduce herself to voters who actually don’t know that much about what she has done as vice president over the last four years,” Anderson said.