COLUMBUS, Ohio — Democrats are getting ready for their four days in the national political spotlight with the Democratic National Convention starting Monday. Ohio's delegation is ready to play their role next week in Chicago after already taking care of a major responsibility.
Democratic delegates chose Vice President Kamala Harris as the party's official nominee in a roll call vote last week. Ohio's 144 delegates all cast their votes for her.
Ohio House Minority Leader Allison Russo (D- Upper Arlington) is one of Ohio's convention delegates. She says the fact that they already cast their votes won't take away from the excitement of the historic event celebrating Harris as the nominee.
Russo says since President Joe Biden stepped aside and endorsed Harris, the momentum and excitement within the party have really taken off.
"I thought that we'd get sort of this initial bump," Russo said. "We certainly felt it being out in our communities talking to voters at events and at the doors, but that has continued. We're three weeks past when that change happened. I think that will only grow as we're coming out of the convention."
The Democratic National Convention is a full month after the Republican National Convention. Russo believes that is also an advantage for the Democrats when it comes to momentum.
Even though the delegates have already voted for Harris, there is plenty of business to do at the convention. Russo says she and other Ohio delegates will be taking part in committee and caucus meetings and spending time with delegates from other states talking about issues and the party platform.