NYT Columnist Pleads With DNC to Skip Celebs, Invite ‘Normal People’ to Convention: ‘You Can Be a Regular White Guy’

A columnist with The New York Times, told CNN on Saturday that Democrats would be wise to skip packing the Democratic National Convention with celebrities.

Writer and podcast host Jamelle Bouie argued in his recent column that allowing “normal people” to be featured front and center at the DNC instead of big name celebrities and influencer would demonstrate that the party is committed to courting regular and disenfranchised voters across America.

On Saturday’s The Chris Wallace Show, guest host Kara Swisher discussed next week’s Chicago convention and asked Bouie how he thought Democrats should handle the optics.

“Jamelle, one of the things that DNC – the convention’s next week – should the Dems pack it with celebrities?” She asked. “How should it go here? I mean to me, they should be talking about policy, but should they pack it with celebrities? Some have speculated, you know, Taylor Swift or Beyonce or something like that, what do you think should happen?”

Bouie replied that in his estimation, Vice President Kamala Harris chose Democratic Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate in order to attract voters the party has been losing for years. He said:

I think it would be a mistake to pack it would celebrities. I think that when you look at what the message the ticket is clearly trying to push, and that’s apparent with the choice of Walz, which is that this is a ticket of normalcy. These are normal people. Walz’s attack on Republicans, that they are weird, that Trump and Vance are weird, I think you would want to emphasize that in the convention by focusing on normal people. I think one of the strengths of the Walz pick is it sends this clear message that you can be a regular white guy.

Bouie concluded, “You can be a regular basic white guy and still be a loyal Democrat. You can still – you’ll still have a part in this party, and not just apart, but you can be at the very top of the leadership. And sort of emphasizing that kind of message, I think is what they should do with that convention.”

Watch the clip above via CNN.

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