The first signs passed out to delegates Monday at the Democratic National Convention set the tone.

U-S-A, they read, and they got a lot of use in the United Center over the four-day spectacle.

Time and again, cameras at the made-for-TV party panned the crowd wildly waving the placards, as Democrats made a bid to claim the mantles of patriotism and love of personal freedom that have long been Republican turf.

When Republican former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan spoke from the stage of weathering former President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election, he summed up the Democratic star-spangled pitch as he crossed party lines.

“If you vote for Kamala Harris in 2024, you are not a Democrat. You are a patriot,” he said.

The crowd broke into a corresponding “U-S-A” chant, a common refrain throughout the week.

It was a moment that reflected much of the convention’s tenor as the Democrats made a determined effort to flaunt the red, white and blue. They didn’t just talk patriotic politics and policies, but also tried to tug at voters’ patriotic heart strings.

The week began with a long ovation for the Soul Children of Chicago choir’s stirring national anthem. Many showed up in camouflage “Harris-Walz” hats, an apparent new foil to Trump’s iconic red ball cap using a backcountry aesthetic. That same day, Bulls legend Steve Kerr recalled coaching the country’s men’s basketball squad to an Olympic gold medal.

“When we won – the American flag raised to the rafters, the national anthem playing, gold medals draped around the necks of our players, whose hands were held over their hearts  – it was the proudest moment of my life,” he said.

To be sure, political conventions always play up love of country. But the Democrats this year clearly see an open lane thanks to Trump’s controversial and divisive positions as the GOP standard bearer.

Delegates wave American flags on Aug. 22, 2024, during the Democratic National Convention at the United Center. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)

President Joe Biden capped night one by labeling veteran care the nation’s “one truly sacred obligation.” The president ended his speech, as he almost always has for decades, by saying, “may God protect our troops.”

The heightened focus on patriotism that kept coming was “music to my ears” for Chicago Ald. Gilbert Villegas, 36th.

The Marine Corps veteran and Democratic delegate described the timbre of the convention as a sea change after years of Republicans dominating narratives around patriotism.

“I’ll be damned if I let any political party dictate what my love for the country is,” he said. “We’re reclaiming our love for this country.”

For Villegas, that reclamation is buoyed by the selection of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, an Army National Guard veteran, as the party’s vice presidential nominee.

“I think people are tired of extremists on both sides,” Villegas said. “We need to get back to remembering that we are the greatest country in the world.”

U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth pinned the flag-waving turn on Biden’s decision to drop out and push Vice President Kamala Harris forward as his replacement. Duckworth, a combat veteran who lost both legs in the Iraq War, called Biden’s move “the most patriotic act of all.”

“President Biden’s act in stepping aside continues to infuse this convention with a real understanding of what it means to put the collective, that ‘e pluribus unum,’ the nation, before one’s self,” Duckworth said. “We are all feeling the desire to be at least as good as he is being.”

“It’s about the greater good, and that’s showing up over and over again,” she continued. “There is a lot of joy here.”

When asked if he sensed a shift, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson argued Democrats have always better understood “the best of the values of America.”

“It’s not just about symbolism, it’s about action,” he said, framing his own policy goals and those of Harris around raising education spending and home ownership access as patriotic.

Sue and Donn Larson, both South Dakota at-large delegates, on Aug. 22, 2024, during the Democratic National Convention at the United Center. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)

The Democrats’ focus on patriotism had a clear cornerstone: an oft-repeated assertion that America’s strength rests in its diversity. The party’s programming strived hard to celebrate the country’s many faces as a reason to love it.

At no point was that note clearer than during Tuesday’s symbolic roll call vote. A DJ kicked off the playful state-by-state statements with Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama.”

He went on to play a song for each state as local politicos gave an elevator speech summing their homeland’s contributions to the union. They touted moments on the right side of history, like Martin Luther King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” and Illinois’ early adoption of the constitutional amendments ending slavery and giving women the right to vote.

The zealous crowd danced the whole way. Later that night, former first lady Michelle Obama drove home the same point.

“All of our contributions deserve to be accepted and valued. Because no one has a monopoly on what it means to be an American. No one,” she said.

The claim on America love also saw the Democrats allege Republicans do not hold the country’s founding values close.

A jersey-wearing football team Walz once coached to a state championship preceded him on stage Wednesday night. Then Walz — pitched by the party as a sports-loving, dad-rock-listening Midwestern everyman — argued his opponents do not understand freedom.

A California delegate wears a Harris-Walz hat, Aug. 22, 2024, during the Democratic National Convention at the United Center. (Tess Crowley/Chicago Tribune)
Washington delegates listen to Sen. Tammy Duckworth on Aug. 20, 2024, during the Democratic National Convention at the United Center. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)

“When Republicans use that word, they mean that the government should be free to invade your doctor’s office. Corporations free to pollute the air and water. Banks free to take advantage of customers,” he said.

“But when we Democrats talk about freedom,” he continued, “we mean your freedom to make a better life for yourself and the people you love.”

It was a clear move by Democrats to reframe the long-held narrative that they are the party of big government while Republicans value American individuality.

The arena’s “U-S-A” signs were replaced by ones that read “Coach Walz” as he referred to the crowd as “team” in locker room style. At least one news outlet called the remarks a “pep talk.”

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As the speech ended, the crowd poured outside. There, the themes of inclusion in a big tent party and non-stop praise of America contrasted with a small sit-in being held by uncommitted delegates — meaning they aren’t backing a specific Democratic presidential candidate — calling for an end to U.S. military aid to Israel. Another protest outside the convention’s security zone was planned for Thursday evening, but crowds throughout the week had been far smaller than protest organizers had predicted.

The sit-in group was demanding a speaking slot go to a Palestinian American who could talk about the war in Gaza.

Their sit-in began hours after the parents of an American citizen kidnapped by Hamas on Oct. 7 who is still being held hostage spoke. As of Thursday afternoon, party officials had not relented, and the group remained seated near the United Center’s Madison Street doors.

Most in the crowd kept walking past the demonstrators.

But some high-profile Democrats stopped. The group’s leader began to sob after U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota sat down. Close to midnight, U.S. Rep. Summer Lee of Pennsylvania joined.

“To still speak up in your grief in the face of people who would essentially spit in your face, to do it anyway, is a love that some people will never understand,” Lee said.

jsheridan@chicagotribune.com