How to watch the Democratic National Convention from home

Updated August 22, 2024 at 3:13 PM ET

The NPR network will be broadcasting live from Chicago throughout the week bringing you the latest on the Democratic National Convention.

Tonight is the final night of the 2024 Democratic National Convention. Here’s who we know is speaking tonight.

The main programming at the DNC is expected to take place around 6:30-11:00 PM ET (5:30 PM-10:00 PM CT).

How to track

NPR will have live video from the United Center each night of the convention beginning at 6:00 PM ET.

On Wednesday and Thursday evenings, NPR will host live video coverage with reporters from Chicago and Washington, DC

➡️ Watch: DNC Night 3 Highlights: Tim Walz, Bill Clinton, Oprah and Stevie Wonder

➡️ Watch: DNC Night 2 Highlights: The Obamas, Doug Emhoff and Bernie Sanders

➡️ Watch: DNC Night 1 Highlights: The Bidens, AOC and Maxine Waters

Follow live updates from the convention

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Tune into NPR’s live blog nightly for the latest updates, analysis, fact-checking and color; listen and watch NPR’s special coverage on many public radio stations.

History of the Chicago DNC

Chicago has hosted a number of party conventions – most recently the DNC in 1996 and perhaps most notably the DNC in 1968.

As senior editor and NPR correspondent Ron Elving says, “Chicago ’68 has been repeatedly evoked as a symbol of disaster like the sinking of the Titanic or the stock market crash of ’29.”

At the time, President Lyndon Johnson had announced that he was not running for re-election, and Robert F. Kennedy had been assassinated. Vice President Hubert Humphrey was then left to fight for the nomination with anti-war Senator Eugene McCarthy.

Huge crowds of demonstrators came to Chicago in 1968 for the DNC, protesting US involvement in the Vietnam War, pushing for racial equality and ending poverty.

Protesters and police ended up clashing, with violent footage televised for the nation to see.

But beyond the convention venue, there were a number of echoes of 1968 that played out in 2024. (And not just in the political world: Both years were also Planet of the Apes movies, the Summer Olympics and the US lunar missions, as NPR’s Rachel Treisman notes.)

In April, historian Keith Orejel summed it up in a post on X, formerly Twitter:

“I mean, well, Columbia is in turmoil and there’s widespread anti-war activism, that could be a coincidence. But there’s a guy named Robert Kennedy running for president and (the Democratic National Convention) is in Chicago. How could is that a little?”

A few months later, we had another parallel from 1968: President Biden announced that he would not seek the nomination.

But while the shadow of 1968 hangs over this week’s convention, especially in terms of protesters and security, the convention itself is more of a formality than it was in 1968 — we know who will be nominated.

➡️ It’s official: Kamala Harris becomes the Democratic presidential candidate in 2024

➡️ Harris picks Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as his running mate

The NPR network will be broadcasting live from Chicago throughout the week bringing you the latest on the Democratic National Convention.