The 1996 Democratic National Convention was held at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois, from August 26 to August 29, 1996. President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore were nominated for reelection. It was the first national convention of either major party to be held in Chicago since the 1968 Democratic convention, and, until the 2024 Democratic National Convention, it was the most recent presidential nominating convention held in the city by either major party. The convention was organized in conscious contrast to 1968: contemporaneous reporting emphasized that Chicago police were studying the lessons of the earlier convention and that city officials saw the gathering as an opportunity to demonstrate that Chicago could host a major convention without a reprise of the violence that had scarred its image in 1968.
Chicago, Kansas City, Los Angeles, New Orleans, New York, and San Antonio were originally considered as possible host cities. Los Angeles withdrew its bid after the 1994 Northridge earthquake, and Kansas City later withdrew as well.
On August 4, 1994, it was announced that Chicago had beaten out the other finalist, San Antonio, for the right to host the convention. This marked the first time that Chicago had hosted a major presidential-year political convention since 1968, and the first time a political convention had been held in the recently completed United Center.
During the bidding, Chicago was seen as a frontrunner. One dynamic in Chicago's favor was that chairman of the Democratic National Committee David Wilhelm had strong connections to the city. Also seen as helpful to Chicago's chances was the goodwill that Mayor Richard M. Daley had earned with Clinton by helping to lobby Chicago-area congressmen to support the North American Free Trade Agreement. The fact that First Lady Hillary Clinton had been raised in the Chicago suburbs was also regarded as a plus, as were Clinton's close ties to the mayor's brother William M. Daley and Mayor Daley's endorsement of Clinton during the 1992 Democratic Party presidential primaries. Additionally, Illinois was projected to be a potential battleground state in 1996.
Chicago also proposed the largest funding package among the bid cities, with organizers promising to raise $32 million for the convention.
This was the 25th major-party national convention to be held in Chicago, more than any other American city.
Ahead of the convention, Mayor Daley dedicated significant resources to beautification projects in order to project a favorable image of Chicago. New trees and decorative potted flowers were planted in the West Loop and downtown, while roads were repaved, decorative planters were added, ornate street lamps were installed, and the Madison Street overpass above the Kennedy Expressway was adorned with red, white, and blue stars. Greektown also underwent a streetscape enhancement project. In the weeks before the convention, demolition of five buildings at the Henry Horner Homes near the venue was completed; city officials maintained that the timing of some of the West Loop improvements was coincidental. Temporary convention decorations included stickers advertising the event on 2,000 street signs.
A temporary convention bus route was established between the United Center and locations in the Loop. Events related to the convention were staged throughout Chicago in order to showcase the city, and organizers anticipated hundreds of ancillary events around the gathering.
The convention also introduced a new four-screen prompting system for speakers, consisting of two glass teleprompters, an inset lectern monitor, and, for the first time at a convention, a large under-camera confidence monitor.
The convention's keynote speaker was Governor Evan Bayh of Indiana. The nomination speech was delivered by Senator Christopher Dodd of Connecticut. Other notable speakers included former New York governor Mario Cuomo, First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, actor Christopher Reeve, House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt, Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, and Senators Russ Feingold, Joe Biden ,John Kerry, and Ted Kennedy.
With Hillary Clinton speaking at the Democratic convention after Elizabeth Dole had spoken at the 1996 Republican National Convention, 1996 was the first election cycle in which both major-party nominees' spouses addressed their respective conventions. Later analyses have treated such speeches as a routine feature of modern conventions.
Clinton's acceptance speech on August 29 set out a broadly future-oriented agenda built around tax credits for higher education, projected job growth, welfare reform, environmental protection, and maintaining American leadership abroad. Among the proposals he highlighted were the HOPE Scholarship tuition tax credit and a pledge to "build a bridge to the 21st century".
The speech also explicitly connected the convention's theme of hope to Clinton's 1992 acceptance speech. In 1996 Clinton recalled that four years earlier he had told Democrats that he still believed in "a place called Hope"; he then said that his nationwide train trip in the summer of 1996 had shown him that "hope is back in America". Contemporary coverage emphasized the same blend of optimism and futurism, noting Clinton's declaration that Democrats should build "a bridge to the future" rather than "a bridge to the past".
Lyndon LaRouche had run for president through multiple parties over multiple election cycles. In 1996, he again sought the Democratic nomination, despite a ruling by Democratic National Committee chairman Donald Fowler that LaRouche "is not to be considered a qualified candidate for nomination of the Democratic Party for President". LaRouche nevertheless received enough primary support in Louisiana and Virginia to claim one delegate from each state, but those delegates were not seated.
LaRouche and supporters then sued in federal court, arguing that the refusal to recognize his delegates violated the Voting Rights Act. After the district court rejected the claim on August 15, 1996, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit later upheld dismissal of the case, holding in part that the DNC and its chairman were not subject to the Act's preclearance requirements in the way LaRouche claimed.
Clinton was renominated for a second term on the first ballot. The convention recorded 4,277 delegate votes for Clinton and 12 abstentions, for a total of 4,289 delegates. Gore was renominated without opposition.
The balloting:
Clinton and Gore went on to defeat Bob Dole and Jack Kemp in the November general election by 379 electoral votes to 159, winning 49.2 percent of the popular vote to Dole's 40.7 percent.
On August 28, civil-rights historian Randy Kryn and 10 others were arrested by the Federal Protective Service during a protest demonstration.
During the convention, many delegates danced to "Macarena"; Al Gore's notably stiff rendition of the dance became one of the best-remembered visual moments of the week.
The original Broadway cast of Rent performed "Seasons of Love" at the close of the convention.
Taste of Chicago, a group of restaurants associated with the city's annual street festival, catered the press area.
Chicago's performance as host city was widely regarded as successful. Retrospectives have described the convention as a moment of political and civic "redemption" for Chicago, particularly because it was judged against the long memory of 1968 and was seen as having come off in comparatively orderly fashion.