'A 5’4” Veep from Howard University…'

Aug 22, 2024

By Eli Stokols, Lauren Egan and Ben Johansen

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CHICAGO — Several hours before the DNC’s Thursday evening programming was set to begin, one of the stars of the show sat at a computer inside a small windowless United Center room just off section 117. She slipped her headphones back over her ears and, after a five second countdown, delivered her lines into the microphone: “Please welcome three-time Grammy-winning singer, superstar and global pop icon, PINK.”

As Pink began to rehearse on the convention stage, SYLVIA VILLAGRAN slipped the headset off and spoke with West Wing Playbook about what it’s like being the public address announcer of the DNC. (This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.)

Can I stay until you practice the BEYONCÉ intro?

No, we have no confirmation. … That was great reporting. You’re trying to catch us tired, huh?

Worth a shot. How did you start doing this?

I started in radio as a producer and DJ, and then somebody told me about voiceover work. I originally started doing only Spanish because I wasn’t allowed to audition in English, because of my Spanish surname, and because I speak Spanish and because I come from Spanish radio. So it took a really long time for that to change.

Beyoncé or not, you’ve introduced former presidents this week, countless lawmakers, OPRAH — do you process that when you’re doing this live?

I have all that before I come to the shows. I’m like, “Oh my goodness.” And then when I’m here, I have to be fully locked in.

We’re in the house that MJ built, home of the most iconic player introductions in sports. But announcing a political convention is a bit different. What are you trying to do when you’re reading these names?

Each production is asking for something very different and specific to the aesthetic, you know. You take a look at, for instance, this is a big stadium. There’s like, specific colors and lighting and the music and the vibe is, is a very specific style.

I think of myself as a frame to the painting. You know, it’s not about me. It’s about, really, the production, and making sure that everybody looks amazing and everything is pronounced properly. I don’t want to mess anybody’s name up. I want to make sure that I give them, you know, their moment up on the stage so I’m there of service, really, to the production

How do you make sure you pronounce things correctly? You just go through the list and practice?

We happen to have a pronunciation list. Here you go.

So when you see the accent over the “e” in Beyoncé, you can prepare for that…

Yeah, exactly. That’s right.

Do you adjust your tone or pace based on the music or mood in the arena?

On my headset, on one channel I have the [producers] who give me the calls and then the cues. And then on the other side is the program channel where I can hear music, and I can hear what’s happening in the audience, so I can get a real vibe off of what’s happening.

Everything is vibes. Do you plug into the actual speeches as they’re happening? Or just have to focus on the next read?

It depends. If I have an announcer right after, then probably not. But if I have time, I absolutely lock in on what's happening because I’m invested, too. This is my country, too.

Any speeches this week that have really moved you?

Coach Walz with his son gutted me. I literally had to not look because I would have started crying, and I can’t have that. So I have to just kind of cut it.

So did you have to audition for this job? Do you audition?

I used to have to. Now a lot of the productions know me. There’s a small group of live announcers.

So you did the Oscars in 2023 and were the first Latina to be the live in-program announcer on that broadcast. You’ve broken through yourself and now here you are doing the DNC for a candidate whose campaign is also, in a big way, about breaking through barriers.

This campaign, really, mirrors what’s happening in the world. I mean, for years, I was locked out of many opportunities. I wasn’t even considered. They would say, ‘Well, we’re not really looking for, you know, a Latin flair.’ They were not looking for an ethnic read. And it's like, well, I can give you an ethnic read, but I can also give you, like, a normal read. You know, I can do both. That’s possible.

Who I am and what I do didn’t exist before for a lot of people. They didn’t know that it is possible to speak both languages and to be able to live in both worlds.

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POTUS PUZZLER

What was the 1996 DNC walkout song?

(Answer at bottom.)

DNC NOTEBOOK

HOW'S EVERYONE DOING? Everything hurts. We are deeply regretting how late we stayed at the CNN-POLITICO Grill last night for “source meetings.” We cannot remember the last time we consumed a vegetable, or anything with nutritional value for that matter. After this week, we might never leave our apartments again.

Based on West Wing Playbook’s conversations with a number of you reading this newsletter, we know we’re not the only ones in physical pain today. Already people are wondering whether they will rally before tonight’s after-parties. A sense of dread is setting in about how many people one might run into at the airport tomorrow — especially among those delegates and DNC volunteers who are now regretting dipping their toes into the convention week hookup scene (we are told that it is, uhhhh, what’s the word we’re looking for???).

But we still have about 6 hours to go… so here we are! Back in the freezing cold United Center media file! Here’s what’s in our notebooks:

FASHION MEMO: A week before delegates descended on Chicago for the convention, the DNC Women’s Caucus sent an email asking members to make sure they packed a white outfit and pearls to wear on the final evening of the convention for Vice President KAMALA HARRIS’ acceptance speech. The goal was to project “unity” and show “we’re a team,” said ROGETTE HARRIS, a delegate from Pennsylvania, who was wearing a white knee-length dress and string pearls on Thursday.

But for the more fashion-forward delegates, the last-minute outfit request caused a bit of a fashion emergency. AMERICA BLAIR, a delegate from Alabama, said she rush-ordered her white pantsuit after receiving the email.

“We had a call to action to wear white in honor of the historic nomination, as well as to honor the suffrage movement,” Blair told us in the United Center halls. “I personally just wanted to represent Shirley Chisholm, Fannie Lou Hamer — pay homage to all the work that they put in to get us to this point.”

We’ll let her outfit speak for itself.

Alabama DNC delegate America Blair pictured at the United Center on August 22, 2024.

COUNTRY ROADS … Former Obama diplomat TOM COUNTRYMAN was seen rocking a camo “Harris-Walz” hat this afternoon in the United Center, munching on some sauced-up chicken tenders and fries. The camo hats have become a hot commodity in Harris world since Walz came on the ticket, selling out instantly when it was released weeks ago. And there’s a rhyme to the reason. “There’s never been anything that Donald Trump has hesitated to steal or appropriate for his own purposes,” Countryman said. “So whether that is the flag, whether that is camouflage hats, whether that is guns, he wants to make it his brand.”

“It’s a small thing, and it is a symbol that Americans who like to hunt, fish, live outdoors, shoot guns, do not have to fear a Democratic Party that respects the Second Amendment.”

Former Ambassador to Micronesia Bob Riley and Tom Countryman pictured at the DNC

THE OTHER HOT ACCESSORY: No, not friendship bracelets. That Kennedy guy! A number of women working for the convention or Democratic candidates told West Wing Playbook that many of them have been seeking out JACK SCHLOSSBERG, that ubiquitous nepo baby influencer with the great hair. “There is a photo line every time he enters a space,” said one convention official who described the Jack selfie as “the new currency in Democratic politics.” (We believe this official may have been overserved at the CNN-POLITICO Grill). “Our entire group chat is just a spotting of Jack and trying to find where he is.”

LOBSTER IN CHICAGO… YUMMMM: If you were dying for lobster po’boy or perhaps crab balls for dinner tonight, we hate to inform you that the Cajun Connoisseur food truck was ordered to shut down by the Chicago Health Department. The Cajun Connoisseur had been part of the half-dozen or so food trucks camped out all week by the media file center, fueling hungry reporters, DNC volunteers and security staff throughout the day. KYLE KELLY, the owner of Cajun Connoisseur, told us he did not actually violate any health codes (sounds like there’s some long standing beef between Chicago’s food truck community and the city government) and would be suing the Health Department.

THAT JOHN EDWARDS HAPPY HOUR WAS SO SAD: So we, of course, did not attend the happy hour 2004 vice presidential nominee JOHN EDWARDS threw for former staffers on Wednesday. But we heard about it anyway. Aaaaand there was, uh, a cash bar. Cool. One Edwards alum described the whole thing as “super weird,” in large part because the former North Carolina senator himself didn’t seem to recognize a lot of the people who showed up. “He didn’t actually ever get to know most of the people who went when they worked for him, so it was lots of introductions: ‘what did you do on the campaign? What do you do now?’ type of stuff,” the Edwards alum said.

WHAT THEY ATE: Imagine you’re at a Chicago Bulls game. Imagine you’re at this game for 15 hours and the only food you can eat are the chicken tenders and large Diet Cokes that’ll set you back $23. Imagine after all that, going to 3 different after parties until 3 a.m. That’s the reality for a lot of DNC-goers. But they rallied.

“This is the only week of my life where I’ve had a hot dog as an appetizer and a dessert in the same sitting,” said DNC spokesperson MATT HILL.

CAMPAIGN HQ

THE JOY, THE THRILL, THE FEAR… of women at the DNC watching a woman within reach of the White House — again. In this photo essay, Pulitzer Prize winning photographer DAVID HUME KENNERLY captured the range of emotions in the convention hall. Although Vice President Harris herself has chosen not to center her gender the way HILLARY CLINTON did in her campaign eight years ago, women delegates are acutely aware of being on the cusp of making history. “They’re in awe; it’s thrilling; it’s joyful. But there’s also scar tissue,” our ELENA SCHNEIDER writes alongside Kennerly’s images.

Although the fear that America isn’t ready for a woman president “still lingers … many in the party say the time is now ripe for Harris — and in fact it’s precisely the right moment for a woman to lead.” LOVIE WEST, a 74-year-old delegate from Olive Branch, Mississippi, described the polarized country as nearly at a Civil War stage” and predicted that “it’s going to take the hands of a woman to heal this nation.”

Wisconsin delegates wear cheeseheads during the 2024 Democratic National Convention.

David Kennerly

SPEAK FOR YOURSELF, MAX: Semafor’s MAX TANI (a West Wing Playbook alum) was hating on all levels in this GQ interview, specifically calling out political staffers and journalists at the DNC for being “collectively one of the worst-dressed large groups of people that you could possibly imagine.” Okay, he’s not entirely wrong. But clearly Max didn’t see Eli’s ecru chinos yesterday. Or this fit from our own JOHN HARRIS?? No one does it like this. It’s — as the youngins’ would say — very demure, very mindful (did we do it right?).

If you want to read about this week’s fashion highs and lows from a credible source, here’s DEREK GUY’s rundown for POLITICO Magazine.

TEXAS HOLD ‘EM: Vice President Harris trails former President DONALD TRUMP by 5 percentage points in Texas, cutting the Republican nominee’s one-time lead over President JOE BIDEN in half, Texas Tribune’s JASPER SCHERER reports. The survey, conducted earlier this month by the University of Houston, is among the first to measure where things stand since Biden dropped out. In June, the same pollster found Trump leading Biden by nearly 9 points. Trump is leading Harris among independent voters by just 2 points, down from a 24-point edge over Biden in June.

THE BUREAUCRATS

AWWWWWWWWW: As President Biden gears up for the final months on the job, even PETER DOOCY — the prodigal son of STEVE who has been a thorn in KARINE JEAN-PIERRE’s side — will miss him. “Yes. I really will,” Doocy told NY Mag’s CHARLOTTE KLEIN of whether he’ll miss Biden. “I don’t think it took long for them to know exactly what to expect from me. They knew I was always going to ask him something hard and he continued to engage for years after that and his team did, too,” he continues, “and so yes, I will miss him.”

EMMY. YOUR TWEET! With speculation swirling about a surprise Beyoncé performance to close out the DNC, White House political director EMMY RUIZ posted a single bee emoji from her account on X on Thursday afternoon. We have been hearing about Ruiz’s tweets from her colleagues for some time, but this one — either an epic tell or a shameless play for relevance — really got people’s attention.

Agenda Setting

ALL MY HOMIES HATE LEAD: The White House is taking new steps to fight lead contamination in school drinking water, WaPo’s SILIVIA FOSTER-FRAU and AMUDALAT AJASA report. On Thursday, the Biden administration announced $26 million in new funding to test for and remove lead from water in schools and child care facilities. While there is no national requirement to test for lead in school water, states and localities that have chosen to test often find it.

“We are making sure kids have a safe and healthy environment to learn and to grow and making sure everyone in this country can turn on the tap and drink clean water,” said deputy chief of staff NATALIE QUILLIAN.

LATEST IN THE MIDDLE EAST: Israel, Egypt and the U.S. are holding talks in Cairo on Thursday to try to come to an agreement on how to secure the Egypt-Gaza border and reopen the Rafah crossing, Axios’ BARAK RAVID reports. Israeli Prime Minister BENJAMIN NETANYAHU’s demand that Israel forces continue to be stationed along the Philadelphi corridor on the Egypt-Gaza border has become one of the main — and final — points of contention on the way to hostage release and ceasefire deal.

What We're Reading

Sensing opportunity with Harris, pro-Palestine Dems soften the protests (POLITICO’s Holly Otterbein, Nicholas Wu, Lisa Kashinsky and Shia Kapos)

She’s Everything. He’s Just Doug (The Atlantic’s Helen Lewis)

Ezra Klein, Wonk in Full, Is Almost a Celebrity at the DNC (NY Mag’s Charlotte Klein)

For all her star power, Kamala Harris is still ‘a blank slate’ to many voters (LAT’s Noah Bierman)

POTUS PUZZLER ANSWER

It was “Do You Hear the People Sing?” from the 1980 musical “Les Misérables,” according to California Lt. Gov. ELENI KOUNALAKIS, who told us that this week marked her eighth convention.

West Wing Playbook thought that was an interesting song choice, so we tried to find a clip of it, but the audio from way back in the day isn’t great. We will have to take Kounalakis’ word for it!

A CALL OUT! Do you think you have a harder trivia question? Send us your best one about the presidents, with a citation or sourcing, and we may feature it!

Edited by Steve Shepard and Rishika Dugyala.

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