For nearly 15 minutes, the United Center in Chicago was a blur of American flags fluttering in the air. Thousands of Democratic delegates, on hand to hear Kamala Harris accept her party’s nomination, chanted “USA! USA!” as they sang along to “Texas Hold ’Em” by Beyoncé and “Born in the USA” by Bruce Springsteen.
And they rose to their feet as the Chicks came out to sing the national anthem.
It was a final night of the Democratic National Convention, a choreographed display that offered powerful evidence of the party’s intention to appropriate what has been a defining symbol of Republican campaigns since Richard M. Nixon won the White House in the midst of the Vietnam War in 1968: patriotism and love of country.
From the appearance of Olympic gold medal heroes, symbols of American success, to Ms. Harris’s speech proclaiming the “privilege and pride of being an American,” there seemed little doubt that Democrats were intent on showing that Republicans are not the only party that can wrap itself in the American flag.
“For everyone here and everyone watching, I want you to proudly claim your patriotism,” said Representative Elissa Slotkin of Michigan. “You are here because you love your country. Do not give an inch to pretenders who wrap themselves in the flag but spit in the face of freedoms it represents.”
Republicans have long sought to use patriotism as a weapon against Democrats, and often with success. Nixon in 1968 assailed the party for the opposition to what he described as the battle against Communist forces in the Vietnam War. President George W. Bush challenged the war record of his Democratic challenger, John Kerry, in 2004. Donald J. Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, routinely hugs the American flag at his events.
An attack on Harris’s patriotism could have particular resonance in some corners of the country, Democrats say. As a Black woman, Ms. Harris faces stereotypes that white politicians don’t. She was raised largely the San Francisco Bay Area, a part of the country long identified with leftist politics and antiwar protests.
