Comanche County Democratic Party Vice-Chair traveling to Chicago for Democratic National Convention

The prospect of going to the Democratic National Convention this week gives Lawton resident Mark Smith goosebumps.

Vice-Chair of the Comanche County Democratic Party Mark Smith will travel to Chicago as an Oklahoma delegate at the Democratic National Convention this week.

To be able to go to the Democratic National Convention as a state-convention delegate, Smith had to be voted in. The Oklahoma Democratic Party has a voting process where people send in an application and during the party’s state convention, the party will spread it to members in every county to vote on who should be going to the DNC as a delegate. This year, 41 people from the state of Oklahoma will be going to the convention either as district delegates, state convention delegates, or superdelegates, according to the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs.

In his application process, Smith wanted to represent the state as a retired Army veteran with over 26 years of active-duty experience, someone who has a leadership role in Comanche County’s Democratic Party, and someone who lives in and can represent rural areas. When he gets to the DNC, he plans on talking to members of different rural commissions to push for funding and infrastructure improvements in rural areas.

“People live in rural areas, too. It’s not empty like people think,” said Smith. “Rural areas and the people that live in them need representation at a state and federal level too.”

Since President Joe Biden has stepped down, excitement for Vice President Kamala Harris has grown tremendously. Smith has given his full support to Harris since hearing that she could be the nominee and supports the campaign even more with the addition of her running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

“It is time for a fresh set of eyes to look over everything,” said Smith.

After officially being made the Democratic nominee, Smith believes that for Harris to win, she needs to be honest and represent everybody.

“She’s younger and has experience as a prosecutor. I think she’s going to bring an understanding and lay the pavement of a new vision of America,” said Smith. “You’re there as a public worker, so you need to represent everybody. If she can do that, she’ll get a good response from both sides.”

Walz was named as Harris’ running mate on Aug. 6 and since then the buzz around their campaign has only grown. Walz is the perfect choice to be Harris’ running mate, according to Smith.

“I support him wholeheartedly,” said Smith. “Maybe I’m biased because he’s military and so am I, but he just gives you that good feeling that you want in a politician.”

The change in nominees for the Democratic party has reenergized voters, according to Smith. He said that he’s spoken with members of the Republican party who have had positive things to say about Harris and her campaign, which has added to his excitement. He also noted that the Democratic Party itself seems less divided than it was when Biden was still the nominee.

“It’s been more unified and positive,” said Smith. “People were skeptical before and unsure. Now they’ve heard policies and gotten to learn their character and can back their positions on issues.”

When he gets to the DNC, Smith is expecting a lot of excitement in the building. “I think it’s going to be like a rock concert. … An energetic crazy. I’m getting goosebumps thinking about it.”