I went to one for a candidate for the House district I lived in a few election cycles ago, It was mostly stump speeches and other “rah rah we’re gonna win!” style pontificating. But one thing I did not expect and I actually found interesting was the house candidate spent a lot of time introducing other local politicians that were in down ballot races in the district. City council seats, education board seats etc. That turned out to be really useful, because it meant I got to meet/ hear from candidates who I either had no idea existed or who were just a name of a flyer before then. I suppose that experience may not transfer to a national candidate rally though.

I went to a Sanders rally in 2016 here in Seattle. I went on to be a county Delegate for the caucus - our last caucus, thankfully. The energy was huge, the people were absolutely stoked, and the arena was 100% packed with lines wrapping around outside.

I went to a Clinton rally in 1992.

It was interesting. They didn’t allow signs on sticks, and Clinton was over an hour late. Really all I remember.

I work AV and have worked many of these events on both sides of the aisle. Presidents, VP’s, presidential hopefuls, the whole gamut. The democrats tend to be less organized but way more friendly and accommodating, the republicans are very their way or the highway, but tend to have all their ducks in a row. As far as attending you hear someone parrot ideas that you’ve already heard before, and either already agree with or don’t. They won’t take any hard stances and are unlikely to answer any questions, if they do they will answer the softball questions and sidestep the hard questions. All in all, largely a waste of time and resources.

The only two that I’ve worked that didn’t fall into that category was beto o’rourke and chris christy. Both of them were very engaging with the audience, were willing to answer hard questions, they actually seemed like they cared, and were doing this for country, not career.

Iowa here: We are where the campaigns try to hone their messages in front of small groups, before they take them nationally. So, I’ve been to many small to medium group gatherings. In small groups you can ask questions, but the replies are almost always some portion of a stump speech that may or may not contain an answer. I have had aides contact me later with better answers to my questions.

The biggest event I’ve attended was the Ames Straw Poll, back in 2012. It was interesting, meeting the candidates up close, then the big meeting at the end. None of the candidates I was interested in made it very far, and I don’t belong to that political party any more, but under the right circumstances I would go back.

I went to a John Kerry Rally in 2004. I got there about 30 minutes late and for whatever reason was ushered up to the front corral of people. Inexplicably, Bon Jovi takes the stage and shouts, “You what George Bush’s financial policy is? Bad Medicine!” and launches into the song ‘Bad Medicine’. I started laughing my ass off because it was corny as shit and Bon Jovi and I made eye contact for a brief second.

YMMV

I went to a Sanders rally in 2016. It was fun. Get there early! There was a line a mile long (literally) by the time we found our seats. Oh, as to what to expect, expect speeches and a tiny view of a person standing on a stage. There wasn’t really a show or anything. We just went to show support for our chosen candidate.

I went to a Bernie rally in 2015. It was by far (by a wide, wide margin) the best attended political rally we’d ever had in Idaho. It was at the college stadium and I chose to stand in the crowd nearest the podium. That was cool. But, I was standing in line for two hours and then the rally was about three hours. The standing floor at the rally was really crushed in so you don’t have personal space and you can’t really shift your weight and relax muscles. So, I recommend getting a chair if they’re available. I was getting so fatigued I was having a hard time enjoying it. I would totally do it again. But I’d head for seating.

My government teacher in high school took our class to a Herman Cain rally. It was… interesting. Towards the end of his campaign, so it was in a BBQ restaurant that had a stage for bands and maybe 50 people were there total. I don’t remember much about it, other than it was hard to hear because we were in a restaurant that was still playing music in the other room. I believe you’ll have a very different experience tonight lol

For various reasons, I’ve gone to political rallies for a good portion of my life. They can be really fun or incredibly boring. There’s a sense of community you get at a concert or church service, and at the good ones, it can be quite a charge to be sharing the moment with others. At the bad ones, it can seem shrill or too amped or on the opposite side being dull as dishwater.

tl;dr - basically like a school pep rally for adults, but without the drawback of being required

I saw Obama in 2016 in Elkhart, IN, where he made the infamous “if if if if we…” gaffe. It was a fun speech and the crowd was very energetic.

I attended a Ralph Nader rally in Boston ahead of the 2000 US presidential election. It was a high energy event, with an atmosphere almost like a pop music show. Nader and his VP candidate both spoke about their campaign positions, with frequent pauses for enthusiastic applause from the crowd. Nader was a third-party candidate, which meant that he was an outsider to the regular election process, and in particular was not invited to the nationally televised debates. There were frequent chants of “Let Ralph Debate”, and we were certain that the establishment was uncomfortable with that idea because they knew his policies would be very popular. Cash donations were collected, and many people wrote pro-Nader messages on the bills they gave.

I suspect your rally will be similar, really. Not quite as much of an outsider vibe, but maybe it’ll be replaced with an underdog vibe. Expect an optimistic event that tries to inspire enthusiasm. It’s not just about encouraging your direct support, but also about inspiring you encourage others to support the campaign.

In 2008 I saw Michelle Obama speak in the 18th and Vine jazz district in Kansas City.

It was electric. She wore red and looked like a million bucks, and the speech was amazing. At the time we all honestly believed the Obamas would be elected with a historic mandate to make real, lasting change.

I remember it fondly, because the Obamas are the same people who caused me to lose faith in our Federal Government. All we got from the first black president was more war, more expensive health care, and one dead terrorist, and he had the power to do so much more.

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Do mayoral ones count?