DNC chair Jaime Harrison rallies with Charles Booker in west Louisville

The national Democratic Party showed U.S. Senate candidate Charles Booker some love this week by sending a top official to Louisville to stump for his David vs. Goliath bid to defeat Republican Sen. Rand Paul.

Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison joined Booker Tuesday, meeting with local union leaders and other folks during the day before appearing at a fundraiser to support the Kentuckian's candidacy and then at a campaign rally that evening, where over 300 people gathered at the Kentucky Center for African American Heritage.

Booker's campaign generally has lacked significant support from national Democratic organizations, and Booker indicated he hopes Harrison's visit can change perspectives on and combat cynicism about his challenge to Paul.

At Tuesday's rally, Louisvillian and singer-songwriter Marzz warmed up the crowd with a few songs before Kentucky Democratic Party Chair Colmon Elridge delivered the first speech of the night.

More:Could DNC chair's visit get national Democrats to rally behind Charles Booker?

Elridge acknowledged that perception, but said Tuesday: "When we're told we can't achieve something, we have the audacity to say: 'Just wait.'"

Election forecasters widely expect Paul to sail to reelection, despite Booker's challenge, in increasingly Republican Kentucky on Election Night this November.

When Harrison came onstage, he talked about what the Democratic Party has accomplished nationally since winning the White House and a slim Senate majority in 2020, including enacting the American Rescue Plan, a bipartisan infrastructure law, the biggest gun reform law in decades and the Inflation Reduction Act. (Paul voted against all four.)

Harrison said they'll deliver even more if Kentuckians send Booker to Capitol Hill.

"Folks, what is important in politics is not to tell people what we are going to do, but to show people what we will do," he said. "And that is what sets Charles Booker apart from Rand Paul. That is the difference between Charles Booker and so many people who are in politics. Because for him, it is not just having the speeches. He's about going into the community, from the hood to the holler."

Hope was a big theme for the night, with Harrison telling the crowd:

"In this nation, in a state where they have never had an African American serve as a United States senator − in this nation, we can turn that hope into action. ... If we're really serious about bringing hope all across the nation, there's another four-letter word that we have to use."

Some people in the crowd shouted out the answer: "Vote!"

Harrison introduced Booker as "our hope warrior," and people welcomed the would-be senator with cheers.

"Thank you for believing with me," Booker told the Kentuckians who came to rally around him that night.

“We have an opportunity to seize power in a way that is historic. Rand Paul and Mitch McConnell want us to doubt. They want us to sit down," he said. "... This movement is not defined by the doubters. It's defined by the doers. I'm asking you to be a doer with me."

Morgan Watkins is The Courier Journal's chief political reporter. Contact her at mwatkins@courierjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter: @morganwatkins26.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: DNC chair Jaime Harrison rallies with Charles Booker in Louisville