Joe and Jill Biden, Hillary Clinton to headline Democratic convention’s opening night
Hello, US politics blog readers, and thanks for joining us as we cover the first night of the Democratic national convention in Chicago. Just a few weeks ago, we were expecting the four-day event to be all about Joe Biden and his campaign for a second term, but everything changed after the president bowed out of the race and allowed his vice-president, Kamala Harris, to take over as the party’s presidential nominee. Now in the final months of both his presidency and his more than 50-year career in politics, Biden remains an important figure among Democrats, and will give the keynote speech at the convention this evening.
Before Biden takes the stage (which we’re expecting at about 10pm CT), we’ll hear from first lady Jill Biden, and luminaries from across the party’s ideological spectrum, including Hillary Clinton, the party’s first female nominee for president, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the New York congresswoman and progressive icon.
The convention kicked off at 5.15pm CT amid protests near the convention center against the war in Gaza.
Here’s what else we’ll be watching out for this evening:
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Tonight’s theme is “For the People”, and is intended to showcase how Democrats are, well, “fighting for the American people”, according to the convention’s organizing committee.
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The vice-president is expected to appear this evening, as is her running mate, Minnesota governor Tim Walz. But do not expect either to speak – Harris will deliver the final address of the convention on Thursday, and Walz will speak to the crowd on Wednesday.
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Harris and Walz have both already been formally nominated by the party, but the convention will nonetheless hold a ceremonial nomination of the Minnesota governor this evening.
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Speakers this evening will run the gamut, from members of Congress to state leaders, including longtime South Carolina representative and Biden confidante James Clyburn, New York governor Kathy Hochul and progressive Texas congresswoman Jasmine Crockett.
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Organized labor will be well-represented this evening, with joint remarks from six labor groups scheduled, as well as an address from United Auto Workers president Shawn Fain.
Key events
The pool reporter traveling with Kamala Harris reports that she has arrived at the United Center.
We have not laid eyes on her yet, and she is not expected to speak tonight. We expect her to enter the convention hall at some point and watch the speakers.
The convention just heard from Dick Durbin, Illinois’s long-serving Democratic senator.
“Donald Trump is like a bad boss,” Durbin said. Then he explained:
You want time off to take care of your sick parents? Ask Donald Trump – denied. In Donald Trump’s America, there is no paid family leave. Want to have a child, but need IVF, too bad, that’s shut down. You want a pay raise? Too bad, the boss just gave himself one so there’s nothing left for you. Donald Trump reminds us of a boss we all had, the guy who thinks he’s a very stable genius but is driving the company into the ground.
Now, get this. Donald Trump did make history. Let’s give him credit. He is one of only two presidents in the history of the United States to leave office with fewer Americans working than when he started. Now he wants a chance to make America unemployed again.
On stage now are Sandra Abrevaya and her husband, Brian Wallach, who suffers from ALS.
Wallach cannot speak, but Abrevaya is talking about the Biden administration’s efforts to help people suffering from the neurodegenerative disease.
“Brian and I are still driven by hope and by faith in what we can do collectively, and that includes the power of our vote. This November, we are voting for our future,” she said.
At their convention last month, the GOP didn’t talk much about the Covid-19 pandemic.
But the Democrats clearly see political advantage in doing so, with California congressman Robert Garcia hitting out at Donald Trump for his handling of the virus, in a speech to the convention.
“Like many of you, I watched in terror and horror as the Covid pandemic consumed our lives. As mayor, I fought for more hospital beds, for more tests and to make masks more accessible. What we needed at that moment was national leadership, but instead, we got Donald Trump,” said Garcia, who was mayor of Long Beach, California, when the virus broke out.
Like Flanagan, he noted how the virus had affected his own family:
While schools closed and dead bodies filled morgues, Donald Trump downplayed the virus. He told us to inject bleach into our bodies. He peddled conspiracy theories across the country. We lost hundreds of thousands of Americans, and our economy collapsed.
Now, that summer of 2020 my mom and my stepfather both died of the Covid pandemic, and I miss them every single day. So when Donald Trump and his Maga extremists like Marjorie Taylor Greene downplay the horror of the pandemic, it should make us all furious.
Peggy Flanagan, the lieutenant-governor of Minnesota who just spoke at the Democratic convention, is on track to make history if Kamala Harris wins.
Flanagan, who told the convention about being a member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe, will take over as governor of Minnesota, if Tim Walz, the current governor, steps down to serve as vice-president. That would make Flanagan the first Indigenous woman to serve as a US governor and also be the first female governor in the state’s history.
She is already the highest-ranking Indigenous woman in a state-level executive office. And, if Flanagan becomes governor, Minnesota’s senate president, Bobby Joe Champion, would become the state’s first Black lieutenant governor.
Democratic convention speakers have been emphasizing the importance of diversity in the party, a sharp contrast to the Republican convention. More on Flanagan here:
Democrats aren’t shying away from discussing the Covid-19 pandemic, with Minnesota’s lieutenant governor Peggy Flanagan taking the stage to talk about the tragedy the virus brought upon her family, and how Donald Trump was to blame.
“My brother Ron was the second person to die of Covid in the state of Tennessee. We couldn’t see him. We couldn’t have a memorial. And millions of American families went through the same thing. Our communities were suffering, our economy was struggling, and Donald Trump was playing games. Our country was brought to the brink by his failure to respond, but the Biden-Harris administration stepped in with quick and decisive action,” Flanagan said.
Then a video played showing Trump’s statements about the coronavirus. The convention heard him say “we have it totally under control” and that it will go away when the weather gets warm. “The risk to the American people remains very low … this the same as the flu. It’s going to disappear one day,” the former president said in the video.
This appears to be the outer perimeter that protesters knocked over earlier today:
As the Chicago police noted, they did not get through the inner perimeter around the United Center, where the convention is taking place.
Chicago police say demonstrators breached one layer of convention security, but ‘no threat’ to attendees
Protesters outside the Democratic national convention breached the outer security perimeter, but made it no further, the Chicago police said, adding that there was “no threat” to those attending the gathering:
Taking care of party business is one of the functions of conventions, and the Democrats are no exception.
We’re now hearing from Leah Daughtry, the co-chair of the convention’s rules committee, who is asking the convention to support a resolution regarding automatic delegates. The delegates loudly approved it, by a voice vote.
The other co-chair of the rules committee is Minnesota governor Tim Walz who is, as Daughtry put it, “a little occupied this evening”.
After a video that credited his 1984 presidential run with paving the way for Barack Obama to become the first Black president 24 years later, civil rights leader Jesse Jackson has come onstage.
He is in a wheelchair and waved at the crowd, without speaking. He is now being wheeled away by a group that includes Al Sharpton, again waving at the crowd as he goes.
Jackson in 2017 announced a diagnosis of Parkinson’s Ddisease, and last year retired as head of the Rainbow Push Coalition civil rights group, which is based in Chicago:
Derrick Johnson, the leader of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) civil rights group, opened his remarks with a veiled swipe at Donald Trump.
“Good evening. I’m Derrick Johnson, president and CEO of the NAACP, and I’m here to do my Black job,” Johnson began to laughs.
What’s a “Black job”? The remark is one of several instances of Trump stepping in it in his attempts to win the support of African American voters.
Jaime Harrison opens first night of Democratic convention
Democratic chair Jaime Harrison has officially kicked off the opening night of the party’s convention in Chicago.
“Hope and hard work can take you anywhere,” said Harrison. “That’s the America Democrats believe in, and that’s the America Democrats are fighting for.”
At least two people arrested at protest against Israel-Gaza war
George Chidi
The Guardian’s George Chidi, who is reporting from Chicago, writes there was a standoff between demonstrators and the police:
At least two people have been arrested in a fenced area between a park and the United Center, as protesters began disabling fences in the narrow gap.
Riot police lined up and marched protesters together, driving them back through a gap created in the fence. As police repaired one hole in the fence, masked protesters unlatched holes in other parts.
The standoff diminished into a quiet vigil around 5.20 CT, with about 200 people on one side of the fence and equal numbers of cops on the other.
Outside of the convention, thousands of protesters have been demonstrating against the US support for Israel amid the bombardment of Gaza.
Dozens of protesters had broken through a fence set up by police near the United Center, where the convention is being held, the Associated Press reported.
“We have to play our part in the belly of the beast to stop the genocide, to end US aid to Israel and stand with Palestine,” said Hatem Abudayyeh, a spokesperson for the Coalition to March on the DNC, told the AP.
Joe and Jill Biden, Hillary Clinton to headline Democratic convention’s opening night
Hello, US politics blog readers, and thanks for joining us as we cover the first night of the Democratic national convention in Chicago. Just a few weeks ago, we were expecting the four-day event to be all about Joe Biden and his campaign for a second term, but everything changed after the president bowed out of the race and allowed his vice-president, Kamala Harris, to take over as the party’s presidential nominee. Now in the final months of both his presidency and his more than 50-year career in politics, Biden remains an important figure among Democrats, and will give the keynote speech at the convention this evening.
Before Biden takes the stage (which we’re expecting at about 10pm CT), we’ll hear from first lady Jill Biden, and luminaries from across the party’s ideological spectrum, including Hillary Clinton, the party’s first female nominee for president, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the New York congresswoman and progressive icon.
The convention kicked off at 5.15pm CT amid protests near the convention center against the war in Gaza.
Here’s what else we’ll be watching out for this evening:
-
Tonight’s theme is “For the People”, and is intended to showcase how Democrats are, well, “fighting for the American people”, according to the convention’s organizing committee.
-
The vice-president is expected to appear this evening, as is her running mate, Minnesota governor Tim Walz. But do not expect either to speak – Harris will deliver the final address of the convention on Thursday, and Walz will speak to the crowd on Wednesday.
-
Harris and Walz have both already been formally nominated by the party, but the convention will nonetheless hold a ceremonial nomination of the Minnesota governor this evening.
-
Speakers this evening will run the gamut, from members of Congress to state leaders, including longtime South Carolina representative and Biden confidante James Clyburn, New York governor Kathy Hochul and progressive Texas congresswoman Jasmine Crockett.
-
Organized labor will be well-represented this evening, with joint remarks from six labor groups scheduled, as well as an address from United Auto Workers president Shawn Fain.