Key events
Robert F Kennedy Jr’s campaign announced yesterday that he planned to make a campaign speech on Friday addressing his “path forward”, amid speculation the independency presidential candidate and environmental lawyer will throw his support behind Donald Trump.
Kennedy’s campaign said he will hold the event in Phoenix, Arizona. Trump, meanwhile, is also set to host an event on Friday night, in Glendale, a Phoenix suburb.
Multiple outlets reported that Kennedy would use his address on Friday to endorse Trump, but sources close to the independent presidential candidate have cautioned that nothing is finalized.
Speculation that Kennedy could abandon his presidential bid intensified after his running mate, Nicole Shanahan, revealed on a podcast earlier this week that he was considering that option – and considering endorsing Trump, the Republican nominee.
Shanahan suggested Kennedy’s continued candidacy risked diverting support away from Trump, thereby helping to elect Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee.
Donald Trump said he would be “honored” if he received an endorsement from the independent presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr, who is reportedly planning to drop out of the race to back the Republican nominee.
Trump, in an interview with Fox & Friends this morning, said he had known Kennedy for a long time, describing him as a “very smart guy” and “very good person”. Trump added:
If he endorsed me. I would be honored by it. I would be very honored by it. He really has his heart in the right place. He is a respected person.
Lauren Gambino
Democrats rose to their feet when Nancy Pelosi walked on stage at the United Center in Chicago for the Democratic national convention. They applauded, and then applauded louder. Pelosi waved before quieting the room.
The former House speaker began by expressing her gratitude to Joe Biden, calling his term “one of the most successful presidencies of modern times,” even though she had pushed subtly but forcefully for the president to step aside. “Thank you, Joe,” she said, before turning to Kamala Harris, a fellow California Democrat who Pelosi proclaimed was “ready to take us to new heights”.
Pelosi may have retired as House Democratic leader, but the convention has proven – if proof were needed – that the veteran congresswoman remains one of the most consequentially and uniquely influential power brokers in the party who can make – or break – a US president.
Bill Clinton: ‘I’m still younger than Donald Trump’
Bill Clinton, the 42nd president, made his first major speech of the 2024 presidential election cycle on Wednesday night at the Democratic national convention.
Clinton read off written notes, not the teleprompter, suggesting the speech was edited last-minute. He warned Democrats against complacency:
We’ve seen more than one election slip away from us when we thought it couldn’t happen, when people got distracted by phoney issues. This is a brutal business.
The former president landed several jabs at Donald Trump, mocking the Republican nominee for his narcissism and obsession with crowd sizes, following Barack Obama’s widely cited joke on Tuesday: “[Trump] mostly talks about himself … his vendettas, vengeance, his complaints, his conspiracies.”
Clinton appeared frail on the podium and spoke at a slow pace, but he delighted the crowd when he said: “I’m still younger than Donald Trump.” He also laid out the case for Kamala Harris, calling her the “president of joy”.
Here’s a clip of Clinton’s speech last night:
Coral Murphy Marcos
Pop singer Pink is set to perform tonight at the Democratic national convention, ahead of Kamala Harris’s acceptance speech.
The singer has been an outspoken activist for women’s rights, condemning the supreme court’s decision to overturn Roe v Wade. Pink told fans who supported the court’s decision to stop listening to her music.
She’ll join the slew of performers that took the stage at the DNC this week, including Lil Jon, Stevie Wonder, Maren Morris, and John Legend.
Coral Murphy Marcos
The country music group The Chicks will perform the national anthem on Thursday night at the Democratic national convention, CNN reports.
The band, previously known as the Dixie Chicks, will take the stage when Kamala Harris delivers her speech on Thursday.
The Chicks are no stranger to political controversy. While on stage during a performance in 2003, the band announced that they disagreed with former president George W Bush’s decision to enter the Iraq War.
Here are some images from the newswires from the Democratic national convention last night.
Coral Murphy Marcos
The Democratic national convention’s final night will feature victims of gun violence and lawmakers pushing for changes at the state and national levels, according to NBC News.
Speakers tonight will include former Rep. Gabby Giffords, Rep. Lucy McBath, who lost her son Jordan to gun violence in 2012, and the “Tennessee Three,” made up of representatives Justin Jones, Gloria Johnson and Justin J Pearson.
Hakeem Jeffries, the House minority leader, is at the California delegation’s breakfast meeting in Chicago this morning.
Jeffries told delegates that “the east-coast, west-coast conflict is over. We’re all together,” according to Punchbowl News’s Jake Sherman.
HAKEEM JEFFRIES at the California delegation breakfast in Chicago: “The east-coast, west-coast conflict is over. We’re all together.”
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) August 22, 2024
The California delegates will have all female speakers at their breakfast in honor of Kamala Harris’s historic nomination, the outlet’s Mica Soellner reports.
CA delegation will have all female speakers at their breakfast in honor of Harris’s historic nomination.
Some speakers expected: Reps. Zoe Lofgren, Maxine Waters, and Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett
— Mica Soellner (@MicaSoellnerDC) August 22, 2024
Democratic vice-presidential nominee Tim Walz is dropping by the Minnesota delegation’s breakfast meeting in Chicago this morning, according to reports.
Walz and his wife, Gwen, are expected to thank delegates at the breakfast for their support of the Harris-Walz ticket.
Key takeaways from day three of the Democratic convention
Sam Levin
1. Tim Walz’s pitch to voters: ‘We’ll turn the page on Donald Trump’: Kamala Harris’s running mate gave his keynote pitch to supporters at the end of the third night of the convention, talking about his military service, coaching and teaching days, and his family’s fertility journey. He leaned into his humble roots and deployed repeated football metaphors, and called on his supporters to step up with urgency. Here’s our full report on Walz’s speech.
2. Oprah Winfrey, Stevie Wonder, Kenan Thompson and other celebrities invigorate the crowd: The convention continued with a packed celebrity lineup. Oprah Winfrey earned huge cheers when she made an unannounced appearance. Saturday Night Live’s Kenan Thompson had a lively appearance, musician Stevie Wonder urged the crowd to choose “joy over anger”. Actor Mindy Kaling gave a personal account of cooking with Harris. And musicians John Legend and Sheila E performed at the end of the night.
3. Bill Clinton: ‘We need Kamala Harris, the president of joy’: The 42nd president addressed his 12th Democratic convention, where he warned Democrats against complacency, mocked Donald Trump for his narcissism and obsession with crowd sizes, preached a message of unity and praised Joe Biden for “voluntarily” giving up power and celebrated the hope Kamala Harris has injected into the race.
4. Parents of a Hamas hostage were featured while protesters and AOC pushed for a Palestinian speaker: Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg gave emotional remarks about their son, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who is held hostage by Hamas. Members of the uncommitted movement, who have been advocating for a ceasefire and arms embargo on Israel, said they welcomed the speech, but continued to advocate that a Palestinian leader get an opportunity to address the crowd. Gaza solidarity protesters staged a sit-in outside the convention, and congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called on the convention to “center the humanity of the 40,000 Palestinians killed under Israeli bombardment”.
5. Pete Buttigieg went hard after JD Vance: ‘Doubling down on negativity’: The US secretary of transportation, went hard after Donald Trump’s running mate, JD Vance. Here’s a clip of Buttigieg’s speech.
6. Prominent Republicans again rallied for Harris: ‘Our party acts more like a cult’: Prominent Republicans and former Donald Trump supporters continued to earn loud applause at the convention, which featured Geoff Duncan, former lieutenant governor of Georgia, and Olivia Troye, a former homeland security adviser to then vice-president Mike Pence.
7. Speakers uplifted LGBTQ+ rights: ‘Trump wants to erase us’: Speakers repeatedly promoted LGBTQ+ rights, offering a sharp contrast to the Republican national convention which continually featured extremist, anti-trans rhetoric. Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign, a national LGBTQ+ organization, Jared Polis, Colorado’s governor and the first gay man to serve as a US state governor, congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Michigan’s attorney general, Dana Nessel, all took to the stage on Wednesday night.
Ankita Rao
I’m at the Nevada delegation breakfast on the last day of the Democratic national convention. It’s a small group but they’re very fired up, and a bit anxious about mobilizing the critical state to deliver the election to Democrats in November.
Speakers parsed the Latino vote – saying that there was less of an issue of Latinos flipping to the Republican party, but rather that they were leaving the Democratic party to go more to the center. Congresswoman Susie Lee, who is running for re-election, focused on abortion rights, education and union protections.
Wes Moore, the governor of Maryland, addressed the crowd the morning after his own popular speech on the convention stage:
Are we going to be a society that serves each other, that sees each other…that our job is not to be afraid of our neighbors, our job is to love them.
He revisited his story about Kamala Harris calling him when the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed, and warned the delegates not to be complacent about turning out voters. He said:
If we think we’re going to sit on our hands and cruise until election day, we will lose this election to Donald Trump. And none of our souls can handle that.
During Tim Walz’s speech on the Democratic national convention stage last night, the Minnesota governor directly addressed his family – his wife, Gwen, 23-year-old daughter Hope and Gus, his 17-year-old son. Walz said:
Hope, Gus and Gwen, you are my entire world and I love you.
His children could be seen in tears as they listened and applauded him. “That’s my dad!” Gus declared as he stood up and pointed to the stage.
You know you’ve done well as a parent when your kids are as proud of you as Gus and Hope are of Tim Walz. “That’s my dad.” No three words better describe our next Vice President. pic.twitter.com/zNOyBjo5Fy
— Amy Klobuchar (@amyklobuchar) August 22, 2024
Walz’s wife and children joined him on stage at the end of his speech, along with nearly a dozen other family members.
Walz has spoken frequently about the struggles he and his wife, Gwen, experienced in order to have children while on the campaign trail.
In an interview with People magazine, he said Gus had a non-verbal learning disorder, ADHD and an anxiety disorder, conditions that he and his wife called his “secret power”.
Ed Pilkington
“You might not know it, but I haven’t given a lot of big speeches like this,” Tim Walz said demurely towards the end of his keynote Democratic national convention address on Wednesday night.
The moment wreaked of understatement. The look on his face, the way he raised his white eyebrows as if he were apologizing, the shrug of his shoulders. Even the phrase “big speech”.
This wasn’t a big speech. It was a monumental speech, with the future direction of a country of 333 million people riding on it.
But then Walz dropped his faux modesty and got to work. “I have given a lot of pep talks,” he said.
From then on it was full steam ahead towards the goal line. After all, if you’re Walz, a scarcely known governor from the midwestern state of Minnesota, and you’ve just been yanked into the most significant election of recent times in the most powerful country on Earth, then what else are you going to do at the climax of your 16-minute oration than invoke your years as a high school football coach?
Friday Night Lights never had it so good.
Read the full analysis of Walz’s speech: Tim Walz channeled grit and empathy at the Democratic national convention
Tim Walz accepts VP nomination and pitches voters: ‘We have the right team’
Rachel Leingang
Minnesota governor Tim Walz accepted the Democratic party’s vice-presidential nomination on Wednesday night by emphasizing his rural bonafides and Americana background as a teacher and coach in a more sweeping speech than the unassuming midwesterner has given before.
“You might not know it, but I haven’t given a lot of big speeches like this,” Walz said as he closed out Wednesday’s Democratic convention in Chicago. “But I have given a lot of pep talks.” The former football coach laid out the metaphor as the crowd again chanted:
It’s the fourth quarter. We’re down a field goal, but we’re on offense and we’ve got the ball. We’re driving down the field, and boy do we have the right team. Kamala Harris is tough, Kamala Harris is experienced, and Kamala Harris is ready.
The pep talk capped off a well-received speech full of Walzian refrains – that he knows what small-town neighborliness is, that his time in the classroom taught him about public service. He walked out to John Mellencamp’s Small Town, amid a sea of signs that said “Coach Walz”. The crowd chanted “coach” as Walz put his hand to his heart.
The Democratic national convention continued on Wednesday night with a packed celebrity lineup.
Oprah Winfrey garnered huge cheers when she made an unannounced appearance; Saturday Night Live’s Kenan Thompson drew laughs by entering with a large book lampooning Project 2025; Stevie Wonder urged voters to choose ‘joy over anger’; and the actor Mindy Kaling had the crowd cheering for Kamala Harris.
Here’s a clip of the highlights from Wednesday night of the convention:
The theme of the final night of the Democratic national convention is “For Our Future”, according to organizers.
Day four of the DNC will focus on what organizers describe as a “brighter, more hopeful era”. Here’s the full description:
America can’t afford to put Donald Trump back in the White House – because a second Trump term would be even more dangerous and more extreme than the first one. But the choice we face in November isn’t just about us versus Donald Trump. This election is a fight for the future. Vice President [Kamala] Harris and Governor [Tim] Walz will lead America into a brighter, more hopeful era.
Harris to face biggest test of her political life with DNC speech
Lauren Gambino
Kamala Harris will tonight face the biggest test of her political life so far when she addresses the Democratic national convention in Chicago in a bid to persuade American voters to defeat Donald Trump in November’s presidential election and put her in the White House.
In addressing the Democratic convention on Thursday night – and by proxy the wider US electorate watching in their millions on television – Harris will be making a direct pitch to voters to back her vision for the United States.
Harris’s campaign has sought to portray a more optimistic, future-focused view of the country than her rival, and perhaps also than that of Joe Biden, who based much of his pitch on dark warnings of Donald Trump’s autocratic sympathies.
It is expected that Harris’s speech will seek to lay out her personal story as she bids to become a historic president: the first woman president and the first woman of color due to her south Asian and Black background. Her speech is likely to focus on her work as a prosecutor, defending victims of crime.
But her speech will also lay out a sharp contrast between her positive view of the country’s future prospects and Trump’s almost wholly grim warnings about the state of the nation and his focus on immigration and crime.
Harris to deliver keynote address at Democratic national convention
Good morning US politics readers and welcome to our coverage of the Democratic national convention, where Kamala Harris will deliver the keynote address tonight as she formally accepts her party’s historic presidential nomination.
Harris’ remarks will close out the fourth and final night of the convention, which has seen delegates treated to speeches from the Democratic party’s most powerful players as they have thrown their support unequivocally behind Harris. Last night saw speeches by Bill Clinton, the former president, Nancy Pelosi, the former House speaker, and Harris’s running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump and his running mate, Ohio senator JD Vance, will hold separate battleground state events today focused on immigration as their campaign tries to paint the Democrats as weak on border security.