Democratic National Convention 2020: Day 2

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden praised his wife, saying “Hi everyone, I’m Jill Biden’s husband,” right after she finished remarks at tonight’s Democratic National Convention.

“She never gives herself much credit, but the truth is she’s the strongest person I know. She has a backbone like a ramrod. She loves fiercely, cares deeply. Nothing stops her when she sets her mind to getting something right,” he said.

Jill Biden gave remarks at Brandywine High School in Wilmington, Delaware, where she taught English in the ‘90s.

“For all of you across the country, just think of your favorite educator who gave you the confidence to believe in yourself,” Joe Biden said.

Watch:

Following their appearance together, Biden tweeted a picture of himself and Jill:

From a classroom at Brandywine High School, where she once taught English, Jill Biden said her husband Joe Biden could heal a struggling nation.

“The burdens we carry are heavy, and we need someone with strong shoulders,” she said. “I know that if we entrust this nation to Joe, he will do for your family what he did for ours – bring us together and make us whole. Carry us forward in our time of need. Keep the promise of America for all of us.”

In a speech that focused on families, including Biden’s own, Jill Biden made a personal case for her husband’s character. She touted his resolve after his son Beau Biden died in 2015, and said it’s what the nation needs amid the personal fallout of the coronavirus pandemic.

“We’re coming together and holding onto each other. We’re finding mercy and grace in the moments we might have once taken for granted. We’re seeing that our differences are precious and our similarities infinite,” she said. “We have shown that the heart of this nation still beats with kindness and courage. That’s the soul of America Joe Biden is fighting for now.”

Her speech also addressed, in the most specific way in the first two nights of the DNC, how the pandemic has shuttered many schools, left children learning virtually and forced parents to adapt.

“I hear it from so many of you, the frustration of parents juggling work while they support their children’s learning, or afraid their kids will get sick from school,” she said.

“These classrooms will ring out with laughter and possibility once again,” she said.

Watch:

Joe Biden’s cross-party friendship with the late Arizona Sen. John McCain was remembered in an emotional video at the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday, one that featured the voice of McCain’s widow, Cindy McCain.

The video was a not-so-subtle denunciation of Donald Trump, who has repeatedly slammed McCain – both before and after his death in 2018. McCain, before his death, voted against Trump’s attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act drew the President’s ire, leading him to attack McCain in personal terms.

The video recalls how Biden and McCain met – the former Arizona senator was assigned to Biden as a military aide on a foreign trip – and how their relationship blossomed when they were both in the Senate.

A narrator described the Biden-McCain relationship as a “friendship that shouldn’t have worked” and featured the voices of other top Democrats who saw their relationship up close.

And Cindy McCain later in the video said their friendship represented a “style of legislating and leadership that you don’t find much anymore.”

The video of McCain voting against Trump’s Affordable Care Act repeal was also included, another rejection of Trump.

Cindy McCain, while not endorsing Biden, is just one of many Republicans helping Biden that have been on full display during the first two nights of the convention. Former Ohio Gov. John Kasich addressed the convention on Monday night, while former Secretary of State Colin Powell spoke on Biden’s behalf on Tuesday.

“My husband and Vice President Biden enjoyed a 30+ year friendship dating back to before their years serving together in the Senate, so I was honored to accept the invitation from the Biden campaign to participate in a video celebrating their relationship,” Cindy McCain tweeted on Tuesday about her participation in the video.

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Colin Powell, a Republican who has frequently broken ranks to back Democratic presidential candidates, made the case for Biden as a uniter who would make Americans proud when he hits the world stage.

“With Joe Biden in the White House, you will never doubt that he will stand with our friends and stand up to our adversaries – never the other way around,” Powell said. “He will trust our diplomats and our intelligence community, not the flattery of dictators and despots.”

Powell, a retired four-star general who served as secretary of state during President George W. Bush’s first term, including the invasion of Iraq, also pointed to the military service of Biden’s son, the late Beau Biden, who was deployed there in 2008 and 2009.

“Our country needs a commander-in-chief who takes care of our troops in the same way he would his own family,” Powell said. “For Joe Biden, that doesn’t need teaching. It comes from the experience he shares with millions of military families – sending his beloved son off to war and praying to God he would come home safe.”

Powell also addressed Trump’s performance on the home front.

“Today, we are a country divided, and we have a president doing everything in his power to make it that way and keep us that way,” he said. “What a difference it will make to have a president who unites us, who restores our strength and our soul.”

Former Secretary of State John Kerry said Tuesday: “We eliminated the threat of an Iran with a nuclear weapon.”

Facts First: We’d let it go as opinion if Kerry had said the Obama administration “reduced” the threat of an Iran with a nuclear weapon, but it’s a stretch to say the administration “eliminated” the threat — which suggests a permanent eradication that the 2015 nuclear agreement did not (and could not possibly) provide.

The agreement, from which Trump announced a US withdrawal in 2018, included strict limits on Iran’s nuclear activities, an Iranian commitment to allow regular inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency and an Iranian promise that the country would not seek, develop or acquire nuclear weapons. Iran remained in compliance with the terms of the agreement into the Trump presidency, according to the IAEA and the Trump administration itself.

However, while the commitment to inspections and the promise of not pursuing weapons did not have an expiration date in the deal, other parts of the agreement had sunset clauses. For example, its limits on the number of first-generation centrifuges Iran can possess and on the research and development of more advanced centrifuges were scheduled to end in 2025. Its 3.67% limit on uranium purity was scheduled to end in 2030.

Also, the deal did not include guaranteed inspector access to Iranian military sites. And, to state the extremely obvious, political winds can change over time; a future Iranian leader could simply repudiate the agreement, just as the new American leader, Trump, did himself. After Trump rejected the deal, Iran stopped complying with some of its provisions.

Former Secretary of State and 2004 Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry slammed Trump’s foreign policy, saying that when the current President goes overseas, “it isn’t a goodwill mission, it’s a blooper reel.”

“Donald Trump pretends Russia didn’t attack our elections. And now, he does nothing about Russia putting a bounty on our troops. So he won’t defend our country. He doesn’t know how to defend our troops. The only person he’s interested in defending is himself,” Kerry said.

“This is the bottom line: Our interests, our ideals, and our brave men and women in uniform can’t afford four more years of Donald Trump,” Kerry said.

Kerry touted Biden’s “moral compass” that has “has always pointed in the right direction.”

“Our troops can’t get out of harm’s way by hiding in the White House bunker. They need a president who will stand up for them. And President Biden will,” he said.

Activist Ady Barkan, who was diagnosed with ALS after the 2016 election, conducted a series of interviews with the Democratic candidates before the primaries.

He eventually endorsed Elizabeth Warren, then Bernie Sanders after she dropped out of the race. Joe Biden was not among the group who visited him for the taped conversations.

But on Tuesday night, Barkan – who has since spoken with the former vice president and endorsed him – said, “We must elect Joe Biden.”

Barkan’s remarks, which were voiced by a computer that tracks his eye movements, focused on his own family, including a poignant message to his young children, and the fight to guarantee health care to every American. Biden has never bought in to “Medicare for All,” so Barkan included a nudge to his fellow advocates.

In describing his painful, debilitating struggle against a “mysterious illness,” Barkan said that he, like so many others, had “experienced the ways our health care system is fundamentally broken: enormous costs, denied claims, dehumanizing treatment when we are most in need.”

Barkan connected his experience to the suffering that has accompanied the coronavirus pandemic, which he said laid bare the cruelest elements of a broken system.

“Today we are witnessing the tragic consequences of our failing health care system,” Barkan said. “In the midst of a pandemic, nearly 100 million Americans do not have sufficient health insurance.”

Watch:

Joe Biden was officially nominated for president by the Democratic Party on Tuesday night.

After his home state of Delaware delivered the final delegates in his favor, the former Vice President appeared live on screen for the first time in the convention.

Shots of Biden and his wife Jill Biden – and then his grandchildren, who shot celebratory streamers over him – were interspersed with videos of Americans cheering.

“Thank you all from the bottom of my heart from my family, and I’ll see you on Thursday,” Biden said, referring to his upcoming speech to close the convention.

Watch the moment:

Former President Barack Obama tweeted congrats to Biden on his acceptance of the nomination.

“Congrats, Joe. I’m proud of you,” Obama said.

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said Tuesday about Milwaukee Democrats: “Unlike the President, we’ve never called Covid-19 a hoax.”

Facts First: At a February campaign rally, Trump did call something related to the virus a Democratic “hoax.” The President left it unclear, though, whether he was calling the virus itself a hoax or saying that Democratic criticism of his administration’s handling of the virus was a hoax. When he was asked the next day, he said he was talking specifically about the Democratic criticism.

We can’t call Barrett’s claim false despite Trump’s next-day explanation: The President’s imprecise claim at the rally was open to viewer interpretation. But it’s worth noting that there is certainly a more benign way to view it. For your reference, here’s what Trump said at the rally:

“Very dishonest people. Now the Democrats are politicizing the coronavirus. You know that, right? Coronavirus. They’re politicizing it. We did one of the great jobs, you say, ‘How’s President Trump doing?’ They go, ‘Oh, not good, not good.’ They have no clue. They don’t have any clue. … One of my people came up to me and said, Mr. President, they tried to beat you on Russia, Russia, Russia. That didn’t work out too well. They couldn’t do it. They tried the impeachment hoax. That was on a perfect conversation. They tried anything, they tried it over and over, they’ve been doing it since she got in. It’s all turning, they lost. It’s all turning, think of it, think of it. And this is their new hoax.”

Gold Star father Khizr Khan, who represented Virginia in the roll call to officially nominate Joe Biden as the presidential Democratic nominee, invoking the violence that happened in Charlottesville in 2017 in his remarks.

“Three years ago, my beloved city Charlottesville was attacked by white supremacists when a young woman was killed. We were attacked again when Donald Trump praised those racists, turning his back on a community that just wanted peace,” Khan said.

“That was the day Joe Biden decided to join this battle for the soul of America. Over time, my wife and I have come to know his soul. He’s a decent, compassionate man. He will bring the nation together,” he added.

This was Khan’s second appearance at the 2020 Democratic National Convention, who was also included in a video about the convention’s theme on Monday.

Virginia cast 32 votes for Bernie Sanders and 91 votes for Joe Biden. 

The roll call vote to nominate Joe Biden for president is going in alphabetical order at the convention, but Delaware, Biden’s home state, passed so that it can be the decisive state to nominate Biden.

Gov. John Carney and Sen. Tom Carper are expected to appear for Delaware.

The roll call vote to formally nominate Joe Biden for president has begun at the Democratic National Convention. 

The roll call vote will be held with people from all 57 states and territories appearing over video. The range of Democrats set to nominate Biden includes elected officials, including a number of his 2020 opponents, to activists like a fisherman from Alaska, a farmer in Kansas and a bricklayer in Missouri.

Watch:

The New York Times security guard who blurted “I love you” to Joe Biden in an elevator – and delivered the former vice president his first viral moment of the 2020 campaign – officially nominated him for president on Tuesday night.

Jacquelyn Asbie, whose elevator conversation with Biden on the way to an editorial board meeting proved much more potent for the Biden campaign than the newspaper’s actual endorsement (it backed Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar), played the ceremonial role of kicking off the vote on Biden’s nomination.

In a brief but heartfelt speech, she said she felt in their short interaction that “my life meant something to him.”

“I take powerful people up in my elevator all the time. When they get off, they go to their important meetings. Me? I just head back to the lobby,” she said. “But in the short time I spent with Joe Biden, I could tell he really saw me, that he actually cared, that my life meant something to him. And I knew, even when he went into his important meeting, he’d take my story in there with him.”

Asbie continued: “That’s because Joe Biden has room in his heart for more than just himself. We’ve been through a lot, and we have tough days ahead. But nominating someone like that to be in the White House is a good place to start. That’s why I nominate my friend, Joe Biden, as the next president of the United States.”

Her nomination of Biden was seconded by two of his home-state allies in Delaware’s congressional delegation: Sen. Chris Coons, who said that “he’s always brought that same personal concern he showed for Jacquelyn to getting things done as our senator and then as President Obama’s vice president.” And Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, who said Biden “restored decency to our government and integrity to our democracy.”

Watch the moment:

She only had a little more than a minute, but she fit a whole lot in it.

New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wasn’t given much time to address the country, as she seconded Sen. Bernie Sanders’ nomination, but in those 95 seconds she offered a poetic accounting of the progressive movement’s aspirations – and offered her “fidelity and gratitude” to those in the fight alongside her.

This “mass people’s movement,” she said, is dedicated to addressing the “the wounds of racial injustice, colonization, misogyny, and homophobia,” and building “reimagined systems of immigration and foreign policy that turn away from the violence and xenophobia of our past.”

It is a movement, Ocasio-Cortez said, “that realizes the unsustainable brutality of an economy that rewards explosive inequalities of wealth for the few at the expense of long-term stability for the many, and who organized a historic, grassroots campaign to reclaim our democracy.”

That campaign, now over, is Sanders’. But the crises he described during his campaign and Ocasio-Cortez spoke about on Tuesday night, are very much alive.

President John F. Kennedy’s grandson Jack Schlossberg echoed his grandfather’s famous words — “ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country” — when speaking about Joe Biden during the Democratic National Convention. 

“We can reach these new frontiers, but only with a President who asks what he can do for our country and what together we can do to build a better world. It’s up to us. Let’s get it done,” Schlossberg said. 

Schlossberg said this election is a defining one for his generation. 

“Times have changed. But the themes of my grandfather’s speech — courage, unity and patriotism — are as important today as they were in 1960. And once again, we need a leader who believes America’s best days are yet to come,” he said.  

Kennedy’s daughter and Schlossberg’s mother, Caroline Kennedy, said she was able to see Biden “in action” when she was US ambassador to Japan. 

“He stepped off Air Force Two wearing his aviator glasses and a big smile, radiating American optimism and generosity. I saw a leader who was tough but fair,” she said.

With the backdrop of the Statue of Liberty in New York, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer emphatically said that the Democrats must retake the Senate in November. 

“If we’re going to win this battle for the soul of our nation, Joe can’t do it alone,” Schumer said in address at the Democratic National Convention. “Democrats must take back the Senate. We will stay united, from Sanders and Warren to Manchin and Warner and with our unity we will bring bold and dramatic change to our country.”

The New York senator went on to lay out the policy goals that would be accomplished under a Biden presidency and a Democratic majority in Congress. 

“We will make health care affordable for all. We’ll undue the vicious inequality of income and wealth that has plagued America for far too long and we’ll take strong decisive action to combat climate change and save the planet,” Schumer said. “We will protect voting rights, fight systemic racism in the criminal justice system and in our economy, and restore a Supreme Court that looks out for people not corporations. We’ll rebuild our infrastructure and make sure every home from inner city to rural America has broadband. We will save the post office and once and for all defeat Covid-19, this evil disease. And beckoned by the lady behind us, we will reform our immigration system so that immigrants yearning to breathe free will at last become American citizens.”

Watch:

Former Democratic Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton used their speeches to tout Joe Biden’s legacy on health care and economic proposals.

Carter called Biden “the right person for this moment in our nation’s history. He understands that honesty and dignity are essential traits that determine not only our vision but our actions. More than ever, that’s what we need.”

Meanwhile, Clinton said Biden is “committed to building America back again.”

“Our party is united in offering you a very different choice: a go-to-work president. A down-to-earth, get-the-job-done guy. A man with a mission: to take responsibility, not shift the blame; concentrate, not distract; unite, not divide. Our choice is Joe Biden. Joe helped bring us back from a recession before, and he can do it again,” Clinton said.

The only surviving child of former President John F. Kennedy, Caroline Kennedy, and her son John Schlossberg also delivered remarks tonight.

“Sixty years ago in a crowded stadium in LA, my father accepted the Democratic nomination for president. He challenged Americans to look to the future and join him on a journey towards a new frontier,” Kennedy said.

“It was a call to the young at heart, regardless of age or party. Times have changed, but the themes of my grandfather’s speech: courage, unity, and patriotism, are as important today as they were in 1960. And once again, we need a leader who believes America’s best days are yet to come. We need Joe Biden,” Schlossberg said.

Former President Barack Obama is set to speak during the convention’s programming tomorrow night.

Bill Clinton, one of the four men still living who understands what it takes to be President, lambasted the current occupant of the White House in his convention speech on Tuesday, questioning Donald Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic and casting his White House as a chaotic “storm.”

Clinton describes running for president as the “world’s most important job interview” and puts the onus on voters to “decide whether to renew (Trump’s) contract or hire someone else.”

Clinton added: “Just one thing never changes – his determination to deny responsibility and shift the blame. The buck never stops there.”

Then Clinton, whose speech was under five minutes, a notable departure for a man who has delivered speeches longer than 40 minutes at multiple Democratic conventions, pivoted to Biden and his work on the economy.

“Our party is united in offering you a very different choice: a go-to-work president. A down-to-earth, get-the-job-done guy. A man with a mission: to take responsibility, not shift the blame; concentrate, not distract; unite, not divide,” Clinton said. “Our choice is Joe Biden.”

Clinton, after lauding Biden’s work to reverse the impacts of the Great Recession in 2009, then tried to encapsulate the decisions in this election: “It’s Trump’s “Us vs. Them” America against Joe Biden’s America, where we all live and work together. It’s a clear choice. And the future of our country is riding on it.”

Watch:

Former President Jimmy Carter touted Joe Biden as one of his earliest and most important allies after he was elected to the presidency in 1976 in a speech Tuesday night.

Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter called Biden a friend and praised his character in speeches in which the Carters appeared by voice, rather than on camera.

“For decades, he has been my loyal and dedicated friend,” the former president said. “Joe has the experience, character, and decency to bring us together and restore America’s greatness. We deserve a person with integrity and judgment, someone who is honest and fair, someone who is committed to what is best for the American people.”

Rosalynn Carter pointed to Biden’s efforts to extend support to caregivers, which is a focal point of Biden’s economic platform.

“Joe knows well, too well, the sorrows and struggles of being a family caregiver, from Joe’s time as a young widower thrust into single parenthood with a demanding job to he and Jill caring for their own parents and their son Beau at the end of their lives. He knows caregiving is hard even on the good days,” she said.

Watch:

Former acting Attorney General Sally Yates, who was dismissed from Donald Trump’s administration after she announced she would not defend his travel ban from predominantly Muslin countries, said her former boss has “used his position to benefit himself ” in a speech before the Democratic National Convention.

Yates, in a speech she said she never expected she would give, cast Trump as a corrupt leader, someone who has “trampled the rule of law” and refused to stand up to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“Our country doesn’t belong to him. It belongs to all of us,” Yates said, adding that Biden “embraces that” and has “spent his entire life putting our country first.”

Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams was among 16 other rising stars of the Democratic Party that delivered the joint keynote address during tonight’s Democratic National Convention programming, a slot typically reserved for just one speaker.

“This nation belongs to all of us. And in every election, we choose how we will create a more perfect union, not by taking sides but by taking stock of where we are and what we need,” Abrams said in her portion of the address.

“This year’s choice could not be more clear. America faces a triple threat: a public health catastrophe, an economic collapse, and a reckoning with racial justice and inequality. So our choice is clear: a steady, experienced public servant who can lead us out of this crisis just like he’s done before, or a man who only knows how to deny and distract; a leader who cares about our families or a president who only cares about himself,” she continued.

Abrams used her platform to urge Americans to make their vote count.

“We know Joe Biden. America, we need Joe Biden. To make your voice heard text Vote to 30330. In a democracy, we do not elect saviors. We cast our ballots for those who see our struggles and pledge to serve…,” the Georgia Democrat said.

“We stand with Joe Biden because this isn’t just about defeating Donald Trump. We are in this to win for America. So let’s get it done,” Abrams said in closing.

Watch:

The Democratic Party looked to highlight some of its “rising stars from all across the country” during its keynote address that kicked off the second night of the Democratic National Convention.

This year’s address featured not one, but 17 of the Democratic Party’s rising politicians.

Participants included: Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams, State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta from Pennsylvania, State Rep. Victoria Neave from Texas, Mayor Randall Woodfin from Alabama, and more.

According to organizers in a news release, the joint address meant to “offer a diversity of different ideas and perspectives on how to move America forward, but they will all speak to the future we’re building together — a future with Joe Biden at the helm.”

Watch:

The second night of the Democratic National Convention has begun, with programming running from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. ET. Jill Biden has long served as a supporting player to her husband’s political career, but she will command the spotlight as the headliner tonight.

Her speech is expected to highlight the personal side of former Vice President Joe Biden as a loving father who pulled his family back together after the death of his first wife, Neilia, and 1-year-old daughter Naomi in a car accident in 1972.

She will also speak to the other great tragedy of Biden’s life: the death of his son Beau Biden, the former Delaware attorney general, from brain cancer in 2015 when Biden was serving as vice president.

With the night’s programming centered on the theme “uniting America,” the keynote speech will take an unusual format featuring 17 rising stars in the Democratic Party. New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will also speak and leaders will conduct the virtual roll call formally selecting Biden as the nominee of the Democratic Party.

Former President Bill Clinton will play an unusually peripheral role at a Democratic convention, a venue where he has been a star performer since the 1980s, including during his own campaigns; his speech in 2012 made the case for a second term for President Barack Obama in a way the incumbent never managed. He also spoke about his wife in 2016.

Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren said Democrats, and even some non-Democrats, are united behind Joe Biden as the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. 

During her presidential bid, Warren had criticized Biden for not being progressive enough.

Speaking to CNN tonight, Warren listed some elements of Biden’s platform, including expanding Social Security, canceling student-loan debt and creating more green jobs. 

“I’m with him all the way in this fight,” Warren said. 

Former second lady Jill Biden has long said the role of political spouse does not come naturally to her, but tonight, she’s slated to deliver the biggest speech of her political career as she speaks directly to her husband’s character and values.

She has worked on this speech for several weeks with her team, often times over Zoom calls, with a Democratic official saying she has been the driving force behind the messaging for tonight’s remarks.

Her central argument will be that her husband is uniquely poised to mend a broken nation after mending his own family following multiple personal tragic losses – repeating the question, “How do you make a broken family whole? The same way you make a nation whole.” 

The official says Jill Biden will make no direct mention of President Donald Trump in her speech, which is different from the approach taken by former first lady Michelle Obama last night.

Instead, Jill Biden aims to draw a subtle contrast with the President as she talks about her husband’s vision and character. 

The revamped Democratic convention will alter yet another tradition on Tuesday when the roll call vote to formally nominate Joe Biden will be held with people from all 57 states and territories appearing over video.

Expected participants: The range of Democrats set to nominate Biden runs the gamut from elected officials, including a number of his 2020 opponents, to activists like a fisherman from Alaska, a farmer in Kansas and a bricklayer in Missouri.

Former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, one of Biden’s 2020 challengers, will appear from Indiana, while other primary opponents like Rep. Tim Ryan in Ohio, Sen. Amy Klobuchar in Minnesota and Sen. Bernie Sanders in Vermont will appear.

The vote will also focus on key issues in the election. Marisol Garcia, a teacher from Arizona, will discuss returning to school during the coronavirus pandemic, while Howard Chou from Colorado will discuss issues facing working parents during the crisis. Fred Guttenberg of Florida, whose daughter was killed in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in 2018, will discuss gun violence. And activist Khizr Khan, whose speech about his son who died in combat during the last convention became a breakout moment in 2016, will appear from Virginia by highlighting the racial violence that killed one person in Charlottesville in 2017.

To honor the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th amendment, which gave women the right to vote, Keely Sage, a college student in Tennessee, will appear from the headquarters of the suffragists to discuss the role of women in electing Biden.

How it will work: Both Biden, the top vote getter, and Sanders, who finished in second, will be placed into nomination on Tuesday in what organizers hope will be a unifying moment for the party.

The roll call vote process is traditionally a long affair with each delegation in the convention arena going around and pledging delegates to candidates who ran in their primary or caucus. This process will be sped up — organizers expect it to take 30 minutes.

While the roll call vote will go in alphabetical order, organizers have planned to have Delaware — Biden’s home state — pass when their turn comes up and return to the process to be the decisive state for the former vice president. Gov. John Carney and Sen. Tom Carper will appear for Delaware.

Once the roll call vote is finished, Biden will officially be the party’s nominee, a designation he will accept on Thursday.

See the full list of participants in the roll call vote here.

A security guard went viral early this year after she said “I love you” to Joe Biden in an elevator. On Tuesday night, that same woman is expected to give the first speech officially nominating Biden for president at the Democratic National Convention, according to a Biden aide and a convention organizer.

Jacquelyn Brittany, an African American woman, was escorting the former vice president to a New York Times editorial board meeting in December when she turned to him and said, “I love you. I do. You’re like my favorite.”

The exchange was caught on tape and aired as part of the New York Times’ TV series “The Weekly.”

Biden did not win the endorsement of The New York Times editorial board, but he and his campaign touted this exchange as the real prize. 

“Honored to have won Jacquelyn’s endorsement,” Biden tweeted alongside the video. 

The Washington Post was first to report on Jacquelyn’s involvement at the DNC. Brittany is her middle name, and she declined to the Post to have her last name printed.

Former Democratic presidential candidate Julian Castro reproved the Democratic National Committee on Tuesday, saying he believed they ought to have scheduled a greater number of Latinos to speak in this week’s committee meeting from the outset. 

“The DNC, I do think, should have put more folks on the platform in the beginning because representation does matter and it does send a strong message about inclusion for the party,” Castro said, speaking with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. 

Castro said there were originally just three Latinos scheduled out of 35 primetime speakers, but that the DNC had added more over the weekend after facing criticism, including emcee actress and activist Eva Longoria and Kristin Uquiza, who lost her father to Covid-19. The convention’s organizers also sparked criticism for giving Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez only one minute to speak during Tuesday’s programming.

Castro said he believed it is important for the party to continue to build bridges into the Latino community, not only for this year’s election but for the future.

“Even though we do win, really what we want to do is cement a strong relationship between one of the fastest growing communities in the United States and Democrats,” he said. “…If we want to win up and down the ballot for years to come we have to make sure there aren’t missteps like only 3 our of 35 speakers.”

Castro, however, characterized both Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as “fantastic people” with a “strong track record” with the Latino and contrasted the DNC with the RNC saying it’s like “night and day.”

“Ours is the big tent party,” he said. 

Watch:

Democratic convention organizers released an excerpt of remarks from former Republican Secretary of State Colin Powell that will be delivered at tonight’s convention.

He praises Joe Biden’s values, saying, “We need to restore those values to the White House.”

“I support Joe Biden for the presidency of the United States,” Powell says in an excerpt of his remarks.

Powell is the latest Republican to speak in favor of the presumptive Democratic nominee. He said in June that he’d vote for Biden in the 2020 presidential election, choosing again not to vote for Donald Trump for president.

Watch an excerpt of his remarks:

Democrats will gather for the second night of their virtual convention on Tuesday to make the case that Joe Biden is the best person, in this time of national upheaval, to lead the way forward. Programming will take place 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. ET.

Former first lady Michelle Obama closed out the first night of the convention with a powerful and memorable speech that condemned President Trump’s record and handling of the pandemic, and appealed to voters to turn out to vote for Joe Biden in November.

Tonight, former second lady Jill Biden will close out the night. She is expected to provide a personal testament to the character of the man she married in 1977. The speech will likely emphasize Biden’s personal decency, as a father and family member.

Here’s what you need to know about the second night of the DNC:

Read more about tonight’s events here.

Jill Biden, former second lady and wife of presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden, will be the headliner of tonight’s programming, and is expected to provide a personal testament to the character of the man she married more than 40 years ago.

“There are times when I couldn’t imagine how he did it—how he put one foot in front of the other and kept going. But I’ve always understood why he did it…He does it for you,” Biden will say, according to excerpts released by organizers.

Read more excerpts from Jill Biden’s speech:

Meanwhile, former president Bill Clinton will deliver a sharp rebuke of Trump’s presidency.

“There’s only chaos. Just one thing never changes—his determination to deny responsibility and shift the blame. The buck never stops there,” Clinton will say, according to excerpts from his speech.

Read more portions of his speech:

Former acting US Attorney General Sally Yates will use her speech to rebuke President Trump’s relationship with the rule of law.

“But from the moment President Trump took office, he has used his position to benefit himself rather than our country. He’s trampled the rule of law, trying to weaponize our Justice Department to attack his enemies and protect his friends,” Yates will say, according to speech excerpts.

“We need a president who respects our laws and the privilege of public service. Who reflects our values and cares about our people. We need a president who will restore the soul of America,” she will say in another portion of her speech.

Former Secretary of State John Kerry will uphold Joe Biden’s “moral compass” and decry Trump as a person who is only “interested in defending is himself.”

“Joe’s moral compass has always pointed in the right direction, from the fight to break the back of apartheid to the struggle to wake up the world to genocide in the Balkans. Joe understands that none of the issues of this world—not nuclear weapons, not the challenge of building back better after COVID, not terrorism and certainly not the climate crisis—none can be resolved without bringing nations together,” Kerry will say, according to speech excerpts.

A video narrated by Cindy McCain, the widow of the late Sen. John McCain, will be featured tonight during the convention. The segment traces the unlikely friendship between her husband and Joe Biden, a senior Democratic official tells CNN.

Cindy McCain tweeted about her participation in the video:

“My husband and Vice President Biden enjoyed a 30+ year friendship dating back to before their years serving together in the Senate, so I was honored to accept the invitation from the Biden campaign to participate in a video celebrating their relationship.”

Watch an excerpt:

Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden made two, pooled virtual stops by state delegations to the Democratic convention  — to Pennsylvania and Florida, per the pool reporter.

He predicted to the Florida delegation that the 2020 convention is a “template for the the future.”

“You’re part of the most creative, inclusive convention we’ve ever had. I doubt we’ll ever go back to the same exact conventions we had in the past. It’s a template for the future,” Biden said.

Biden again took the opportunity to slam President Trump for his handling of the pandemic.

“After months of failure, he’s just given up. I used to think it was because he was callous, but I think it’s because he’s just not smart enough to know what to do. I really mean it. I just don’t think he has it in him to know what to do,” he said.

Per the pool reporter, Biden closed by mentioning that he is excited to watch his wife’s convention speech tonight, reminding them, “I’m Jill Biden’s husband.” He added, “I hope tonight works as well as last night.”

Jill Biden will headline night two of the convention from a location in Delaware that highlights her long time career as a teacher.

Biden will deliver remarks live from Brandywine High School in Wilmington in the classroom where she taught English in the early 1990s, a source familiar with her speech said.

Biden’s teaching career has been central to her message this campaign season as she’s talked about the need to lift up educators. She holds a doctorate in education from the University of Delaware, which she earned in 2007.

Biden said she hopes to continue teaching if she becomes first lady.

“I would love to. If we get to the White House, I’m going to continue to teach,” she said in an interview that aired on CBS Sunday Morning. “I want people to value teachers and know their contributions and to lift up the profession.”

It would not be the first time Biden would have to balance official duties with her professional work. She taught English at Northern Virginia Community College during the eight years she served as second lady, along with working on initiatives to help military families.

Biden took a leave of absence from teaching this year as she campaigned for her husband.

“He’s always supported my career. And this is a critical time for me to support him because, you know, I want change,” she told CNN in January. “I want a new president.”

“Teaching is not just what Jill does, it’s who she is,” Joe Biden says in a newly-released clip from a documentary about his wife. “Jill just simply cares.”

Bill Clinton’s speech at the second night of the Democratic National Convention will be his “sharpest rebuke” of President Trump ever, a source familiar with the remarks told CNN, with the former president calling out his successor by name and noting specific mistakes he believe he has made.

Clinton will center the speech on Trump’s handling of the coronavirus, the source said, and explain why he believes Biden has the leadership qualities to help the country fight the virus. Organizers hope that Clinton, one of only four living former presidents, will be able to convince viewers that the few people who know what it is like to be president believe Biden has the qualities needed to be successful.

Clinton has become a Democratic convention staple over the last 40 years. The former Arkansas governor and president has addressed every Democratic convention since 1980 and this speech will be his eleventh convention address.

This will be a speech unlike any other, however. His remarks will be pre-taped and far shorter than his past addresses. His 2012 address on behalf of Barack Obama, for example, was 48 minutes long — with significant portions ad-libbed.

Ahead of Jill Biden’s speech tonight, former first lady Michelle Obama expressed her support for Biden in an Instagram post and shared several images of them together.

“Jill Biden is one of the most grounded people you’ll ever meet, inside or outside of politics. She’s just a breath of fresh air without an ounce of pretense. She’s funny, often playing tricks on her staff like hiding in an airplane overhead compartment to spook them. And she is passionate, loyal, and hardworking—as she showed by continuing to teach at a nearby community college, often grading papers on long trips for official events,” Obama writes.

“There’s not a doubt in my mind that Jill will make a wonderful First Lady. So I hope you’ll watch her tonight. And if you haven’t yet, I hope you’ll make your plan to vote early—in person or by mail,” Obama says at the end of the post.

Read the full post:

There will be no traditional keynote address at this year’s Democratic National Convention — instead, the party will look to highlight some of its youngest and most promising members.

This year’s address will feature not one, but 17 of the Democratic Party’s “rising stars from all across the country,” according to organizers.

Participants include: Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams, State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta from Pennsylvania, State Rep. Victoria Neave from Texas, Mayor Randall Woodfin from Alabama, and more.

According to a news release, they will “offer a diversity of different ideas and perspectives on how to move America forward, but they will all speak to the future we’re building together—a future with Joe Biden at the helm.”

The address will take place during Tuesday’s program, under the theme“Leadership Matters.”

Watch an excerpt of their speech:

As she prepares to deliver the biggest political speech of her career, Jill Biden will speak in personal and optimistic terms, a source familiar with her remarks says, as she makes the case for her husband Joe Biden as president.

“You’re going to hear who she is and she’s going to tell you about who Joe Biden is – the father, the husband, the grandfather,” the source said. “She’s going to talk about what drives him to do this, what motivates him, but also the faith and values that guide him and the family.”

Tonight’s speech also will serve as a reintroduction of sorts for the former second lady who now hopes to step into the role of first lady if her husband’s elected, with the source saying, “You’re going to see what kind of first lady she’s going to be.”

Some background: Jill Biden has already committed to teaching if she becomes first lady, the second time she’d have to balance the official duties of a presidential administration with her personal career obligations.

Jill Biden, who has a doctorate in education, is also expected to confront the issue of education through the backdrop of her speech – a high school classroom where she taught English nearly three decades ago – as well as the ongoing coronavirus pandemic as parents, students and educators are grappling with reopening schools safely and remote learning, the source said.

Jill Biden has often talked about how the role of political spouse has not come naturally to her, but over the course of the Democratic primary, she was among the most active political spouses on the campaign trail, honing her message and offering the most personal testimony to her husband’s character and leadership style – something she’s expected to do once again tonight.

The convention organizers only gave Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez one minute to speak, but there’s a good bet those 60 seconds will be the most buzzed about of the night.

Ocasio-Cortez is, by any measure, one of the most influential young political leaders in America. She is better suited than any other Democrat to this week’s virtual medium, which has more in common with an Instagram live video than a standard convention hall address.

She won’t have much time to do it, but Ocasio-Cortez is expected to use her turn to spotlight Sanders’ success in awakening and driving forward a progressive movement that will send some of its brightest new stars to Capitol Hill next year. Still, for those holding out hope she’ll mix in a blunt rejection of Biden’s liberal-leaning centrism, disappointment awaits.

In the months since Sanders dropped out of the primary, Ocasio-Cortez has largely set aside the intra-party debates of the past (and future), focusing instead on a home district that’s been battered by the coronavirus pandemic.

She also co-chaired, along with Kerry, the Biden-Sanders “unity task force” on climate, the policy group that produced — of the six formed by the two campaigns — the recommendations regarded as most likely to surface again if Biden wins in November.

The coronavirus pandemic forced Democrats to move their entire national convention online. There were no major technical glitches, and overall, Democrats appeared to effectively pull it off.

The first night highlighted individual Americans across the country hurt by the pandemic and President Trump’s politics and policies. Kristin Urquiza, whose father died after contracting the coronavirus, delivered a line that will likely echo for the rest of the campaign: “My dad was a healthy 65-year-old. His only pre-existing condition was trusting Donald Trump, and for that he paid with his life.”  

Former Ohio Gov. John Kasich and other former Republicans sought to make the case that Joe Biden is the best candidate to win over moderate Republican voters.

Family members of George Floyd, killed by police on Memorial Day in Minneapolis, and the mother of Eric Garner, who died after being placed in a chokehold by a police officer in New York six years ago, both spoke. Biden also moderated a short panel discussion on racial justice.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders made the case for Biden, appealing to his own supporters who are frustrated by Biden’s refusal to embrace policies like “Medicare for All.” Sanders noted the former vice president’s increasingly ambitious climate change plans and warned that Biden’s election was key to safeguarding the left’s recent gains.

Michelle Obama closed out the night, and her address represented one of the most effective moral arguments against Trump’s presidency from a prominent Democrat.

Obama excoriated Trump for what she called “a total and utter lack of empathy” in the most important speech of Monday night’s program.

Her role was clear: The former first lady got nearly 19 minutes — the longest speaking slot of the night, by far — to tear into Trump’s character.

“I know that regardless of our race, age, religion, or politics, when we close out the noise and the fear and truly open our hearts, we know that what’s going on in this country is just not right,” she said. “This is not who we want to be.”

Read six takeaways from the DNC’s first night here.

Stacey Abrams and 16 other rising stars of the Democratic Party will deliver a joint keynote address during Tuesday night’s Democratic National Convention programming, a slot typically reserved for just one speaker.

The elected officials will speak under the evening’s theme, “Leadership Matters,” offering a “diversity of different ideas” and “perspectives on how to move America forward,” according to a news release from the DNC.

Several of the speakers are some of former Vice President Joe Biden’s early primary supporters, including Pennsylvania State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta, South Carolina State Sen. Marlon Kimpson, and Nevada State Sen. Yvanna Cancela.

Reps. Colin Allred of Texas and Conor Lamb of Pennsylvania, who both stumped for Biden in Iowa ahead of the state’s caucuses, are also slated to speak.

“Amidst all of the chaos and crises our nation is facing, Democrats are focused on finding new and innovative ways to engage more Americans than ever before — because that’s how we’ll mobilize the nation to defeat Donald Trump in November,” Convention CEO Joe Solmonese said in a statement. “The convention keynote has always been the bellwether for the future of our party and our nation, and when Americans tune in next week they’ll find the smart, steady leadership we need to meet this critical moment.”

Jill Biden and Bill Clinton are also slated to deliver remarks during Tuesday night’s program.