CNN
—
Democrats are betting that within the American electorate is a deep desire to leave behind the bitterness of a decade dominated by former President Donald Trump.
And so, at the party’s convention Wednesday night in Chicago, a “joy” strategy — portraying Vice President Kamala Harris as the candidate who can move the nation forward — was on full display.
Former President Bill Clinton said Harris brings “sheer joy” to the 2024 race. Oprah Winfrey urged Americans to “choose joy.”
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg contrasted Trump’s “darkness” with the brand of politics offered by Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz — which he said “just feels better to be part of.”
The message underscored how rapidly the 2024 presidential race has evolved since last month’s exit of President Joe Biden — whose campaign had been built around dire warnings that electing Trump would jeopardize democracy itself. Harris hasn’t abandoned those warnings, but has rewrapped them in a more forward-looking message emphasizing themes of freedom and joy – and Democrats paired it with a party.
Singer John Legend and drummer Sheila E. played Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy.” Stevie Wonder performed “Higher Ground.”
And as alumni from the Mankato West High School football team, which won a state championship with Walz as an assistant coach, strode on stage in jerseys that no longer fit, a pep band blared the school’s fight song.
“Thank you for bringing the joy to this fight,” Walz told the crowd.
Here are six takeaways from the DNC’s third night:
01:04 - Source: CNN
'We got 76 days': Walz fires up DNC crowd with football-themed pep talk
A moment of this magnitude was new for Walz. Prior to his selection as Harris’ running mate, not only had he never delivered a high-stakes speech in front of a national audience — he’d never even used a teleprompter.
So in a convention filled with former presidents, congressional leaders, celebrities and more, Walz opted to be something else entirely.
He’s a two-term governor and a former congressman, but he leaned into earlier portions of his resume: High school teacher. Football coach. Hunter. Neighbor.
He used his speech to make the case that Democrats are the party of freedom.
“In Minnesota, we respect our neighbors and the choices that they make. And even if we wouldn’t make the same choices ourselves, we’ve got a golden rule: Mind your own damn business,” Walz said.
Walz touched on Harris’ policy positions on issues such as health care, abortion rights and homeownership. And he did so in populist tones at times reminiscent of the late Minnesota Sen. Paul Wellstone.
“When we Democrats talk about freedom, we mean the freedom to make a better life for yourself and the people you love. Freedom to make your own health care decisions. And yeah, your kids’ freedom to go to school without worrying about being shot dead in the hall,” Walz said.
“That’s what this is all about: The responsibility that we have to our kids, to each other and to the future we’re building together in which everyone is free to build the kind of life that they want.”
And in a nod to his experience on the gridiron, Walz, urging Democrats to work hard over the 76 days remaining in the campaign, said, “We’re gonna leave it on the field.”
Still, the most memorable moment of Walz’s speech might have come when he discussed the fertility struggles he and his wife, Gwen Walz, faced.
“Hope, Gus and Gwen, you are my entire world, and I love you,” he said, naming his daughter, son and wife.
Gus Walz stood up, tears streaming down his face, and applauded his father.
Walz left the stage as Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World” blared through the United Center. Young had personally allowed the Harris campaign to use it — notable because four years earlier, he’d sued Trump’s campaign to stop it from doing so.
02:05 - Source: CNN
‘Let us choose joy!’: Oprah brings DNC to their feet
If other Democrats led a generational change Wednesday night, talk show legend Oprah Winfrey connected the historical dots — portraying Harris as emblematic of “the best of America.”
She told the story of Tessie Prevost, who died last month, and three other Black girls who faced hate and harassment when, as 6-year-old girls, they began the desegregation of New Orleans elementary schools in 1960.
Drawing the connection to Harris, the “New Orleans Four,” Winfrey said, “paved the way for another young girl who nine years later became part of the second class to integrate the public schools in Berkley, California.”
Now, she said, Harris is poised to make history.
“Soon and very soon, we’re going to be teaching our daughters and sons about how this child of an Indian mother and a Jamaican father, two idealistic and energetic immigrants — immigrants — how this child grew up to become the 47th president of the United States,” Winfrey said.
“That is the best of America,” she said, as the crowd erupted into a “U-S-A” chant.
She invoked the Republican vice presidential nominee, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, who in a 2021 interview with Tucker Carlson complained that the United States is being run by “a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives.”
“We are not so different from our neighbors, Winfrey said. “When a house is on fire, we do not ask about the homeowners’ race or religion. We don’t wonder who their partner is or how they voted. No. We just try to do the best we can to save them. And if the place happens to belong to a childless cat lady — well, we try to get that cat out, too.”
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Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, are joined by their spouses, Doug Emhoff and Gwen Walz, after Harris' speech at the Democratic National Convention on Thursday, August 22.
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Harris and Walz hold hands after Harris' speech on Thursday.
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Harris is joined by more family members on stage after her speech on Thursday.
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Balloons fall from the ceiling of Chicago's United Center at the end of the convention on Thursday.
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In describing her “unexpected” ascent to the top of the Democratic ticket, Harris said in her speech that
she is “no stranger to unlikely journeys.” She shared that her mother, Shyamala Gopalan, immigrated to the United States from India with “an unshakable dream to be the scientist who would cure breast cancer.” The vice president added that her mother was set to return home to have an arranged marriage but met her father, Donald Harris, a student from Jamaica, and fell in love.
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Balloons and signs lie on the floor of the United Center at the end of the convention.
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Harris kisses her husband, Doug Emhoff, after her speech. Thursday was also their 10th wedding anniversary.
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During her speech,
Harris shared what it was like being raised by her mother: “She was tough, a trailblazer. … She taught us to never complain about injustice, but do something about it! Do something about it. That was our mother. And she also taught us to never do anything half-assed. And that is a direct quote.”
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Harris' great-niece holds up a sign that says "go auntie, vote big" as the vice president gives her speech on Thursday.
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Harris delivers her speech on Thursday.
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Harris' husband, Doug Emhoff, watches his wife take the stage.
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Harris takes the stage for her speech on Thursday.
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Photographers work during Harris' speech on Thursday.
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Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer
speaks at the convention on Thursday. She said that Harris “gets us” while making the case to America’s women to elect her as president.
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Delegates wave American flags on the convention floor Thursday.
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Former US Rep. Gabby Giffords is joined by her husband, US Sen. Mark Kelly, as she gives a speech on Thursday. Giffords threw her support behind Harris as
she recalled being wounded during a mass shooting in 2011. "My friend Kamala will be a great president,” Giffords said, adding that “Kamala can beat the gun lobby. She can fight gun trafficking.”
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Basketball star Stephen Curry
endorsed Harris via video on Thursday. Harris is an avid fan of Curry's NBA team, the Golden State Warriors.
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The Chicks perform the National Anthem on Thursday.
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Actors Tony Goldwyn and Kerry Washington, who starred together on the TV show "Scandal," take the convention stage on Thursday. “I know that I’m the one standing on this stage, but I am not the lead character in this story,"
she told the crowd. "You are. All of you."
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People inside the United Center watch US Sen. Elizabeth Warren speak on Thursday.
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Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, second from right, speaks to media inside the United Center on Thursday. Shapiro was on the short list to be Harris' running mate.
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Convention attendees cast shadows on the upper level of the United Center on Thursday.
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Convention attendees
wear white, the color associated with the suffragette movement, on Thursday.
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Pro-Palestinian protesters speak outside the United Center on Thursday. Leaders of the
Uncommitted National Movement were holding a sit-in outside the convention after being told on Wednesday night that its allies would not be allowed to address the United Center from the stage.
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Mevlüt Hilmi Cinar prays inside the arena on Thursday.
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Four of the “Central Park Five” take the stage Thursday along with the Rev. Al Sharpton. From left are Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Korey Wise, Sharpton and Raymond Santana. The men were arrested in 1989 — when they were teenagers — in connection with the rape and assault of a white female jogger, and they were eventually convicted. They were exonerated in 2014. Long before he was president, Donald Trump took out an expensive full-page advertisement in four New York City newspapers calling for the return of the death penalty for the teenagers. He stood by the ad then, and he has stood by it during his political career, including as president, long after the men had been exonerated. “That man thinks that hate is the animating force in America. It is not,”
Salaam said, issuing a call to action for people to vote for Harris. “I want you to walk with us. I want you to march with us. I want you to vote with us.”
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Convention attendees and pro-Palestinian protesters gather outside the United Center on Thursday.
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Leonardo Williams, the mayor of Durham, North Carolina, speaks on Thursday.
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People walk outside the United Center on Thursday.
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If the cheesehead hat didn’t give it away, delegate Ryan Sorenson is from Wisconsin — specifically Sheboygan, a surfing destination also known as the “Malibu of the Midwest.” He said Thursday that Democrats are “energized and fired up and ready to go” in the battleground state. “We’re always a swing state,” he said. “It’s going to be close.”
The Rev. Geneva Allen-Patterson, a delegate from Cape Girardeau, Missouri, was attending the Democratic National Convention for the first time in her life at the age of 75. “This is a very, very historic moment that God has blessed me in this season of my life,” she said. She’s excited to witness a woman of color leading a presidential ticket, something that her mother and her grandmother were not able to see while they were alive.
Like many delegates on Thursday, she was wearing white, the color of the suffragette movement.
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Brenda Hoskie, is a delegate from New Mexico and a member of the Navajo Nation. She’s also the party chair of McKinley County, and she’s focused on registering people to vote and making sure they vote. “Where we live, we are right next door to Arizona,” she said Thursday. “So I’ll be helping out Arizona with Apache County, Navajo County, Coconino County and that area, because our reservation just goes into that.”
Stephanie McGraw is from the Harlem neighborhood of New York City. “I’m here at the DNC this week to experience (Harris’) story, to experience a miracle, to experience a new sense of hope, to see the first female president-elect of the United States,” she said. “I’m here for every woman that has lost her voice. I’m here for every woman to help her find her voice. I’m here to let every woman know: Just believe that anything you want to do in this world, you can do it. And if your dreams don’t scare you, they’re not big enough.”
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Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is joined by his daughter, Hope; his son, Gus; and his wife, Gwen, at the convention on Wednesday. Walz said accepting the vice presidential nomination was
“the honor of my life.”
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Rowan Curry holds up a USA sign on the convention floor on Wednesday.
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Walz was introduced Wednesday with a video narrated by his wife. The video featured her telling the story of her husband’s life.
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Walz's son, Gus, and his daughter, Hope,
get emotional during their father's speech on Wednesday.
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Walz, a former high school football coach,
used a string of football analogies to describe how he hopes Democrats win the White House in November. “We are driving down the field. And, boy, do we have the right team,” he said. “Kamala Harris is tough, Kamala Harris is experienced, and Kamala Harris is ready. Our job is to get into the trenches and do the blocking and tackling. One inch at a time, one yard at a time, one phone call at a time, one door knock at a time, one $5 donation at a time.”
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Gwen Walz cries as the introduction video is shown before her husband's speech.
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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg gives a speech at the convention on Wednesday.
He slammed Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance: “Choosing a guy like JD Vance to be America’s next vice president sends a message, and the message is that they are doubling down on negativity and grievance, committing to a concept of campaigning best summed up in one word: darkness.”
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A convention attendee wears a hat that says "President Kamala" on Wednesday.
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Winfrey is seen on a video screen inside the United Center. “Values and character matter most of all — in leadership and in life,”
Winfrey said. “Decency and respect are on the ballot in 2024. And just plain common sense tells you that Kamala Harris and Tim Walz can give us decency and respect.”
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Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro gives a speech at the convention on Wednesday.
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John Legend
performs a tribute to Prince before Walz delivered his keynote address on Wednesday. Prince was a Minnesota native known for epitomizing “The Minneapolis Sound” at his home and studio, Paisley Park. Both Harris and Walz, Minnesota's governor, discussed their love of Prince’s music in a recent campaign video.
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From left, Alexander Hudlin, Jasper Emhoff and Arden Emhoff — Harris' niece and nephews — take the stage on Wednesday.
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Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi walks on stage to give a speech on Wednesday. "We must choose leaders who believe in free and fair elections, who respect the peaceful transfer of power,”
Pelosi said. “The choice couldn’t be clearer. Those leaders are Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. (Tim) Walz.”
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Former President Bill Clinton waves to the crowd on Wednesday. “In 2024, we've got a pretty clear choice, it seems to me,”
Clinton said in his speech. “Kamala Harris, for the people, and the other guy, who has proved even more than the first go-around that he’s about me, myself and I.”
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Clinton started his speech
by thanking President Joe Biden for his service to the country. He said Biden’s decision to step aside from the reelection race will enhance his legacy.
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Edith Delaney poses for a photo at the convention on Wednesday.
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“Saturday Night Live” star Kenan Thompson
made fun of the conservative Project 2025 and talked to Americans that could be affected by its proposals. “You ever seen a document that could kill a small animal and democracy at the same time? Here it is,” Thompson said as he walked out onto the stage carrying a large book with the 920-page document.
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Actress Mindy Kaling, a longtime Harris supporter, emcees Wednesday's events.
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Sketch artist Donald Owen Colley draws for the Chicago Reader newspaper on Wednesday.
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Legendary musician Stevie Wonder
performs his hit song "Higher Ground" at the convention on Wednesday. "As we stand between history’s pain and tomorrow’s promises, we must choose courage over complacency," he said before his performance. "It is time to get up and go vote.”
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US Rep. Bennie Thompson, who chaired the House select committee that investigated the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol,
speaks at the convention on Wednesday. He said rioters came to Washington because Donald Trump couldn’t handle losing. “He lied about the election fraud," Thompson told the crowd. "He called his conspiracy-led mob to Washington. He would rather subvert democracy than submit to it. Now, he’s plotting again."
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Media members work at the convention site on Wednesday.
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Geoff Duncan, a former Republican lieutenant governor of Georgia, was among those who spoke Wednesday. “I am a Republican, but tonight I stand here as an American who cares more about the future of this country than the future of Donald Trump,”
said Duncan, who was the state’s lieutenant governor when Trump allegedly tried to overturn Georgia’s results in the 2020 election.
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Carlos Eduardo Espina, an influencer and content creator,
speaks at the convention on Wednesday. He argued that America is stronger with its culture of immigrants and called for those values to be protected in this election.
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Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg-Polin, the parents of
Hersh Goldberg-Polin, shared their “pain and misery” for their missing son on Wednesday. Hersh was kidnapped from the Nova music festival during Hamas’ attacks on Israel last year, and in April,
a video of him was released by Hamas — the first sign since the attack that he was still alive. He is among the most recognizable of the
estimated 109 Israeli hostages being held in Gaza as
negotiations for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas continue. Jon Polin said that
“the time is now” for a deal to be made to release the hostages.
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A person wears a pin showing Harris and Walz on Wednesday.
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US Sen. Cory Booker
speaks at the convention on Wednesday. He said the third night of the convention was “about freedom” before introducing a group of speakers to talk for reproductive rights.
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US Sen. Elizabeth Warren, left, talks to CNN's Kaitlan Collins on the convention floor on Wednesday.
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US Rep. Suzan DelBene, chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, addresses the crowd on Wednesday.
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Jae Moyer, a delegate from Johnson County, Kansas, poses for a portrait with a rainbow flag on Wednesday. Moyer said Harris has a strong record of supporting members of the LGBTQ community: “There is so much energy and joy and electricity in the air surrounding Kamala’s campaign.”
Indiana delegate and disability advocate Emily Voorde was attending her second Democratic convention. “The disabled vote is a significant one,” she said. “People with disabilities are actually the largest minority group in the country. One in four Americans lives with a disability, whether that be a learning disability, a mental health disability, a physical disability, long Covid.” She said she’s confident that Harris and Walz “will do best by our community.”
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Former President Barack Obama delivers the keynote speech on Tuesday.
He told the crowd that he is “feeling hopeful” because Harris is ready to step into the White House. “This convention has always been pretty good to kids with funny names who believe in a country where anything is possible,” Obama said to cheers. “Because we have a chance to elect someone who has spent her entire life trying to give people the same chances America gave her.”
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An audience member tears up while listening to Obama's speech on Tuesday.
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Obama urged the crowd to fight for the America they believe in. He said that "for all the incredible energy we’ve been able to generate over the last few weeks, for all the rallies and the memes — this will still be a tight race in a closely divided country."
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Obama's speech is shown on a TV screen inside the United Center on Tuesday.
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Obama embraces his wife, Michelle, as she introduced him for his speech on Tuesday.
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People hold USA signs at the United Center on Tuesday.
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Harris' husband, Doug Emhoff,
speaks at the convention on Tuesday. He said that his wife rises to the occasion “wherever she’s needed” and has done that for their family. During his speech,
he also recalled how he first met Harris during a blind date in 2013 — sending the crowd into laughter after telling them Harris replays his first awkward voicemail to her every anniversary.
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Harris
appears via video to symbolically accept the party's nomination after a ceremonial roll call on Tuesday. She and Walz were in Milwaukee for a campaign rally. “We are so honored to be your nominees,” Harris said. “This is a people-powered campaign, and together we will chart a new way forward.”
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California Gov. Gavin Newsom poses for a selfie during the convention on Tuesday. “There’s a sense of energy that’s beyond just these four walls,”
the governor told CNN. “You see it out there, you feel it out there."
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During the roll call, DJ Cassidy
played a song representative of each delegation. For example, Alabama got Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama.” Florida got “I Won’t Back Down” by Tom Petty, a native of the state. California got “The Next Episode,” Dr. Dre’s West Coast classic featuring Snoop Dogg.
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Texas delegates cheer during Tuesday's ceremonial roll call.
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Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, center right, poses for a photo on Tuesday.
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Rapper Lil Jon performs two of his classics, “Get Low” and “Turn Down for What,” during Georgia's roll call on Tuesday.
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Pennsylvania state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta holds a Project 2025 book while speaking at the convention on Tuesday.
The 920-page document was organized by The Heritage Foundation think tank and developed in significant part by people who served in Donald Trump’s administration. Its proposals for right-wing policies and a radical reshaping of the executive branch
have become frequent targets of Democratic criticism.
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Stephanie Grisham, a former White House press secretary under Trump,
speaks at the convention on Tuesday. Grisham said she is advocating for a Democrat "because I love my country more than my party. Kamala Harris tells the truth, she respects the American people and she has my vote.”
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People cheer as Teamster union members take the stage at the convention on Tuesday.
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Angie Gialloreto, at 95 years old, was the oldest delegate at the convention. She’s from Wilkins Township, Pennsylvania, and
has been to every Democratic National Convention since 1976. She said Tuesday that it is thrilling to see Harris as the next potential president. “I’m up in age. I won’t enjoy all the fruits that she produces. But I’m sure young ones will, and I thank God for that,” she said. On attending the next convention in four years, she said: “Let’s be realistic. Time is ticking away. But if I’m still here, damn it, I’ll be there.”
Isaac Winkler, a 17-year-old from Minnesota, was
the youngest delegate at the convention. “Young people need to be a part of politics because the policy decisions that are made today will affect them more than anyone else in the world,” he said. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Kamala Harris’ running mate, is “exactly what he comes across as, and that’s just a very genuine guy,” Winkler said.
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Arshia Papari, left, was one of the youngest delegates at the convention. The 19-year-old is a sophomore at the University of Texas at Austin, majoring in government. He and his friend Roman Fritz, a fellow delegate and student at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, were wearing scarves that say Democrats for Palestinian Rights. “We have 210 delegates signed on to a letter that will be sent to our Democratic leadership to call for an immediate ceasefire and arms embargo on Israel,” Papari said.
Tennessee state Rep. Justin Pearson, right, said he’s really excited about Harris’ candidacy and “what she brings, which is joy, a new perspective, dedication and commitment to uniting our country, and really elevating the voices of people who’ve been marginalized across the country.”
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Biden and Harris hold hands after his speech. “She’ll be a president we can all be proud of, and she will be a historic president who puts her stamp on America’s future," Biden said in his speech.
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Biden was greeted by
more than four minutes of applause when he first took the stage Monday. People in the crowd held signs that said, "Thank you Joe." They also chanted the phrase.
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Biden embraces his wife, Jill, after his speech. “America, I gave my best to you,”
he said.
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Tennessee state Rep. Gloria Johnson gets emotional while Biden speaks Monday.
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“All this talk about how I’m angry at all the people who said I should step down — that’s not true,”
Biden said. “I love my country more, and we need to preserve our democracy.”
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Biden appears to wipe away tears as he is greeted by his daughter, Ashley, who introduced him to the crowd Monday.
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Delegates hold up signs for Jill Biden as she gives a speech at the convention on Monday.
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Harris talks with Walz from a VIP suite at the United Center.
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US Rep. Jamie Raskin speaks at the convention on Monday. Raskin was a member of the House select committee that investigated the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.
During his speech Monday, he called out each battleground state in attendance and asked: “Are we going to go back to the days of election suppression and violent insurrection?”
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Harris takes the stage on Monday.
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US Sen. Raphael Warnock is seen on United Center screens as he gives a speech on Monday.
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Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the first woman in history to lead a major-party ticket,
speaks at the convention on Monday. "It was the honor of my life to accept our party’s nomination for president," she said of her 2016 campaign. "And nearly 66 million Americans voted for a future where there are no ceilings on our dreams. And afterwards we refused to give up on America: millions marched, many ran for office, we kept our eyes on the future. Well, my friends, the future is here. I wish my mother and Kamala’s mother could see us. They would say, ‘Keep going.’ ”
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Convention attendees walk inside the United Center on Monday.
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US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez,
speaking at the convention on Monday, said Harris is committed to the middle class, to reproductive and civil rights, and to bringing about a ceasefire in Gaza and bringing hostages home.
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The Rev. Jesse Jackson
is honored on stage at the Democratic National Convention on Monday. In recent years,
Jackson’s battle with Parkinson’s disease has largely taken him out of the national spotlight, but Democrats cheered as the 82-year-old civil rights leader appeared alongside the Rev. Al Sharpton and NAACP President Derrick Johnson.
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Content creator Joshua Martin records a video from the convention floor on Monday.
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In her first convention remarks on Monday,
Harris thanked President Biden for his "historic leadership." Looking toward November, she said people from all backgrounds will “come together and declare with one voice, as one people: We are moving forward.”
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Pelosi attends the convention on Monday.
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Amanda and Josh Zurawski, left, join Kaitlyn Joshua and Hadley Duvall on stage as they speak about reproductive rights on Monday.
The Zurawskis were told that they were going to lose their baby, but they had to wait days — until Amanda’s life was in jeopardy — to receive an abortion because they lived in Texas, they said.
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A person in the crowd is dressed as a donkey, the Democrats' political symbol, on Monday.
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Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow speaks at the convention on Monday.
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US Rep. Maxine Waters gives a speech on Monday.
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US Sen. Dick Durbin is seen on a United Center screen as he delivers remarks at the convention on Monday.
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A convention attendee wears a Pelosi button on Monday.
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Jamie Harrison, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, kicks off the convention Monday with convention chair Minyon Moore.
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Heather Pirowski, left, is an Indiana delegate and breast cancer survivor. She said she was diagnosed with breast cancer in February 2020. “I didn’t realize that when you have dense breasts, mammograms don’t work (and) we need additional diagnostic testing,” she said as she posed for a portrait on Monday. “When I looked at our legislation in Indiana, we really did not have anything that talked about that. So I formed Hoosier Breast Cancer Advocates, and with a couple other advocate friends, we actually passed legislation that was bipartisan and unanimously voted on.
Saffiyyah Muhammad, right, didn’t have to go far to attend the convention. She’s from Chicago. She said she cried when she learned that Harris would be the Democratic nominee, and she has volunteered her time to help support the campaign. “To be a part of this history, it’s very exciting — and it’s emotional,” she said. Muhammad, like Harris, is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha, a historically Black sorority.
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Jacen Bowman, left, is a delegate from Philadelphia. “I see that there has been this resurgence of energy,” Bowman said. “There has been this resurgence of people that are just excited about what’s going on now, especially when it comes to millennials and Gen Z. … Kamala represents what America looks like. America is a place that is inclusive. It’s about equality. I think it is important that we have a woman commander in chief, especially a Black woman. I haven’t seen as much excitement since Obama ran for office.”
Jared Schablein, a delegate from Maryland, brought a stuffed muskrat with him to the convention. “The muskrat is an animal local to my community on the Eastern Shore of Maryland,” he said. Princess Anne, Maryland, also hosts a New Year’s Eve muskrat drop. Schablein said he was “incredibly excited” when Harris became the nominee and that he was happy to be one of the first in Maryland to publicly support her. He also said he was “over the moon” when Harris selected Walz as her running mate. “Rural America doesn’t typically get represented,” he said.
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A portrait of Harris sits outside the United Center on Monday.
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Protesters gather outside the United Center on Monday.
Thirteen people were arrested during protests related to the convention on Monday, according to Chicago Police Department Superintendent Larry Snelling. Ten of those arrests stemmed from a small group that
breached a portion of the northern security perimeter fence at the United Center, he said.
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Media members work at the convention on Monday.
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A man stands in front of the stage ahead of Monday night's events.
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Merchandise is sold at the convention on Monday.
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Chairs are lined up at the United Center before Monday night's speeches.
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Media trailers are set up outside the United Center on Monday.
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A television journalist works from his booth inside the United Center on Sunday.
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A boat carrying pro-Palestinian protesters, bottom, travels along the Chicago River on Sunday.
‘For the people’ vs. ‘Me, myself and I’
Bill Clinton, who former President Barack Obama once dubbed the explainer-in-chief, framed the election as a choice between Harris being “for the people” or Trump being “about me, myself and I.”
“I know which one I like better for our country,” the former president said.
Though Clinton’s influence within the party has waned in the more than 23 years since he left office, no Democrat has been able to replicate his appeal to White working-class voters who have slipped away from the party since Clinton’s heyday — a reality that makes his once-every-four-years appearance at the convention an anticipated moment.
He touched on Harris’ positions on housing and health care policies, and he credited Democrats for job growth. But for the most part, Clinton used his speech to cast Trump as self-obsessed and Harris as a clean break from the drama that encompasses the former president.
He said Trump “mostly talks about himself.”
“So the next time you hear him, don’t count the lies. Count the I’s,” he said. “His vendettas, his vengeance, his complaints, his conspiracies.”
02:01 - Source: CNN
Bill Clinton reminds DNC he's actually younger than Trump
In the Democratic Party, it’ll soon be here.
While the main job of the party’s convention is to propel Harris into the fall with momentum, this year’s gathering in Chicago has also served as a generational hand-off.
Several of the party’s aging figures — including Biden, Clinton and his wife, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton; and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — acknowledged the twilight of their influence and the emergence of new faces.
Bill Clinton — who at 78 is keenly aware that he has lived longer than his father, grandfather and great-grandfather — told the crowd Wednesday night that he’s been to every Democratic National Convention since 1972 and has “no idea how many more of these I’ll be able to come to.”
“But here’s what I want you to know,” he said. “If you vote for this team — if you can get them elected and let them bring in this breath of fresh air — you’ll be proud of it for the rest of your life. Your children will be proud of it. Your grandchildren will be proud of it.”
Evoking memories of the 1992 convention in New York where the Hope, Arkansas, native was first nominated, he said: “Take it from the man who once had the honor in this convention to be called the man from Hope: We need Kamala Harris, the president of joy, to lead us.”
Clinton also praised Biden, saying that voluntarily relinquishing political power will enhance his legacy. He was followed on stage by Pelosi, the most powerful woman in American political history, who played a role in ushering Biden aside for Harris.
Pelosi, 84, had of course already facilitated a generational change on Capitol Hill. She stepped aside as House Democratic leader in 2022 and was replaced by New York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, who is 30 years younger.
Rebecca Wright/CNN
Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg-Polin on stage during the DNC in Chicago, on August 21, 2024.
Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg-Polin, the parents of Hersh Goldberg-Polin — an Israeli-American who was kidnapped by Hamas while attending the Nova music festival on October 7 — shared their “anguish and misery” Wednesday in one of the night’s most poignant moments.
“Since then, we live on another planet. Anyone who is a parent or has had a parent can try to imagine the anguish and misery that Jon and I and all the hostage families are enduring,” Goldberg-Polin said.
The two said they’ve met “numerous times” at the White House with Biden and Harris.
“We are all deeply grateful to them,” Jon Polin. “We’re also profoundly thankful to you, the millions of people in the United States and all over the world, who have been sending love, support and strength to the hostage families. You’ve kept us breathing in a world without air.”
Acknowledging the deaths of civilians in Gaza, Polin also said that “there is a surplus of agony on all sides” of Israel’s war with Hamas.
Their comments came as Democrats grapple with tension over US support for Israel’s war with Hamas and the civilian casualties that have resulted. Progressives’ criticism of Biden on the issue led to campus protests and “uncommitted” votes in some states’ presidential primaries this spring.
About an hour before the family spoke, Abbas Alawieh, a co-founder of the Uncommitted Nation Network, said he welcomed the hostage parents’ speech – but pressed again for a Palestinian-American voice to be given the same time.
Hours later, Uncommitted received the news that their request for a speaking spot had been denied, and members reacted by staging a sit-in outside the United Center. They held banners that said “Arms embargo now” and “Not another bomb,” urging an end to US military supplies for Israel’s war effort. Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar briefly joined the group.
01:16 - Source: CNN
'Bro, we broke up with you for a reason': Jeffries likens Trump to an old boyfriend
Though Harris has put her own spin on the Democratic message since replacing Biden atop the ticket, the theme that had been at the core of the president’s reelection campaign — defending democracy — remains key.
Aquilino Gonell, a former US Capitol Police sergeant, said that Trump “summoned our attackers” who rioted at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, as Congress was gathered to count electoral college votes.
Gonnell, who immigrated to the United States from the Dominican Republic when he was 12 and served in the Army, said that Trump “betrayed us.”
“We officers risked everything to protect innocent people. We were beaten and blinded. I was assaulted with a pole attached to an American flag.”
Democrats made the insurrection, and Trump’s broader effort to overturn the 2020 election results, a focus on Wednesday night.
Former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, a Republican, and Olivia Troye, a former national security adviser to Vice President Mike Pence, also took the stage in Chicago.
“To my fellow Republicans, you aren’t voting for a Democrat; you’re voting for democracy,” Troye said. “You aren’t betraying our party; you’re standing up for our country.”