The cheers were deafening as President Joe Biden took the stage at the United Center in Chicago as the keynote speaker of the first day of the 2024 Democratic National Convention.
It took Biden nearly five minutes to get a word in edgewise before the chants of "Thank you Joe!" died down and allowed him to speak. He dabbed tears from his eyes after his daughter, Ashley, spoke glowingly of him as a father as she introduced him to the crowd in Chicago, many holding banners as far as the eye could see reading "We ❤️ Joe."
The moment would have been a fitting one as he accepted the Democratic nomination for a second term in the White House on the final night of the DNC -- but that wasn't what this was.
Instead, he was taking the stage on the first night of the quadrennial convention to pass the torch to his former running mate, Vice President Kamala Harris, as she prepares to accept the party's nomination to take on Republican nominee and former President Donald Trump.
And in a barn burner of a speech, one that stretched from late Monday night into early Tuesday morning, the incumbent president made the case for why Harris the best choice to be the next commander in chief.
"Because like many of our best presidents, she was also a vice president," Biden quipped during his more than 45-minute remarks.
"That was a joke, that was a joke," Biden, himself a former vice president, added.
In truth, Biden sought to make the case that both he and Harris "saved democracy in 2020" by denying Trump a second term in the White House, "and we must save it again" by thwarting him again.
"The vote each of us casts this year will determine whether democracy and freedom will prevail," Biden said. "It’s that simple — and that serious. The power is in your hands. History is in your hands. America’s future is in your hands."
Biden's remarks capped off a night (or morning, as the case may be) in Chicago that was downright jubilant among Democrats, one which showed off the party's deep bench of young, up-and-coming elected officials while also allowing for some of the wounds of the past -- namely, their loss in the 2016 election -- to come to light and be healed.
Here are takeaways from the first night of the DNC.
When the crowd finally settled down after showering him with applause and chants, President Joe Biden began his remarks recounting the “cold” winter day in which took the oath of office for the presidency.
“I raised my right hand and I swore an oath to you and the God to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution and to faithfully execute the office of the president of the United States,” he said, going on to note that just two weeks prior the Capitol had been attacked by people seeking to disrupt the certification of the election results.
“In that moment, I wasn’t looking to the past, I was looking to the future,” Biden said, declaring that winter a time of “peril and possibility.”
“Now it’s summer, the winter has passed and with a grateful heart, I stand before you now on this August night to report that democracy has prevailed, democracy has delivered and now democracy must be preserved,” he said.
The president went on to repeat some of his oft-delivered lines as president and on the campaign trail, including that the nation is at an “inflection point” and we’re in a “battle for the very soul of America.”
He then recounted the reason he ran for president in 2020 despite just losing one of his sons: the rally in Charlottesville, Va., in 2017 in which white nationalists, shouting Nazi slogans and carrying torches, protested the removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. After that, he said he ran with a “deep conviction” that “honesty, dignity, decency” still matter in America.
“As your president, I’ve been determined to keep America moving forward, not going back, to stand against violence in all its forms, to be a nation where we not only live with but thrive on diversity,” he said.
President Joe Biden took credit for having the strongest economy in the world in the aftermath of COVID, thanks to many of the policies he and Vice President Kamala Harris implemented. He touted a record 16 million new jobs, record small business growth, a record high stock market, record high 401Ks, higher wages and lower inflation.
“We both know we have more to do, but we’re moving in the right direction,” the president said to an enthusiastic crowd waving "We Love Joe" signs.
In a greatest hits speech citing his numerous economic achievements, Biden cited last week’s win negotiating price caps for popular drugs the federal government buys for Medicare — a battle he’s been fighting for 50 years and finally won with Harris casting the tie-breaking vote, he said. Over ten years, the lower prices are expected to save the federal government $160 billion.
And whenever the crowd chanted "Thank you Joe!" for his accomplishments, Biden replied: "Thank you, Kamala!"
In a speech that often drew raucous applause, the president chided former President Donald Trump for his repeated promises to build infrastructure and praised himself and Harris for actually make it happen.
“We’re giving America an infrastructure decade, not a week,” he said of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law his administration signed into law in 2022. “We’re modernizing our roads, our bridges, ports, airports, trains and buses."
“Because of you, American manufacturing is back,” Biden added. “We used to export jobs and import products. Now we create jobs and export products.”
Biden also took Trump to task, as one might expect, hammering him on multiple fronts, from policy differences to his “lies” to his defense of the far right marchers at the deadly 2017 Charlottesville, Va., white supremacist rally.
“How can we have the strongest economy in the world without the best infrastructure in the world? Donald Trump promised infrastructure week every week for four years, and he never built a damn thing,” Biden said. “Right now, we're giving America infrastructure decade, not week.”
Biden recounted Trump’s comment after the Charlottesville “Unite the Right” rally — saying there were “very fine people on both sides” — as the inciting moment behind his 2020 presidential run.
“Neo-Nazis, white supremacists, the Ku Klux Klan so emboldened by a president then in the White House that they saw as an ally, they didn't even bother to wear their hoods,” Biden said. “Hate was on the march in America, old ghosts and new garments, stirring up the oldest divisions, stoking the oldest fears, giving oxygen to the oldest forces that they long sought to tear apart America.”
He also belittled Trump and his “Republican friends,” saying “they not only can't think, they can't read very well” as he attacked their plans to dismantle the public education system.
And, as he defended his handling of immigration and the U.S.-Mexico border, Biden said Trump was a liar and credited Trump with killing a bipartisan border deal earlier this year.
“I never thought I'd stand before a crowd of Democrats who refer to a president as a liar so many times. Now, I'm not trying to be funny. It's sad,” Biden said. “He called senators to say, don't support the bipartisan bill. He said it would help me politically and hurt him politically. My god, I'm serious. Think about it. Not a joke.”
“Trump once again putting himself first and America last,” Biden added.
Biden heaped praise on Harris, declaring his decision to choose her as his running mate in 2020 “the best decision I made my whole career.”
“We’ve not only gotten to know each other, we’ve become close friends,” he said. “She’s tough, she is experienced and she has enormous integrity, enormous integrity.”
He went on to say that she will be a president “our children can look up to” and one in which “we can all be proud of.”
“And she will be a historic president who puts her stamp on America’s future,” Biden said of his vice president, who is the first Black female of South Asian descent to hold the position.
The president also called Harris’ husband, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, as well as Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and his wife, Gwen Walz, people of “great character.”
As he wound down his remarks, Biden called serving the American people as president "the honor of my lifetime."
"I love the job," Biden said, tipping his hat to his decision to step down from the Democratic ticket. "But I love my country more."
Biden also referenced reports that he's "angry" at those who urged him to step aside. He said "it's not true" as he was drowned out by chants of "We love Joe!"
Biden vowed to do all he can to get Harris and Walz elected.
"In 2024 we need you to vote. We need you to keep the Senate. We need you to win back the House. And above all else, we need you to beat Donald Trump and elect Kamala and Tim president and vice president of the United States of America."
"Look, they'll continue to lead America forward," Biden added.
"Join me in promising your whole heart to this effort," Biden later said. "That’s where my heart will be. I promise I'll be the best volunteer that Harris and Walz have ever seen."
"I made a lot of mistakes in my career, but I gave my best to you," the president said after quoting the song "American Anthem," a favorite, he said, of the Biden family. "For 50 years, like many of you, I give my heart and soul to our nation. And I've been blessed a million times in return."
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton entered the Democratic National Convention on Monday night to cheers and applause so thunderous she could barely start her speech.
“There’s a lot of energy in this room, just like there is across the country,” she said. “Something is happening in America. You can feel it. Something we’ve worked for and dreamed of for a long time.”
Clinton said it was the honor of her life to accept the Democratic party’s nomination in 2016 and recalled many of her experiences as the nominee eight years ago, only to win the popular vote but be defeated by former president Donald Trump.
She said the experience had helped form cracks in the glass ceiling that Vice President Kamala Harris is now poised to break through.
“This is when we stand up. This is when we break through,” she said, while encouraging Democrats to work harder than they ever have before for the next 78 days “to beat back the dangers that Trump and his allies pose to our rule of law and our way of life.”
When Clinton said Trump had made history as the first person to run for president with 34 felony convictions, the crowd erupted into a rowdy chant of “lock him up,” reclaiming a taunt Trump often lobbed at Clinton in 2016. Clinton just smiled and nodded to the crowd as they chanted.
“The story of my life and the history of our country is that progress is possible but not guaranteed. We have to fight for it and never, ever give up. There is always a choice. Do we push forward or pull back, come together as we the people or split into us versus them? That’s the choice we face in this election.”
Harris, she said, has the character, experience and vision to lead the country forward.
“Kamala cares about kids and families, cares about America. Donald only cares about himself. On her first day in court, Kamala said five words that still guide her, ‘Kamala Harris, for the people.’ That is something Donald Trump will never understand.”
She exited the stage to the Rachel Platten song "Fight Song," a tune that became synonymous with her 2016 campaign.
While the climax of the night was Joe Biden, a man who spent a half-century in American politics, giving his keynote address, Democrats showed off their up-and-coming talent in the political world as they flexed their deep bench for future elections.
Once an outsider in the Democratic Party, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez got a hero's welcome as she addressed the convention on Monday night.
Taking the stage in Chicago to chants of “AOC,” the New York progressive fired up the crowd at the Democratic National Convention Monday night by highlighting her own working-class history as a waitress who didn’t have health insurance who came from a family who was fighting off foreclosure.
“Like millions of Americans, we were just looking for an honest shake, and we were tired of a cynical politics that seemed blind to the realities of working people,” she said. “It was then only through the miracles of Democracy and community that the good people of the Bronx and Queens chose someone like me to elect to Congress.”
After praising Harris, Ocasio-Cortez blasted Trump as a a "two-bit union buster" who “would sell this country for a dollar if it meant lining his own pockets and greasing the palms of his Wall Street friends.”
"The truth is Don: You cannot love this country if you only fight for the wealthy and big business," she added. "To love this country is to fight for its people, all people. Working people, everyday Americans like bartenders and factory workers and fast food cashiers who punch a clock and are on their feet all day in some of the toughest jobs out there."
Despite being a freshman in the House of Representatives, Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett is no stranger to the spotlight -- she's featured in more than her fair share of viral moments from congressional hearings, including a contentious back-and-forth with far-right firebrand Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene earlier this year.
And just like in that confrontation -- during which she clapped back at Greene with the phrase "bleach blonde bad built butch body" -- Crockett's words on Monday night were cutting and impactful.
Complete with alliteration, to boot.
"The question before is: will a vindictive, vile villain violate voters' vision for a better America or not?" she asked, as the crowd roared with approval. She chuckled, and added, "I hear alliterations are back in style."
Crockett came complete with a split-screen presentation -- On one side of the screen, "Kamala Harris: Worked at McDonald's // Donald Trump: Inherited Millions." Another: "Kamala Harris: Career Prosecutor // Donald Trump: Serial Criminal." -- as she made the case against former President Donald Trump.
"Kamala Harris has lived the American dream," she said. "Donald Trump has been America’s nightmare."
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, a popular Democratic governor in a deep red state, spoke after a trio of women who shared deeply personal and harrowing stories about abortion and reproductive health care -- a key issue for the party in 2024 and beyond.
Beshear bolstered the women’s stories saying that Trump’s actions “have resulted in extreme bans on abortion in my state even in cases of rape, incest and nonviable pregnancy.”
Beshear credited his win in the state last November with presenting a counterpoint to the extreme MAGA agenda.
“This November, we’re going to beat them again and protect reproductive rights.”
Michigan state Senator Mallory McMorrow took the lead Monday night on slamming Republicans for ideas in Project 2025, referring to it as a plan to “turn [former President] Donald Trump into a dictator.”
Bringing on stage with her a large copy of the more than 900 page "Mandate for Leadership 2025: The Conservative Promise," McMorrow held it up for the crowd before slamming it on the podium for effect.
"This is Project 2025," she said, to boos.
"They went ahead and wrote down all the extreme things Donald Trump wants to do over the next four years," she said. "And then they just tweeted it out. Putting it out on the internet for everybody to read."
"So we read it," she added. "And whatever you think it might be, it is so much worse."
And Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock, a Baptist pastor, brought the crowd to its feet late Monday night as he laid out the stakes in November's election. He called Trump a “plague on the American conscience” and referring to the infamous moment in which the former president took a photo holding a bible in front of a church across from the White House after police cleared the area of protestors.
“He should try reading it,” Warnock said.
He went on to praise President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ record, saying Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, represent the “new way forward.”
Warnock had the crowd in the United Center on its feet cheering as he concluded his remarks speaking about how “we are all God’s children.”