"If the Republican convention was all about Trump, the Democrats on Tuesday wanted to put Harris in a pantheon with past presidents,” says The Associated Press.
In addition to Barack and Michelle Obama making the case for Kamala Harris, the grandsons of Jimmy Carter and John F. Kennedy portrayed her as the natural heir of past Democratic leaders.
The Obamas evoked the excitement of their 2008 campaign. And Michelle Obama told citizens, “In some states, just a handful of votes in every precinct could decide the winner,” so “do something!”
"We have only two and a half months to get this done … only 11 weeks to make sure every single person we know is registered and has a voting plan,” she said.
Harris’ husband, Doug Emhoff, focused his speech on their love story and "dished on the deets of their first phone call,” as AP puts it.
As part of Democrats' outreach to Republicans, Stephanie Grisham, who worked in various roles in the Trump White House, including communications director and press secretary, told the convention: “He has no empathy, no morals, and no fidelity to the truth. I couldn’t be part of the insanity any longer.”
And Kyle Sweetser, a Trump voter from Alabama, said Trump's tariffs made life harder for construction workers like him. GOP Mayor John Giles of Mesa, Ariz., who sees Trump’s policies as hurting cities like his, said he’s backing Harris.
Political conventions technically happen so delegates can nominate presidential and vice presidential candidates, but this year, the Democrats took care of that in advance.
But they did a ceremonial do-over Tuesday and turned the usually boring ritual into a dance party.
DJ Cassidy spun tunes for each state as it nominated Harris and Walz. Minnesota delegates had chosen “1999” by native son Prince, and Kansas chose “Carry on Wayward Son” by the group Kansas. “Born in the U.S.A.” by Bruce Springsteen played for New Jersey.
The roll call highlight came when Atlanta rapper Lil Jon strode through the United Center to the beats of “Turn Down for What,” his song with DJ Snake, rapping his support for Harris and Walz.
Here are highlights of the entire day, from NBC News.
And here is the text of Barack Obama’s speech, from NBC.
And here are the video and text of Michelle Obama’s speech, from NBC.
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