Politics

(CHICAGO) — The final day of the Democratic National Convention wraps up with Kamala Harris’ big moment: her acceptance speech in which she gets to tell her story to the millions of Americans watching.

Her campaign says, in addition to describing her middle-class upbringing, she will continue to stress optimism and patriotism — the “politics of joy” — the overall themes we’ve heard throughout the gathering.

Here’s how the news is developing:

Warren makes couch joke when talking about Trump, Vance

Warren, a policy wonk, said she trusted Harris to handle the economy, abortion, climate change and more.

“Trust Donald Trump and JD Vance?” she said. “To look out for your family? Shoot, I wouldn’t let those guys — I wouldn’t trust them to move my couch.”

Elizabeth Warren gets teary-eyed during long ovation

The Massachusetts senator was seen wiping her eyes as she got emotional during a rapturous welcome from attendees at the United Center.

Vulnerable senators finally make an appearance

Last night, I commented on how few Democratic Senate candidates had addressed the DNC thus far — including zero in competitive races. Well, that ends tonight. Sen. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin spoke earlier, and Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania was just on stage. Both are in competitive races in swing states this fall.

-538’s Nathaniel Rakich

Early speakers breeze through speeches

The beginning of the fourth night has been moving briskly, with shorter speeches.

Although there have been a few musical interludes from DJ Metro, they also did not last long. The previous three nights of the DNC have ended after 11 p.m. ET.

Harris’ plan for middle-class families

Massachusetts Rep. Katherine Clark focused on the burden of child care costs, saying Harris and Walz “know that when everyone can find and afford child care, our kids and our communities will thrive.”

The Harris campaign said it aims to keep some money in middle-class consumers’ pockets by reducing their tax burden.

The plans include a restoration of the expanded child tax credit of $3,600 per child that expired in 2022. Harris also proposed an additional, new $6,000 child tax credit for families with a child in the first year of life.

What Harris has proposed to help homeowners

Former HUD secretary Marcia Fudge and Congressman Ted Lieu just touted Harris’ housing proposals, which she unveiled last week.

Harris has vowed to provide up to $25,000 in down-payment support for first-time homeowners and called for the construction of 3 million new housing units to ease the housing supply shortage.

Read more about what economists had to say about Harris’ plan.

Sen. Padilla: ‘I knew that I had some big Chuck Taylors to fill’

Sen. Alex Padilla, the first Latino to represent California and Vice President Kamala Harris’ Senate successor, told the crowd “I knew that I had some big Chuck Taylors to fill.”

Harris for years has often sported the popular shoe.

White outfits fill convention arena

White outfits peppered the convention hall here in an ode to suffragists and Harris’ historic candidacy.

The outfit motif has been a hallmark of House Democrats, who have used the color to send a signal at major events, such as past state of the union addresses, including this year’s, when Democrats sought to make a point about abortion.

-ABC News’ Tal Axelrod

DJ gets crowd moving to ‘Lil Boo Thang’

Chicago’s DJ Metro got the crowd to its feet, dancing to “Lil Boo Thang” by Paul Russell, at the start of the night.

100,000 balloons ready to end the night: Source

Convention organizers have 100,000 balloons ready to drop at the end of the evening, according to a source with knowledge.

-ABC News’ Brittany Shepherd

4th night of the DNC underway

The fourth and final night of the DNC is officially underway.

The theme of the night is “For our future” and will feature a keynote address from Vice President Kamala Harris as she accepts the party’s nominee for president.

Emhoff says Harris remains focused on issues ahead of ‘her big moment’

Second gentleman Doug Emhoff said Vice President Kamala Harris remains focused on the issues even “while she is preparing for her big moment tonight.”

“She has been in the Oval Office with the president on all of these major issues. She’s been in the Situation Room on all these major issues, just with what’s happening now,” he said Thursday at an event about combating antisemitism hosted by the Jewish Democratic Council of America.

“She’s still working on these issues while she is preparing for her big moment tonight. That’s what leaders do,” he continued.

-ABC News’ Oren Oppenheim

Harris still tweaking speech, source says

Harris has spent the day continuing to review her speech and tweaking it by hand as she prepares to deliver what will be the most important remarks of her political life, a personal familiar with the preparation told ABC News.

-ABC News’ Mary Bruce

Harris, Emhoff wish each other happy 10th anniversary

Vice President Kamala Harris wished her husband, second gentleman Doug Emhoff a happy anniversary on Thursday ahead of her acceptance speech at the DNC. The couple are celebrating their 10th wedding anniversary.

“To the best partner I could ask for: Happy anniversary, Dougie,” Harris posted on social media, with a picture of the two visiting campaign headquarters in Wilmington the day after she announced her candidacy.

Earlier Thursday, Emhoff did the same, posting a slideshow of photos of himself and Harris.

“Ten years of marriage, forever to go,” Emhoff wrote. “Happy anniversary, @WRQ11HGNB. I love you.”

-ABC News’ Fritz Farrow

Meet the oldest DNC delegate, Angie Gialloreto

Angie Gialloreto, 95, has attended every Democratic National Convention since 1976, when Jimmy Carter was on the ticket.

Since the 99-year-old former president could not attend this year’s DNC due to his health issues, Gialloreto is the oldest delegate to travel to Chicago, where she will watch Harris accept her party’s nomination.

The Pennsylvania native told ABC News the possibility that Harris could become the first woman to serve as president was a long time coming because women “have taken a back seat many years and now we’ll have a leader.”

When asked how she would celebrate if Harris ends up victorious during the November general election against Donald Trump, Gialloreto said she will focus on “getting ready for the next election of local candidates.”

-ABC News’ Morgan Gstalter

Walz meets with former students in Chicago

The morning after accepting his party’s nomination for vice president, Walz gathered in Chicago with former staff, family, friends and former students — including some of the football players who appeared on-stage Wednesday night at the United Center.

ABC News spotted Walz at a Chicago hotel on Thursday morning.

During that meeting, he mingled with several of his former Mankato West High School students over an informal breakfast, according to a source familiar with Walz’s movements. Some of those who met with Walz at the hotel were observed by ABC News donning “Harris-Walz Alumni” T-shirts.

Earlier in the day, Walz posted a video on X showing him hug and greet the students backstage at the convention.

-ABC News’ Lucien Bruggeman, Allison Pecorin and MaryAlice Parks

How Harris prepares for big speeches

Former campaign managers and senior staffers who worked Harris through the years shed light on how she prepares for big speeches.

They said she’s a trial lawyer at her core, and so preparation was key as well as being ready for audience reactions.

In crafting a speech, she would start with themes, outline and then focus in on what she wanted to say well in advance. She would be intimately involved in every speech, making edits and collaborating with those around her.

They said like most people she gets nervous, but would relax, review the remarks, save her voice, conserve energy and rest up.

-ABC News’ Zohreen Shah

What some of Chicago’s young voters think about the 2024 election

Three young voters — one liberal, one moderate and one conservative — discussed their thoughts on the 2024 election while in Chicago for the DNC.

-538’s Nathaniel Rakich

Trump to do live play-by-play of Harris’ speech on Truth Social

Former President Donald Trump said he will do a “LIVE PLAY BY PLAY on TRUTH Social” of Vice President Kamala Harris’s speech at the DNC Thursday night.

“We will start at 10 P.M., Eastern, and be covering and commenting on some of the earlier Speeches made, prior to hers,” Trump posted on his social media platform before going on to slam the dropout of President Joe Biden and saying he was going to “expose” Harris’ policies.

-ABC News Lalee Ibssa

Harris campaign dodges question on why there isn’t a Palestinian speaker at DNC

The Harris campaign at a briefing Thursday morning dodged a question from ABC News on why there isn’t a Palestinian speaker at the convention and why simply saying former President Donald Trump would be worse for Arab-Americans is not the campaign taking their votes for granted.

“No, we’re absolutely not taking their votes for granted,” campaign spokesman Michael Tyler said. “I think, as it relates to uncommitted delegates at this convention, we’re proud, glad that they are here. We’ve worked to engage them throughout the convention.”

Tyler noted a panel conversation that was held with members of the uncommitted movement and said Harris recently engaged with the movement’s leadership in Michigan. He also emphasized that the vice president is working toward a resolution to the Israel-Hamas conflict “with a permanent cease-fire that allows Israel to fully secure itself, that fully continues and make sure that we have full humanitarian aid, but also make sure that Gazans are able to peacefully live and prosper in Gaza.”

Read more here

-ABC News’ Fritz Farrow, Gabriella Abdul-Hakim and Will McDuffie

12:58 PM EDT
Gun control to be featured ahead of Harris’ remarks

Before Vice President Kamala Harris takes center stage Thursday night, gun violence survivors and gun safety advocates will address the DNC, according to Harris-Walz campaign spokesman Michael Tyler.

Former Rep. Gabby Giffords, Rep. Maxwell Frost and the “Tennessee Three” — state Reps. Gloria Johnson, Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, are also expected to speak.

Tyler told reporters Govs. Gretchen Whitmer and Roy Cooper, Sens. Mark Kelly and Elizabeth Warren, and former Rep. Adam Kinzinger — a member of Jan 6. select committee — will give remarks too.

-ABC News’ Will McDuffie

10:11 AM EDT
Kamala Harris to tell her personal story in acceptance speech

The fourth and final day of the Democratic National Convention is leading up to a dramatic finale: Kamala Harris giving her acceptance speech and getting to tell her personal story — in her own words — to an audience of millions.

She’s expected talk about a middle-class upbringing with a working mother. She will continue to stress the themes we’ve heard from speakers throughout the convention: optimism and patriotism — the “politics of joy” — drawing a contrast, her campaign says, with the “dark” vision of Donald Trump.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(CHICAGO) — Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger is in a unique position as a Republican: On Thursday, he is set to deliver a prime-time speech on the final day of the Democratic National Convention, speaking in support of Vice President Kamala Harris before she accepts her party’s nomination for president.

Kinzinger, who retired from the House in 2023, has been a vocal critic of former President Donald Trump over the years, and although he describes himself as a “proud conservative,” he endorsed then-candidate Joe Biden for reelection in June.

“Donald Trump poses a direct threat to every fundamental American value,” Kinzinger said in his Biden endorsement video, mentioning Trump’s role in the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.

The former Illinois congressman sat on the House’s Jan. 6 select committee that investigated the attack. He was also one of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump on a charge of inciting the Jan. 6 attack.

“To every American of every political party, and those of none: I say now is not the time to watch quietly as Donald Trump threatens the future of America,” Kinzinger said in support of the Democratic ticket.

Since Harris replaced Biden as the Democratic nominee, Kinzinger has supported the vice president, saying she stands for democracy.

Kinzinger’s speech will round out a slate of Republicans who have spoken at the DNC this week, including former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, Mayor John Giles of Mesa, Arizona, former Trump White House national security official Olivia Troye and former Trump White House press secretary Stephania Grisham.

In what’s expected to be a close contest between Harris and Trump in November, the Harris campaign is leaving no stone unturned, targeting Republicans and independents in their messaging and outreach.

GOP speakers at the DNC appear to be doing the same.

“The sometimes awkward alliance between the left, center, and sane right will prevail! We’re not going back,” Kinzinger posted to X on Wednesday.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(CHICAGO) — McDonald’s — and politics?

Vice President Kamala Harris having worked there in college has repeatedly been brought up by speakers at the Democratic National Convention — almost as if it’s on a menu — and her campaign is using it as a symbolic, shorthand way of connecting her experience with that of working-class Americans.

Harris has noted in the past and now in campaign ads that she worked a summer job at McDonald’s in her late teens, between her freshman and sophomore years at Howard University in Washington, D.C.

Her early job is a common one among Americans, according to data from the chain which says one out of every eight Americans has worked at McDonald’s.

The giant burger chain did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.

Harris and Walz have pointed out that their working-class roots are in sharp contrast to former President Donald Trump’s much wealthier upbringing. Walz took a dig at a campaign event a few weeks ago, claiming that Trump wouldn’t be able to cut it as a fast-food worker.

“He couldn’t run that damn McFlurry machine if it cost him anything,” he said.

Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett took a jab at the DNC.

“Let’s compare their resumes, shall we?,” she said. “One candidate worked at McDonald’s while she was in college at an HBCU, [Howard University]. The other was born with the silver spoon in his mouth and helped his daddy in the family business.”

The McDonald’s connection has extended to second gentleman Doug Emhoff, who not only worked there but also was named employee of the month, which he proudly recounted to the convention crowd, telling how the experience had helped shape his career.

“I still have the framed picture which you just saw, and there was a ring, golden arches and all. And then, I waited tables, parked cars. I was working full-time, so I could afford to go to college part-time. And thanks to partial scholarships, student loans, and a little help from my dad, I got myself through law school, and I got my first job as a lawyer,” he said.

Harris’ time behind the fast-food counter has even impressed one of the most famous — and notoriously frequent — McDonald’s customers, former President Bill Clinton, mocked in “SNL” skits as stopping there while jogging in Washington and eating other customers’ fries.

“She greeted every person with that thousand-watt smile and said, ‘How can I help you?’ Now she’s at the pinnacle of power and she’s still asking, ‘How can I help you?'” Clinton said at the DNC Wednesday night.

“I’ll be so happy when she actually enters the White House as president because she will break my record as the president who spent the most time at McDonald’s,” he joked.

It’s unclear whether Harris herself will bring up her McDonald’s experience during her nomination acceptance speech on Thursday night, but it could very well become something she can say she has in common with working-class voters on the campaign trail.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(CHICAGO) — The final day of the Democratic National Convention wraps up with Kamala Harris’ big moment: her acceptance speech in which she gets to tell her story to the millions of Americans watching.

Her campaign says, in addition to describing her middle-class upbringing, she will continue to stress optimism and patriotism — the “politics of joy” — the overall themes we’ve heard throughout the gathering.

Here’s how the news is developing:

100,000 balloons ready to end the night: Source

Convention organizers have 100,000 balloons ready to drop at the end of the evening, according to a source with knowledge.

-ABC News’ Brittany Shepherd

4th night of the DNC underway

The fourth and final night of the DNC is officially underway.

The theme of the night is “For our future” and will feature a keynote address from Vice President Kamala Harris as she accepts the party’s nominee for president.

Emhoff says Harris remains focused on issues ahead of ‘her big moment’

Second gentleman Doug Emhoff said Vice President Kamala Harris remains focused on the issues even “while she is preparing for her big moment tonight.”

“She has been in the Oval Office with the president on all of these major issues. She’s been in the Situation Room on all these major issues, just with what’s happening now,” he said Thursday at an event about combating antisemitism hosted by the Jewish Democratic Council of America.

“She’s still working on these issues while she is preparing for her big moment tonight. That’s what leaders do,” he continued.

-ABC News’ Oren Oppenheim

Harris still tweaking speech, source says

Harris has spent the day continuing to review her speech and tweaking it by hand as she prepares to deliver what will be the most important remarks of her political life, a personal familiar with the preparation told ABC News.

-ABC News’ Mary Bruce

Harris, Emhoff wish each other happy 10th anniversary

Vice President Kamala Harris wished her husband, second gentleman Doug Emhoff a happy anniversary on Thursday ahead of her acceptance speech at the DNC. The couple are celebrating their 10th wedding anniversary.

“To the best partner I could ask for: Happy anniversary, Dougie,” Harris posted on social media, with a picture of the two visiting campaign headquarters in Wilmington the day after she announced her candidacy.

Earlier Thursday, Emhoff did the same, posting a slideshow of photos of himself and Harris.

“Ten years of marriage, forever to go,” Emhoff wrote. “Happy anniversary, @WRQ11HGNB. I love you.”

-ABC News’ Fritz Farrow

Meet the oldest DNC delegate, Angie Gialloreto

Angie Gialloreto, 95, has attended every Democratic National Convention since 1976, when Jimmy Carter was on the ticket.

Since the 99-year-old former president could not attend this year’s DNC due to his health issues, Gialloreto is the oldest delegate to travel to Chicago, where she will watch Harris accept her party’s nomination.

The Pennsylvania native told ABC News the possibility that Harris could become the first woman to serve as president was a long time coming because women “have taken a back seat many years and now we’ll have a leader.”

When asked how she would celebrate if Harris ends up victorious during the November general election against Donald Trump, Gialloreto said she will focus on “getting ready for the next election of local candidates.”

-ABC News’ Morgan Gstalter

Walz meets with former students in Chicago

The morning after accepting his party’s nomination for vice president, Walz gathered in Chicago with former staff, family, friends and former students — including some of the football players who appeared on-stage Wednesday night at the United Center.

ABC News spotted Walz at a Chicago hotel on Thursday morning.

During that meeting, he mingled with several of his former Mankato West High School students over an informal breakfast, according to a source familiar with Walz’s movements. Some of those who met with Walz at the hotel were observed by ABC News donning “Harris-Walz Alumni” T-shirts.

Earlier in the day, Walz posted a video on X showing him hug and greet the students backstage at the convention.

-ABC News’ Lucien Bruggeman, Allison Pecorin and MaryAlice Parks

How Harris prepares for big speeches

Former campaign managers and senior staffers who worked Harris through the years shed light on how she prepares for big speeches.

They said she’s a trial lawyer at her core, and so preparation was key as well as being ready for audience reactions.

In crafting a speech, she would start with themes, outline and then focus in on what she wanted to say well in advance. She would be intimately involved in every speech, making edits and collaborating with those around her.

They said like most people she gets nervous, but would relax, review the remarks, save her voice, conserve energy and rest up.

-ABC News’ Zohreen Shah

What some of Chicago’s young voters think about the 2024 election

Three young voters — one liberal, one moderate and one conservative — discussed their thoughts on the 2024 election while in Chicago for the DNC.

-538’s Nathaniel Rakich

Trump to do live play-by-play of Harris’ speech on Truth Social

Former President Donald Trump said he will do a “LIVE PLAY BY PLAY on TRUTH Social” of Vice President Kamala Harris’s speech at the DNC Thursday night.

“We will start at 10 P.M., Eastern, and be covering and commenting on some of the earlier Speeches made, prior to hers,” Trump posted on his social media platform before going on to slam the dropout of President Joe Biden and saying he was going to “expose” Harris’ policies.

-ABC News Lalee Ibssa

Harris campaign dodges question on why there isn’t a Palestinian speaker at DNC

The Harris campaign at a briefing Thursday morning dodged a question from ABC News on why there isn’t a Palestinian speaker at the convention and why simply saying former President Donald Trump would be worse for Arab-Americans is not the campaign taking their votes for granted.

“No, we’re absolutely not taking their votes for granted,” campaign spokesman Michael Tyler said. “I think, as it relates to uncommitted delegates at this convention, we’re proud, glad that they are here. We’ve worked to engage them throughout the convention.”

Tyler noted a panel conversation that was held with members of the uncommitted movement and said Harris recently engaged with the movement’s leadership in Michigan. He also emphasized that the vice president is working toward a resolution to the Israel-Hamas conflict “with a permanent cease-fire that allows Israel to fully secure itself, that fully continues and make sure that we have full humanitarian aid, but also make sure that Gazans are able to peacefully live and prosper in Gaza.”

Read more here

-ABC News’ Fritz Farrow, Gabriella Abdul-Hakim and Will McDuffie

12:58 PM EDT
Gun control to be featured ahead of Harris’ remarks

Before Vice President Kamala Harris takes center stage Thursday night, gun violence survivors and gun safety advocates will address the DNC, according to Harris-Walz campaign spokesman Michael Tyler.

Former Rep. Gabby Giffords, Rep. Maxwell Frost and the “Tennessee Three” — state Reps. Gloria Johnson, Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, are also expected to speak.

Tyler told reporters Govs. Gretchen Whitmer and Roy Cooper, Sens. Mark Kelly and Elizabeth Warren, and former Rep. Adam Kinzinger — a member of Jan 6. select committee — will give remarks too.

-ABC News’ Will McDuffie

10:11 AM EDT
Kamala Harris to tell her personal story in acceptance speech

The fourth and final day of the Democratic National Convention is leading up to a dramatic finale: Kamala Harris giving her acceptance speech and getting to tell her personal story — in her own words — to an audience of millions.

She’s expected talk about a middle-class upbringing with a working mother. She will continue to stress the themes we’ve heard from speakers throughout the convention: optimism and patriotism — the “politics of joy” — drawing a contrast, her campaign says, with the “dark” vision of Donald Trump.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(CHICAGO) — Former President Bill Clinton made an astounding claim at the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday night about the relative success of Democratic presidents when compared to their Republican counterparts in the area of job creation. The statistic is misleading, however.

“Since the end of the Cold War in 1989, America has created about 51 million new jobs. I swear I checked this three times. Even I couldn’t believe it. What’s the score? Democrats 50, Republicans 1,” Clinton told the audience at the United Center in Chicago.

Technically, the statistic is accurate, as long as one sets the date for the end of the Cold War at around January 1989. But the statistic omits relevant information.

To start, the Berlin Wall did not fall until November 1989. Beginning the tally in November 1989 would have shaved off some additional jobs created under President George H.W. Bush, leaving the Republicans at a net-negative job tally over the years since. That statistic would have appeared even more lopsided.

By setting his calculation to begin at the end of the Cold War, meanwhile, Clinton leaves out 16.8 million jobs created under President Ronald Reagan from 1980 to 1988.

Since January 1989, the U.S. has added 51.5 million jobs, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows. During Democratic administrations, the nation has added nearly 50 million of those jobs. By contrast, Republican presidents have overseen the creation of some 1.5 million jobs over that period, according to BLS data.

In general, presidents exert limited control over the jobs created while they’re in office. Each of the last three Republican presidents – George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush and Donald Trump — ended his term in office during a period of economic difficulty.

For instance, debate persists over the extent to which George W. Bush deserves blame for the Great Recession, when some of the contributing factors took hold before he entered office. The Great Recession also weighed on the economy during the Obama presidency, but the downturn began before he took office.

In all, George H.W. Bush oversaw the creation of 2.6 million jobs, while George W. Bush helped the economy add another 2.1 million jobs. A portion of those gains is wiped out, however, by 2.8 million job losses under Trump as a result of COVID-19.

Economists disagree in their assessment of Trump’s handling of the economy after the outbreak of the pandemic.

Still, Clinton accurately notes that Democratic presidents have overseen the economy during periods of booming job growth. The economy added 23.2 million jobs during the Clinton administration, and another 10.5 million jobs during the presidency of Barack Obama.

Over the first three and half years of the Biden administration, the economy has added 16.2 million jobs.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(CHICAGO) — Outside the United Center in Chicago, while former President Bill Clinton had taken the stage on the third night of the Democratic National Convention, delegates from the uncommitted movement, whose support of Vice President Kamala Harris is contingent on her support of an arms embargo on Israel, announced to reporters that the DNC had denied their request to have a Palestinian American speaker on the main stage.

“We were hopeful because Vice President Harris’ team has been engaging with us. They’ve been calling, they’ve been having conversations, and we told them what our policy ask is,” delegate Abbas Alawieh told reporters on Wednesday. “I got a call shortly after our press conference earlier, the call said, ‘Abbas, the answer is no.’ I said, ‘What do you mean? We’re just asking for our voices to be heard.'”

The group of about 40 delegates and supporters outside staged a 24-hour “sit in,” telling reporters they would not get up until Harris or someone from her team called them with an answer other than no.

“We must be heard. This level of suppression is unacceptable,” said Alawieh. “I’m sitting here and I’m not going anywhere, Roger, I’m not going anywhere. You all, you all, you all need to change your mind. I hope you change your mind. Call me if you change your mind.”

Harris campaign Communication Director Michael Tyler responded to ABC News’ Fritz Farrow at Thursday’s morning briefing.

“There’s been a lot of talk about unity this week. So, why won’t you all allow a Palestinian American speaker address the convention?” Tyler was asked. “And simply saying Trump would be worse for Arab Americans—how is that not the campaign taking their votes for granted?”

“No, we’re absolutely not taking their votes for granted,” Tyler answered. “I think, as it relates to uncommitted delegates at this convention, we’re proud, glad that they are here. We’ve worked to engage them throughout the convention. We’re proud of the fact that we held a panel conversations with members of the uncommitted movement,” he said.

“We’re proud that the Vice President herself engaged with leadership in the uncommon movement in Michigan a couple of weeks ago. That’s why the campaign has continued to engage with leadership of the uncommitted movement throughout this convention,” he continued. “What has already been clear that they’ll continue to see progress in this campaign, is a vice president who’s committed to ending the violence, ending the conflict, making sure that we resolve this conflict with a permanent cease-fire that allows Israel to fully secure itself, that fully continues to make sure that we have full humanitarian aid, but also make sure that Gazans are able to peacefully live and prosper in Gaza.”

Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez earlier urged the DNC in a post on X to put a Palestinian American speaker on stage.

“Just as we must honor the humanity of hostages, so too must we center the humanity of the 40,000 Palestinians killed under Israeli bombardment,” she wrote. “To deny that story is to participate in the dehumanization of Palestinians. The @DNC must change course and affirm our shared humanity.”

In an emotional moment during the DNC on Wednesday, the parents of Hersh Goldberg-Polin — Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg — who has been held hostage by Hamas in Gaza since Oct. 7, spoke to the audience about their grief during the past 10 and a half months. More than 1,200 Israelis were killed in the surprise terror attack that day and hundreds taken hostage.

The uncommitted delegates were hoping to have Dr. Tanya Haj-Hassan, a pediatric intensive care physician who had spent time in Gaza working with the nonprofit Doctors Without Borders, also speak on the main stage about what she had experienced.

The DNC gave the movement space to speak at several “panel conversations” at the DNC that weren’t televised but the party refused to meet the uncommitted movement’s larger requests.

“I don’t need to be convinced how dangerous Trump is,” said Alawieh. “We know we can’t be heard in the Republican Party. There isn’t a single Republican federal official who supports a ceasefire even, but we’re Democrats. We’re here. We’re engaging the system.”

The death toll in Gaza has surpassed more than 40,000, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry.

“You can try to suppress us. We’re not going anywhere before November. We’re people who mobilize people. We’re movement people,” Alawieh said. “We’re not going anywhere in four years. We’re not going anywhere in eight years. We’re people who are engaged. You’re not going to get rid of us, and we’re going to engage within the system.”

Harris has noticeably tried to thread the needle on the war in Gaza in an attempt to bridge a major divide in the party over the Israel-Hamas war.

While she has been aligned with Biden in vowing unwavering support for Israel, after meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on July 25, she notably said, “Israel has a right to defend itself and how it does so — matters” — specifically with regard to protecting civilians.

The decision by the Harris campaign threatens to put that delicate position in jeopardy. While a Palestinian flag was unfurled inside the convention hall on Monday during President Joe Biden’s remarks, there haven’t been any other significant protests inside the gathering.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(CHICAGO) — Vice President Kamala Harris is setting out to achieve three key objectives in her highly anticipated Democratic National Convention speech Thursday night, according to a campaign official.

The vice president will tell her story of being raised by a working mother in a middle-class neighborhood — sharing how her background means she knows the everyday joys and challenges experienced by middle-class families like hers, explaining how she shares those values, the official said.

She will also discuss how she became a prosecutor in order to protect others, be they survivors of sexual abuse or homeowners impacted by the foreclosure crisis, a Harris-Walz official told ABC News.

She will point out the dangers posed by former President Donald Trump’s campaign, specifically the Project 2025 agenda, which will rip away people’s freedoms, increase the cost of living, and take the country backward, the official said.

In contrast, the official told ABC News Harris will present a New Way Forward — an optimistic agenda that provides economic opportunity and protects fundamental freedoms for all Americans.

Harris will root her optimism about the future in her faith in the American people. She will work to make a stark contrast with Trump, sharing her belief in the promise of America, according to the campaign official.

And she knows that loving your country means being willing to fight for its fundamental ideals. She is driven by a deep sense of patriotism and a desire to be a president for all Americans, the official told ABC News.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(CHICAGO) — Day 3 of the Democratic National Convention saw the party’s vice presidential nominee, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, introduce himself to Americans in the keynote speech, as well as several heavy-hitters, in a night that stressed what the party calls the politics of “joy.”

Here’s a look at some of highlights and key takeaways, as the DNC gears up for the fourth and final night featuring Vice President Kamala Harris accepting the party’s nomination for president.

Walz introduces himself

Walz did his job in his convention speech. He touted his own background, rattling through his experience in the Army National Guard and as a high school teacher.

“It was those players and my students who inspired me to run for Congress. They saw in me what I hoped to instill in them: a commitment to the common good,” he said.

He also promoted his policy accomplishments, garnering particularly loud applause for his policy providing free breakfast and lunch in Minnesota public schools.

Walz said that while Republicans were banning books in schools, “we were banishing hunger in ours.”

And then, he served the duty of a loyal No. 2 — boosting his boss.

“If you’re a middle class family or a family trying to get into the middle class, Kamala Harris is going to cut your taxes,” he said. “If you’re hoping to buy a home, Kamala Harris is going to help make it more affordable.”

And then, in true Friday Night Lights fashion, he issued a call to action with a football metaphor.

“We’re down a field goal, but we’re on offense and we’ve got the ball,” he said before touting Harris as the team leader. “We’re driving down the field, and boy, do we have the right team.”

‘Joy’ a key word of the night

Oprah Winfrey urged voters to “choose joy.”

Former President Bill Clinton called Harris the “president of joy.”

Walz said Harris has consistently served “with energy, with passion and with joy.”

Speakers at the DNC mentioned the word “joy” approximately 35 times Wednesday night, as they worked to paint a bright future with Walz and Harris in the White House and their ticket the most logical one.

Clinton called Harris the “clear choice.”

Winfrey made the choice between Harris and Trump one of choosing “optimism over cynicism,” “common sense over nonsense” and “the sweet promise of tomorrow over the bitter return to yesterday.”

Former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, a Republican, said the GOP is “chaotic and crazy, and the only thing left to do is dump Trump.”

“These days, our party acts more like a cult. A cult worshiping a felonious thug,” he said. “Look, you don’t have to agree with every policy position of Kamala Harris. I don’t, but you do have to recognize her prosecutor mindset that understands right from wrong, good from evil.”

Election pegged as a ‘fight for our freedoms’

The theme of the night was “A Fight for Our Freedoms.” Speakers addressed that in part Wednesday night by frequently invoking the conservative blueprint Project 2025 and what it would mean for issues like reproductive rights.

Veteran SNL actor Kenan Thompson even performed a variety skit that poked fun at “Project 2025.” He brought the prop “Project 2025” book and talked with people across the country about how the conservative policies would harm them, drawing boos and laughs from the crowd.

A portion of the programming also put the insurrection in the spotlight, with speakers including Rep. Bennie Thompson, chairman of the House Jan. 6 committee, which after a yearlong investigation recommended the Justice Department bring criminal charges against Trump over the attack on the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob.

Duncan referred to the aftermath of the 2020 election in his remarks, noting that his path to the DNC podium began when Trump tried to overturn his election loss to President Joe Biden in Georgia.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi spoke to the assault’s threat to democracy without mentioning Trump by name.

“Never before had a president of the United States so brazenly assaulted the bedrock of our democracy, so gleefully embraced political violence, so willfully betrayed his oath of office,” she said.

“Let us not forget who assaulted democracy on Jan. 6. He did! But let us not forget who saved democracy that day. We did,” she said.

She said lawmakers returning to the Capitol that same night demonstrated that “American democracy prevailed” and called on voters now to “reject autocracy” and “choose democracy” by electing Harris and Walz.

Parents of Israeli-American hostage make emotional plea

In one of the more emotional moments, the parents of an Israeli-American hostage brought many delegates to tears as they recounted 320 days of anguish and pushed for a cease-fire deal to bring their son home.

Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg, the parents of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, were greeted with huge cheers and chants of “Bring them home,” as they spoke on stage, fighting back tears. The 23-year-old was at a music festival in south Israel celebrating his birthday on Oct. 7.

“That was 320 days ago. Since then, we live on another planet,” Goldberg said.

Polin said that he and his wife have met with Biden and Harris numerous times at the White House.

“They’re both working tirelessly for a hostage and cease-fire deal that will bring our precious children, mothers, fathers, spouses, grandparents and grandchildren home. And we’ll stop the despair in Gaza,” he said to cheers.

DNC brings out top talent

Following Tuesday night’s cameo-filled roll call, Wednesday night saw performances from more big names, including music legend Stevie Wonder.

John Legend and Sheila E. performed a tribute to Prince, a Minnesota legend, in honor of the Minnesota governor.

Amanda Gorman, who gained national fame after reciting her poem “The Hill We Climb” at the Biden-Harris inauguration in 2021, also read a new poem at the DNC that stressed unity.

In a rare act so far for the musical acts, Wonder addressed the crowd directly.

“This year I prayed very hard for peace to come to our world’s nations, but also to each one of our hearts,” he said in remarks before his performance of his classic “Higher Ground.”

“Even though our hearts have been beaten and broken beyond prayer, I know the important action and now is the time to understand where we are and what it will take to win. Win the broken hearts. Win the disenchanted,” he said. “Now is the time.”

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(CHICAGO) — As the nation anticipates Vice President Kamala Harris’ address at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, attendees told ABC News what they hope to hear from the presidential hopeful.

“The more I hear about her, the more I want to go knock on doors, make phone calls and talk to anyone I can about getting her elected,” a delegate from Colorado said of Harris.

A transgender delegate from Nebraska told ABC News that Harris accepting the Democratic nomination comes with the responsibility to lead for all Americans.

“I want to hear the vision that she has for the future for all Americans,” they said, referencing the LGBTQ+, Hispanic and Asian Pacific communities.

“We need somebody who is going to look out for all of us because we are a collective society,” they added. “We are a country of everyone, and we need to have somebody who’s going to come out and express that.”

Another DNC attendee told ABC News a Harris presidency will usher in a “new generation” of politics into America.

“New faces, new people, women, transgender, gay and lesbian people. People of color. It’s time,” they said.

A member of the Potawatomi Nation Tribal Council told ABC News he hopes Harris will let her voters and supporters know she’s thankful for the hard work being done in support of her candidacy.

“What I’d like to hear from her is, letting all the voters and supporters know that she’s thankful for them and that she knows that everybody’s working hard and she accepts everybody from all races and all working environments and establishments,” he said.

The theme of “freedom” has been constant throughout the DNC in Chicago this week and a member of the LGBTQ+ caucus told ABC they hope that’s felt in Harris’ remarks Thursday.

“It’s not just about freedom in the Democratic ideal, it’s about freedom that we all are able to be [our] true, authentic self and represent [ourselves] to America,” they said.

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(CHICAGO) — When President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 race, Edgar Diaz said his first thought was one of relief.

“Biden did great when he was [Barack] Obama’s running mate and then as he became president, he did a great job,” Diaz, a 43-year-old moderate Democrat who lives in Chicago, told ABC News. “But now I think he’s realized that, ‘Hey, you know what? Now it’s time to step aside and let somebody like Kamala Harris step in.'”

He wasn’t alone in that sentiment.

Four Illinois voters sat down with ABC News at the start of the Democratic National Convention to discuss Biden’s bombshell decision, the rise of Vice President Kamala Harris as the party’s nominee and her possible historic path to the presidency.

On Biden’s exit from the campaign

Valerie Jencks and Grace Walters, who also plan to support Harris in November, described feeling uplifted and reassured when Biden said he wouldn’t seek a second term in the White House.

Jencks, 61, recalled watching Biden as a senator during the Reagan administration discuss apartheid and how “vibrant he was and how passionate he was about about these issues.”

“Over the years, he has stayed true to the issues and values,” she said. “But I feel that the passion that’s required to bring us together again just wasn’t there. So I was very relieved, actually, when he bowed out.”

Walters, 25, said she immediately saw more energy and enthusiasm behind Harris and her agenda.

“That was encouraging to see,” she said. “It became less about vote for us because we’re not them, and more vote for us because we’re doing X, Y and Z — and that is always an easier thing to get behind.”

David Spada, a 53-year-old conservative Republican, asked those at the table whether they had any concern with how Harris came to be the nominee. Much of the Democratic Party quickly coalesced around her after Biden quickly endorsed her to take his place, and no challenger to her candidacy emerged.

“But don’t you have a problem with the party picking Kamala, where, again, the Democratic voters didn’t pick the candidate,” Spada asked. “Shouldn’t the voters pick who the candidate is for president, not just the party?”

On Harris’ rise to the nomination

Before she became Biden’s vice president, Harris unsuccessfully ran for the party’s nomination in the 2020 Democratic primary. She exited the field before the first votes were cast in the Iowa caucus.

This time, however, she’s managed a positive campaign rollout that has her polling better against former President Donald Trump than Biden did.

“I think Kamala is resonating with the voters this time around much, much better because we’re familiar with her work,” said Jencks. “And I also believe that she has hit her stride in being able to publicly present herself and her thoughts and her ideas.”

Walters said she believed Harris’ background as an attorney general may have been too much of a focus in 2020, when protests against racism and police brutality were central to the political landscape.

“I think there’s been enough distance since her work as a prosecutor that people aren’t really talking about it as much,” she said. “There’s less ‘Kamala is a cop’ discourse on Twitter or whatever. I do still think some of that is maybe salient to look at with regards to her political record, but she definitely seems like the younger, more appealing pick, as opposed to Biden.”

Diaz, though, said he thought her prosecutorial skills were being portrayed in a different light to present Harris as an overall “fighter.”

“She is not afraid to go against big corporations, and sit down at the table with them and try to negotiate something,” he said. “I think that brings a lot of joy to a lot of our folks and a lot of passion. And I think that’s why she’s surging, she resonates with a lot of us.”

On Harris’ historic candidacy

While Harris could make history as the first woman elected president, voters said it wasn’t at the center of their support and they’re glad to see it’s not a focal point for the Harris campaign either.

“I think it’s cool that it hasn’t been a major thing of note,” said Walters. “That she’s the first is kind of exciting, but that it’s more about her policy than it is about her gender is even more exciting to me.”

Diaz said he was glad his daughter, who is 13, is seeing Harris and other women already serving in positions of power.

“At least it shows gender is not going to be an issue, it’s who’s the best person to lead this nation,” he said.

Spada, the lone Republican at the table, agreed.

“I just want the best candidate, man or woman,” he said.

“If she’s Black, she’s Indian, she’s a woman — it doesn’t matter. You just got to look at her policies, just like I would look at Nikki Haley’s policies if she was running, like you got to look at Trump’s policies as he’s running again,” Spada said.

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