The first night of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago is slated to feature speeches from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, First Lady Jill Biden, and a slew of elected officials, all leading up to Monday’s keynote from President Joe Biden, who dropped out of the presidential race less than a month ago.
Biden’s career and time in office is expected to be celebrated throughout the night, but Anita Dunn, a former senior adviser to the president who left the White House recently to work for a super PAC helping Harris, said Monday that the speech will be focused more on making the case for Harris than on burnishing his own legacy. “This is not a time for legacy,” Dunn told CNN. “This is a time for arguing why Kamala Harris is the best candidate.”
Biden was asked Monday whether he was ready to pass the torch to Harris. “I am,” he reportedly responded.
Dems adopt a Biden platform: Democrats may have a different candidate than they did a month ago, but their platform has not been revised to reflect the change. The 91-page policy platform that delegates are set to approve still includes nearly 300 references to Biden, his accomplishments and what he would do in a second term. “The platform calls for restoring abortion rights nationwide, continuing to advance green energy initiatives that can create jobs and help slow climate change, capping low-income families’ child care costs and urging Congress to approve a pathway to U.S. citizenship for ‘long-term’ people in the country illegally,” the Associated Press reports.
Trump tries to stay in the spotlight: Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, meanwhile, will be looking to counterprogram the Democratic convention with a series of events in battleground states, starting with a stop in York, Pennsylvania on Monday, where Trump again spoke about the economy and attacked Harris.
Trump is scheduled to talk about crime at an event in Michigan on Tuesday, national security in North Carolina on Wednesday, immigration in Arizona on Thursday and his “No Tax on Tips” plan in Nevada on Friday.
