DNC 2024 highlights: Biden passes torch to Harris in Democratic convention speech

The convention has concluded for the day — very late.

Statement

"Trump wants to cut Social Security and Medicare."

Biden drew a contrast between his being the oldest serving president and his young age when he was elected senator.

Biden said he has been "too young to be in the Senate because I wasn't 30 yet and too old to stay as president.

"I can honestly say I’m more optimistic about the future than I was when I was elected as a 29-year-old United States senator — I mean it," he added.

Biden finished his speech just before 12:20 a.m. ET. He was then joined onstage by Harris, first lady Jill Biden, second gentleman Doug Emhoff and members of the extended Biden family, including his children Hunter and Ashley.

No more speeches on the lineup tonight.

Biden said he knows Harris would be a great president.

"Because like many of our best presidents, she was also a vice president," Biden joked.

"That was a joke, that was a joke," he said.

Fifteen vice presidents, including Biden, have gone on to become president.

Statement

“On his watch, the murder rate went up 30%."

Biden said this will be the first presidential election since Jan. 6, 2021.

"On that day, we almost lost everything about who we are as a country, and that threat, this is not hyperbole, that threat is still very much alive. Donald Trump says he will refuse to accept the election results if he loses again," Biden said.

Biden said the country can't let Trump make the same attempt again.

A group of pro-Palestinian protesters standing with the Minnesota delegation have turned their backs to Biden during his remarks. They are each holding a hand over their mouths. Seven protesters are holding buttons that say “not another bomb” and have “arms embargo now” written in red on their hands. 

Asma Mohammed, one of the uncommitted delegates from Minneapolis, said the plan was intentionally not to interrupt and that they wanted to protest Biden. But they will prob not do same when Harris speaks because they feel like she’s moving in the right direction.

Biden's speech hit the 38-minute mark, officially surpassing the length of his 2012 vice presidential acceptance speech.

The speech is also longer than his 2020 nomination acceptance speech and his 2008 VP acceptance speech.

Biden touched on reproductive freedom, referring to Trump's role in appointing conservative Supreme Court justices who helped overturn the constitutional right to abortion.

Biden cited the Supreme Court majority's writing in its decision to overturn Roe v. Wade that women "are not without electoral or political power.”

"No kidding," Biden said. "Republicans found out the power of women in 2022, and Donald Trump is going to find out the power of women in 2024."

Voters are set to weigh in on constitutional amendments to enshrine abortion rights in several states this fall.

Biden said his administration will keep working to bring hostages home and end the war in Gaza. 

“Two days ago, I put forward a proposal that brought us closer” to a cease-fire agreement “than we’ve done since Oct. 7,” he said. 

Biden said his administration, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, is working to prevent a wider war, reunite hostages with their families and surge humanitarian health and food assistance into Gaza. 

He also said of the anti-Israel demonstrators in Chicago: “Those protesters out in the street, they have a point. A lot of innocent people are being killed on both sides.”

Biden addressed people who called on him to bow out of the presidential race, saying he was not angry.

"All this talk about how I'm angry at all those people who said I should step down, that's not true," he said.

The audience chanted, "We love Joe."

"I love my country more, and we need to preserve our democracy," he said.

Night one was almost too successful, convention officials said. The constant cheering and applause forced convention officials to skip planned speakers and performers to ensure Biden had enough time to complete his address, officials said in a statement

“Because of the raucous applause interrupting speaker after speaker, we ultimately skipped elements of our program to ensure we could get to President Biden as quickly as possible so that he could speak directly to the American people," the statement read. "We are proud of the electric atmosphere in our convention hall and proud that our convention is showcasing the broad and diverse coalition behind the Harris-Walz ticket throughout the week on and off the stage."

Rep. Grace Meng, D-N.Y., was scheduled to speak at the convention tonight, but after it got off to a late start she never took the stage.

She “has been rescheduled for another night” that is still to be announced, a spokesperson for Meng told NBC News.

Biden spent part of his speech promoting his support of jobs that do not require college degrees.

"We created apprenticeships with businesses and communities, putting students on a path to a good-paying job whether or not they go to college," he said. "And by the way, we're making college a hell of a lot more affordable."

Biden has often called himself the most pro-union president, and tonight he doubled down on that.

"Wall Street didn’t build America," he said. "Unions built the middle class."

Last year, Biden joined striking members of the United Auto Workers near Detroit.

UAW President Shawn Fain was among tonight's convention speakers, touting what he said is Biden's pro-worker agenda, saying Harris is the only candidate who will protect the right of workers to organize.

In his remarks, Biden has repeatedly sought to tie Harris to the administration's top domestic agenda items, from infrastructure investments to lowering the cost of prescription drugs.

When the crowd started chanting, "Thank you, Joe," he jumped in with a suggested addition: "Thank you, Kamala, too."

Biden said he wants to report that "democracy has prevailed, democracy has delivered, and now democracy must be preserved."

"We're facing an inflection point, one of those rare moments in history when the decisions we make now will determine the fate of our nation and the world for decades to come. That's not hyperbole. I mean it literally. We're in a battle for the very soul of America," he said.

A protester was trying to unfurl a flag in support of Palestinians in Gaza. Other attendees tried to block the flag with “We ❤️ Joe” signs before one snatched the flag and threw it aside. Chants of “We love Joe” also drowned out attempts by the protesters to interrupt Biden’s remarks.

The commotion went largely unnoticed by Biden or most of the people in the convention center.

The crowd chanted, "Thank you, Joe!" and held signs that said, "We ❤️ Joe."

The president, tonight's final speaker, walked up to the podium to sustained applause and a standing ovation from the delegates in the crowd.

The song selection: Jackie Wilson's "(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher."

Joe Biden’s daughter, Ashley Biden, introduced him in deeply personal remarks that honored his career, as well as his family life.

"Joe Biden is the O.G. girl dad," Ashley Biden said, following her mother, the first lady. "And he wasn't just a girl dad. I could see that he valued and trusted women. How he listened to his mother. How he believed his sister. Most of all, how he respected my mother's career."

First lady Jill Biden took the stage as the crowd waved "Jill" signs and applauded and chanted her name.

She praised her husband's service and recounted his decision to exit the presidential race last month.

She said there "are moments when I fall in love with him all over again," going on to list examples.

"And weeks ago, when I saw him dig deep into his soul and decide to no longer seek re-election and endorse Kamala Harris," she said at the end of her list.

Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., who was a co-chair of the Biden campaign and is a close friend of the president's, praised Biden's leadership in the White House.

"Biden's courage, Joe Biden's faith in us, Joe Biden's determination to heal the soul of our nation gave us hope and gave us confidence. Someone who has himself been knocked down by life, time and again. Joe Biden knows the grit and determination of the American people. He believed in us, and Joe Biden helped us get back up again," he said.

Warnock got a standing ovation after he called for peace in Israel and Gaza.

“I need my neighbor’s children to be OK so that my children will be OK," he said before he launched into an impassioned plea for justice.

"I need the poor children of Israel and the poor children of Gaza, I need Israelis and Palestinians ... those in Ukraine, I need American children on both sides of the tracks to be OK," he said as the crowd erupted in applause.

Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., suggested Trump ought to "try reading" the Bible in remarks tonight that took aim at the former president for what Warnock described as efforts to divide Americans.

"He is a clear and present threat to the precious covenant we share with one another. And yes, I saw him. I saw him holding the Bible and endorsing a Bible as if it needed his endorsement. He should try reading it," Warnock, a Baptist pastor, said.

NBC News reported last week that the former president's financial disclosure showed that he had made $300,000 on branded Bibles.

Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, who went viral last year after she used colorful language to describe Trump’s hoarding of classified documents, was back at it tonight.

“She became a career prosecutor, while he became a career criminal with 34 felonies, two impeachments and one porn star to prove it,” Crockett said of Harris and Trump.

“She presides over the Senate, while he keeps national secrets next to his thinking chair — y’all know what I said the other time — in Mar-a-Lago," she added.

Crockett said that when she took office, she was nervous and doubted her place in Congress. She said Harris saw her in distress and comforted her when they met for the first time.

“The most powerful woman in the world wiped my tears and listened,” Crockett said, tearing up onstage. “The brief but impactful interaction gave me my legislative legs, and I’ve been running ever since.”

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear began his remarks by saying Hadley Duvall was one of the bravest people he has met.

Duvall had spoken out in a pro-Beshear advertisement about surviving sexual abuse, and many credited the ad with having a large impact on Beshear's being re-elected as a Democratic governor in a deep red state.

Beshear said that women should have "freedom over their own bodies," arguing that freedom should include whether women want to pursue in vitro fertilization or have children.

Four people whose lives were jeopardized because of abortion bans enacted at the state level since the conservative majority on the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade shared their personal stories with the delegates.

Democrats have sought to put human faces on the debate over reproductive freedom as the Harris-Walz campaign goes after Trump for appointing three of the five conservative justices who voted to reverse Roe.

The speakers included Hadley Duvall, a Kentucky woman who was raped and impregnated by her stepfather. Duvall has been featured in ads from Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, who spoke after her remarks.

The convention just showed an emotional video of a woman discussing how she was denied emergency abortions because of state abortion bans.

"I was punished for three days having to wait for either my baby to die or me to die or both," a mother named Amanda Zurawski says in the video. "I almost died because doctors were forced to follow Trump's abortion ban."

Zurawski's story has been featured in news media and Democratic campaign ads. She says doctors told her her pregnancy was no longer viable but wouldn't provide the medical care she says she needed because of the state's near-total ban on abortion. She unsuccessfully sued the state in response.

Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., recounted the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and laid blame at Trump's feet, calling him a "career criminal."

He highlighted how the rioters called to "hang Mike Pence," noting that Pence, Trump's vice president, did not endorse him.

Raskin served on the House Jan. 6 committee.

"Are we going to go back to the days of election suppression and violent insurrection?" he asked.

A video pastiche of the introduction to the television show "Law & Order" mocked Trump for his felony conviction.

It was a marked shift in tone for Democrats, who have shed the "take the high road" approach to Trump and have repeatedly sought to lambaste him for his criminal conviction during the first day of the convention.

"In the criminal justice system, the people are represented by two separate yet equally important groups: the police, who investigate crime, and the district attorneys, who prosecute the offenders. This is the story of Donald Trump," the narrator said.

A top Biden ally, Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., used part of his speech to thank the president, saying, "We owe him a great debt of gratitude," before he delivered forceful praise of Harris.

“And we’re all grateful for one of the best decisions he made: selecting Kamala Harris as his vice president and endorsing her to succeed him," he said.

Clyburn is often credited with helping revive Biden’s 2020 campaign during the primary season.

"Our great democracy has been tested, and so has the basic goodness of the American people," Clyburn said, adding that Americans would continue to work toward "a more perfect union."

Clinton’s speech was full of Easter eggs for her fans, with some of her biggest applause lines calling back to her past speeches and work.

She referred to shattering the highest glass ceiling — a theme of her 2016 presidential campaign. She also talked about how “it takes a village” — a throwback to her famous 1996 book. She turned her “the future is female” line into “the future is here,” adding, “I wish my mother and Kamala’s mother were here to see this.”

And as she left the stage, “Fight Song” played — the earworm that was the theme of her 2016 run and will now be stuck in everyone’s head all night.

Hillary Clinton said in her remarks that it was the honor of her life to accept the Democratic Party's nomination for president in 2016.

"And nearly 66 million Americans voted for a future where there are no ceilings on our dreams," she said, alluding to her winning the popular vote in that election. "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."

Clinton said she wishes her mother and Harris' mother were there to see them — "they would say keep going." She said people like Shirley Chisholm, who paved the way for women running for president, would say keep going.

"Families, buildings that are lives, parents stretching to afford child care, young people struggling to pay the rent. They’re all asking us to keep going," she said. "With faith in each other and joy in our hearts, let’s send Kamala Harris and Tim Walz to the White House."

Clinton took aim at Trump's legal woes, mocking him for appearing to fall asleep at his hush money trial in New York. "When he woke up," she said, "he made his own kind of history: the first person to run for president with 34 felony convictions."

The crowd went wild and started chanting: "Lock him up!"

Eight years ago, Trump supporters routinely chanted "Lock her up!" at rallies in reference to Clinton as Trump vowed to put her jail if he was elected.

Harris has sought to tamp down "Lock him up" chants at her rallies. Clinton tried to talk over the crowd for a moment when the chant began. But as the chants continued, she stood at the podium until the audience calmed.

Amid chants of "keep going" during Hillary Clinton's speech, Gwen Walz cried as she cheered for the 2016 nominee.

Clinton walked onto the stage to thunderous applause. Everyone was on their feet, and Pelosi beamed with admiration.

It was the longest sustained applause of the convention so far.

But Walz seemed seriously starstruck as the camera caught him mouthing the word "Wow!"

Clinton kicked off her speech by honoring Biden, saying, "First, though, let's salute President Biden."

"He has been democracy's champion at home and abroad," she said.

Biden will address the convention later tonight.

"Thank you, Joe, for your lifetime of service and leadership," she said.

The audience broke into chants of "thank you, Joe." Nancy Pelosi appeared to mouth, "Thank you, Joe," too.

The former secretary of state took the stage to Sara Bareilles' song "Brave," a track that became synonymous with her 2016 presidential campaign.

Stacey Johnson-Batiste, Harris' childhood friend who wrote "Friends From the Beginning: The Berkeley Village That Raised Kamala and Me," spoke with her mother, Doris Johnson, who was the best friend of Harris' late mother.

"Kamala has always been a protector," Johnson-Batiste said.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., said in her remarks that Harris is "working tirelessly" to secure a cease-fire deal in Gaza that would also bring the hostages home.

"In Kamala Harris, I see a leader who understands. I see a leader with a real commitment to a better future for working families and Chicago. We have to help her win, because we know that Donald Trump would sell this country for $1 if it meant lining his own pockets and greasing the palms of his Wall Street friends," Ocasio-Cortez said.

After he conducted his walk-through at the United Center, Biden has spent some of his downtime back at his hotel preparing for tonight’s address — but also catching up with some of his longest-term supporters.

At his downtown hotel, Biden surprised some of the several dozen supporters who flew on a chartered plane from Delaware today to attend his speech.

Biden “worked the room like he was still running for office,” joked the Rev. Christopher Bullock, the pastor of Canaan Baptist Church in New Castle. 

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., decided to sing one of Trump's favorite campaign rally songs: "You Can't Always Get What You Want."

Shawn Fain, the president of the United Auto Workers, praised Harris and Walz for standing "shoulder to shoulder with the working class" — and dissed Trump and Vance as "two lapdogs for the billionaire class who only serve themselves."

"It's real simple: Kamala Harris is one of us," Fain said to cheers. "She's a fighter for the working class — and Donald Trump is a scab!"

The crowd broke out into loud chants of "Trump's a scab" — union slang for a person who refuses to join up or go on strike. Fain later removed his jacket to reveal a red T-shirt that read: "Trump Is A Scab. Vote Harris."

The influential UAW has roughly 370,000 members nationwide, including in key Midwestern battleground states like Michigan and Wisconsin.

Actor Tony Goldwyn, of "Scandal" fame, rolled out the proverbial Hollywood red carpet after Harris' surprise address.

He touted her vision of unity, optimism and opportunity, saying, "Americas are not a cynical people."

"We are not small-minded," he added. "We can dream as big as we want."

Fresh off of coaching Team USA's men's basketball squad to a gold medal at the Paris Olympics, legendary NBA coach Steve Kerr endorsed Harris and Walz and brought a hopeful tone to the convention.

"Think about what our team achieved with 12 Americans in Paris — putting aside rivalries to represent our country. Now imagine what we could do with all 350 million of us playing on the same team," Kerr said.

Walz said in a brief interview with MSNBC that it's an "important night for Democrats tonight to honor Joe Biden."

Asked about his role as the VP candidate, Walz said, "I can tell you this ticket, feeling that energy ... just a privilege."

Walz said of the campaign's bus tour in Pennsylvania over the weekend that there was "energy out there" and that it was "exciting."

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will use her speech tonight to highlight Harris' "heart and her integrity," underscoring how Harris' experience sets her apart.

"We both got our start as young lawyers helping children who were abused or neglected. That kind of work changes you," Clinton will say, according to selected prepared remarks released by the Democratic National Convention Committee. "Those kids stay with you. Kamala carries with her the hopes of every child she protected, every family she helped, every community she served."

Clinton, who lost to Trump in 2016, will argue that Harris "has the character, experience and vision to lead us forward."

Harris made a surprise early appearance tonight, speaking for a few minutes and thanking Biden for his "historic leadership" and service.

"We are forever grateful to you," she said.

Harris said that "this is going to be a great week," emphasizing later that in November "we are moving forward."

She closed her brief remarks with her frequent refrain: "When we fight, we win." The audience joined in on the final two words.

The Harris campaign responded to Trump’s saying today in an interview with CBS News that he has "no regrets" about having played a major role in the Supreme Court's reversal of Roe v. Wade.

“Donald Trump overturned Roe v. Wade, ripped away women’s freedoms in all 50 states, and wears it like a badge of honor. Give him the chance, and he’ll go even further and ban abortion nationwide," campaign spokesperson Sarafina Chitika said in a statement.

“The American people have no regrets about making Donald a one-term president. They’ll make him a two-time loser this November," she said.

Harris made a surprise appearance on the convention stage to roaring applause.

She delivers her acceptance speech Thursday.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul slammed Trump in her remarks, depicting him as a fraudster who doesn't understand working-class Americans.

"Trust me, America: If you think you're tired of Donald Trump, talk to a New Yorker," Hochul said to cheers. "We’ve had to deal with him for 78 long years."

"The fraud, the tax-dodging, the sham university, the shady universities. We've seen him stiff contractors, rip off workers," Hochul said. "He abuses women, brags about it and then takes away their rights — and New Yorkers are sick of it."

Deja Foxx, a blogger and activist, became the first influencer to speak at the convention — one of several this week as the Harris campaign courts young voters.

Foxx, who worked with Harris' presidential campaign in 2019 and now posts regularly about the election to her 140,000 TikTok followers, spoke about reproductive rights and her upbringing as a "free lunch kid."

Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Jason Isbell performed tonight at the convention.

Aside from his solo career, Isbell, a native Alabamian, is known for his work with the 400 Unit and as a former member of the Drive-By Truckers.

He has been politically outspoken for some time, having performed a concert for former Sen. Doug Jones, a Democrat, during the 2017 special election in Alabama, which Jones won.

Walz arrived inside the United Center a few moments ago.

There was no fanfare in the room and no shot of his entrance on the big screen. Unlike the Republican National Convention last month in Milwaukee, where the Trump campaign had a box labeled "Make America Great Once Again," this VIP box has no signs.

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo spoke about Harris' economic agenda, arguing that she would "make building up the middle class a defining goal of her presidency."

Raimondo, the former governor of Rhode Island, discussed her own work in turning around the state's economy with a "pro-business, pro-worker agenda."

"Kamala Harris has that same agenda," she said.

She said "Kamala Harris gets it" when it comes to understanding that many Americans work very hard but are "barely getting by, and that's not right."

A key Harris ally, Sen. Laphonza Butler, of California, echoed the vice president's previous remarks about "knowing the type" in reference to Trump and his ilk.

"We deserve a president who is tough, not just tough-talking; one who shatters the boundaries of what's possible, not the boundaries of what's legal; one who wipes the floor with cheats and fraudsters because, well, Democrats, she knows the type," Butler said.

Butler said Harris, a former prosecutor, has always "understood the assignment" and never doubted the future would be brighter.

"Every time she walked into a courtroom she would say 'Kamala Harris for the people.' It was a battle cry," Butler said.

Democrats keep mentioning Project 2025 tonight, using it interchangeably with Trump's platform for a second term. That's not exactly the case — while Trump and his allies have deep ties to the Heritage Foundation's policy road map, Trump has furiously tried to distance himself from it in recent weeks.

My colleagues Vaughn Hillyard and Alexandra Marquez dove deeper into those ties between Project 2025 and Trump, what the plan says and who's involved last month.

Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., the former House speaker, tonight addressed the tension between her and Biden and his White House aides after she played a key role in his decision to drop his re-election bid.

She was asked in a CNN interview to respond to longtime Biden adviser Anita Dunn's saying earlier on CNN that “nobody wants to have a fight with Nancy Pelosi at this time" and whether Pelosi has spoken to Biden since he withdrew from the race.

"Sometimes you just have to take a punch for the children," said Pelosi, who didn't say whether she has spoken to Biden but said recently that she hasn't spoken to him since he dropped out.

"He made the decision for the country. My concern was not about the president. It was about his campaign," Pelosi said tonight.

A large pile of fancy metal water bottles, which are prohibited from entering the United Center, stands in silent vigil to the unquenched thirsts of those inside.

The Secret Service would not allow metal bottles inside, but plastic disposable water bottles are OK — even if they are filled with water (unlike at airports).

Justin Cheong was among the protesters who quickly dipped into the street barrier that became exposed after some protesters tore down security fencing at Park 578 today.

Cheong said he and some other protesters went inside what had been a protected buffer street for a few minutes and chanted, “Biden, Harris, you can’t hide, stop funding the genocide.”

“Then we left and went on with the route,” he said.

Cheong, who said he didn’t know who was responsible for tearing down the security fencing, said the moment of defiance made him feel “more connected to the intifada” — a word that refers to the Palestinians’ uprising against Israel.

He said he was emboldened by being even closer to the United Center and chanting at DNC attendees inside an arena several hundred yards away.

“They had to listen and not take us for granted,” he said.

Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow is speaking, and she has a giant book titled "Project 2025" with her, calling it "the Republican blueprint for a second Trump term."

"That's right, they went ahead and wrote down all the extreme things that Donald Trump wants to do in the next four years, and then they just tweeted it out, putting it out on the internet for everybody to read," McMorrow said. "So we read it."

Four state politicians took the stage to vouch for the Biden-Harris administration’s impact on their states.

Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. Austin Davis focused on infrastructure, arguing that Harris is “looking forward” and "committed to keeping our infrastructure safe and modern.”

Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez, a former nurse and health care executive, focused her remarks on the Harris-Walz health agenda.

Rodriguez touted Harris' support for women's reproductive rights, her pledges to protect Medicare and Medicare and the Biden administration's cap on the price of insulin for seniors.

Harris and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass have a lot of things in common, starting with their shared history of shattering ceilings. Both ascended to be the first women to hold their respective offices, and both did so while championing the next generation of leaders, Bass said.

"Kamala knows that each generation has an obligation to the next," Bass said.

When Bass was speaker of the California Assembly and Harris was a prosecutor, they fought to address youth homelessness and reform the child welfare system, she said. When Harris was state attorney general, she supported reforms to the juvenile justice system that are still in place today.

"You can feel her heart, and you can feel her fearlessness," Bass went on.

Country singer Mickey Guyton sang "All American," a unity anthem.

"James Brown and James Dean," the song goes. "We’re cold beer, champagne, millionaires, spare some change. ... Ain't we all American?"

Guyton grew up in Texas listening to her grandma play Dolly Parton and decided to pursue country music after she heard LeAnn Rimes sing the national anthem at a Texas Rangers baseball game when she was 8 years old.

Guyton’s career didn’t gain the momentum she wanted it to, which she largely attributes to her being held to a different set of standards as a Black woman in the industry.

Chicago's top cop said tonight that while the police department was “not going to tolerate” vandalism and acts of violence after a small group of protesters breached a security barrier and encountered police, “I’m not going to associate this with the march as a whole.”

“You have people who just wanted to have their voices heard,” Police Superintendent Larry Snelling said.

“They did that, but you had a portion of that group who decided that they were going to stand behind and breach the fence and try to get to the other side — and we cannot let that happen,” he said.

He said officers “responded swiftly” to make sure the group of protesters was not able to reach the inner perimeter separating them from the arena where the convention is taking place.

“We have no idea what they would have done if they had gotten onto the other side, but as I said before, we’re not going to tolerate anyone who is going to vandalize things in our city,” Snelling said. “We’re not going to tolerate anyone who is going to commit acts of violence, and we will act swiftly on that. As you saw today, our officers acted professionally.”

“Our job here is to make sure that we keep the DNC safe, keep our city safe and keep our people safe,” he said.

The heads of some of the country's largest and most influential labor unions took the stage tonight to tout the economic agenda and accomplishments of the Biden-Harris administration and rail against Trump, painting him as a foe of organized labor.

Trump's appeal to working-class voters has been key to his political appeal since his 2016 campaign, but Democrats have been aggressively courting union members this cycle, championing populist economic policies and workers' rights.

Labor leaders at tonight's convention session included:

• Lee Saunders, president of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees
• April Verrett, president of the Service Employees International Union
• Brent Booker, general president of the Laborers’ International Union of North America
• Kenneth Cooper, international president of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
• Claude Cummings Jr., president of the Communications Workers of America
• Elizabeth Shuler, president of the AFL-CIO

Noticeably absent: Teamsters head Sean O'Brien, who gave a fiery speech at the Republican National Convention last month assailing corporatism. O'Brien has not endorsed a candidate in the presidential race.

While the situation that unfolded in Park 578 stole a lot of attention from the Coalition to March on the DNC’s protest, the march continued beyond the park afterward and ended peacefully where it started: in Union Park.

After it became clear at Park 578 that a breakaway group of protesters was looking to tear down security fencing, organizers urged demonstrators to exit the park and continue on the march route.

Most did. After leaving Park 578, marchers walked for another 45 minutes, chanting pro-Palestinian messages. They returned to Union Park around 5:45 p.m. local time, just a bit later than they had planned, and ended the day with speeches.

Despite the chaos at Park 578, organizers said they were pleased with how things went.

“Extremely happy” is how Hatem Abudayyeh, one of the coalition’s main organizers, put it.

Abudayyeh and other organizers said they believe the people responsible for the violent behavior in Park 578 were not part of any of the groups involved with the coalition.

“I have no idea who those people were,” Abudayyeh said.

He acknowledged that the protest dwindled after Park 578 and that it lost numbers during the melee after people “scattered,” but he said, “We still came back to Union Park in big numbers.”

By 6:45 local time, a few hundred protesters remained in Union Park, mostly celebrating the protest and cleaning up.

Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, criticized Vance, saying he "ran away" from his home state to go to Yale and Silicon Valley the moment he could.

She argued that Trump and Vance like to "talk about states like Ohio" but that "Kamala and Joe actually get stuff done for us."

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said in his convention remarks that Trump had promised to bring back manufacturing jobs and to deliver infrastructure "but he failed."

"His record was defined by failure. To put it another way, Donald Trump is like a bad boss. You want time off to take care of your sick parents? Ask Donald Trump. Denied. In Donald Trump's America, there is no paid family leave. Want to have a child but need IVF? Too bad; that's shut down. ... Want a pay raise? Too bad; the boss just gave himself one, so there's nothing left for you."

Durbin quipped that Trump did make history and should be given credit: "He is one of only two presidents in the history of the United States to leave office with fewer Americans working than when he started."

Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., tonight talked about how Harris called him after his mother and stepfather died from Covid.

"I will never forget when Kamala Harris called me after my parents died," Garcia said. "She told me about her own story, about losing her own mother, and that she was praying for me at that very moment."

Garcia criticized Trump over his handling of the virus, pointing to his suggestion that the “injection” of disinfectant might help clean the lungs and defeat the virus.

Rich Logis once styled himself as an "ultra-MAGA" conservative commentator and Trump defender. He started a pro-Trump podcast, wrote for conservative media outlets and regularly assailed liberal Democrats.

But as Logis told Democratic delegates in a recorded video tonight, he "finally stepped outside the MAGA echo chamber" and "looked around with my own eyes." He determined that Trump was a serial liar who failed the country in the early months of the Covid crisis.

Logis, speaking straight to the camera, delivered a pointed message to "all the Republicans and independents" watching the convention: "I made a grave mistake, but it's never too late to change your mind."

He called on anti-Trump Republicans and independents to vote for the Harris-Walz ticket.

Four people were arrested after the security breach during the March on the DNC protest this evening, Tom Ahern, the deputy director of communications for the Chicago Police Department, told NBC Chicago.

It's rare to see a political discussion about Covid policy these days. Most Americans clearly want to turn the page, and the debate over pandemic response is a thorny one for both sides that usually has them on the defensive (Democrats over accusations that some of their policies infringed too much on personal freedoms and Republicans over the effort by many in their party to downplay the pandemic's impact and to cast doubt on the efficacy of vaccines).

That's why Monday's part of convention programming devoted to the Covid pandemic stuck out, showing how Democrats could try to go on offense on the issue if they chose to.

Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan gave remarks with a nod to her brother, who she said was the "second person to die of Covid in the state of Tennessee," remembering how she couldn't hold a proper memorial for him.

Rep. Lauren Underwood, D-Ill., drew a contrast between the Trump administration's response to Covid and that of the Biden-Harris White House in her convention remarks.

She said that Trump "failed us" on Covid but that the Biden-Harris administration "got it under control." She also argued that Trump turned Covid "into a catastrophe."

Underwood drew on her experience as a registered nurse and brought up that she had a pre-existing condition. She also highlighted that she was the youngest Black woman ever elected to Congress, noting that she was "painfully aware" that Black women "were more likely to die from Covid."

Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan heralded the convention's kickoff as a "historic night" in her convention speech tonight.

"We remember those who came before us, who fought and prayed this moment into existence, the suffragists and the abolitionists, the activists who fought for our rights, the leader who — the leaders who — paved the way for us," Flanagan said. "Their memory reminds us that the fight for freedom always passes from one generation to the next."

Flanagan, who also paid homage to her Native American heritage, spoke fondly of Walz, whom she said she had worked with for nearly six years, describing him as a public servant who "does it all with a big heart, a buffalo plaid jacket and a bottomless bag of snacks, Nutter Butters, cheese curds and diet Dew."

"Any time we meet, he brings something for me, because he’s always got my back, and when he’s vice president, he will always have yours," she added.

There won't be a formal roll call vote at the convention this week to nominate Harris for president because delegates had done so virtually earlier this month. Instead, the Rules Committee chair re-affirmed their nominations tonight.

Tuesday’s nomination roll call votes will also include both in-person and remote elements designed to highlight the diversity of the party.

According to the convention organizers, the roll call will begin with Delaware, as a tribute to Biden, and end with California and Minnesota, home states of Harris and Walz, respectively. There will be a “diverse mix of storytellers” participating in the delegation-by-delegation voting, some in person and some at remote sites. (Remember “Calamari Guy” from Rhode Island four years ago?)

Note that the convention is calling this a “ceremonial” and “celebratory’ roll call, after they held a virtual roll call to make Harris the official nominee that concluded earlier this month..

The U.S. government has formally endorsed Trump’s claim that Iran hacked his campaign.

In a joint statement today, the FBI, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said Iran was behind attempts this year to hack presidential campaigns of both political parties.

The same hackers were alleged by Google to have targeted the Biden-Harris campaign before President Joe Biden ended his run for re-election, but it’s not clear whether they were breached. Democratic nominee Kamala Harris’ campaign previously said it had no indication it was hacked.

Read the full story here.

A Rules Committee co-chair, Bishop Leah Daughtry, joked in her remarks that Walz is a "little occupied this evening" but said, "It's good to know that serving as co-chair of the Rules Committee is a ladder for promotion."

Walz was a co-chair of the convention Rules Committee before Harris selected him to be her running mate.

Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., invoked the memory of Fannie Lou Hamer, a civil rights leader who took a group of Black delegates to the 1964 Democratic convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Waters said Hammer was 22 years old when she arrived with the group from Mississippi. She told the people in the room about the violence she endured at the hands of police when she demanded the right to vote. When she asked the convention, "Is this America?" she did not get the answer she hoped for, Waters said.

Sixty years later, as Democrats prepare to nominate the country's first Black woman to be the party's nominee, Hamer's legacy can serve as a reminder of how far we've come, Waters said.

"We will be able to ask ourselves, 'Is this America?' And we will be able to say loudly and proudly — 'You’re damn right it is.'"

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, an icon of the American civil rights movement and a former Democratic presidential contender, took the stage to sustained applause and standing ovations.

Jackson, 82, was seated in a wheelchair and accompanied by other prominent Black leaders, including the Rev. Al Sharpton (who hosts a show on MSNBC) and NAACP President Derrick Johnson.

Jackson did not deliver remarks, but he smiled and waved to the crowd. He appeared after a short video highlighting the party's legacy on civil rights.

Jackson and Biden were both presidential candidates in the 1988 Democratic presidential primaries. Jackson came in third in the primaries; Biden dropped out before voting started amid accusations of plagiarism.

NAACP President Derrick Johnson began his convention remarks by taking a dig at one of Trump's recent remarks.

"I'm here to do my Black job," Johnson said.

"We must all understand Black history is American history. And in this historic moment, we will write the next chapter together," he said.

The buses bringing delegates to the Democratic National Convention this evening were delayed by protests, according to a DNC official riding one of the buses.

Demonstrators breached part of the anti-scaling fencing on the outer perimeter near the United Center, the DNC Public Safety Joint Information Center said in a joint statement.

"Law enforcement personnel were immediately on-scene and contained the situation," the statement read. "At no point was the inner perimeter breached, and there was no threat to any protectees."

Per the statement, there are multiple "redundancies" in the security plan, one of which is the outer perimeter.

"The Chicago Police Department remains on-scene and is working to clear the area," the statement read.

A pair of leaders from the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation Tribal Council began the night of speeches by praising the Biden-Harris administration for what it did to help their people reclaim land.

Zach Pahmahmi, vice chair of the council, said that in 1849, an illegal auction by the U.S. government forcibly removed the tribe from its homeland.

"Since then, we have been working to reclaim it. Finally, this year, the Department of the Interior placed some of our ancestral lands west of Chicago into a trust," he said. "Thanks to the resolve of our tribal community and the Biden-Harris administration, we reclaimed a piece of our home. We became the only federally recognized tribal nation in Illinois in 175 years."

The convention is officially kicking off, albeit 15 minutes late, with remarks by convention Chair Minyon Moore and Democratic National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison.

In her opening remarks, Moore paid tribute to Biden in "passing the torch" to Harris as the presumptive party nominee.

CHICAGO — Vice President Kamala Harris is calling for raising the corporate tax rate to 28%, her first major proposal to raise revenues and finance expensive plans she wants to pursue as president.

Harris campaign spokesman James Singer told NBC News that she would push for a 28% corporate tax rate, calling it “a fiscally responsible way to put money back in the pockets of working people and ensure billionaires and big corporations pay their fair share.”

“As President, Kamala Harris will focus on creating an opportunity economy for the middle class that advances their economic security, stability, and dignity,” Singer wrote in an email.

Read the full story here.

Trump told a CBS news reporter tonight that he plans to release his medical records.

The Republican presidential nominee, who has not released a medical report since the attempt on his life last month, made the commitment during an interview in Pennsylvania, where he is campaigning.

“You will release your medical records to the public?” CBS News reporter Caitlin Huey-Burns asked the former president. 

Trump replied: “Oh, sure, I would do that very gladly, sure."

He said he just had a medical exam and received a "perfect score," as well as two cognitive tests, which he said he "aced."

Trump has faced pressure to release his medical records throughout the election cycle. He did not specify when or how he would transmit the records to the public.

Police with helmets and batons approached a group of breakaway protesters demonstrating outside the DNC venue in Chicago. 

They ordered the protesters who breached the barricade to leave. Dozens did, but dozens remained and were pushed to the left and crushed upon by police in riot gear.

Some protesters threw signs at the riot police while the riot police continued to advance on the group of several dozen protesters. After that, it appeared police made at least one arrest.

Police cleared the entire area between both barriers, but protesters on the outside continued to yell at riot police and continued to attempt to take down the gates.

Before she became the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, there was a perception of Harris among party elites and Washington insiders that she might not have what it takes to mobilize voters.

Her approval ratings were low. She’d been criticized not just by Republicans, but also by fellow Democrats, for miscues in her early days in the No. 2 job in government. She couldn’t keep staff.

But while the Beltway set cemented its take on her, Harris built a formidable political network across the country and online. Her direct engagement with tens of thousands of political activists and voters — particularly through a tour of college campuses, events promoting reproductive rights and pushing an economic-empowerment agenda tilted toward the Black community — positioned Harris to energize her party when she was tapped to top the ticket.

In other words, there was a ready core of Harris supporters ready to jump into action.

Read the full story here.

Legendary singer-songwriter and self-described "lifelong Democrat" James Taylor is slated to perform Monday night following first lady Jill Biden's address.

Taylor played at the DNC in 2012 when then President Barack Obama ran for a second term. Speaking to reporters after his performance, Taylor said supporting Democrats has been a big part of his life and career.

Police were closing in on a breakaway group after some protesters took down a barrier and crossed it, putting them a block away from the DNC arena.

Protest organizers continued to attempt to usher people out of the area and back onto the march’s planned route — but they were unsuccessful.

In the area between two barricades distancing the protesters from the arena, a group of several dozen police officers have emerged and have formed a wall of bodies apparently designed to prevent the protesters from advancing forward.

The official march then began walking again. It appearred to be an effort by organizers to move the growing crowd away from the barricades. The effort was not successful as the breakaway group of protesters locked arms and was in a stand off with police.

Fresh off winning an Olympic gold medal, Golden State Warriors coach and nine-time NBA champion Steve Kerr is slated to address the convention tonight, according to a program schedule.

Kerr, who has endorsed the Harris-Walz ticket, frequently uses his public platform to weigh in on political issues. He has criticized Trump for incendiary comments about women and people of color. He has lobbied for tighter federal gun control measures and advocated for racial justice.

Chicago happens to be symbolically meaningful for Kerr, who won three NBA championships as a player on the Chicago Bulls.

Kerr most recently coached the U.S. men's basketball team to its fifth consecutive gold medal at the Paris Olympics. He is slated to speak before remarks from United Automobile Workers president Shawn Fain and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.

After aggressively shaking the security barrier on the southern edge of Park #578 — the last point of the park before a parking lot adjacent to the United Center — a few dozen protesters have taken down part of the barrier.

Protesters have climbed up a jersey barrier and continue to jostle the security fence loose. Several dozen police are looking on.

Protesters have now entered through the barrier into a street. On the other side of the street is another barrier. Police are on the other side of that barrier.

West Washington Blvd was protected on both sides by security fences to serve as a buffer between Park 578 and the United Center where the DNC is taking place.

The group of protesters took down the fencing on the south side of the street and took over that protected street.

March organizers are demanding that the protesters who have taken down the barriers stop their activity and continue marching.

Two protesters are now throwing bottles of water over the second fence at police officers.

Prosecutors from the Manhattan district attorney’s office said today they will defer to the judge on former President Donald Trump’s bid to delay, until after the election, his sentencing on falsifying business records charges.

The sentencing hearing is scheduled for Sept. 18 — two days after New York state Judge Juan Merchan is expected to rule on Trump’s motion to toss out his conviction in May in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on presidential immunity in a different case.

In a walk-through of the convention hall this afternoon, Biden briefly responded to shouted questions from reporters as he stood at the podium onstage.

Asked if it was a bittersweet moment for him, Biden said, "It's a memorable moment."

And when asked what he makes of Trump's claims that Biden was pushed out of the presidential race in what amounts to a coup, the president said, “His stability is still in question."

Biden also said he is also ready to pass the torch to Harris, saying, "I am."

Sean Parmelee, 36, is marching with a sign that reads, “We’re trying to help you, Kamala.”

He means it earnestly.

“I’m voting for her — but many people here are not,” said Parmelee, a Chicago resident. “Honestly, she is making it very hard for them.”

“Look at all this energy. She can have it all if she chooses,” he said.

Parmelee said he’s protesting because pushing for a cease-fire and an arms embargo with Israel “is the right thing to do.”

“And it’s the right strategy for Kamala Harris,” he said.

As Parmelee spoke, a protest organizer wielding a megaphone led the crowd in a loud chant of, “Harris, Harris, what do you say, how many kids have you killed today?”

The march reached park #578, just one city block from the United Center, the home of the official DNC proceedings this week.

Protesters are now technically within “sight and sound” of the arena — which had been their goal during the arduous rounds of litigation with the city of Chicago to determine the march route.

Protesters have paused at the southernmost gate of park #578 — their closest point to the United Center — to yell their chants.

The DNC will kick off with speakers at 5:15 p.m. local time, and President Joe Biden will end the night with a speech and show of support for Harris.

At a progressive event on the sidelines of the DNC, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders praised Biden as "the most progressive president in modern history" and said he largely "kept his word" to be the most progressive executive since FDR.

Sanders was speaking at an event billed as Progressive Central 2024 hosted by the Chicago Teachers Union and Progressive Democrats of America.

When he was asked how much liberals should work within the Democratic Party, Sanders defended Biden and Harris from left-flank critiques, telling the audience that they need to "do anything we can to make sure" Harris wins in November.

He also joked that Harris and her running mate Tim Walz are "unfortunately" not as liberal as Fox News makes them out to be.

Protesters with the Coalition to March on the DNC are marching west on Washington Blvd. in northwest Chicago.

Leaders are directing the crowd of several thousand in loud call-and-repeat chants of “No justice, no peace,” “Free Palestine,” “From the river to the sea,” and several other slogans.

There is a robust police presence at the peaceful protest. The streets are closed to traffic and hundreds of police on bicycles have created a barrier separating the street, where the protesters are, from the sidewalks.

There is a cacophony of sounds at the head of the protest. A helicopter is loudly buzzing overhead while reporters from all over the world — part of the cadre of hundreds of media members keeping pace with the march — speak in different languages. The elevated train at Paulina Street and Washington Boulevard screeches by every few moments.

A protester is periodically releasing a flare of green smoke — sending a trove of thirsty photographers every few minutes scrambling for the perfect shot of it blowing in the wind.

Trump blasted Harris and her economic policy proposals in lengthy remarks this afternoon from York, Pennsylvania.

At a machine manufacturing plant, Trump said Harris’ economic agenda rewards companies that outsource jobs and “punishes American workers by making it economically impossible to manufacture in America.”

“We don’t need lectures on the economy from a candidate pushing communist price controls," he said. "Kamala has no idea what the hell she’s doing. Her father is a Marxist professor, and I believe he taught her well, you know, he’s a Marxist professor. Can you imagine?”

After more than three hours of speeches, the Coalition to March on the DNC’s demonstration is finally kicking off. 

Protesters will walk 1.1 miles in a loop, leaving from — and returning to — Union Park. 

Pro-Palestinian protesters appeared on the stage and floor at the DNC welcome party in Chicago last night and urged attendees to call for a cease-fire in Gaza, according to a video posted on X by the anti-war group CODEPINK, which says it organized the demonstration.

In the video, a protester can be heard yelling on the floor at the DNC welcome event: “The Democratic administration is supporting an ongoing genocide in Gaza. Shame on them! Shame on them! Shame on them! Make sure you go to the convention and call for accountability. Call for peace and call for a cease-fire!”

CHICAGO — Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said antisemitism played no role in his not becoming the Democratic Party’s vice presidential nominee, as Donald Trump has charged.

Shapiro said Trump was the “least credible person” when it came to standing up against hatred and bigotry.

Mark Friedman, 73, from Los Angeles, was part of an organization in 1968 called the Student Mobilization Committee to end the war. During the DNC in 1968, he protested against the Vietnam War on his college campus in Boston.

He’s not sure who he is voting for yet but hopes a Labor Party candidate comes forward. In 2020, he voted for the socialist ticket.

Friedman said the big difference between the 1968 and 2024 protests is “the city is not planning on physically attacking the demonstrations.”

“None of us have come here with the intention of disrupting activities of the Democrat National Convention, but rather influencing the positions of the Democratic Party to defend abortion rights, to defend immigrant rights, to end the blockade of Cuba, to recognize Palestine and to stop sending U.S. military aid to Israel,” he said.

Fred Schein, a 76-year-old lifelong Chicago resident, was inside Lincoln Park during the 1968 DNC protests when police came in aggressively and chased him and his fellow demonstrators out.

He says today’s march is nothing like that.

In fact, the whole scene this year — which has drawn comparisons to the 1968 DNC — is entirely different from the one here 56 years ago, Schein said.

“This is nothing like ‘68,” he said. “They wouldn’t even let us stay in the park,” he said, referring to Chicago police. 

In contrast, police have worked to keep Union Park protected and peaceful today, while also declining to have officers wear riot gear proactively. 

More generally, Schein continued, “‘68 was much more broadly cultural.”

“This is strictly about politics,” he said.

Conversely, when it came to exactly what demonstrators were protesting against in 1968, “it was one thing: End the Vietnam War,” he said.

While this year’s protests do center on the war in Gaza, “they also are really wrapping in quite a lot of issues,” he said, listing off reproductive rights, climate change and immigrant rights as a few examples. 

“Trump is a fascist and I would never vote for him, but the Democrats are the ones in power during this war,” Schein said.

March organizers had said as recently as Sunday that they were expecting as many as 20,000 people to attend today’s protest.

As of now, they don’t seem close to that. Police officers at the protest estimate there are around 3,000 to 6,000 people present.

March organizers this afternoon disputed the police estimates and claimed that 15,000 people were here.

At least a dozen piles of hundreds of unused protest signs dotted the softball fields in Union Park. It was a clear indication that attendance for today's protest — which had been billed as the largest of six major demonstrations scheduled to occur this week — fell short of expectations.

As the DNC kicked off Monday, the Harris campaign launched a new WhatsApp channel aimed at bilingual Latino voters who could be consequential in the presidential race.

It’s the first time a presidential campaign has created a channel to specifically engage with Latinos on the platform, said Julie Chavez Rodríguez, manager of the Harris campaign, in a selfie-style welcome video message. The channel will be a place where users “can go to get behind-the-scenes info” about the campaign and what it’s doing for Latino families, she added.

The Georgia Election Board adopted a new rule today that could give county election administrators additional options to delay certification. 

Specifically, the rule known colloquially as the “Grubbs Rule” for its proponent, Cobb County GOP Chair Salleigh Grubbs, requires county boards to do what’s being described as a precinct-by-precinct “reconciliation” of votes in which they “compare the total number of ballots cast to the total number of unique voter ID numbers.”

Shares of former President Donald Trump’s social media company on Monday touched their lowest price since they began public trading on the Nasdaq nearly five months ago after a merger.

Trump Media, the company that owns the Republican presidential nominee’s preferred social messaging platform Truth Social, traded below $22.40 per share before noon ET.

The previous low point for the stock, which trades under the DJT ticker, was in mid-April, when the price plummeted to $22.55 following the company’s slingshot rise in its frenzied public trading debut.

The notoriously volatile stock’s downward trajectory over the past month coincided with a swirl of seismic developments for Trump, who is both the majority stakeholder of Trump Media and a main draw for Truth Social users. The share price surged on July 15, the first trading day after Trump was nearly assassinated at a campaign rally in western Pennsylvania.

Read the full story here.

Annie Weiler, a 28-year-old marketing manager who traveled to Chicago from Knoxville, succinctly summed up why she came today.

“If you have a voice, use it,” she said. “You see the images [of destruction in Gaza] and at this point it’s hard to not get involved.”

She said she hoped the robust protest effort might help guide the Harris campaign to pivot not just on tone, but on policy regarding the war.

“Right now, Kamala Harris still has the option to help stop funding this war,” she said. 

Weiler said she still wasn’t sure who she would vote for in the fall — but added it wouldn’t be Trump — though she also rejected that withholding a vote for Harris amounted to a vote for Trump.

“I am a Democrat, but it is hard to support Kamala Harris when she is openly supporting Israel in this conflict,” she said.

Chicago’s top cop thanked protest organizers for keeping protests on Sunday peaceful and said their officers were able to respond in the way they were trained.

“We were able to talk to the organizers,” Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling said during a news conference Monday. “There was mutual respect there, and because of that, we didn’t have any incidents.”

Snelling added that they hope for the same outcome at every protest going forward and “if that occurs, then we’ve had the most successful Democratic National Convention that we can imagine.”

As Chicago police gear up for future protests, Snelling said his department has proven they can respond to First Amendment activity without it turning violent. “As far as riot gear, we don’t need officers out there in riot gear if people are protesting peacefully.”  

Other police departments, including Milwaukee, Capitol Police and departments from across Illinois, are helping to staff DNC infrastructure so Chicago police are freed up to patrol the city they’ve been extensively trained on, Snelling added.

A 23-year-old woman was arrested on Sunday on charges of defacement of property and obstruction of a police officer, but Snelling noted she was not part of the protest imprint.

“We would prefer not to have clashes. We would prefer not to have to make arrests if we don’t have to, and we will avoid those things as long as we’re not committing acts of vandalism or violence,” Snelling said.

Biden has had a major role in Democratic conventions for decades — he’s only missed one since 1972: 1988, after he suffered a brain aneurysm. Still, less than a month after he dropped his bid for a second term, his 2024 appearance now will serve as more of a valedictory address rather than one laying out his vision for four more years in the Oval Office.

A senior Biden adviser said the president is viewing this moment without regret. “He makes a decision and moves on,” they said. “Is it hard for other people? Yes. But it’s not like being president is a part-time job. There’s a lot on his plate that he’s focused on.”

That includes making sure Harris is elected to replace him. While the vice president has embraced the positive energy around her candidacy to push a campaign message about the future, Biden still sees it as a critical mission to ensure voters understand what’s at risk if Donald Trump returns to the White House. 

Defend the Vote, a Democratic-aligned group that raises money for voting rights, wants the Justice Department to investigation Elon Musk’s America PAC over an allegedly misleading voter registration website.

In a letter over the weekend, Defend the Vote said it believed Musk’s PAC may have violated a federal law that makes it a crime to conspire to threaten civil rights, such as the right to vote. CNBC reported earlier this month that the website collected personal data from users but failed to direct them to voter registration help if they entered a ZIP code from a battleground state.

“A scheme to trick people into believing that they have successfully registered to vote would put those individuals at risk of being unable to exercise their constitutional right to vote in future elections,” wrote Brian Lemek, Defend the Vote’s executive director. 

Election officials in Michigan and North Carolina have said they're investigating America PAC's website for potential violations of state law.

Some march attendees were more openly aligned with the Democratic Party and clearer about their intentions to vote for Harris in November — explaining that they felt their presence at today’s protest was an act of service in helping steer the party.

Mariana Espana, a 17-year-old student in Chicago who will be old enough to vote by Election Day, said that she was here to help push Harris specifically to “act on a cease-fire for Palestine” because “it’s such a tragedy to see these kids dying.”

“I personally support Kamala. A Trump presidency would be a disaster. But I feel it’s important to push Kamala to push for a cease-fire,” she said.

“I think it would help her campaign because it would help rally this wing of the party,” she said.

Sarah Martin, 84, came from Minneapolis to be part of the March on the DNC.

She was in her 20s during the 1968 DNC protests. She said the 1968 protests inspired her to protest the DNC, explaining that “there really are parallels.”

Martin says back then, she had just become involved in activism and remembers watching the protests on TV and being “horrified” by the police response. She said, “We’re here to remind Kamala and Tim Walz that remember 1968 and being timid on the issue of U.S. war is not a good thing. Doesn’t lead to a good result politically for you.”

Retired conservative federal judge Michael Luttig, who publicly advised former Vice President Mike Pence to defy Trump’s demands to unconstitutionally block the certification of the 2020 election results, announced his endorsement of Harris in an interview with CNN.

“In the presidential election of 2024 there is only one political party and one candidate for the presidency that can claim the mantle of defender and protector of America’s Democracy, the Constitution, and the Rule of Law,” Luttig said in a statement provided to CNN. “As a result, I will unhesitatingly vote for the Democratic Party’s candidate for the Presidency of the United States, Vice President of the United States, Kamala Harris.”

Luttig, whose expected vote for Harris would mark his first time voting for a Democrat, told the news outlet that partisanship must be set aside heading into the November election to block Trump, whom he described as “singularly unfit,” from winning the election.

The DNC hasn’t even formally kicked off downtown, but the protests this week are already far larger than any that occurred during the RNC last month.

Attendees at today’s march — many who identified as progressives — offered different reasons on why they felt it was crucial to protest the Democrats but not necessarily the Republicans.  

“I want to push the Democratic Party on a lot of issues,” said Jacob Smith, a 32-year-old software engineer, who traveled from Detroit to attend today’s event. He listed “stopping the genocide in Gaza” and achieving a “permanent cease-fire” as chief among them. He said he felt both the Democratic Party and the GOP were “equally beholden to special and corporate interests.”

“They’re both basically right-wing parties at this point,” he said, adding — “but in general Democrats are a little better than Republicans.” 

“They both equally support the police and they both equally don’t truly care about the people,” he said. Smith said he hasn’t decided who he wants to vote for yet and wouldn’t offer who he’s considering, other than that it “won’t be Trump.”

Smith said he felt that it's more pertinent to protest the Biden-Harris administration because “it’s the administration that has aided and abetted an ongoing, visible genocide.”

“The country is run by Democrats right now, this is happening on their watch,” he said.

Smith explained that he was hopeful that Democratic Party leaders would be more likely to listen to such protest efforts “because progressive voters are part of their base — maybe they’ll be more likely to listen to us” than Republicans. 

Smith did not attend any of the far smaller protests at the RNC.

“Obviously protesting Republican policies is a good thing,” he said, “but how much of a policy change is really realistic to expect would happen that way.”

“It’s about efficacy in a lot of ways,” Smith added. “Where are your actions going to be most effective?”

Thousands have already gathered in Union Park, on the Northwest side of Chicago, for today’s Coalition to March on the DNC protest — the biggest planned protest event this week. 

A stage is set up on the west end of the park, where several speakers, from the dozens of groups that are part of the organizing coalition, will begin speaking shortly, ahead of the march. 

Middle Eastern music blared from speakers, while protesters banging drums were already parading through the large park, chanting slogans in support of Palestinians. 

Today’s event will feature advocates from an array of progressive causes — but it has been billed most prominently as a demonstration for Palestinians and against the war in Israel and Gaza.

Former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will attend the Democratic National Convention this week, The New Zealand Herald reported, citing a spokesperson.

Though she won’t speak on the main stage, Ardern will participate in a panel discussion on “healing the nation” organized by the Center for American Progress Action Fund, a progressive think tank. According to New Zealand media, she is the first former New Zealand prime minister to speak at the DNC.

Ardern, who became a global progressive icon after taking office in 2017, announced her resignation as prime minister early last year, saying she no longer had “enough in the tank to do it justice.”

She has been living in the United States after being appointed to multiple fellowships at Harvard.

Leaders from the March on the DNC coalition criticized Vice President Kamala Harris in a news conference ahead of their march to protest the convention in Chicago on Monday. 

“Kamala Harris’ candidacy, while historic, does not alter the party’s ongoing support for the Israeli genocide,” said Omar Yunes, co-founder of Jisoor, a pro-Palestinian organization. 

“At her rallies, she has attempted to silence pro-Palestinian protesters, and she, just like Biden, continues to be unwilling to listen to the outcries of the Palestinian people,” Yunes said in reference to Harris’ response to a protest during one of her rallies in Detroit on Aug. 7. 

Hatem Abudayyeh, executive director of the Arab American Action Network, said he and his organization will take no responsibility if Harris loses the election in November. 

“The responsibility is on ‘genocide Joe’ and on Kamala Harris and on the Democratic Party. If they lose this election to Trump, they are responsible only. Their policies around Palestine are responsible only, and nobody else,” Abudayyeh said.

The organizers also used their time to praise Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson for being sympathetic to their movement.

“We’re in a city in which we have a mayor who says I am from the movement, a mayor who says I am an organizer, a mayor who says that people have the right to protest and express their First Amendment rights,” he said, praising Johnson.

Jill Biden's communications director, Elizabeth Alexander, told MSNBC that the first lady is "very excited to pay tribute to her husband, his character, his empathy, his leadership and how he has always put country first" in her speech tonight.

Alexander added, "She knows him better than anyone. She knows his capacity for empathy, but she’s also seen him on the world stage for those 50 years, so she’s seen his accomplishments up front."

When asked about Harris' decision not to focus as much on breaking the glass ceiling if elected president as Hillary Clinton did in her 2016 presidential campaign, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., told MSNBC that Harris had decided to emphasize the merit of her candidacy, adding that it was the right choice.

"It's not to minimize that she'd be the first woman president. She's already been the first woman vice president," Klobuchar said, adding, "But I think this is her own decision to emphasize the merit of her candidacy as well as what she wants to do in the future."

"She is bringing the receipts," Klobuchar said in the interview. "She has been an international leader as well as a national leader. She has, as I noted, in just 28 days, done everything flawlessly, including picking an excellent running mate from the state of Minnesota, where we just love our vice presidents."

CHICAGO — It will not be the convention President Joe Biden planned. 

A month ago, Biden was poised to conclude the Democrats’ party by accepting the nomination with bold pronouncements about how his second term would build on the successes of his first. Instead, he will open the convention Monday to make the case that Vice President Kamala Harris is the one to carry the torch. 

It is a turnabout that Democrats are greeting with jubilation, melancholy, lingering hard feelings and, for some, outright anger. 

The complicated dynamic has left convention planners and party leaders delicately navigating a display of respect to an outgoing president while building on newfound exuberance within the party over Harris’ ascent. 

Read the full story here.

The most unusual Democratic convention in generations is set to kick off Monday and make history by nominating Kamala Harris for president just one month after Joe Biden ended his re-election campaign.

Vice President Harris rapidly unified the party and locked up the nomination, even though she didn’t compete in any primaries at the top of the ticket — and her campaign has since surged into a statistical tie or narrow leads in national and battleground surveys against Donald Trump.

Read the full story here.

While Biden will headline night one of the Democratic National Convention, several other prominent Democrats will speak this evening.

Sens. Chris Coons of Delaware and Raphael Warnock of Georgia; Reps. Jasmine Crockett of Texas and Grace Meng and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York; and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear will all take the stage Monday, Harris campaign spokesperson Quentin Fulks announced.

NBC News previously reported that Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state and 2016 Democratic presidential nominee, and first lady Jill Biden are also slated to speak tonight.

In an interview with Ana Cabrera on MSNBC this morning, Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., said the voices of uncommitted voters in Michigan should be heard.

During Michigan’s primary, more than 100,000 voters voted uncommitted in a symbolic effort to protest Biden’s handling of the war in Gaza.

"This is what democracy looks like. And I think people are more engaged with the Democrats because they know we govern and we care and we're working to make a difference," she said.

As JD Vance rounds out just over a month on Trump’s presidential ticket, an NBC News tally of his public appearances shows a distinct focus on the upper Midwest and a busy travel schedule almost entirely independent of his running mate's.

In five weeks, the Ohio Republican senator has made at least 23 open-press stops, 20 of which were solo appearances separate from the former president. As the campaign and Vance himself have indicated was the plan all along, the Ohio Republican has spent the bulk of his time on the stump in “Rust Belt” states, with Wisconsin taking first place for total number of public appearances (helped in part by the Republican National Convention having been based in Milwaukee).

During the Pennsylvania delegation breakfast today, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, whom Harris tapped as her running mate, praised Biden ahead of his speech tonight at the Democratic National Convention.

"We get an opportunity tonight to say a thank you to the best president of my lifetime, that I’ve been able to witness, to someone who’s delivered time and time again, someone who made the selfless act of handing that torch to an incredible leader," Walz said.

During his remarks, he also included praise for Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and told attendees that the "blue wall is solid."

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., who has endorsed Harris, won’t attend the Democratic National Convention this week.

In an interview with The Free Press, Fetterman said he is skipping the convention to spend time with his children.

"I've got three young kids, and they’re out of school,” he said about his absence from the convention. “That’s four days I can spend with my children.”

Fetterman's office this morning confirmed the senator's absence from the convention to NBC News.

Fetterman, who has faced backlash from progressives over his staunch support for Israel, reportedly dismissed suggestions that he might not be welcomed at the convention as thousands of demonstrators plan to descend on Chicago, mainly in protest against Israel’s war in Gaza.

Three women who have been vocal about their harrowing experiences during pregnancy in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade are scheduled to speak at the Democratic convention tonight, a person with knowledge of the schedule told NBC News.

The women — Amanda Zurawski of Texas, Kaitlyn Joshua of Louisiana and Hadley Duvall of Kentucky — are outspoken supporters of the Democratic presidential ticket. They have been featured in campaign ads, offering personal testimonials about the dangers that state abortion bans impose on the health and livelihoods of pregnant women who are unable carry a pregnancy to term or have experienced sexual abuse resulting in a pregnancy.

The New York Times has reported that the women will be giving remarks.

In an interview with an NBC affiliate in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, that aired last night, Trump sought to clarify his comments last week on the Presidential Medal of Freedom that drew backlash after he said it was a “much better” to receive than the top military honor, the Congressional Medal of Honor.

Asked to clarify his comments, Trump said he had not heard the negative reaction from the public over his remarks. The former president argued that the Congressional Medal of Honor is the “ultimate” but also a “painful” thing to receive.

“I would rather, in a certain way, get it, because people that get the Congressional Medal of Honor, which I’ve given to many, are often horribly wounded or dead. They’re often dead. They get it posthumously,” he said. “And when you get the Congressional Medal of Honor, I always consider that to be the ultimate, but it is a painful thing to get it.”

“When you get the Presidential Medal of Freedom, it’s usually for other things, like you’ve achieved great success in sports, or you’ve achieved great success someplace else,” he added. “When you get the Medal of Honor, generally speaking — and I’ve met many of them, and I’ve seen the families of many of them — this is an incredible honor, but it was a statement that is much more painful to get because they’re oftentimes in very bad shape.”

CHICAGO — Democrats released their party platform document yesterday, laying out more than 90 pages of policy priorities just one day before their convention kicks off.

But the party platform was written and voted on by the Democratic National Convention’s Platform Committee before Biden dropped out of the race, and the document repeatedly highlights the president’s achievements and positions — even when they differ slightly from Harris‘ comments.

The platform refers to Biden’s “second term” more than a dozen times, underscoring the unprecedented timing of the top of the ticket shake-up.

The document was approved by the Platform Committee on July 16, just days before Biden bowed out of the race July 21. Convention delegates will vote on the platform tonight, a largely ceremonial procedure. 

CHICAGO — The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is launching a $27 million ad campaign focused on capturing Republican-held seats, targeting a mix of swing districts and red-leaning areas in a bid to retake control of the House.

The new ad buys, first reported by NBC News, come on the opening day of the Democratic convention here, where Harris is slated to be nominated for president later this week. Democrats feel buoyed by the vice president’s campaign as she rises in the polls, outperforming Biden since he dropped out.

If it continues, that new momentum could have a significant impact in the races for the House, and the DCCC is seeking to capitalize on the enthusiasm behind Harris' candidacy. The ad buys include deep investments in New York, at $8 million, and California, at $5 million, where Democrats are seeking to flip a series of GOP-held competitive districts that could be crucial to determining which party controls the House.

As the DNC kicks off, Trump and Vance are set to embark on a busy week of campaign stops through swing states across the country.

In a press briefing call yesterday afternoon, the Trump campaign gave a preview of this week’s schedule, which includes plans for either Trump or Vance to do media interviews daily.

The Trump campaign will hold a news conference at 12:30 p.m. ET in Chicago and he will give remarks on the economy later this afternoon in York, Pennsylvania. He'll also deliver remarks in Howell, Michigan, tomorrow; Asheboro, N.C., on Wednesday; Montezuma Pass, Arizona, on Thursday; and Glendale, Arizona, on Friday.