DNC 2024 highlights: Barack Obama praises Harris and Biden in keynote convention speech

The second day of the Democratic National Convention has come to a close after Barack Obama's keynote address and a benediction from African Methodist Episcopal Church Bishop Samuel L. Green Sr. and Greek Orthodox Archbishop Elpidophoros of America.

Day 3 will kick off tomorrow afternoon, featuring speeches from vice presidential nominee Tim Walz, former President Bill Clinton, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling said some groups had come to the city with “hostility,” and “that’s exactly what we saw tonight.”

He did not confirm any arrest numbers at a brief news conference at the scene of the mass arrests that ended tonight’s protest.

Snelling referred to one instance of “vulgarity” from a protester to an officer but would not elaborate on what it was, other than to say, “This is what these officers are dealing with.”

“People got too close to officers,” he said.

Snelling praised his officers for “showing restraint when no one else did” and for having done “one hell of a job in stopping violent individuals.”

Officers “did an excellent job responding to violence and vandalism,” he said.

Obama concluded his speech by saying Americans yearn for a return to a nation "where we work together and look out for each other, a restoration of what Lincoln called on the eve of civil war 'bonds of affection' ... an America that taps what he called the better angels of our nature."

"That is what this election is about, and I believe that’s why, if we each do our part over the next 77 days, if we knock on doors, if we make phone calls, if we talk to our friends, if we listen to our neighbors, if we work like we’ve never worked before, if we hold firm to our convictions, we will elect Kamala Harris as the next president of the United States and Tim Walz as the next vice president of the United States," he said.

Obama said Americans would elect leaders up and down the ballot "who will fight for the hopeful, forward-looking America we all believe in."

"And together, we, too, will build a country that is more secure and more just, more equal and more free. So let’s get to work," he said.

The Israeli Consulate in Chicago said late tonight that it was “appalled to see violence during the protest in front of our offices.”

“This is anything but peaceful and completely contradictory to the spirit of the DNC,” the Consulate General of Israel to the Midwest said in a statement. “This vocal minority does not represent the vast bipartisan majority of Americans who stand strong in support of Israel.”

The consulate said it was “beyond disappointed with the ongoing support the mayor has been giving to the anti-Israel protests in Chicago, particularly during the DNC, and his continued disregard for the large pro-Israel and Jewish community in the city.”

It also said it was grateful for law enforcement officers who were protecting the city during the convention.

During an extended part of Obama's speech aimed at promoting more civility in society and political life, he described a culture that emphasizes things that are unimportant in the long run.

"We live in a time of such confusion and rancor, with a culture that puts a premium on things that don’t last — money, fame, status, likes," he said. "We chase the approval of strangers on our phones; we build all manner of walls and fences around ourselves and then wonder why we feel so alone. We don’t trust each other as much because we don’t take the time to know each other — and in that space between us, politicians and algorithms teach us to caricature each other and troll each other and fear each other."

Michelle Obama told the audience that “hope is making a comeback” and shared her opinion that “Kamala Harris is more than ready for this moment.” She also led the crowd in a chant to “do something” over the final weeks of the campaign.

Obama made a plea for patience and civility, using the example of families who might not share the same political beliefs.

"After all, if a parent or grandparent occasionally says something that makes us cringe, we don’t automatically assume they’re bad people," he said.

"We recognize the world is moving fast, and that they need time and maybe a little encouragement to catch up. Our fellow citizens deserve the same grace we hope they’ll extend to us."

Obama is delivering strong support for Harris tonight, and at one point, after detailing her credentials and values, said, "Yes, she can," referring to Harris.

"In this new economy, we need a president who actually cares about the millions of people all across this country who wake up every single day to do the essential, often thankless work, to care for our sick, to clean our streets, to deliver our packages," Obama said. "We need a president who will stand up for their rights to bargain for better wages and working conditions. And Kamala will be that president. Yes, she can."

The phrase harked back to Obama's 2008 slogan — "Yes, we can" — and elicited cheers from the crowd, who shouted back, "Yes, she can!"

Obama took a dig at critics of the Affordable Care Act as he argued Harris would fight to lower health care costs further.

"On health care, we should all be proud of the enormous progress that we’ve made through the Affordable Care Act, providing millions of people access to affordable coverage, protecting millions more from unscrupulous insurance practices," he said.

"And I noticed, by the way, that since it’s become popular, they don’t call it Obamacare no more," he quipped.

When delegates "booed" after Obama mentioned Trump, he had a message for the crowd.

“Do not boo. Vote,” he said.

The line was a throwback to campaigns of the past, a line he often used in his own campaign and then in 2012 at the Democratic National Convention, where Obama used it after his mention of Trump prompted boos.

Michelle and Barack Obama collaborated on their speeches, a source involved with the process said.

At times, Barack Obama's speech made callbacks to Michelle Obama's speech.

The Obamas discussed, compared and worked on their speeches together over the last two weeks, the source said.

Barack Obama shouted out Walz in his speech, calling him an "outstanding partner" and adding, "I love this guy."

"Tim’s the kind of person who should be in politics — somebody who was born in a small town, served his country, taught kids, coached football and took care of his neighbors," he said. "He knows who he is and what’s important. You can tell those flannel shirts he wears don’t come from some consultant, they come from his closet, and they’ve been through some stuff."

In the stands, Walz's wife, Gwen, was seen mouthing "so true." 

Barack Obama poked fun at Trump's ongoing talk about who has drawn bigger crowds since Harris announced her candidacy.

"It has been a constant stream of gripes and grievances that’s actually been getting worse now that he’s afraid of losing to Kamala," he said.

"There’s the childish nicknames, the crazy conspiracy theories, this weird obsession with crowd sizes," he added before making a crude gesture with both his hands. "It just goes on and on and on."

Obama talked tonight about how it's been 16 years since he accepted the party's nomination for president.

"Looking back, I can say without question, that my first big decision as your nominee turned out to be one of my best, and that was asking Joe Biden to serve by my side as vice president," he said.

"We became brothers. And as we worked together for eight, sometimes tough years, what I came to admire most about Joe wasn't just his smarts, his experience. ... It was his empathy and his decency and his hard-earned resilience, his unshakable belief that everyone in this country deserves a fair shot," Obama said.

Michelle Obama unleashed a powerful rebuttal of Trump's attacks on diversity and inclusion, saying most Americans do not have the benefit of "failing forwards."

"We will never benefit from the affirmative action of generational wealth," she said. "If we bankrupt a business or choke in a crisis, we don’t get a second, third or fourth chance if things don’t go our way."

Michelle Obama, who talked about using IVF to become a mother, denounced Republicans for what she described as their efforts to take away health care and women's freedom to control their bodies.

"It's insane, doubling down on ugly, misogynistic, racist lies as a substitute for real ideas and solutions that will actually make people's lives better," Obama said. "Because cutting our health care, taking away our freedom to control our bodies, the freedom to become a mother through IVF, like I did, those things are not going to improve the health outcomes of our wives, mothers and daughters."

Obama has talked about using IVF to become a mother before tonight, including in her 2018 book, "Becoming."

Among the thousands of things we could say about Michelle Obama's speech, it's worth noting she did not say “Biden” once.

At the 2016 Democratic National Convention, Michelle Obama proclaimed, “When they go low, we go high.” But it seems the rhetoric and polarization of the last eight years have sparked a slightly more fiery approach from the former first lady. In her speech backing Harris, her message was mostly hopeful and galvanizing, but she took a few veiled and not-so-veiled swipes at Trump. 

First, she recalled the years of birtherism and the general antagonism Trump held for the Obamas: “For years, Donald Trump did everything in his power to try to make people fear us. See, his limited, narrow view of the world made him feel threatened by the existence of two hard-working, highly educated successful people who happened to be Black.”

Then she flipped a turn of phrase Trump uttered during the June debate against Biden. “Who’s going to tell him that the job he’s currently seeking might just be one of those ‘Black jobs,’” she quipped to thunderous applause. 

Michelle Obama began a back and forth with delegates on the convention floor when she said, "It's up to us to remember what Kamala's mother told her: 'Don't just sit around and complain, do something!'"

"So if they lie about her, and they will, we've got to ... do something!" she said as the crowd chanted it with her. "If we see a bad poll, and we will, we got to put down that phone and ... do something."

In her speech, Michelle Obama called on voters who may still be on the fence to be pragmatic in backing Harris and Walz this fall.

"We cannot be our own worst enemies," she said. "No, the minute something goes wrong, the minute a lie takes hold, we cannot start wringing our hands. We cannot get a Goldilocks complex about whether everything is just right." 

"I am confident they will lead with compassion, inclusion and grace," she added. "But they are still only human. They are not perfect. And like all of us, they will make mistakes."

Later, she got into a call and response with the crowd after she called on onlookers to "do something" when the campaign gets tougher rather than stay on the sidelines. 

Michelle Obama said Harris' accomplishments demonstrate how qualified she is to be president.

"My girl, Kamala Harris, is more than ready for this moment. She is one of the most qualified people ever to seek the office of the presidency," Obama said. "And she is one of the most dignified."

"Kamala knows, like we do, that regardless of where you come from, what you look like, who you love, how you worship or what’s in your bank account, we all deserve the opportunity to build a decent life. All of our contributions deserve to be accepted and valued, because no one has a monopoly on what it means to be an American. No one," she said.

Emhoff shared the story of how he met Harris and thanked her for all she has done for their family. He said that Harris is “ready to lead” and that she knows best how to “deal with a coward.”

Former first lady Michelle Obama said she felt increasingly hopeless about the future of the country until more recently — comments that seemed to nod at the idea of unhappiness while Biden was the nominee that was reversed when he stepped aside. She made no mention of Biden in her remarks, unlike several of the other keynote speakers who had nodded to his term in office.

"America, hope is making a comeback," she said, describing "the chance to vanquish the demons of fear, division and hate that have consumed us … and continue pursuing the unfinished promise of this great nation — the dream that our parents and grandparents fought and died and sacrificed for."

Harris, who spoke at a rally in Milwaukee tonight, watched her husband, Emhoff, give his campaign speech on the plane flying back to Chicago, according to an official aboard the plane.

Air Force 2 circled around so she could finish watching before it landed.

Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., made an impassioned case against Trump tonight, arguing that the Republican effort to curtail abortion rights would inhibit the ability of veterans to have in vitro fertilization procedures.

Duckworth said she needed IVF to give birth to her children after she lost her legs serving in Iraq. She said that without IVF, her kids would have "never been born."

"They will come for IVF next," she said. "They will prosecute doctors. They will shame and spy on women."

Former first lady Michelle Obama walked out to the song "Sir Duke" by Stevie Wonder.

She was met with thunderous applause.

Obama is a longtime fan of Wonder, who performed for her on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" in 2017.

A few weeks ago, Milwaukee’s basketball arena was filled with ardent supporters of Trump and decorated with his “Make America Great Again” slogan.

Today, it was recast in the image of Harris’ campaign, with one word dotting the audience in thousands of signs and multiple giant billboards in Fiserv Forum: “freedom.”

Harris has leaned into the word as an underlying message of her campaign, recasting Democratic priorities such as abortion access, voting rights and gun violence prevention in terms of freedom. Today, she delivered the message on a swing-state detour from her convention in Chicago, underlining the importance of Wisconsin and its 10 electoral votes.

Read the full story here.

It might have been an unusual time of day by most standards, but Emhoff said he chose first thing in the morning to call Harris for the first time.

"Now, for generations, people have debated when to call the person you’re being set up with, and never in history has anyone suggested 8:30 a.m.," he said. "And yet, that’s when I dialed. I got Kamala’s voicemail, and that’s when I started rambling."

He rambled for a few minutes, but it did the trick. She saved the message and replays it every year on their anniversary, he said.

This year, he will be hearing that message on Thursday, their 10th anniversary and the last night of the convention.

During his convention speech, Doug Emhoff reminisced about his first date with his now-wife. "We talked for an hour, and we laughed. You know that laugh. I love that laugh.”

The laugh line is interesting/strategic not just because her laugh has gone viral among Democrats but also because Republicans — including Trump just today — keep attacking it. Emhoff is reclaiming it.

A video montage narrated by second gentleman Doug Emhoff's son, Cole, played at the convention showing old and new photos and videos of his dad.

"Here's him at summer camp," Cole said about a shirtless photo of his dad, who he said was apparently voted "most athletic." "This is a photo McDonald's used when he was employee of the month and out on our wall for years."

He said his parents split up when he was in middle school and stayed friends.

Second gentleman Doug Emhoff takes the stage, greeted by a sea of red "DOUG" signs.

"Hello to my big, beautiful blended family up there," Emhoff said.

"And a special shoutout to my mother. My mother is the only person in the whole world who thinks Kamala is the lucky one for marrying me," he said.

Emhoff said Harris will bring both "joy" and "toughness" to the task.

Angela Alsobrooks, who is running to become the first Black female senator from Maryland, talked tonight about when she first met Harris.

Alsobrooks said that in 2009 she read about Harris, then the San Francisco district attorney, in Essence magazine.

"Now, after reading about this super bad district attorney, I talked nonstop about her on the campaign trail," Alsobrooks said. "Two days after I won the election" as the Prince George's County state's attorney, "my phone rings. It's Kamala Harris calling to congratulate me."

"I have a confession to make, I'm a lifelong Republican," said John Giles, the mayor of Mesa, Arizona.

Giles, who called John McCain his hero, said Harris "delivers" for his conservative community. McCain, Giles said, taught Americans to “put country over party.”

"Donald Trump was all talk. He wanted our votes, but he couldn't deliver a thing," Giles said. "But these days my city of Mesa, Arizona, is on the move. I'm going to ribbon cuttings every single week, all because Joe Biden and Kamala Harris reached across the aisle."

"I have an urgent message for the majority of Americans, who, like me, are in the political middle," Giles said. "John McCain's Republican Party is gone, and we don't owe a damn thing to what's been left behind."

During the ceremonial roll call, each state had one song to represent them as one by one, they pledged their delegates to Harris. Some states were predictable, like Minnesota choosing a Prince song and New Jersey choosing Bruce Springsteen.

Here is the list of each song:

• ALABAMA: “Sweet Home Alabama” 
• ALASKA: “Feel It Still” Portugal. the Man 

New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham praised Harris for her work protecting the right to affordable, quality health care, saying it's personal to Harris, whose mom died of colon cancer.

"Donald Trump and JD Vance want to dismantle our health care system, repeal the Affordable Care Act and eliminate protections for pre-existing conditions. Either these guys don’t get it or they just don’t care. You know, who gets it? Kamala Harris gets it, and she cares," Lujan Grisham said.

She said that when Harris was California's attorney general, she took on drug companies that "jacked up prices and hospitals that overcharged patients."

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker lambasted and mocked Trump in his remarks, saying that as an actual billionaire, he rejects Trump’s claims of economic expertise.

“Donald Trump thinks that we should trust him on the economy, because he claims to be very rich. But take it from an actual billionaire: Trump is rich in only one thing — stupidity,” Pritzker told the cheering crowd. 

Theo Von, a conservative comedian whose YouTube channel has nearly 3 million subscribers, recently sat down with Trump for an interview.

At one point during the hourlong conversation, the topic turns to Von's cocaine use.

"I would just do cocaine," Von says in a clip.

"That's down and dirty," Trump responds.

A large number of riot police have arrived and moved in. It appeared riot police would try at every corner to stop the crowd, possibly to give more protesters a chance at each junction to leave. 

Members of the media were then asked to move off the immediate scene.

Police have also begun cornering and arresting the protest's leaders.

They then began walking in unison back toward the consulate and making more arrests at the scene.

Protesters chanted, “Let us go, let us go.”

A great contrast here in back-to-back speeches

Sanders devoted a small bit of his speech to calling on Democrats to take on billionaires and their interests, specifically changing campaign finance laws so they cannot use their immense wealth to influence elections.

The very next speaker: Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a billionaire whose family fortune stems from their founding and ownership of Hyatt Hotel Corp.

Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., reflected on former Trump White House aide Stephanie Grisham's remarks at the convention today, when she endorsed Harris and disavowed Trump.

Warnock told NBC News’ Tom Llamas that her speech showed the election is about "character."

“She’s not a Democrat. This is somebody who worked directly for Donald Trump. But she said, you know, this election is about the character of the candidate. There are some things that transcend partisan politics,” he said.

Warnock added that he believes independent voters will make or break the election.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., touted a platform that prioritizes tax breaks for the middle class, expanding access to health care and education and taking on Big Tech and Big Pharma.

He also used his convention speech to rail against Republicans, specifically Project 2025 and proposed tax cuts for the top 1%.

"At a time of massive income and wealth inequality, giving more tax breaks to billionaires is radical," Sanders said. "Putting forth budgets to cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid is radical. Letting polluters destroy our planet is radical."

“We need to join the rest of the industrialized world and guarantee health care to all people as a human right, not a privilege,” he added. “This is not a radical agenda."

Police in riot gear gradually pushed the protesters off of Madison Street to Clinton Street, funneling them down Clinton to a narrowing path, which appeared to be an attempt to forcibly and peacefully disperse the crowd. 

It did not work, and the protest continued forward in an improvised route going east toward the Chicago River.

A taxicab on the street was blocked in as protesters walked ahead.

Snelling, Chicago's top cop, was on the front line.

Police continued to try to disperse the remaining protesters, but some will not leave. After a five-minute standoff with protesters and police facing each other, the crowd continued marching west on West Adams Street.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told the crowd that just electing Harris and Walz this fall would not be enough.

“Only one candidate will move America forward, Kamala Harris,” said Schumer, D-N.Y. “But she can’t do it alone. She needs a Democratic majority in the Senate of the United States.”

Schumer shouted out lawmakers like Sens. Jon Tester, D-Mont., and Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis.

Ana Navarro, a political commentator and strategist, mocked Republican officials tonight, referring to a series of blunders surrounding comments about pets.

"Kamala Harris, she likes dogs, and my dog, Cha Cha, likes her," Navarro said. "Dogs are good judges of character. So are cats. We cannot elect a president who does not like dogs or hangs around with people who shoot them."

Trump has said he doesn't like dogs and would feel "phony" having one at the White House. South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, who was considered a vice presidential contender before Trump selected Vance, had recounted killing her young dog in a book she wrote.

Navarro's comment also appeared to be a jab at Vance, who has faced criticism after his 2021 remarks criticizing "childless cat ladies" resurfaced last month.

Schumer said that as the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in U.S. history, he wants his grandkids and all grandkids to "to never, never face discrimination because of who they are."

"But Donald Trump, this is a guy who peddles antisemitic stereotypes. He even invited a white supremacist to Mar-a-Lago, and unfortunately, his prejudice goes in all directions. He fueled Islamophobia and issued a Muslim ban as president," Schumer at the convention.

Schumer said he was wearing a blue square on his blazer to stand up to antisemitism and all hate. "Our children, our grandchildren, no matter their race, no matter their creed, their gender or family, deserve better than Donald Trump's American carnage," he said.

Police have asked protesters to disperse, and while some have, roughly 200 still remain.

“These are the enemy of the people, and we must move on these m-----f-----s,” said the leader of the protest, wearing a black mask and sunglasses.

The riot police then began moving on the protesters as they began to run away.

Law enforcement pushed the protesters toward Clinton Street. Many have fled, while a few dozen remain with arms locked on Madison Street.

Ana Navarro, a Republican commentator and host on "The View," drew parallels between Trump and dictators she fled in her native Nicaragua.

"They attack the free press. They call them the enemy of the people, like [Daniel] Ortega does in Nicaragua," she said, referring to the country's current leader.

"They put their unqualified relatives in cushy government jobs so they can get rich off their positions like the Castros do in Cuba, and they refuse to accept legitimate elections when they lose call for violence to stay in power, like [Nicolás] Maduro is doing right now in Venezuela."

She concluded: "Do any of those things sound familiar?"

Angie Gialloreto, a 95-year-old delegate from Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, is in Chicago to pledge votes for Harris. She is the oldest delegate at the convention.

“Before God takes me, this woman’s going to be the pride and joy of the United States of America," she said in a video released last week.

Gialloreto was also a delegate for Hillary Clinton in 2016.

Harris spoke briefly to the convention by video as she went onstage at her rally in Milwaukee and thanked delegates for "believing in what we can do together."

"We are so honored to be your nominees," she said, standing next to Walz.

"This is a people-powered campaign, and together, we will chart a new way forward," which she said would be a future for freedom, opportunity and faith.

A former student of Walz's, Hans Storvick, was among the people who spoke as Minnesota cast its votes for Harris for president, and he praised Walz and his role as a high school teacher.

Storvick said Walz opened students' eyes to the world.

"He wasn't just a great teacher, but he was also a great neighbor and friend," he said. "Mr. Walz means the world to my family. He’s always been there for us, and that’s how I know he’ll always be there for us as vice president."

California closes out a roll call with possibly the best playlist in recent political history.

Walz said tonight at a campaign rally in Milwaukee that he was going to "have a little talk" with his GOP rival, Vance, at the vice presidential debate in October.

"Look, you can find joy in the world everywhere," Walz said. "Here’s where I find my joy on Oct. 1. We’re going to have a little talk, he and I, on the same stage."

He did not mention his family’s fertility struggles after Vance accused him of having lied about his family's experience with IVF.

Rapper Lil Jon, director Spike Lee and actors Wendell Pierce and Sean Astin were among the celebrities to surprise delegates during the roll call.

Lil Jon entered with his signature call, "Yeeeeeeeeah," as he danced down the aisles, and he appeared to change the lyrics of his popular song "Get Low" to "from the window to the Walz."

Later, the crowd erupted into chants of "Rudy! Rudy! Rudy!" when the camera zoomed in on Astin — who starred in the 1990s hit "Rudy," about the legendary Notre Dame football player — during Indiana's roll call.

The crowd of protesters quickly grew to about 200 as more continued to stream in. After a round of speeches, the group marched toward Clinton Street, where riot police were lined up. They marched right into the line of police, who quickly moved on them.

Shoving ensued, with protesters throwing signs at the police.

Inside 500 West Madison, the mall holding the Israeli Consulate, several dozen additional Chicago police officers are standing at the ready on the second floor.

Police moved the crowd forcibly down Clinton Street to the south. Protesters pushed back, and chaos broke out, with a stream of bodies running south down Clinton. Police pushed the crowd to the west side of South Clinton Street and began making arrests.

Protesters then began chanting, “Let them go.”

New York Attorney General Letitia James was spotted standing behind legendary director Spike Lee during New York's roll call.

James brought a successful civil fraud suit against Trump, for which he and his company and business associates were ordered to pay $355 million in damages.

For months, Evan McKenzie warned that Democrats were in serious trouble with voters like him.

McKenzie, 23, a union organizer living in Wisconsin’s progressive stronghold of Madison, told NBC News in December that his anger at Biden’s support for Israel in its war in Gaza — which is targeting Hamas but causing significant civilian casualties — was forcing him and many of his friends to turn away from the candidate they supported in 2020.

“He is allowing this war to happen and is funding this war,” McKenzie said in an interview that month. “I don’t know what will happen if I don’t vote for him, but I know it won’t be me supporting that.”

Read the full story here.

The pro-Palestinian protest outside the Israeli Consulate in downtown Chicago has formally kicked off with dozens of demonstrators rushing the street in front of the consulate to yell “free Palestine” chants.

The consulate is barricaded and heavily protected by police on bicycles.

The protest was organized by Behind Enemy Lines, a leftist group with militant leanings. Another group behind the protest was Samidoun, which Germany and Israel have banned for alleged ties to terrorist groups. (The U.S. has not declared Samidoun a terrorist group.)

A keffiyeh-clad protester who identified himself only as Gee said he “came to peacefully protest” the war in Gaza.

“Location matters — and this location matters,” he said, referring to the location outside the Israeli Consulate.

"Turn down for what?"

Rapper Lil Jon introduced Georgia to cast its delegates' 121 votes for Harris.

In a satin blue vest and pants, Lil Jon walked down the stairs of the arena to the Georgia delegation.

"VP Harris to the Walz," Lil Jon sang, spoofing his song "Get Low."

Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., won his primary today, NBC News projects, handing former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy a final defeat on his revenge tour.

Gaetz defeated Navy veteran Aaron Dimmock, who was backed by McCarthy, R-Calif., in the deeply Republican 1st District on the Florida Panhandle.

McCarthy and his allies had targeted Gaetz, along with other Republicans who voted to oust him from the speakership late last year. McCarthy was able to claim only one win, helping to defeat House Freedom Caucus Chairman Bob Good, R-Va., this summer. Reps. Nancy Mace of South Carolina and Eli Crane of Arizona also fended off primary challenges after they voted to oust McCarthy.

Read the full story here.

Decked out in a blue suit and spinning everything from Tom Petty and Fleetwood Mac to Dr. Dre and Snoop Dog, DJ Cassidy isn't just the DNC hype man. He might just have the best job in the house tonight.

During tonight's roll call, Delaware state Sen. Sarah McBride, who is running for the state's sole House seat, stood behind Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del.

If she wins in the fall, McBride would be the first transgender member of Congress.

Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., will face Democratic former Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell in November after they prevailed in their primaries today, NBC News projects.

Scott and Mucarsel-Powell were long considered the front-runners for their parties’ nominations, and they have already been targeting each other on the campaign trail.

Democrats are looking to go on offense as they defend their narrow Senate majority, pointing to seats in the red-leaning states of Florida and Texas as potential pickup opportunities. Scott won his first term in 2018 defeating Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson by just over 10,000 votes.

Read the full story here.

It might seem like a formality, but tonight's roll call is filled with political meaning.

Alabama will pass the opening honors to Delaware, a nod to the state Biden represented for nearly 40 years in the Senate.

Texas’ roll call will feature Kate Cox, who has shared her abortion story and was invited by Biden to this year's State of the Union address.

Rounding out the roll call will be Harris' home state, California, whose delegation has an elevated position on the floor.

The DJ is playing a song for each state.

Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson, a Democrat, said he hopes Harris will rile up the crowd tonight in Milwaukee, where Republicans held their convention last month. Johnson noted that Milwaukee had been the host of the 2020 DNC, which was largely held virtually because of the pandemic. Johnson said elections in Wisconsin have historically been decided by “a razor’s edge”

He said, “By coming back to Milwaukee and coming back to Wisconsin, I think the vice president is specifically showcasing that she hasn’t forgotten about Milwaukee. She hasn’t forgotten about Wisconsin.”

Protests near the the convention are off to a slow start on the second night of the convention.

About an hour before demonstrations are scheduled to begin, only a handful of protesters have gathered in downtown Chicago. They were greeted by dozens of police officers on foot and about 100 police officers on bicycles.

MyPillow CEO and Trump ally Mike Lindell made a surprise appearance near the protest site.

“I do think it’s weird that a party is protesting its own party,” he said, adding that he felt it was “nonsense to protest your own party.”

A protester shouted at him: “20,000 Palestinians dead; don’t listen to the MyPillow guy.”

He simply retorted, “Do you need a pillow?”

South Carolina Democrats hosted a parade of potential future White House hopefuls seeking face time with party officials and activists in the key early primary state at its delegation breakfast in Chicago today.

Among the Democrats who showed up: Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

South Carolina, the state that fueled Biden's 2020 primary comeback, kicked off the Democrats' nominating process this year.

The protests outside the Democratic National Convention, entering its second day, have already far outnumbered the demonstrations in Milwaukee a month ago, when Trump accepted his party’s presidential nomination at the Republican National Convention. The biggest reason protesters have turned out: the war in Gaza.

While the Democratic Party formally embraces a two-state solution, according to the party platform released this week, progressive elements within the party have long expressed frustration with Biden over the issue, claiming he hasn’t sufficiently pressured Israel to cease the attacks it has leveled on Gaza in the 10 months since the Oct. 7 attack.

Trump, meanwhile, has issued many notable criticisms of Hamas. He said last week that if he is elected he would “deport pro-Hamas radicals,” and he has encouraged Israel to “finish the problem” in eliminating Hamas.

Read the full story here.

Madison, Wisconsin, resident Alan Kanne, 19, will be voting in his first presidential election in November. He said he was "not thrilled" about either of the candidates but is leaning toward voting for Harris.

Kanne, who attended the rally with his mother, Elizabeth Kanne, said his political beliefs are left, leaning independent.

"I think [Harris] has relatively better character than Donald Trump," Kanne said. "On policy, I don’t find her to be particularly impressive, but neither is Trump."

Content creator Nabela Noor, who has shared her struggles with conceiving on social media, said she was called to speak tonight because she now feels hopeful.

"What calls me here tonight is hope," Noor said. "As a woman who's struggled with fertility, I have not always been hopeful. But today I am."

Noor recounted the struggles she and her husband faced trying to conceive for more than six years. She told the crowd about suffering a miscarriage, trying in vitro fertilization and ultimately being able to conceive right before her egg retrieval.

Harris' campaign and affiliated entities have raised close to half a billion dollars since President Joe Biden dropped his re-election bid last month, according to two sources familiar with the fundraising haul.

Democrats expect that number to grow to around $600 million by the end of August, one of the sources said.

Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., doubled down on the message that Harris and Walz are the best ticket for union workers.

"Let's be clear, if [Trump and Vance] win, working people like my friends from the Teamsters here lose," Peters said.

Teamsters head Sean O'Brien spoke at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee last month, though the group has not made an endorsement.

"Project 2025 is the same old same old, gut overtime pay, cut health care programs and give billions in taxes billionaires we cannot let that happen, and we will not let that happen," he said. He then introduced Kenneth Stribling, a retired Teamster.

The DNC compiled what appeared to be a greatest-hits collection of things Trump and Vance have said in interviews and on the campaign trail.

One snippet shows Trump saying “Hannibal Lecter is a wonderful man,” referring to the fictitious cannibal from the movie “Silence of the Lambs.”

The video shows Vance, meanwhile, saying parents should have control over the votes of their children and calling people without kids "deranged" and psychotic."

A series of short clips that recounted women's efforts to seek IVF and to seek abortion care amid pregnancy complications were featured in a segment of tonight's convention that highlighted Harris' commitment to reproductive freedom.

"All Americans deserve the right to build their families in the way they know is best for them," one woman said in an appeal to voters to support Harris' presidential bid.

Kyle Sweetser, an Alabamian who just spoke at the Democratic National Convention and described himself as a scorned Trump voter, donated and backed former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley in the Republican presidential primaries.

Federal Election Commission records show a Sweetser from Alabama repeatedly donating to Haley during the 2023-24 election cycle. And he has tweeted about his past support for Haley.

Trump White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said in her remarks that she was not just a Trump supporter but a "true believer," and that she is now backing Harris.

"The Trump family became my family. I spent Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's all at Mar-a-Lago. I saw him when the cameras were off behind closed doors. Trump mocks his supporters. He calls them basement dwellers," she said.

Grisham said she was the first senior White House staffer to resign on Jan. 6, 2021. As she spoke, the screen behind her displayed a text message between her and Melania Trump, when she asked about tweeting to call for peaceful demonstrations and the first lady replied "No."

"I couldn't be part of the insanity any longer. When I was press secretary, I got skewered for never holding a White House briefing. It's because, unlike my boss, I never wanted to stand at that podium and lie," she said. "Now here I am behind a podium, advocating for a Democrat, and that's because I love my country more than my party. Kamala Harris tells the truth. She respects the American people, and she has my vote."

Chicago-based rapper Common performed a new song that featured lines about Harris and the Democratic National Convention.

"Chi-Town, we live at the DNC!" he rapped.

"Fortunate, yo, we got the gold in Paris! We fortunate, y'all for Kamala Harris," Common rapped.

Pennsylvania state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta took aim at Project 2025, bringing a copy of the massive document to the stage with him during his remarks tonight.

"I brought back Trump’s Project 2025, all 900 pages of it," Kenyatta said. "And it’s interesting because usually Republicans want a ban books, but now they’re trying to shove this down our throats."

Kenyatta blasted the proposal as "a radical plan to drag us backwards, bankrupt the middle class and raise prices on working families like yours and mine."

The official Senate website for disgraced Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., no longer exists and redirects to senate.gov.

In his resignation letter, Menendez said that today would be his last day in this elected position. NBC News was told that the vacancy will be in effect tomorrow.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy has appointed his former aide to fill the seat until the winner of November's election, to a full six-year term, is sworn in early next year.

Jack Schlossberg, the grandson of John F. Kennedy, drew parallels between Harris and JFK, who broke barriers as the first Catholic president and the first to send a man to the moon.

"Tonight JFK's call to action is now ours to answer because once again the torch has been passed to a new generation - to a leader to shares my grandfather's energy, vision and optimism for our future," he said.

"History is watching to see what we will do," he said in ending.

A convention prayer that affirmed the right to peace for Israeli and Palestinian people was met with cheers and applause tonight.

Rabbi Sharon Brous offered a prayer for help to "write America's redemption story," and mentioned the right to dignity and peace for Israeli and Palestinian people amid the Israel-Hamas war.

"In this story, politics is not a vehicle for repression, bigotry or personal profit, but a call to service, this story counters extremism with capaciousness and compassion," Brous said. "It rejects the inevitability of war, affirming that every one of us, Muslim and Jew, Christian, black, white, Latino, AAPI, queer and straight, Israeli and Palestinian deserves to live in dignity and in peace."

R&B superstar Patti LaBelle took the stage, singing during the in memoriam to honor party members who passed since the last convention.

Despite the ebullient feel of the Democratic convention, the tensions coursing through the party ever since Biden dropped his re-election bid are bursting into public view.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi stood in the front row of the convention waving a “We ❤️ Joe” sign as he took the stage, hours after telling reporters yesterday that she wasn’t apologizing for her role in pushing him out.

“I just wanted to win this election,” she said, adding that if Biden loyalists are unhappy, “I’m sorry for them, but the country is very happy.”

Read the full story here.

Jimmy Carter's grandson Jason Carter will speak about his family legacy and how Harris can continue that work when he takes the podium tonight.

He will talk about President Carter’s desire to vote for Harris in this election according to two Carter associates. Former President Carter will turn 100 on Oct. 1.

Mitch Landrieu, co-chair of the Harris-Walz 2024 campaign, has called the convention to order.

Trump said in an interview today that he "probably would" consider appointing independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to a post in his administration if he wins in November.

“I like him, and I respect him,” Trump told CNN after a campaign event in Michigan when asked if he would consider an appointment for Kennedy. “I probably would, if something like that would happen."

Nicole Shanahan, Kennedy's running mate, said in a recent interview with the podcast “Impact Theory with Tom Bilyeu” that the campaign was weighing dropping out to “join forces” with Trump.

In today's interview with CNN, Trump referred to Kennedy as a "brilliant guy," and said that he "would be honored by that endorsement, certainly.”

As most of his fellow Democrats prepared to gather in Chicago to celebrate the historic nomination of Harris, Rep. Jared Golden was looking for empty hands to shake or ply with cold beer along a small-town parade route Friday.

“You got my vote!” yelled a man wearing a “F--- Biden” baseball cap after Golden handed him a Bud Light wrapped in a campaign-branded koozie. An aide towed a rusty children’s wagon filled with ice and beer and flavored seltzers.

Golden, a 42-year-old tattooed former Marine who says he carries a concealed handgun “pretty much always,” announced last week that he will not endorse Harris or even say how he plans to vote in November, as the Democrat seeks a fourth term in a district he confidently predicts Harris will lose.

Read the full story here.

Doug Emhoff's son, Cole, will introduce his dad tonight in a biographical video ahead of the second gentleman's convention remarks.

NBC News obtained a portion of the video, which features Cole Emhoff talking about his parent's divorce when he was in middle school. The split was hard on the family, but it was made easier by the friendship his parents were able to maintain after, he says in the video.

"And then he met Kamala," Cole Emhoff, 29, says in the video. "The blind date that would dramatically change all of our lives, forever."

Night one of the Democratic National Convention drew an estimated 20 million viewers, according to data from Nielsen ratings.

That figure exceeds the 18 million viewers on the first night of last month's Republican National Convention, when Trump made his first public appearance after the attempt on his life.

An estimated 25 million viewers watched the RNC on the night Trump gave his nomination acceptance speech.

Trump's former attorney Michael Cohen was spotted today at the Democratic National Convention.

Cohen testified this year against the former president in his New York hush money trial, where Trump was found guilty on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in connection with a hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels during the final weeks of his 2016 presidential campaign.

The U.S. Secret Service and the Chicago Police Department said they were aware of “threats made to a number of locations in the Downtown area” this afternoon. 

“Law enforcement personnel cleared these locations, and no credible threats were found,” a statement from the DNC 2024 Joint Information Center said.

“Law enforcement continues to assess and investigate all threats and reminds the public to report any suspicious activity directly by calling 911.”

Angela Alsobrooks was nearing the end of another busy campaign push in late July, sweeping through four counties in two days.

The U.S. Senate candidate for the Democratic Party shook hands and took selfie after selfie in near 100-degree heat. She stopped at a locally owned unisex hair salon and visited a clothing drive for children in foster care. 

Alsobrooks also spent some time on the docks of a marina meeting with watermen and women from the Chesapeake Bay region, who are the lifeblood of the state’s seafaring culture and economy.

Read the full story here.

The grandsons of former President Jimmy Carter and the late President John F. Kennedy will speak at the Democratic convention tonight, according to a released schedule.

Jason Carter, 49, is scheduled to deliver remarks. He previously served as a member of the Georgia state Senate. Jimmy Carter, who at 99 has faced numerous health issues in recent years, recently said that his goal is to live to vote for Harris for president, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Kennedy's grandson, Jack Schlossberg, is expected to speak as well. The 31-year-old is the son of Kennedy's daughter, Caroline Kennedy, who currently serves as U.S. ambassador to Australia. Schlossberg has gained a following on social media for his quirky videos and has been working as a surrogate for the Harris campaign.

Trump will hold his first outdoor campaign event tomorrow since the July 13 attempt on his life in Butler, Pa.

The event in Asheboro, N.C., will feature new security measures from the U.S. Secret Service, including bulletproof glass, according to two senior campaign officials.

The event is expected to focus on national security.

Shortly after she arrived in Congress last year, freshman Rep. Jasmine Crockett was feeling overwhelmed, unsure if she had made the right decision to come to Washington as the GOP-led House struggled to elect a new speaker and her Oversight Committee had become, her word, “unhinged.”

During a visit with Harris at her residence at the Naval Observatory, the vice president immediately picked up on Crockett’s apprehension.

“What’s wrong?” Harris asked, causing the Texas Democrat to burst into tears.

Read the full story here.

About a mile east of the United Center area where the DNC is being held, the Israeli-American Council has set up an art installation — called Hostage Square — intended to raise awareness for the hostages captured by Hamas on Oct. 7 who remain in captivity. 

The exhibit features large makeshift milk cartons with the names and pictures of those who remain captured. 

“This is all about raising awareness,” said David Medow, a volunteer with the group. “To try to get them out of captivity and to apply more public pressure to reach a deal to have them freed.”

Orna and Ronen Neutra, the parents of hostage Omer Neutra, told NBC News that they still “live in this nightmare every day.”

“It’s not over for us,” they said. “Our son grew up in New York. This could be anyone’s child. People need to know their names.”

During a campaign event today in Howell, Michigan, Trump repeated a false claim that no one died on Jan. 6, 2021, when the Capitol was under siege by a mob of his supporters.

The former president attempted to compare the Capitol riot with the racial justice protests that took place across the country in the wake of George Floyd's death in 2020.

"People were killed. Many people were killed," Trump said of the racial justice demonstrations in 2020. "Compare that to [Jan. 6], nobody was killed... Nobody was killed. There weren’t fires set."

Four people died during the Capitol riot, including Ashli Babbitt, an Air Force veteran, whom Trump called a "great patriot," who was fatally shot by a police officer. Others died in the days and weeks that followed, including Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who died of natural causes hours after the riot ended.

Thirteen arrests were made on the first day of the Democratic National Convention, according to the Chicago Police Department.

The majority of the arrests were related to a “brief breach” on a security perimeter that was “within sight and sound of the United Center,” where the convention is taking place.

CHICAGO — So how popular is former President Barack Obama, who speaks tonight at the Democratic convention?

The last time our national NBC News poll measured him was in November 2022, right before the midterms. And in that poll, 51% of all voters said they had a positive opinion of him, versus 37% with a negative rating.

Among Democratic voters, 91% had a positive view of Obama, compared with 3% with a negative one.

Singer James Taylor, whose scheduled performance at the convention last night was nixed, told fans he was "sorry to disappoint."

The "Fire and Rain" songwriter had been scheduled to speak after remarks from Jill Biden, but was skipped as the program ran long.

In a message posted on X, Taylor said that "it became clear, as the evening unfolded, that there wouldn’t be time for our 'You’ve Got a Friend' with cello and voices. Maybe the organizers couldn’t anticipate the wild response from the floor of the United Center. … Anyway, sorry to disappoint."

Still, he said, it was an "exciting" night. "We were honored to be there," he wrote.

Nicole Shanahan, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s running mate, said in a new interview that the Kennedy-Shanahan campaign faces a choice between either staying in the presidential race — which would “risk” helping Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris win — or dropping out to “join forces” with former President Donald Trump.

It’s a blunt admission after months of criticism from Democrats that the Kennedy campaign appeared more concerned with helping Trump than it was in running a truly independent bid for president. And it comes as the campaign continues to hemorrhage money, despite multimillion-dollar injections of cash from Shanahan herself.

Read the full story here.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear suggested this morning that Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance could gain more empathy for those who advocate for abortion access amid tragic circumstances if he went through a similar ordeal.

The comments sparked an outcry from Vance, his campaign and other Republicans. Faced with that criticism hours later, Beshear, a Democrat, said he wasn’t trying to suggest anyone should be harmed and called the criticism a “deflection” by Republicans away from their stance on abortion.

Beshear made the initial comments during an interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” earlier Tuesday, addressing the previous night’s Democratic National Convention programming, which included women who say they were endangered by their states’ abortion restrictions.

Among Monday night’s speakers was Hadley Duvall, a survivor of sexual abuse who appeared in an ad last year for Beshear’s re-election campaign, as well as Beshear himself, who also criticized Vance on abortion rights on stage.

KENOSHA, Wis. — Vance told reporters at a campaign stop this afternoon that he “watched little bits and pieces” of the Democratic convention from home and argued that the host city of Chicago has, as he described it, become “the murder capital of the United States of America thanks to very failed Democrat leadership.” 

“My little theory about why they decided to have the convention in Chicago is, you know, Tim Walz has been going around saying that he served in war, and maybe they did it in Chicago so that he could actually accurately say that he visited a combat zone,” Vance said, drawing laughter from the small crowd gathered in Kenosha’s Civic Center Park. 

Later in the event, when posed a question about how he is preparing to debate his Democratic counterpart, Vance took another opportunity to jab at the Minnesota governor. “I found a good friend from back home who embellishes and lies a lot, and I’m having him stand in for Tim Walz,” he said.

Tonight's ceremonial roll call will combine the energy of an in-person vote with some remote sites to channel momentum building across the country for the Harris-Walz campaign, a convention spokesperson said. 

The roll call will feature a diverse mix of storytellers, including elected officials from every level of government, delegates with compelling personal narratives, and local faces well known to the viewers back at home, the spokesperson said.

The vote will also feature symbolic bookends for the delegates on the floor, beginning with Biden’s home state of Delaware and ending with California and Minnesota, the home states of Harris and Walz, respectively.

The experience is meant to be felt arena-wide while also providing compelling visuals for those tuning in from home — including music, lighting, visuals and special effects, the spokesperson said. A live DJ will also be onstage and play songs selected to represent each of the 57 delegations.

Chicago police responded today to a call about bomb threats at a few hotels in the city’s West Loop neighborhood, about a mile or so from the United Center.

"There was a call of service, but we have not heard from responding officers," the Chicago Police Department said.

The Secret Service said in a statement that it "is aware of threats made to various locations in the Downtown area. Law enforcement personnel are screening the affected areas and examining the credibility of the threat."

Walz was interrupted by pro-Palestinian protesters during his remarks at the Democratic Women’s Caucus meeting in Chicago earlier today. Walz continued with his remarks and was backed by chants of “USA!” from women on the panel behind him. 

The protesters chanted “Palestine is a feminist issue” outside the conference room where Walz spoke. Some of his fellow attendees started to chant back, asking, “Will you be voting for Trump?” — a retort the protesters eventually answered, with one saying, “We will not be voting for Trump, but we will be fighting day in and day out, no matter who is in office because the most bipartisan issue in this country is supporting Israel.”

Before Walz was interrupted, he stuck to his normal stump speech as he makes stops around caucus meetings at the convention this week, encouraging attendees to support the Walz-Harris ticket and emphasizing the need to win Pennsylvania.

Vance has accused Walz of lying about his wife’s experience with fertility treatments, which helped her get pregnant with their children, after his wife in an interview described undergoing intrauterine insemination.

“Today it came out that Tim Walz had lied about having a family via IVF. Who lies about something like that?” Vance wrote in a post on X this morning, referring to in vitro fertilization.

Vance reposted a clip from a Harris campaign account on X showing Walz in a podcast expressing gratitude for in vitro fertilization, saying he "wouldn’t have a family" were it not for "IVF and the things we needed to do reproductive — my kids were born through that, you know, that way."

Walz has been outspoken about his wife's undergoing years of fertility treatments before they became parents, often referring to the technology related to in vitro fertilization as having helped them have children. He has never expressly said his family used IVF, but he’s also not ruled it out, and has instead often combined IVF and other treatments in his comments.

Andy Beshear dismissed Vance's criticism of comments the Kentucky governor made earlier today, instead arguing that Vance is trying to play the victim.

The comments in question came during a Tuesday morning interview on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," where Beshear blasted Vance for a 2021 comment about abortion.

"JD Vance calls pregnancy resulting from rape inconvenient. Inconvenience is traffic, I mean, it is, uh, make him go through this," Beshear said.

The Trump-Vance campaign quickly highlighted the video, with Vance posting on X, "Why is [Beshear] wishing that a member of my family would get raped?!? What a disgusting person."

Hours later, on MSNBC's "Andrea Mitchell Reports," asked if that had been his intent, Beshear replied: "Of course not."

Alliances can change pretty quickly in politics. That's certainly the case in Pennsylvania, where Trump endorsed Republican David McCormick for Senate just two years after backing the man who beat McCormick in the 2022 Senate Republican primary.

In a new ad captured by AdImpact today, Democratic Sen. Bob Casey's campaign amplifies Trump's 2022-era criticism of McCormick. Splicing together audio and video of Trump calling McCormick a "Wall Street Republican" who is "absolutely the candidate of special interests and globalists," the ad goes on to hit McCormick for his company's Chinese investments — a key Democratic attack ad in the tit for tat between the two campaigns in a key race.

Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s endorsed candidate Aaron Dimmock is looking to unseat Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., as primaries take place across Florida, Alaska and Wyoming. NBC News’ Ali Vitali reports on the Gaetz-McCarthy rivalry and the 11 challengers facing Rep. Mary Peltola, D-Alaska.

During an appearance on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" earlier today, Andy Beshear sought to criticize Republicans for "fear tactics" on abortion messaging by honing his fire on JD Vance – but an awkwardly-worded comment is instead drawing a strong rebuke from the Republican ticket.

"JD Vance calls pregnancy resulting from rape inconvenient. Inconvenience is traffic, I mean, it is, uh, make him go through this," Beshear said, adding that a lack of exceptions in abortion legislation means "someone being violated, someone being harmed and then telling them that they don’t have options after that, that fails any test of decency, of humanity."

"What the hell is this? Why is @AndyBeshearKY wishing that a member of my family would get raped?!? What a disgusting person,” Vance wrote in a post on X in response.

In a daily news briefing this morning, the Democratic convention director, Alex Hornbrook, announced additional speakers tonight, They include Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.; Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill.; Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.; New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham; and Republican Mayor John Giles of Mesa, Arizona.

Stephanie Grisham, former Trump White House press secretary, said she is scheduled to speak at the convention tonight in a post to X. NBC News first reported Grisham's appearance at the convention this week.

Barack and Michelle Obama, second gentleman Doug Emhoff and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker are also scheduled to deliver remarks tonight.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s independent presidential campaign continues to burn through cash as the candidate himself has taken a back seat on the trail in recent weeks and the campaign continues to face ballot access hurdles.

The campaign raised $5.6 million in July but about half of that came from a direct contribution from Nicole Shanahan, his wealthy running mate. The Kennedy-Shanahan campaign burned through almost $7.3 million, leaving it with $3.9 million in the bank, raising questions as to whether it can remain financially stable without Shanahan's continued personal contributions.

The campaign spent almost $1.6 million with a firm that helps with ballot access, and almost $700,000 on social media advertising. And it incurred almost $500,000 in new debt to a security company run by a key ally, Gavin de Becker (part of almost $3.5 million in debt to the company).

Harris and Walz will travel to Milwaukee this evening for a campaign rally and plan to return to Chicago after their remarks, but it’s unclear if they will be back in time to attend any late speeches, multiple campaign officials familiar with the plans said. 

Harris’ speech from Milwaukee is expected to be beamed back into the convention hall in Chicago, perhaps coinciding with the conclusion of the roll call in the hall, the officials said. The Milwaukee rally is slated to start at around 9 p.m. ET.

Harris' team doesn’t consider the rally “counterprogramming,” but rather an opportunity to engage with voters in a battleground state less than an hour's flight from the convention at a time of night when the greatest number of voters can come to the rally, a source familiar with the campaign’s thinking said. 

Rep. Matt Gaetz’s primary in Florida today presents the last opportunity for former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to exact revenge on the Republicans who ousted him last year.

Gaetz, however, is the heavy favorite as he faces Navy veteran Aaron Dimmock in today’s primary, when voters head to the polls in Florida, Wyoming and Alaska. 

McCarthy, R-Calif., has backed Dimmock, and Florida Patriots PAC, a group tied to McCarthy’s allies, has spent $3.5 million on ads against Gaetz, according to the ad-tracking firm AdImpact. The group has run ads referring to an ongoing Ethics Committee investigation into Gaetz over alleged drug use and sexual misconduct. Gaetz has criticized the investigation as “frivolous.”

But Florida Patriots PAC stopped spending in the race three weeks ago, a sign that Gaetz is in an advantageous position. 

Read the full story here.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who starred in the hit comedy television series “Veep,” dismissed comparisons between Harris and her character on the show, Selina Meyer, who starts out as vice president and is later elected president after the incumbent abruptly resigns during his term.

In an interview on "Late Night with Stephen Colbert," Louis-Dreyfus said “it’s a great thing” when Colbert noted that there has been a 350% spike in "Veep" viewership since Biden exited the race last month.

“I think I might need reminding that Selina Meyer are not alike,” Colbert told Louis-Dreyfus.

Louis-Dreyfus pointed out differences between Meyer and Harris, saying, “I played narcissistic, like, megalomaniac sociopath, and that is not Kamala Harris. It might be another candidate in the race.”

Thousands marched through the streets of Chicago on the first day of the Democratic National Convention, with a majority voicing their opposition to the war in Gaza. One group even broke through a security fence at the United Center. NBC’s Shaquille Brewster reports for "TODAY."

Several Republican leaders and officials are set to deliver remarks at the convention this week on why they support Harris’ presidential campaign, a campaign official said.

They include Mesa, Arizona, Mayor John Giles; former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan; former Trump White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham; and a former Trump White House national security official, Olivia Troye.

NBC News was first to report Grisham’s appearance at the convention this week.

The convention will also feature everyday Republicans, including a video from former MAGA activist Rich Logis and remarks from Kyle Sweetser, a Republican from Alabama. 

CHICAGO — Kamala Harris is slowly unveiling a policy agenda for next year if she wins the presidency. The ensuing debate is highlighting an important dynamic: She’ll need Democrats to win control of both chambers of Congress for many of her biggest ambitions to have a fighting chance.

There is little in Harris’ agenda that can be achieved by executive action — and any attempts would most likely get tied up in court. And Republicans are already telegraphing that if they control either the House or the Senate under a Harris presidency, her early plans would be dead on arrival.

Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, will be in Chicago for the Democratic convention today before joining the vice president at a campaign rally in Milwaukee tonight. Harris is scheduled to deliver remarks at the rally at 9 p.m. ET. She will then fly back to Chicago, where her husband, Doug Emhoff, will be delivering his convention remarks.

Barack and Michelle Obama are set to speak tonight at the Democratic National Convention. NBC’s Peter Alexander reports for "TODAY" with a preview on what to expect.

CHICAGO — Trump White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham will speak at the Democratic National Convention this week, one of several Republican voices meant to highlight the “extremism” of Donald Trump.

“I never thought I’d be speaking at a Democratic convention. But, after seeing firsthand who Donald Trump really is, and the threat he poses to our country, I feel very strongly about speaking out,” Grisham said in an exclusive statement to NBC News.

Grisham was a press aide during Trump’s 2016 campaign, before she became the chief of staff and press secretary for first lady Melania Trump. Grisham then became White House press secretary briefly in 2019 and moved to a communications director role before she left the administration. 

CHICAGO — A historic switch in the presidential ticket. A shift in the polling. And a still-undefined presidential nominee. 

That’s the backdrop to this week’s Democratic convention, which began yesterday with President Joe Biden passing the torch to Vice President Kamala Harris and will end Thursday night with Harris officially accepting her party’s presidential nomination. 

These five numbers help set the stage for this week’s events — and for the rest of the 2024 campaign once the conventions are over. 

Read the full story here.

CHICAGO — In a political swan song rendered less than a month after he abandoned his campaign for a second term, President Joe Biden yesterday praised his own presidency and urged fellow Democrats to help elect Vice President Kamala Harris to succeed him in November.

“Join me in promising your whole heart to this effort — that’s where my heart will be,” Biden said on the opening night of the Democratic National Convention.

In remarks that ended well past midnight on the East Coast, he also highlighted a long list of accomplishments — from major infrastructure and climate change laws to lowering the cost of prescription drugs for seniors and combating the Covid pandemic.

Read the full story here.