By Victoria Bisset
(c) 2024 , The Washington Post
Day 1 of the Democratic National Convention was filled with emotional speeches, with tributes to outgoing President Joe Biden, praise for Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris and criticism of Republican nominee Donald Trump.
Here’s an overview of noteworthy comments from Monday’s speakers.
1. President Joe Biden
Harris said Monday that she wanted to kick off the convention “by celebrating our incredible president, Joe Biden,” who in his own speech later that night highlighted his legacy while showing his support for Harris and her record.
“Because of you, we’ve had one of the most extraordinary four years of progress ever, period,” Biden said. “When I say ‘we,’ I mean Kamala and me.”
The speech marked a symbolic handoff from Biden, who announced last month that he would not seek reelection.
“I love the job, but I love my country more,” Biden said of his decision to withdraw from the race, stating that rumors of a rift with those who called for him to step down were “not true” and adding, “We need to preserve our democracy in 2024.”
Biden said voters “saved democracy in 2020, and now we must save it again in 2024,” pointing to Trump’s refusal “to accept the election result if he loses again.”
2. Hillary Clinton
Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, who lost the 2016 presidential election to Trump, spoke of her former opponent being convicted in May of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. Clinton smiled and nodded as calls of “Lock him up” filled the convention hall – a play on the “Lock her up” chant that Trump’s crowds often repeated when he mentioned Clinton during the 2016 campaign.
“We have him on the run now,” Clinton said of Trump, adding that “no matter what the polls say, we can’t let up.”
She also referred to the historic nature of Harris’s candidacy.
“On the other side of that glass ceiling is Kamala Harris raising her hand and taking the oath of office,” she said.
3. Rep. Jasmine Crockett
Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Tex.) appeared emotional as she recalled meeting Harris for the first time after being elected to serve in Congress.
“The most powerful woman in the world wiped my tears and listened,” she said, adding that Harris told her: “You are exactly where God wants you. Your district chose you because they believe in you, and so do I.”
Crockett praised Harris’s empathy, saying that the Democratic nominee “sees the humanity in everyone.”
She also spoke about Harris’s record, saying the vice president “is fighting for our reproductive rights to be restored” and “is also the leader we need on the global stage,” noting the recent release of Americans held in Russia.
4. Sen. Raphael G. Warnock
Sen. Raphael G. Warnock (D-Ga.) sought to draw a contrast between Jan. 5, 2021, the day of the state’s runoff election when the people of Georgia elected him and Jon Ossoff (D) to be senators, and the Capitol insurrection the following day.
The people of Georgia “sent a Black kid who grew up in public housing and the Jewish son of an immigrant to the United States Senate in one fell swoop,” he said, noting that his own mother was among the voters.
“Because this is America, the 82-year-old hands that used to pick somebody else’s cotton and somebody else’s tobacco picked her youngest son to be a United States senator,” Warnock said. “This is my America.”
He argued that Trump was “too small for the office entrusted him.”
“The day after my January 5th election, he instigated an insurrection, a violent assault on our nation’s Capitol and the peaceful transfer of power, all driven by the ‘big lie,’” Warnock said. “But behind the ‘big lie’ was an even bigger lie. … It is the lie that this increasingly diverse American electorate does not get to determine the future of the country.”
5. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Chants of “AOC” spread through the convention center as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) began her speech, thanking Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov.Tim Walz, for their “vision,” and Biden for his “leadership.”
She recalled working without health care before becoming a member of Congress, as her family struggled to pay bills following her father’s death.
“In Kamala Harris,” she said, “we have the chance to elect a president who is for the middle class, because she is from the middle class.”
She added that Harris is “working tirelessly to secure a cease-fire in Gaza and bringing hostages home,” in the first mention of the war on the convention stage.
Meanwhile, thousands of demonstrators gathered outside of the arena to protest the Biden-Harris administration’s support for Israel during the war in Gaza – an issue that has divided the party’s base since Hamas’s attack on Oct. 7.
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