By Andrea Shalal and Stephanie Kelly
CHICAGO (Reuters) -A litany of Democratic luminaries, joined by Republican deserters, took heart stage on Wednesday night time to induce People to elect Kamala Harris president and stave off a return of Donald Trump to the White Home.
“Next time you hear him, don’t count the lies. Count the I’s,” former President Invoice Clinton, 78, informed a cheering crowd in Chicago on Day Three of the Democratic Nationwide Conference, his twelfth such occasion.
Clinton and plenty of different audio system made the case that whereas Trump was for himself, Harris was for the nation.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, Harris’ operating mate within the race in opposition to the Republican Trump, was attributable to make his first high-profile nationwide deal with. He was joined by a star-studded lineup of politicians and musicians.
Vice President Harris emerged because the 2024 Democratic candidate final month following President Joe Biden’s exit from the Nov. 5 race and introduced the lesser-known Walz to the nationwide stage solely 15 days in the past.
American singer-songwriter Stevie Surprise carried out, actress Mindy Kaling joked about cooking together with her pal Kamala and a supply mentioned Oprah Winfrey, a longtime Democratic donor, was attributable to make an look.
Singers John Legend and Sheila E. had been attributable to carry out a tribute to the late music star Prince, who was born in Walz’s house state Minnesota and died in 2016, marketing campaign officers mentioned.
Every night time of the conference has featured Republicans who’ve turned in opposition to Trump, who was president from 2017-2021.
On Wednesday, the Democrats put the highlight on Jan. 6, 2021, with a video that confirmed Trump exhorting supporters to be robust and battle earlier than they stormed the U.S. Capitol to attempt to block Biden’s 2020 victory.
The delegates sat in shocked silence, a pointy distinction to their roars and applause all through the night time.
Olivia Troye, who stop her White Home nationwide safety job below Trump after Jan. 6, mentioned the Republican candidate was laying the groundwork to undermine the 2024 election.
Geoff Duncan, the previous lieutenant governor of Georgia, spoke on to the digital camera to inform fellow Republicans watching from house that they wanted to “dump Trump.”
“If you vote for Kamala Harris in 2024 you’re not a Democrat, you’re a patriot,” he mentioned.
Democrat Nancy Pelosi, who was Home speaker on that day, mentioned: “Let us not forget who assaulted democracy on Jan. 6: He did. But let us not forget who saved democracy that day: We did.”
WALZ TO DISCUSS HIS BACKGROUND
Walz, 60, who has been praised by Democrats for his assist of Harris and different ladies, will discuss rising up on a Nebraska farm, his household and freedoms that Democrats say are below assault from Trump, who’s making his third major-party run for the White Home.
The Minnesota governor’s jovial method belies a pointy tongue that he shortly turned on Trump and his operating mate, JD (NASDAQ:) Vance. Democrats wanting to coalesce behind a candidate they contemplate extra viable than Biden, 81, have donated a report $500 million to the fledgling marketing campaign led by Harris.
Harris, 59, will deal with the gathering on its closing night time on Thursday.
Biden’s assist for Israel’s assault on Hamas-ruled Gaza, one of the divisive points within the occasion, has not featured prominently on the conference. Well being officers say the offensive has killed greater than 40,000 individuals.
The dad and mom of Israeli hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg, obtained a standing ovation and chants of “Bring Them Home” once they took the stage. Goldberg-Polin, 23, was amongst greater than 200 hostages taken by Palestinian Hamas militants of their Oct. 7 assault on Israel.
“Bringing the hostages home is not a political issue. It is a humanitarian issue,” Polin mentioned.
Leaders of the Uncommitted Nationwide Motion, which mobilized practically 750,000 voters in the course of the major elections to protest U.S. assist for Israel’s battle in Gaza, have lobbied the DNC for months to incorporate a Palestinian speaker in its program.
A handful of allies started a sit-in exterior the conference heart to protest the exclusion, vowing to not transfer till they get a talking slot.
‘JOYFUL WARRIORS’
Walz’s keynote deal with follows rousing appearances by Democratic powerhouses together with former President Barack Obama and his spouse Michelle and Hillary Clinton, a former presidential candidate, U.S. senator and secretary of state.
Walz has introduced a folksy attraction to the marketing campaign path, describing himself and Harris as “joyful warriors” centered on a brighter future and accusing Republicans of stoking worry and division.
One other video will spotlight Walz’s service within the Military Nationwide Guard, regardless of Republican accusations he exaggerated his rank within the Guard the place he served for twenty-four years.
Harris marketing campaign officers are relying on Walz’s Midwestern roots and plain-spoken model to attraction to among the white males in rural areas who voted for Trump by big margins within the final two elections – and assist ship battleground states like Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Impartial candidate Robert F. Kennedy is hoping to chop a cope with Trump whereby he would stop the race in change for a job in a brand new Trump administration, an excellent PAC supporting Kennedy informed Reuters. Kennedy’s endorsement may assist Trump in an election that opinion polls present is more likely to be shut. Trump met with Kennedy final month to debate a doable endorsement.
Polls confirmed Biden trailing Trump earlier than the Democratic president ceded the occasion’s prime spot to Harris; polls now present her besting her Republican rival in a number of of the states that can determine the election.
