Summary
The Democratic national convention has officially started – and we’re following all the latest from the stage at the United Center in Chicago and outside the venue in a new standalone live blog here:
Joe Biden will take centre stage for perhaps the last time on Monday night when he addresses the Democratic national convention in Chicago. Just over a month ago, Biden had been expecting to give Thursday’s closing speech as he accepted the Democratic nomination for 2024. But his withdrawal from the race last month, and the party’s consolidation around Kamala Harris, means that Biden will speak on opening night and then set off on a holiday.
Here’s a recap of what happened today so far:
Thousands of people gathered this afternoon in a Chicago park not far from the venue of the Democratic national convention to protest the party’s stance on Israel’s invasion of Gaza, the Guardian’s George Chidi and Andrew Roth report. Some protesters waving Palestinian flags and carrying signs equating Harris with Donald Trump seemed to have long abandoned either major party and were voting for Green party candidate Jill Stein, a socialist candidate, or abstaining entirely.
Joe and Jill Biden came onto the stage at the United Center, where the Democratic convention is taking place, for a quick sound check before their speech at the convention tonight. Reporters in the room shouted questions at the president, including whether he was ready to pass the torch. Biden replied: “I am.” Asked about what his speech’s message would be, Biden said: “You’ll hear tonight.”
Biden was also asked if his speech was going to be a bittersweet moment. He replied: “It’s a memorable moment.” He was also asked about Donald Trump’s claim that he was ousted from the ticket in what amounts to a coup. Biden quipped: “His stability is still in question.”
George Santos, the former Republican congressman from New York, pleaded guilty on Monday to criminal corruption charges. Santos pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft, which carries a minimum two-year prison sentence.
Bernie Sanders, the Vermont senator, will deliver a speech at the Democratic national convention on Tuesday night. Sanders will speak “to the popularity of a progressive economic agenda that delivers for the working class of America”, a statement from his office said.
Josh Shapiro, the Pennsylvania governor, said “antisemitism played absolutely no role” in US vice-president Kamala Harris’s decision to not pick him as her running mate as she now seeks the presidency. He was responding to Donald Trump’s remarks over the weekend that Harris turned him down “because he’s Jewish”. Harris picked Minnesota governor Tim Walz.
Illinois governor JB Pritzker said 250 members of the state’s national guard had been deployed to Chicago this week for the Democratic national convention. Pritzker said the guard was on “standby” and would act essentially as military police.
Updated
FBI says Iran was responsible for attempts to hack presidential campaigns
The FBI and US intelligence agencies have confirmed that Iran was responsible for attempts to hack both the Biden-Harris and Trump campaigns.
In a joint statement, the agencies wrote:
Iran seeks to stoke discord and undermine confidence in our democratic institutions. Iran has furthermore demonstrated a longstanding interest in exploiting societal tensions through various means, including through the use of cyber operations to attempt to gain access to sensitive information related to U.S. elections.
The FBI said it was investigating Iran’s involvement earlier this month:
Updated
Rachel Leingang is at a panel on Palestinian human rights at the Democratic convention. She writes:
Dr Tanya Haj-Hassan, a pediatric emergency doctor who treated patients in Gaza, told a room full of hundreds of Democrats about the horrors she witnessed there, including children who lost their entire families and suffered debilitating injuries. She described holding the hands of children as they took their last breaths because no family existed to hold their hands anymore.
Hala Hijazi, a party organizer on the panel who said she has had more than 100 family members killed in Gaza, said she feels like she owes her family to speak out on Gaza. “My family’s dead, y’all. They’re dead. And I feel guilty because for 25 years I’ve been living my American dream while they are struggling,” she said.
The panel about Palestinian human rights represents a first for the Democratic convention, a historic marker to discuss the Gaza war among divisions in the party over the Biden administration’s handling of the issue. The “uncommitted” movement, which has used the ballot box to protest Biden, said the panel was a win, but it was not anywhere near the end of their fight.
“All of us being in this room, on this panel, is not going to save lives,” said Layla Elabed, an organizer of the national uncommitted movement.
Still, a large crowd filled the convention center room – many with ceasefire pins, shirts with the slogan “not another bomb” or in keffiyehs – a sign that support for a ceasefire exists beyond the uncommitted delegates. The group is working to convince Harris delegates to sign a petition calling for a ceasefire and arms embargo.
Updated
Joe Biden took a few questions at the podium as he did his stage test for his speech this evening at the Democratic convention.
Asked if his speech was going to be a bittersweet moment, the president said: “It’s a memorable moment.”
He was also asked about Donald Trump’s claim that he was ousted from the ticket in what amounts to a coup. Biden quipped: “His stability is still in question.”
Updated
The Guardian’s George Chidi has been covering the protest outside the Democratic national convention on Monday. He writes:
The protest march against the Democratic national convention has alighted at a city park within sight of the United Center in Chicago.
“What does Harris stand for? Genocide and war. We know what that meeting’s for. Genocide and war”, protesters chanted, facing the convention center. “If we don’t get no justice, then they don’t get no peace.”
— George Chidi (@neonflag) August 19, 2024
Updated
Speaking to the Guardian after the podcast recording, congresswoman Becca Balint of Vermont said her young constituents are fired up and ready to work to elect Kamala Harris in November.
“The people that you should be centering in the work that you do back home are those folks who are going to be the future leaders in those communities and those organizations,” Balint said.
Asked whether she thought Harris had done an effective job so far in centering young voices, Balint said that she has been very impressed by the vice-president’s campaign.
“It’s remarkable when you think about what they’ve done in just a few weeks time,” Balint said. “I think that they understand that it is about the future.”
Three House Democrats – Becca Balint of Vermont, Jasmine Crockett of Texas and Maxwell Frost of Florida – sat down with podcast host Molly Jong-Fast and Skye Perryman, president of the group Democracy Forward, for an interview in Chicago this afternoon.
Asked about Project 2025, Crockett said there is “no daylight” between the rightwing manifesto and Donald Trump’s agenda, even though the former president has tried to distance himself from the effort.
“I’m not saying that just because I’m a proud Democrat,” Crockett said. “I’m saying that because over 30 people that either worked in his administration or worked on his campaign are the authors of this.”
Three House Democrats — Jasmine Crockett of Texas, Becca Balint of Vermont and Maxwell Frost of Florida — are here in Chicago for a podcast recording hosted by the groups Democracy Forward and Demand Justice. pic.twitter.com/sUjwXlPmgg
— Joan Greve (@joanegreve) August 19, 2024
Frost added that young people are fired up about Harris’s campaign in part because they are scared about the policy proposals promoted in Project 2025.
Discussing the newfound enthusiasm around Harris’s candidacy, Frost noted that the ranks of new campaign volunteers are “very diverse”.
“That shows that our movement and the vice-president and what she’s doing has gotten to the culture,” Frost said. “And that’s when you have truly untapped movement potential.”
Updated
Joe and Jill Biden came onto the stage at the United Center, where the Democratic convention is taking place, for a quick sound check ahead of their speech at the convention tonight.
Reporters in the room shouted questions at the president, including whether he was ready to pass the torch. Biden replied: “I am.”
Asked about what his speech’s message would be, Biden said: “You’ll hear tonight.”
Updated
Biden arrives in Chicago ahead of Democratic convention speech
Joe Biden has arrived in Chicago, where he is scheduled to this evening address the Democratic national convention.
After arriving on Air Force One at O’Hare international airport, the president flew on the Marine One helicopter to Soldier Field, just south of downtown:
Biden’s speech this evening will be one of the last major appearances in his more than half-century career in politics, after he last month opted to end his bid for a second term and allowed Kamala Harris to take his place atop the Democratic ticket.
In addition to Biden, former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton are also scheduled to address the convention in the coming days.
Updated
Pro-Palestinian protest draws thousands to Chicago park near Democratic convention
Thousands of people gathered this afternoon in a Chicago park not far from the venue of the Democratic national convention to protest the party’s stance on Israel’s invasion of Gaza, the Guardian’s George Chidi and Andrew Roth report.
The demonstration was one of several expected during the convention over Joe Biden’s policy of supplying Israel with weapons used in the incursion, while pushing for it to agree to a ceasefire with Hamas. Among the protesters was independent presidential candidate Cornel West, as well as people with family members in Gaza.
Here’s more:
About half a mile east of the Democratic national convention in Chicago, Union Park filled at noon Monday with demonstrators intent on sending a message to Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, delegates and the world: that the war in Gaza should not be an afterthought.
Organizers for the Coalition to March on the 2024 Democratic convention drew 172 local and national organizations together for the protest. Thousands of people gathered for the march, one of the main anti-war demonstrations this week.
“This is not about some Machiavellian politics,” said social critic and independent presidential candidate Cornel West at the onset. “This is about morality. This is about spirituality.”
Mo Hussief, a Chicago accountant, joined the rally.
“My family is in Gaza,” Hussief said. “I’ve had over 100 family members murdered over the last 10 months by the genocide. So, I’m here to protest as an American, to say I don’t want my tax dollars to be used to murder my own family.”
Hussief is a Democratic voter. Or, he had been, he said. He supports labor rights and wants public healthcare support, key Democratic policy goals. But none of that brings back dead cousins in Jabalia, he said. The death toll in Gaza hit at least 40,000 last week.
Hussief said it is impossible for him to cast a ballot for the vice-president as long as she supports arming Israel.
“I want the Democrats to basically do a weapons embargo for Israel,” he said. “If there is a weapons embargo on Israel, I will 100% vote for Harris. I love Tim Walz. The Democratic party does align on domestic issues. But for me, they have to end the genocide.”
Read the full story here:
Updated
Singer-songwriter James Taylor will perform at the Democratic national convention, and was spotted by photographers rehearsing in the hall:
In addition to Taylor, the Hollywood Reporter says that Americana star Jason Isbell and country artist Mickey Guyton will also perform at the convention.
Updated
Santos pleads guilty to multiple federal fraud counts
George Santos, the former Republican congressman from New York, pleaded guilty on Monday to criminal corruption charges.
Santos pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft, which carries a minimum two-year prison sentence.
Updated
Joe Biden was “continuing to fine-tune” his speech tonight at the Democratic national convention, the White House said.
The president was in a “great mood” and in “great spirits”, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters as Air Force One landed in Chicago’s O’Hare airport this afternoon.
Biden plans to “spend time, continuing to prep for his big night”, she said.
Updated
Donald Trump has been speaking at a factory plant in York, Pennsylvania, his second campaign stop in the battleground state in less than two days.
Addressing workers, Trump said America’s future would be “built right here in Pennsylvania, and it will be built by American workers like you” if he is re-elected to the White House.
a sedated-sounding Trump is getting absolutely no response to his speech in York, Pennsylvania, and the people behind him look bored out of their minds pic.twitter.com/cdVRQRJdIh
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 19, 2024
Updated
Harris proposes raising corporate tax rate to 28%
Kamala Harris is calling for raising the corporate tax rate to 28%, according to her campaign.
In a statement shared by NBC News, Harris campaign spokesperson James Singer said the Democratic presidential candidate 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”. The statement added:
As President, Kamala Harris will focus on creating an opportunity economy for the middle class that advances their economic security, stability, and dignity.
Updated
Cornel West, the independent presidential candidate, has made a surprise appearance at the protest at Chicago’s Union Park, Semafor’s David Weigel reports:
Surprise Cornel West appearance at March on DNC pic.twitter.com/dSGxf07N7P
— David Weigel (@daveweigel) August 19, 2024
Fewer than 2,000 protesters fill Chicago park – report
Organizers of the Coalition to March on the DNC had predicted a crowd of tens of thousands as recently as Monday morning, but the Washington Post reports that fewer than 2,000 protesters filled a portion of Chicago’s Union Park by this afternoon.
Updated
Bernie Sanders to speak at convention on Tuesday
Bernie Sanders, the Vermont senator, will deliver a speech at the Democratic national convention on Tuesday night.
Sanders will speak “to the popularity of a progressive economic agenda that delivers for the working class of America”, a statement from his office said.
The address will also highlight the critical importance of getting big money out of the political process, and ending the greed of the billionaire class.
Sanders is scheduled to speak at 8.30pm CT.
Updated
Congressional Republicans have accused Joe Biden of “egregious” conduct for which he should be impeached – despite providing no evidence that the president committed a crime – in a 291-page report whose impact has been significantly blunted by his withdrawal from the presidential race.
In what was supposed to be a central theme of the GOP’s drive to derail Biden’s re-election effort, the report alleges that he was the architect and beneficiary of a lucrative influence-peddling scheme fronted by his son, Hunter Biden, and brother, James Biden.
The culmination of a months-long impeachment inquiry conducted by three Republican-led House of Representatives committees – the oversight, judiciary and ways and means panels – the report was timed to coincide with the opening of the Democratic national convention in Chicago, but it is now Kamala Harris, the vice-president, at the top of the ticket, not Biden.
“Overwhelming evidence demonstrates that President Biden participated in a conspiracy to monetise his office of public trust to enrich his family,” the report states.
President Biden’s participation in this conspiracy to enrich his family constitutes impeachable conduct.
It added:
The totality of the corrupt conduct uncovered by the Committees is egregious. President Joe Biden conspired to commit influence peddling and grift. In doing so, he abused his office and, by repeatedly lying about his abuse of office, has defrauded the United States to enrich his family.
However, the report failed to provide evidence that Biden committed a crime and appeared to fall short of the constitutional definition of “high crimes and misdemeanours” required to impeach a sitting president.
My colleague Rachel Leingang has been eyeing the merchandise section of the Democratic national convention in Chicago:
Lengthy merch lines as the first day of the DNC kicks off. Also spotted this Kamala Harris caftan pic.twitter.com/Ty8PPt8Rof
— Rachel Leingang (@rachelleingang) August 19, 2024
Jill Stein, the Green party presidential candidate, has urged Democrats to withhold their vote from Kamala Harris until she supports a swift ceasefire in Gaza.
“We must vote against genocide,” Stein said during an Abandon Harris news conference on Monday.
In fact, there is no lesser evil. We have two greater evils: One conducting genocide now, the other saying to finish the job right now.
Conservative former judge endorses Harris for president
A prominent conservative former judge has endorsed Kamala Harris over Donald Trump for president, arguing that the Democratic vice-president is the only candidate who “can claim the mantle of defender and protector of America’s Democracy, the Constitution, and the Rule of Law”.
Retired federal judge J Michael Luttig, in a statement obtained by CNN, wrote:
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, who was appointed to the bench by former Republican president George HW Bush, famously helped persuade Mike Pence, the then vice-president, to defy Donald Trump and certify the 2020 presidential election.
Since then, Luttig has become one of the most prominent conservative voices publicly opposing Trump. He wrote:
In voting for Vice President Harris, I assume that her public policy views are vastly different from my own, but I am indifferent in this election as to her policy views on any issues other than America’s Democracy, the Constitution, and the Rule of Law, as I believe all Americans should be.
Updated
The anti-war movement turning up at the Democratic national convention is working to convince delegates committed to Vice-President Kamala Harris that they should join forces with uncommitted delegates to pressure Harris on a ceasefire in Gaza.
At a press conference this morning, in a room provided by the Democratic convention but relatively removed from the central events, uncommitted delegates and their allies said they need Harris to articulate how she is different from Joe Biden on Israel policy.
Wearing pins that say “Not Another Bomb” and “Ceasefire Delegate”, organizers called for a permanent ceasefire and an arms embargo, the latter of which Harris’s team has said she does not support.
“We need to hear from Vice-President Harris,” said Abbas Alawieh, a national uncommitted organizer and an uncommitted delegate from Michigan. “We need a plan.” Organizers said they needed something concrete to relay back to voters in their communities to convince them to turn out for Harris.
The uncommitted delegates said they have been approached by Harris delegates who support them and are asking how to help pressure the party. One Harris delegate, Illinois congresswoman Lilian Jiménez, was at the press conference and said her community wants an end to the war, so she is standing with ceasefire delegates and their demands.
The ceasefire movement also secured a panel this afternoon that will include Dr Tanya Haj-Hassan, an American physician who has worked in Gaza, as part of official convention programming. Layla Elabed, a national uncommitted organizer, said the panel was “one step in the right direction”. The group wants a Palestinian leader to have a speaking spot on the main DNC stage as well, a demand that so far has not been met.
Protests are expected to begin at noon local time near the main DNC location, the United Center. Uncommitted delegates are working internally to pressure the Democratic party on Gaza, while protests outside are working to send a message that Democratic voters aren’t aligned with Harris, Biden or the Democratic National Committee on this issue.
Background on uncommitted movement here.
Updated
David Axelrod, the former key adviser to President Barack Obama, speaking to the Guardian at the Democratic national convention, said that he saw the 2024 presidential race as a dead heat and that Kamala Harris’s campaign should fight against a sense of complacency in the party.
“Yes it’s largely tied across the battleground and she’s a point or two behind in the Sun belt states,” he said. “And given where we were a few weeks ago, that’s a fantastic place to be. This race is now very close.”
Asked if there could be concerns about complacency following the surge of enthusiasm in the party for Harris’s candidacy, he said: “I think that if the Harris campaign has one message it will try to get across during this convention, it’s that there is no room for complacency in this election.”
Here’s a connected article of interest from Bob Tait for Guardian US on some polling news for Harris last Friday, referring to the Sun belt and the Rust belt.
Here we go! pic.twitter.com/KJdcvWJdkl
— David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) August 18, 2024
Updated
Interim summary
Hello US politics blog readers, it’s a lively day at the start of the Democratic national convention (DNC) in Chicago already, even though the event is just revving up. There will be lots more news with the big names and developments around the event halls and the city itself. We’ll bring it all to you as it happens, so stay with us.
Here’s where things stand:
Demonstrators are filling up Union Park in Chicago ahead of a planned noon CT/1pm ET protest rally and march. Some 3,000 – 5,000 people have arrived so far. Police presence is light compared with the protest march on Michigan Avenue yesterday afternoon. Organizers this morning said the message was to call for an end to aid to Israel, to stop what they describe as genocide in the Gaza war and for Palestinian territory to be liberated from Israeli control.
Two speeches to watch closely tonight: Hillary Clinton, who backs Joe Biden’s Gaza policy and personifies the party establishment on national security. She had been booed and heckled by pro-Palestinian activists during public appearances, for example in April when she returned to her alma mater, Wellesley College, in Massachusetts. And Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Last year she described the Biden administration’s veto of the UN’s call for a ceasefire in Gaza as “shameful”.
Josh Shapiro, the Pennsylvania governor, said “antisemitism played absolutely no role” in US vice-president Kamala Harris’s decision to not pick him as her running mate as she now seeks the presidency. He was responding to Donald Trump’s remarks over the weekend that Harris turned him down “because he’s Jewish”. Harris picked Minnesota governor Tim Walz.
Illinois governor JB Pritzker said 250 members of the state’s national guard had been deployed to Chicago this week for the Democratic national convention. Pritzker said the guard was on “standby” and would act essentially as military police.
Two people were arrested on Sunday during protests related to the Democratic national convention, according to Chicago police. About 40,000 protesters are expected to gather outside the convention on Monday to demonstrate against the war in Gaza.
Joe Biden will take centre stage for perhaps the last time on Monday night when he addresses the Democratic national convention in Chicago. Just over a month ago Biden had been expecting to give Thursday’s closing speech as he accepted the Democratic nomination for 2024. But his withdrawal from the race last month, and the party’s consolidation around Harris, means that Biden will speak on opening night and then set off on a holiday. The US president has been reportedly working on his address with his longtime adviser Mike Donilon and chief speechwriter Vinay Reddy.
Many tens of thousands of Democrats are expected to descend on Chicago this week for their party’s convention, bubbling with a feeling few had anticipated: pure, unconfined joy. At the end of their four-day fete, Kamala Harris will have become the first woman of color to accept a major party’s presidential nomination in American history. The moment will cap a frenzied few weeks for Democrats.
Updated
Demonstrators filling up Chicago’s Union Park ahead of DNC protests
Demonstrators have begun to fill Union Park in Chicago ahead of a planned noon protest rally and march. Between three and five thousand people have arrived so far, as have hundreds of journalists. Police presence is comparably light compared to the protest march on Michigan Avenue yesterday afternoon.
The Coalition to March on the DNC 2024 is composed of 172 organizations from Chicago and across the country.
No violence has been noted at protests so far. Police – and tow truck operators from Chicago’s department of streets and sanitation have been aggressively deterring misbehavior. (If you drive a black Toyota with Indiana plates and can’t find your truck, call the city.)
Organizers at a press conference this morning said the central message of the demonstration is to call for an end to aid to Israel, to stop what they describe as genocide in the Gaza war and for Palestinian territory to be liberated from Israeli control.
Updated
Monday’s speaking line-up also includes Senators Chris Coons of Delaware and Raphael Warnock of Georgia; representatives Jamie Raskin of Maryland and Jasmine Crockett of Texas; Andy Beshear, the governor of Kentucky; Shawn Fain, president of the UAW union; and “women that have been subjected to cruel and dangerous abortion bans under Donald Trump”.
For sure, Democrats would rather talk about Trump than Gaza. Cedric Richmond, a co-chair of the Harris-Walz 2024 campaign, told a press briefing on Monday:
Now he wants us to hand him back the reins of this nation as he runs on the Project 2025 agenda to ban abortion nationwide, jack up the costs of the middle class by thousands of dollars and fire civil servants and replace them with Trump loyalists.
But the American people know better. They elected President Biden and sent Donald Trump packing in 2020 and they will reject him again in 2024 and they will send Vice President Kamala Harris and Tim Walz to the White House.
Updated
Two speeches to watch on Monday as pro-Palestinian protesters gather in Chicago
As pro-Palestinian protesters gathering outside the Democratic national convention in Chicago, there are two speeches to watch closely inside the arena tonight.
One is from Hillary Clinton, a former secretary of state who backs Joe Biden’s Gaza policy and personifies the party establishment on national security. She had been booed and heckled by pro-Palestinian activists during public appearances, for example in April when she returned to her alma mater, Wellesley College, in Massachusetts.
The other is by Clinton’s fellow New Yorker, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a star of the progressive “squad” in the House of Representatives. Last year she described the Biden administration’s veto of the UN’s call for ceasefire in Gaza as “shameful” and in March she warned that Israel’s blockade of Gaza, putting the territory on the brink of severe famine, amounted to an “unfolding genocide”.
Tonight’s prime time speech will therefore be another defining test for Ocasio-Cortez to find a balance between speaking out on Gaza, which could rile party leaders seeking to project unity, and being a team player who backs Kamala Harris, which could prompt accusations of “sell-out” from the left.
Updated
The remarks by the liberal non-profit Future Forward’s Chauncey Mclean came during a public talk with David Axelrod and Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report at Manny’s Cafeteria & Delicatessen in Chicago.
“[Kamala Harris’s] trend line since becoming the nominees is irrefutable, and she’s had this great run, but our numbers are much less rosy than what you’re seeing in the public, and that’s by design, and it’s a feature of conducting so many surveys and being in the field,” said Mclean.
If you’re the Harris campaign, you have to win one of Pennsylvania, Georgia or North Carolina,” he added. “But you just think historically about Pennsylvania, which we have as the most likely tipping point state. Biden Trump won it by less than a point in in 2016. Biden won it by less than a point in 2020 and so our expectation, what we’re seeing, is it’s going to be decided by a similar margin.
“And so it’s gonna be very to be very close there,” he said.
Our numbers have us basically in a coin flip.
Updated
Former Biden advisers from the liberal nonprofit Future Forward have said that their surveys show a “less rosy” picture of the Harris-Walz campaign’s chances to win the election than many public polling agencies.
Future Forward’s Chauncey Mclean said that the group had conducted 375,000 surveys since Harris became the candidate and that their data showed that the race was “tight as a tick”.
The odds of winning Pennsylvania, which he called the election’s “most likely tipping point”, was “basically at a coin flip”.
“Her enthusiasm in the base and with younger voters, voters of color has come so far from where the President was earlier but... we may be able to lean on that a little bit more,” said Mclean.
I mean, we do want to kind of get back to, you know, Biden’s 2020 support. She’s still running behind those numbers slightly kind of across the board, and there’s work to do with all these folks.
Updated
'Antisemitism played absolutely no role' in Harris's VP choice, says Josh Shapiro
Josh Shapiro, the Pennsylvania governor, said “antisemitism played absolutely no role” in Kamala Harris’s decision to not pick him as her running mate.
Shapiro, speaking this morning to the Pennsylvania delegation at the Democratic convention, was responding to Donald Trump’s remarks over the weekend that Harris turned him down “because he’s Jewish.”
Shapiro, who was widely considered to be a frontrunner for the Democratic vice-presidential pick, said:
First off, Donald Trump is the least credible person to listen to when it comes to hate and bigotry and certainly antisemitism.
He said Trump was “trying to use me and he’s trying to use other Jews to divide Americans further”, adding:
Antisemitism played absolutely no role in my dialogue with the vice-president. Absolutely none. It is also true that antisemitism is present in our commonwealth, in our country and in some areas within our party, and we have to stand up and speak out against that.
Pro-Palestinian supporters began to gather in Chicago’s Union Park early this morning ahead of a planned march to near the United Center, where the Democratic national convention is taking place.
Taylor Cook, an organizer with the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, traveled from Atlanta to Chicago to attend the march.
Cook told AP that the group was pushing all Democrats to call for an end to aid to Israel, adding that Kamala Harris “has been complicit in this”, adding:
People think it’s just Joe Biden, but she is vice-president. We’re saying, you need to stop if you want our vote.
Updated
A US arms embargo on Israel is a motivating issue for millions of younger voters whose support Kamala Harris hopes to secure after replacing Joe Biden at the top of the party’s ticket for November.
The issue of a ceasefire in Gaza, which has divided moderate and progressive members of the Democratic party, was not formally discussed in committee hearings when the 92-page platform was being drafted, according to the Washington Post.
Gaza protests in Chicago are planned by more than 200 groups, with organizers expecting tens of thousands to join. On Sunday, the city received a possibly early taste of what some fear could be a repeat of the party’s 1968 convention in Chicago that was characterized by a police riot targeting anti-Vietnam protesters.
A rally against the Israel-Hamas war and restrictions on reproductive rights was met by a larger showing of Chicago police when it set off down the city’s Michigan Avenue. A far larger protest focusing exclusively on US-support for Israel is set to begin at noon on Monday at Union Park.
Meanwhile, Harris and the rest of the Democratic party are convening as US diplomats scour the Middle East for an elusive ceasefire in Gaza, where Israel has been waging war in retaliation for Hamas’s 7 October attack.
The Democratic party on Sunday unveiled its platform for November’s presidential race – but nowhere in the 92-page document does it mention an arms embargo on Israel, a key demand by uncommitted delegates at the party’s four-day convention in Chicago and a central demand by Gaza war protesters gathering in the city.
The platform, which was to be voted on on Monday, instead described a wishlist of domestic Democrat objectives, among them growing the economy, combatting inequality and the protection of reproductive rights.
The party calls on members to recommit to support for Israel in the fight against Hamas. It also calls for support for a two-state solution that “upholds the right of Palestinians to live in freedom and security in a viable state of their own” that many anti-war protesters view as fig leaf for continued US military aid toward a goal that has shows scant signs of being achieved.
But the document does call for an “immediate and lasting ceasefire deal” that secures the release of all hostages taken by Hamas fighters in the cross-border 7 October raid as well as aims to protect against the additional displacement and death of Gazans.
Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney who prosecuted Donald Trump in his hush-money criminal trial, does not oppose the former president’s request to delay his sentencing, according to new court filings.
In a letter to the presiding judge, Juan Merchan, prosecutors said they “respectfully defer to the Court on the appropriate post- trial schedule”.
NEW — Manhattan DA does not oppose Trump’s request to delay sentencing set for Sep. 18 while the judge considers the effect of the Supreme Court immunity decision
— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) August 19, 2024
“Given the defense’s newly-stated position, we defer to the Court on whether an adjournment is warranted” pic.twitter.com/t1wfKKBC4m
Updated
John Fetterman, the Democratic senator for Pennsylvania, said he will not be attending the party’s national convention in Chicago this week.
“I’ve got three young kids, and they’re out of school. That’s four days I can spend with my children,” Fetterman said in an interview with the Free Press.
Fetterman, once a budding star of the left endorsed by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in his 2022 race, has faced backlash over his enthusiastic support for Israel and continued US funding to its war in Gaza.
But in the interview published on Sunday, he dismissed suggestions that he might not be welcomed at the party’s convention in Chicago, where thousands of demonstrators are expected to gather to protest against Israel’s war in Gaza.
Updated
Illinois national guard 'on standby', says governor
Illinois governor JB Pritzker said 250 members of the state’s national guard have been deployed to Chicago this week for the Democratic national convention.
Pritzker said the guard was on “standby” and would act essentially as military police, the New York Times reported. He added:
Nobody expects that we’ll have to use them for anything very serious, but we also want to make sure that we have additional law enforcement type folks who are in uniform and who are trained to be police available.
Updated
The proverb that the early bird catches the worm appears to apply even to the Democratic national convention, which is normally a late-night affair.
I’m at a breakfast meeting of the delegation for Wisconsin, one of the key battleground states that will decide the outcome of the November election, and lo and behold but who should show up but Tim Walz, the Democrats’ vice-presidential nominee.
There are only about 100 Wisconsin volunteers at the event, yet even here Walz lit up the room the minute he entered it – a skill that bodes well for his keynote convention speech on Wednesday. “It’s been an interesting 11 days for me,” he began, looking genuinely shellshocked after his lightning propulsion on to the national stage following his pick by Kamala Harris as her running mate.
Over the next few days we will show what democracy looks like – it’s inclusive.
As governor of neighboring Minnesota, Walz is a familiar figure in Wisconsin. He’ll have more work to do on Wednesday introducing himself to a country that knows little about him.
He gave a taste of what is to come, saying that his goal with Harris was “not just to beat those guys” but to set out a “vision for our future that people can believe in. The end is a better, fairer, more just society.”
And he repeated what has by now, in 11 short days, become a mantra of the Harris-Walz campaign: joy. He said they aimed to do “politics with a sense of dignity, excitement and joy”.
Wisconsin delegates lapped it up. We’ll see how it goes down with a wider audience later in the week.
Updated
Here are some images from the newswires from the protests on Sunday in downtown Chicago on the eve of the Democratic national convention.
Updated
Kamala Harris told reporters on Sunday that she considers herself and her running mate, Minnesota governor Tim Walz, to be the “underdog” in the upcoming election.
Harris, speaking to reporters in Pennsylvania yesterday, added:
That’s why we’re on this bus tour today, and we’re going to be traveling this country as we’ve been, and talking with folks, listening to folks and hopefully earning their votes over the next 79 days.
Kamala Harris: "I very much consider us the underdog. We have a lot of work to do to earn the vote of the American people." pic.twitter.com/qoMeLPGq1X
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 18, 2024
The Harris-Walz campaign has launched a WhatsApp channel targeting Latino voters in what it described as a “first-of-its-kind in a presidential election”.
The channel aims to reach voters with “tailored, culturally competent content” to “create an organic avenue to reach Latino families from the abuelos to tías and tíos and primos”, it said in a statement on Monday.
“Now more than ever, we must meet Latinos where they are,” a statement from the campaign’s Hispanic media director, Maca Casado, reads.
While Donald Trump vilifies our community at every turn and uses us as a political punching bag, Vice President Harris and Governor Walz know the power of our community and are fighting everyday on the issues that matter to Latino voters.
Updated
Chuck Schumer, the Senate majority leader, and House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries will both speak at the Democratic national convention in Chicago this week.
From Politico’s Emily Ngo :
“We are unified,” @chuckschumer says succinctly about Democrats and pro-Palestinian movement. He and @hakeemjeffries arrived to the @nydems DNC breakfast to applause pic.twitter.com/HeFCdUw9iQ
— Emily Ngo (@emilyngo) August 19, 2024
How can I watch the Democratic national convention?
The Democratic party will livestream the convention on its Democratic national convention website and on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube.
The Guardian has a team of reporters in Chicago and will be covering the convention in depth, including live blogs each night.
Major news networks are likely to carry prime-time programming. In the US, PBS will have live coverage beginning at 8pm each night.
Two arrested during DNC-related protests on Sunday
Two people were arrested on Sunday during protests related to the Democratic national convention, according to Chicago police.
A 23-year-old female was arrested for criminal defacement of property and resisting/obstructing peace officer, CNN reported. A 28-year-old male was also arrested for criminal damage and resisting/obstructing peace officer.
About 40,000 protesters are expected to gather outside the convention on Monday to demonstrate against the war in Gaza.
Updated
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is launching a $27m ad campaign focused on capturing Republican-held seats, according to a report.
The new ad buys target a mix of swing districts and red-leaning areas as the Democrats seek to retake control of the House, NBC reports.
A statement from Julie Merz, the DCCC’s executive director, reads:
House Democrats are on offense and this latest salvo of reservations reflects the strong position we are in to retake the majority. We’re able to make these moves across the map thanks to the record-breaking fundraising we’ve had – driven by Leader Hakeem Jeffries and fueled by the historic numbers of individual donors this cycle.
Updated
What’s ahead on the US election calendar?
The Democratic national convention will be held in Chicago from today until 22 August.
Chicago previously played host to the convention in 1996, when Bill Clinton was nominated for re-election, and 1968 when Hubert Humphrey was nominated.
The next presidential debate is scheduled for 10 September, with both Kamala Harris and Donald Trump confirmed.
A debate between JD Vance and Tim Walz has been confirmed for 1 October.
‘We can’t just vote’: in Chicago, protesters rally for Gaza and abortion rights
As thousands of Democratic delegates, party officials and elected leaders descend on Chicago for the Democratic National Convention (DNC) a smaller, strident group of protesters have taken to Michigan Avenue ahead of a week that promises several demonstrations.
A protest of up to 1,000 marchers combining support for the Palestinian cause and abortion rights gathered at the iconic corner of Wacker Drive and Michigan Avenue in Chicago Sunday evening. The protest is the first of several demonstrations, legally permitted and not, planned for the convention.
Some protesters at the march, organized by groups like Bodies Against Unjust Laws, have come explicitly to “Disrupt the DNC”.
Biden to give possible swan song at Democratic convention amid Gaza protests
Joe Biden will take centre stage for perhaps the last time on Monday night when he addresses the Democratic national convention in Chicago – as the US president faces a backlash over one of his most complex legacies.
Tens of thousands of protesters are expected to converge in the host city to demand that the US end military aid to Israel for its ongoing war in Gaza. Activists have branded Biden “Genocide Joe” and called for the vice-president, Kamala Harris, to change course.
The biggest protest group the Coalition to March on the DNC has planned demonstrations on Monday and Thursday to coincide with Biden and Harris’s speeches. Organisers say they expect at least 20,000 activists to demonstrate, including students who protested against the war on college campuses.
Who is speaking at the convention?
Kamala Harris and Tim Walz will both speak at the convention, and Joe Biden is also expected to give an address.
Here is the expected lineup:
Monday, 19 August: Biden will speak on the opening night, along with former secretary of state Hillary Clinton.
Tuesday, 20 August: Former president Barack Obama will give an address on the second night.
Wednesday, 21 August: Former president Bill Clinton will join Walz on the convention’s third night.
Thursday, 22 August: Harris will close out the fourth night of the convention.
The party will livestream the convention on its Democratic national convention website and on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube.
The Guardian has a team of reporters in Chicago and will be covering the convention in depth, including live blogs each night.
‘Resurrected’ Democrats look toward 2024 convention with renewed hope
Tens of thousands of Democrats are expected to descend on Chicago this week for their party’s convention, bubbling with a feeling few had anticipated: pure, unconfined joy.
At the end of their four-day fete, when the red, white and blue balloons tumble from the rafters of the United Center, Kamala Harris will have become the first woman of color to accept a major party’s presidential nomination in American history.
The moment will cap a frenzied few weeks for Democrats, following the vice-president’s sudden ascent to the top of the ticket in a development that has transformed the race for the White House and galvanized a party once resigned to a rematch between Donald Trump and Joe Biden.
“It’s a remarkable turn of events,” said Howard Dean, a former Democratic National Committee chairman and former Vermont governor. “The Democrats have now been resurrected.”
Democrats will hear speeches from party luminaries, leaders and rising stars.
“The story here is simple and it’s one that will resonate with Americans across the country: Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are fighting for the American people and America’s future — Donald Trump is only fighting for himself,” said Minyon Moore, chair of the convention.
Updated
