Tim Walz headlines third night of DNC with help, Bill Clinton, Oprah and Stevie Wonder: a memoir of a local, midwestern, reproductive-rights advocate
Walz’ Midwestern, small-town background has been a major theme of his campaign so far and the story he tells voters about himself and his ideas. Walz ticked through his resume: born in the tiny town of Butte, Nebraska, attending a state university, and becoming a schoolteacher.
When he and his wife Gwen found out that the treatments hadn’t worked out, they were really sad, and they had struggled with infertility. Since the Supreme Court overturned the contraceptives law, Democrats have become more focused on reproductive rights issues, including fertility care.
Walz highlighted another aspect of his personal story – his status as a veteran and his experience as a hunter – describing himself as a “better shot than most Republicans in Congress,” while calling for restrictions designed to prevent gun violence.
He also referenced his background as a high school coach, drawing on football metaphors to describe the urgent task he says Democrats face between now and November.
Bill Clinton used his remarks to thank President Biden for taking over the reigns of governance after Donald Trump had been elected president.
Clinton said Harris was the only candidate with the experience and temperament for the job of president that he had seen.
Mini Timmaraju, president of Reproductive Freedom for All, noted that voters in several states will have the opportunity to vote on ballot measures related to abortion rights in November.
The video speech from the couple who got their marriage done by Harris was one of the advocates featured on the program.
Dana Nessel stated that she was not going to use state resources to enforce a 1931 abortion ban that was still on the books.
Goldberg-Polin, the Uncommitted Movement, and the Democratic Electoral Causal Causality in the Gaza War: What Happens When We’re There, What Do We Mean to Do?
Goldberg-Polin is among more than 100 hostages, eight of them American citizens, still being held in Gaza. His mother noted that he was born in Oakland, California – the same birthplace as Harris.
His father, Jon Polin, spoke of “a surplus of agony on all sides of the tragic conflict in the Middle East. There are no winners in a competition of pain.
Meanwhile, some members of the “uncommitted” movement – a pro-Palestinian group designed to put pressure on Democrats to address their concerns – complained that no representatives of their movement had been allowed to speak on stage at the DNC.
Like the first two nights, the evening included a plea to Republicans who’ve become disillusioned with former President Trump, to support the Democratic ticket.
Olivia Troye, a former Trump White House official described working inside the administration as “terrifying,” and said she’s fearful of another Trump term where the “guard rails” would be gone.
Troye continued the evening’s theme, saying she’s supporting Harris “not because we agree on every issue but because we agree on the most important issue: protecting our freedom.”
Oprah encouraged everyone to vote for Harris because she is a registered independent. She said that commonsense tells them that both Tim Walz and Kamala Harris can give us decency and respect. Common sense over nonsense is what we’re supposed to choose.
Kamala Harris and the Democratic National Convention: What are they asking for? What will they tell us about the future of the United States?
The evening had a number of celebrity guests including Winfrey, John Legend, Maren Morris and Stevie Wonder.
the conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation had a giant bound copy of the plan in hand when Kenan Thompson strode on stage. He paged through the document while hosting a series of video conversations with ordinary people who could be affected by its proposed policies, including a woman in a same-sex marriage and an OBGYN physician.
Thompson warned that everything they talked about was real. “You can stop it from ever happening by electing Kamala Harris as the next President of the United States.”
Conventions are always events that feature not just the ticket running in the current election cycle, but a chance for potential future candidates to shine, to stand out and make a name for themselves before a large audience.
Harris is set to speak on Thursday night, as are the Obamas, the Clintons, Oprah Winfrey, as well as several other speakers.
Harris doesn’t have a hometown in San Francisco, but is from the Midwest, including a small town in Nebraska, a former congressman from a once-red district in Minnesota and a football coach. The Democrats latched onto that last part of his resume. In his speech, Walz told the crowd that the Democrats are in the last quarter of the election, and that they are driving down the field, even though they are down a field goal. To get across the line, he said the crowd needs to get in the trenches and do the blocking and tackling in the election.
Walz, for his part, also made the case for Democratic ideas, not as radical as Republicans have tried to paint them, but as mainstream – things like making housing more affordable, cutting the price of prescription drugs, reducing medical debt, providing meals for children in schools and standing up for abortion rights.
They were certainly on display Wednesday night with speeches by not just Buttigieg, but also people like Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore – three names the country is likely to hear again in Democratic presidential primaries in either four or eight years.
Jon, see you. The Democratic National Convention has been a raucous and enthusiastic affair to this point. Part of the reason for this is that President Biden did not want to fall in love with Harris. Democrats, who had been telling pollsters for more than a year that they did not like their choices, have been invigorated.
There seemed to be a double meaning in those chants of, “Thank you, Joe.” Thank you for all that you did as president, but also for your decision to leave the race. The stemwinder Biden gave in his valedictory speech made clear that Democrats were nervous about his candidacy.
Michelle Obama’s husband said after her speech and right before his own that he may be the only person dumb enough to follow her. Her actions brought the house down. Her speech was a litany of things she was holding back saying for at least eight years. She delivered searing lines about the “affirmative action of generational wealth,” and that Trump tried to stoke fear about her and her husband because he was threatened by two highly educated and successful people, “who happened to be Black.”
A lot has been made of the fact that Harris would be the first woman to be president, the first Black woman and first South Asian descent to serve in the office. That would be a major historical feat. But it’s also unusual to see a man rounding the edges of his political candidate wife, who is running for president. It’s also very different from what Bill Clinton did for Hillary Clinton in 2016, the only other time this kind of speech was delivered. He was not only a well-known former president, but the Clintons had one adult child.
Emhoff, on the other hand, is someone far less known and his family’s story showed a lot of new things on a political stage. It highlighted an interracial marriage and the complexities of step parenting. Millions of Americans can identify with blended families because a significant percentage of marriages end in divorce.
The table for a keynote by M.A. Harris: Delivering what you want to hear in a long, long, deep, deep space-time?
And now the table is set for Harris. She will be speaking in front of a large audience. It’s an opportunity for her to continue the momentum that has been sparked by her candidacy. Can she deliver?