Former Vice President Joe Biden was officially named the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee in 2020 on Tuesday night following an unconventional roll call vote by party representatives who roamed the country.
Once he was collecting the votes, a camera appeared on Biden in Delaware, where after a short break he was capturing the moment with his wife Jill and bundles of red, white and blue balloons as the family streamers jumped. Clapping broke out from Democrats who appeared on camera from their living room as the song “Celebration” was played.
“Thank you very much, very much from the bottom of my heart,” Biden said. “Thank you. Thank you.”
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Former President Barack Obama, his two-time running mate, congratulated Biden in a tweet afterwards, saying, “I’m proud of you.”
Instead of the traditional loud, festive number of voices from the floor of the Democratic National Convention, thousands of delegates had to stay home this year because of the coronavirus pandemic. They shared their support for Biden over video feeds from a range of backgrounds – farms, beaches, an Amtrak station, an art studio and a fire station – telling personal stories of how a Biden presidency would “better build” America.
Biden’s nomination comes as a succession of convention speakers have worked to draw a clear contrast between him and President Donald Trump, not just on politics but on humanity.
Speakers pointed to what they described as Biden’s demeanor and sense of empathy, while describing Trump as portraying those qualities – repeatedly repeating the president’s remark that “It’s what it is” when asked about the death toll from the coronavirus.
Biden’s path to the White House has formally begun with Jacquelyn Brittany, a New York Times security guard who was caught in a viral video saying “I Love You” to Biden, and who was the former vice president formally nominated for the job. First Chamber Members Chris Coons, D-Del., And rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, D-Del., Seconds the nomination.
Bob King, former president of the United Auto Workers Union (UAW), nominated Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Who is running for the Democratic primary runner-up. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, DN.Y., seconded the nomination for her mentor, saying Sanders “organized a historic grassroots campaign to restore our democracy.”
The 2020 call was not the heinous affair of years past, when enthusiastic state leaders gave laudatory speeches from the ground floor announcing how their state delegations voted. But these stories were personal and local, reflecting Democratic priorities such as voting by mail, fighting for racial justice, immigrant rights, ending gun violence, protecting the environment, reviving the auto industry and more.
“It’s Joe time !,” explained Scheena Iyande Tannis, a registered nurse in New York, who announced the state’s delegates during the roll call vote.
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Voting took place in virtually all 57 states and territories, with several voters, parents, teachers, politicians and small business owners announcing how their states would cast their ballots, based on primary election results. The 30-minute shout-out over America featured former primary opponents against Biden in the presidential election.
Former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg announced the Indiana delegation. First Chamber Member Amy Klobuchar demonstrated Biden’s ability to build bridges in Minnesota’s roll call. Rep. Tim Tim announced the delegates from Ohio while Sanders and his wife, Jane, were on camera from Vermont.
But unlike 2016, Sanders did not make the official motion to make Biden the Democratic nominee in the name of party unity.
In 2016, then-Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, nominated Sanders at the Philadelphia convention, wondering how a “somewhat frumpy and maybe even sometimes grumpy 70-year-old boy could become the voice for millions.” But after the roll call vote, Sanders, surrounded by Vermont delegates, stood up to stop the procedural rules and nominate Hillary Clinton.
Eight years earlier, it was Clinton who made a similar move from the floor floor to officially nominate Barack Obama by acclaiming to be the 2008 presidential candidate after her heavy loss to the eventual president of two terms.
But like everything else, this convention is different.
“These are not conventional times,” Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said at the start of Day Two of the convention, which would have brought enormous crowds to his city if not for the COVID-19 crisis. “And as a result, as we all know, this is not a conventional convention.”
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In a series of all-night speeches, speakers sought to portray Trump as an insecure leader and Biden as the stiff and decent hand that America needs.
Stacey Abrams, the former gubernatorial candidate in Georgia, said Biden would restore the ‘moral compass’ and ripped Trump off as ‘a cowardly president’.
Sen. Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., slammed Trump for his response to the coronavirus and for treating Protestants. “America, Donald Trump has fired at you,” Schumer told the Statue of Liberty.
Jimmy Carter and Mrs. Rosalynn treat the convention in a voice message praising Biden’s character and dignity. “He’s the right person for the moment,” Carter said.
Former President Bill Clinton blown Trump out for not taking responsibility for the coronavirus response.
“Just one thing never changes – his determination to deny responsibility and hide the blame,” Clinton said. “The dollar never stops there.”
The Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee, ahead of their convention next week, slammed right into the speakers of the night.
“President Trump has spent his presidency reversing Bill Clinton’s wrongdoing and Joe Biden’s record of failed policies,” the RNC tweeted.
White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany mocked the convention format as a metaphor, ripping off “transitionless doldrums of unenthusiastic Biden surrogates, very emblematic of its base.”
Elsewhere, Tuesday night was also presented to draw attention to some of Biden’s policy priorities. Gun security activist Fred Guttenberg, whose daughter Jaime was killed in the 2018 Parkland High School Massland, announced the Florida delegation.
Gold star father Khizr Khan talks about the 2017 racial violence in Charlottesville in announcing the votes of the Virginia delegation. And in Wyoming, Judy and Dennis Shepard touted Biden’s leadership in stopping hate crimes against LGBTQ Americans in the wake of the 1998 murder of their son Matthew.
