(Updated with additional statements, Hillary Clinton’s speech, details)
by Steve Holland and Trevor Hunnicutt
US Vice President Kamala Harris made a brief surprise appearance in Chicago on Monday night on the platform of the Democratic National Convention, where she will be formally nominated this week as the party’s candidate for the November presidential election.
“Let’s fight for the ideals we hold dear, and remember that when we fight, we win!” she told cheering supporters, vowing to beat the Republican nominee, former President Donald Trump, in the Nov. 5 election.
Kamala Harris, 59, was expected to appear on stage later in the evening with Joe Biden as the vice president’s campaign debated whether and how to use the president to convince voters.
While he once again hoped to headline the rally, Joe Biden, 81, will be the keynote speaker for this first of four days of the Chicago gathering.
He had to decide in July to abandon his re-election campaign in the face of pressure from elected officials and officials from the Democratic Party, who doubted his ability to win the election and then, if necessary, govern for another four years.
Kamala Harris paid tribute to Joe Biden during comments she made Monday night from the stage. “Thank you for your historic leadership, for your life of service to our nation, we are forever grateful,” she said.
“NEW CHAPTER IN AMERICAN HISTORY”
Joe Biden, who was Barack Obama’s vice president for eight years, the first black president in the history of the United States, was to call on the Democrats during his speech on Monday evening to unite behind Kamala Harris, which in the event would be a victory for the country’s first female president.
Hillary Clinton, defeated by Donald Trump in 2016 as she aspired to become the first woman to reach the White House, declared that “our country’s history shows that progress is possible but not guaranteed.”
Receiving a standing ovation upon his arrival on stage, the former secretary of state praised Joe Biden for bringing decency, dignity and competence to the White House.
“And we are now writing a new chapter in America’s history,” she continued. “Kamala has the temperament, experience and vision to take us forward.”
Hillary Clinton also took a jab at her rival in 2016 “(Donald Trump) made history in his own way, becoming the first presidential candidate with 34 impeachments.”
During his speech late Monday night, Joe Biden should elaborate on the successes of his mandate, including Kamala Harris, and warn of the danger to democracy that he believes would be a return of Donald Trump to power.
Asked if the Democratic National Convention represented a bittersweet moment for him, Joe Biden told reporters this afternoon that it was a “memorable moment.”
When he announced on July 21 that he was ending his re-election campaign, Joe Biden immediately threw his support behind Kamala Harris, who quickly won the support of a sufficient number of Democratic delegates to become the party’s presidential nominee.
VOLTAGE STATE
Kamala Harris’ candidacy for the Nov. 5 election has rekindled enthusiasm in Democratic ranks.
Kamala Harris arrived in Chicago on a historic wave, amid record campaign donations, packed houses at her rallies and polls that put her ahead of Donald Trump in states considered key for the presidency, while Joe Biden lost before his withdrawal from the race against Republican candidate.
On the sidelines of the convention’s opening, however, thousands of protesters gathered in a nearby park to show their opposition to Washington’s support for Israel’s offensive in the Gaza Strip and to put pressure on Democratic delegates to change their approach to the issue.
Although the crowd was smaller than the organizers of the demonstration expected, tensions erupted when a group of dissident protesters broke out of the procession and forced a security perimeter. Riot police intervened and arrested four people.
That gathering recalled the displeasure of some of the progressive wing of Democrats over the Biden administration’s support for the Israeli offensive in Gaza, bringing a touch of excitement to a gathering in Chicago intended for a moment of celebration.
“The Democrats are the ones in power,” said a spokesman for the organization behind the protest. “It is their war. They are responsible for it, they are complicit and they can stop it,” Hatem Abudayyeh added.
Protesters are unlikely to be able to pressure Democrats to change their position. The party on Monday evening approved a 92-page policy document that does not mention an arms embargo on Israel – a key demand of pro-Palestinian groups.
(Doina Chiacu, Andrea Shalal, Bianca Flowers, Trevor Hunnicutt, Jeff Mason and Nandita Bose in Chicago, with contributions by Kanishka Singh, Steve Holland, Nathan Layne and Gram Slattery; French version by Jean Terzian)
