Live updates: Obama warns ‘fired up’ DNC crowd against ‘dangerous’ Trump return

Former President Barack Obama finished up his speech as the final speaker for the Democratic National Convention, wrapping up the second day of the four-day event.

— Caroline Vakil

CHICAGO — Former first lady Michelle Obama electrified the crowd at the Democratic National Convention here on Tuesday with a speech that hammered former President Trump, while only rarely naming him.

But Obama also placed Vice President Harris in the same lineage as former President Obama — as a vehicle for hope.

“Hope is making a comeback,” the former first lady said early in her speech, drawing a direct line between her husband’s historic 2008 presidential campaign and Harris’s quest this year.

The heart of Obama’s speech was to draw a contrast between people from comparatively modest origins like herself, her husband and Harris; and the gilded wealth of figures like Trump.

“Most of us will never be afforded the grace of failing forward,” Obama insisted, nor could they depend on “an escalator waiting to take us to the top” — an obvious reference to the elevator on which the former president descended at Trump Tower in 2015 to declare his presidential candidacy.

READ THE FULL STORY HERE.

— Niall Stanage

Obama praised Biden, telling the DNC crowd that choosing Biden as his vice president in 2008 was one of the best “big” decisions he made during his candidacy.

“Joe and I come from different backgrounds, but we became brothers, and as we worked together for eight, sometimes pretty tough years, what I came to admire most about Joe wasn’t just his smarts, his experience — it was his empathy and his decency and his hard earned resilience; his unshakable belief that everyone in this country deserves a fair shot,” said Obama.

He added that these qualities were what Americans needed most over the last four years.

But he also hit on Biden’s decision to end his reelection bid after doubts began swirling about his capabilities. Biden “putting his own ambition aside for the sake of the country” was a selfless act and the rarest thing to see in politics, said Obama.

“History will remember Joe Biden as an outstanding president who defended democracy at a moment of great danger, and I am proud to call him my president, but I am even prouder to call him my friend,” Obama said.

— Cheyanne M. Daniels

Former President Barack Obama took a jab at Donald Trump during his speech at the DNC, saying the country didn’t “need four more years of bluster and bumbling and chaos.”

“We have seen that movie before, and we all know that the sequel is usually worse,” Obama continued, to cheers from the audience. “America is ready for a new chapter. America is ready for a better story. We are ready for a President Kamala Harris.”

— Caroline Vakil

Harris watched remarks from first lady Michelle Obama and former President Barack Obama during her flight back to Chicago, according to the White House.

She returned before Obama’s speech was over and it’s unclear if she plans to finish the former president’s speech.

The vice president was in Milwaukee for a rally during the DNC’s Tuesday night event.

— Alex Gangitano

Former President Obama on Tuesday opened his speech with a quip about his “funny” name and running for office in America — something he and Vice President Harris have in common.

“I am feeling hopeful, because this convention has always been pretty good to kids with funny names who believe in a country where anything is possible,” Obama said in his speech from the United Center.

While Obama received targeted attacks for his name during his own candidacy and time in the White House, Harris is facing the same issue among Republicans. Republicans from former President Trump to Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) to former Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.) to have repeatedly mispronounced Harris’s first name, pronounced comma-la.

But, Obama said, America still has the opportunity to elect Harris while Trump continues with “the childish nicknames.”

— Cheyanne M. Daniels

Former first lady Michelle Obama’s speech offered no mention of President Biden while largely focusing on Vice President Harris. The omission is notable given many Democrats, including former President Obama, mentioned and paid homage to the president in their speeches.

— Caroline Vakil

Michelle Obama on Tuesday night took time shot after shot toward former President Trump for his history of controversial remarks, including his infamous “Black jobs” remark from this year’s debate against President Biden.

In a fiery speech that began with implicit attacks and ended with explicit trolling of the former president, Obama said that of the two major candidates in this race, “only Kamala Harris truly understands the unseen labor and unwavering commitment that has always made America great.”

“Unfortunately, we know what comes next. We know folks are going to do everything they can to distort her truth,” Obama said before speaking of what she and her husband, former President Barack Obama, endured.

“For years, Donald Trump did everything in his power to try to make people fear us,” Obama said. “His limited and narrow view of the world made him feel threatened by the existence of two hardworking, highly educated, successful people who also happened to be Black.”

Her speech drew raucous cheers, but nothing came close to her referencing Trump’s Black jobs comment.

“By the way — Who’s going to tell him that the job he’s currently seeking might just be one of those “Black jobs?’” Obama said as the crowd burst into applause.

— Cheyanne M. Daniels

CHICAGO— Second gentleman Doug Emhoff pulled back the curtain on his blended family with Vice President Kamala Harris in a Tuesday speech to the Democratic National Convention, praising his wife to chants of “Doug, Doug” from the United Center crowd.

“She finds joy in pursuing justice, she stands up to bullies just like my parents taught me to, she likes to see people do well but hates when they’re treated unfairly,” Emhoff said of his wife.

“Here’s the thing about joyful warriors. They’re still warriors,” Emhoff added.

When Emhoff took the stage, attendees in the stands held red signs that said “DOUG.” He went on to hail Harris to cheers from the excited crowd.

READ THE FULL STORY HERE.

— Alex Gangitano

Former first lady Michelle Obama led Democrats in chanting “do something!’ during her speech at the party’s national convention, energizing the crowd.

“It’s up to us to remember what Kamala’s mother told her: Don’t just sit around and complain — do something!” Obama said.

“So if they lie about her, and they will, we’ve got to” Obama continued, as they chanted next together, “do something!” 

“If we see a bad poll, and we will, we’ve got to put down that phone and,” she added as the crowd chanted “do something!” again.

— Caroline Vakil

Air Force Two circled above the runway in Chicago so that the vice president and her staff could finish watching second gentleman Doug Emhoff’s remarks at the DNC as she returned from Wisconsin.

Chants of “Doug! Doug! Doug!” could be heard from the front of the plane as Emhoff spoke.

— Brett Samuels

Second gentleman Doug Emhoff defended Vice President Harris’s distinctive laugh in his remarks at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Tuesday night.

In recounting his first date with Harris — a blind date set up by a mutual friend of the two — Emhoff said, “We talked for an hour, and we laughed. You know that laugh. I love that laugh.”

The comment comes after former President Trump recently launched a personal attack on Harris’ laugh.

“Have you heard her laugh? That is the laugh of a crazy person,” Trump said at a Pennsylvania rally. “That is the laugh of a crazy, the laugh of a lunatic.”

Emhoff’s comments garnered cheers and applause at the United Center on the West Side of the Windy City.

Emhoff also highlighted how Harris is a stepmom after Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), has come under fire for after a clip of him criticizing Harris for being childless resurfaced recently.

— Cheyanne M. Daniels

Kate Cox, the Texas woman who fled the state to receive an abortion, made a brief appearance during the Democratic National Convention’s ceremonial roll call Tuesday to voice her support for Vice President Harris and warn of former President Trump’s risk to abortion rights.

“I’m Kate Cox and I love being a mom. I have two beautiful children, and my husband and I have always wanted a third but when I got pregnant, doctors told us our baby would never survive, and if I didn’t need an abortion, it would put a future pregnancy at risk,” Cox said during the roll call for Texas Tuesday night.

Read the full story here.

— Miranda Nazzaro

Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth shared her experience using IVF in her remarks to the Democratic National Convention.

“My girls, gamer-girl Abigail and queen-of-the-monkey-bars Malie, are everything to me, but they would’ve never been born without access to reproductive care. Because after 10 years of struggling with infertility, I was only able to have them through the miracle of IVF,” Duckworth said.

The senator warned that Trump and Republicans would try to roll back protections to IVF, saying it is apart of Trump’s “anti-woman crusade.”

“Every American deserves the right to be called “Mommy” or “Daddy” without being treated like a criminal,” she said.

— Julia Manchester

Second gentleman Doug Emhoff took the convention stage, where he was greeted by dozens of attendees holding “Doug” signs.

Looking around, Emhoff mouthed “wow,” as attendees cheered his name.”

Thank you, thank you so much,” he said, prompting more cheers.

— Miranda Nazzaro

John Giles, a Republican mayor from Mesa, Ariz., urged other Americans who found themselves in the political middle to “put country first.”

“My hero [Sen.] John McCain taught us — taught us to put country over party, and that’s how Vice President Harris and Gov. Walz will lead, too,” Giles said.

“I have an urgent message for the majority of Americans who, like me, are in the political middle: John McCain’s Republican Party is gone, and we don’t owe a damn thing to what’s been left behind,” he said. “So let’s turn the page. Let’s put country first. Let’s put adults in the room, where our country deserves.”

Giles is among a handful of Republicans expected to speak at the DNC tonight. Former Trump White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham spoke earlier on Tuesday evening.

— Caroline Vakil

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) told reporters clustered around him at the United Center that Democrats are “on cloud nine” with Vice President Harris as the party nominee against former President Trump.

Schumer said he had “never been to a convention where people are more excited, more intent on winning and more unified. It’s exhilarating.”

Asked by The Hill whether this meant he felt Democrats have a better chance of retaining the Senate with Harris, rather than President Biden, as the nominee, Schumer evaded a direct comparison.

“We have a great chance with Harris winning,” he said. “She is doing great. People love her from one end of the country to the other. My more conservative members are all for her. My more progressive members are all for her. She has real unity.”

Moments earlier, Schumer had mentioned the dangers of antisemitism during his convention speech.

Asked what had prompted him to do that, Schumer responded:

“I thought it’s a scourge in America. I am really worried about it..I thought it had to be addressed. As the highest ranking Jewish elected official in America, I thought it was incumbent on me to do it.”

— Niall Stanage

New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham attacked Trump over health care in her remarks, arguing the former president doesn’t care.

“Donald Trump and J.D. Vance want to dismantle our health care system,” she said. “Either these guys don’t get it or they just don’t care.”

“You know who gets it? Kamala Harris gets it and she cares,” she added.

She noted that as vice president, Harris “delivered” proposals to allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices, which was a major legislative accomplishment of the Biden administration.

— Alex Gangitano

Progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) slammed Trump in his address to the DNC, tying him to the conservative Project 2025 agenda.

“Let me tell you what a radical agenda is,” Sanders told attendees. “And that is Trump’s Project 2025. Giving more tax breaks to billionaires. Putting forth budgets to cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Letting polluters destroy our planet.”

“That is what is radical,” he added, seemingly hitting back at Republican attacks against progressives.

— Julia Manchester

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) quipped that Donald Trump “is rich in only one thing – stupidity” said during his speech on the second day of the convention.

“During COVID we supported small businesses and jobs. And Donald – well Donald told us to inject bleach. Donald Trump thinks we should trust him on the economy because he claims to be very rich,” Pritzker said, according to a set of his prepared remarks.

“Take it from an actual billionaire,” Pritzker said, “Trump is rich in only one thing – stupidity.”

— Caroline Vakil

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker noted in his remarks that Harris spent some of her early life in Illinois, claiming her as partly from the state.

“We claim her too,” he said. Harris, who is from California, lived in Urbana and Evanston as a child.

And, the governor hit Trump for calling Chicago “embarrassing” and said, “we take that personally.”

— Alex Gangitano

The vice president wrapped up her speech in Wisconsin just after 8:30 p.m. local time.

She and Walz stood on stage waving to the crowd as Beyonce again blasted over the speakers.

The Harris campaign was hosting a watch party outside Fiserv Forum for attendees to view the rest of the proceedings at the convention.

— Brett Samuels

A Gaza protester held up a banner reading “genocide” at Harris’s rally in Milwaukee and was escorted out without interrupting the vice president’s speech.

The protester went mostly unnoticed as the crowd drowned them out with cheers. Harris did not acknowledge the individual, and it was unclear if she saw them.

— Brett Samuels

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) departed from his usual stump speech on Tuesday evening to talk about his personal stakes in the election as the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in American history by accusing former President Trump of peddling “antisemitic stereotypes.”

“Let me close on a personal note. As the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in American history, I want my grandkids — and all grandkids — to never, never face discrimination because of who they are. But Donald Trump — this is a guy who peddles antisemitic stereotypes,” Schumer told the packed arena at the United Center Tuesday evening during the Democratic National Convention.

Schumer then pointed out that Trump hosted Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes along with rapper Kanye West at Mar-a-Lago in 2022.

— Alexander Bolton

Harris in Milwaukee blasted former President Trump for comments in a new interview in which he said he had no regrets about the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade.

“Yesterday, when he was asked if he had any regrets about ending Roe v. Wade, Donald Trump – without even a moment’s hesitation, you would think he would reflect on it for a second – said no. No regrets,” Harris said.

“I do believe bad behavior should result in a consequences,” she continued. “Well, we will make sure he does face the consequence, and that will be at the ballot box this November.”

Trump told CBS News the issue of abortion should be handled by the states and suggested people were “very happy about it.”

“No regrets, no. I wouldn’t have regrets. I did something most people felt was undoable,” Trump said.

— Brett Samuels

“The View” co-host Ana Navarro took a hit at South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) over the story of her shooting her dog that she included in her book.

“Kamala Harris, she likes dogs,” she said. “Dogs are good judges of character, so are cats. We cannot elect a president who does not like dogs or hangs around with people who shoots them.”

Navarro also noted that she fled communist Nicaragua, rebutting Republican claims that Harris is a communist by arguing that communist dictators call the press the enemy of the people and put their “unqualified relatives in cushy government jobs.”

— Alex Gangitano

The DNC’s roll call party atmosphere, complete with DJ and dozens of songs, drew reluctant praise from conservatives who were watching.

“I’m sorry but this #dnc2024 roll call with DJ Cassidy, themed state music and party/club atmosphere is blowing the RNC’s roll call out of the water.It looks like a giant party and celebration and everyone in that room looks like they’re having a blast,” Meghan McCain posted on X.

CNN pundit Scott Jennings agreed.

” Gotta admit the musical roll call vote idea was pretty smart by the Dems,” he posted, along with a video of colleague Van Jones dancing to Lil Jon.

Minnesota Sens. Tina Smith (D) and Amy Klobuchar (D) delivered the state’s delegates for Harris.

The state is home to Harris’ running mate Gov. Tim Walz.

— Julia Manchester

The DNC played Harris and Walz’s rally in Milwaukee on a big screen during the convention’s evening programming.

“They have nominated coach Walz and me to be the next vice president and president of the United States of America,” Harris said in Wisconsin.

Harris sent a message of “thank you” to Chicago and said “I’ll see you in two days, Chicago” before the convention turned off the rally.

—    Alex Gangitano

There was a mixture of laughter and awkwardness in the United Center as Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers (D) got in a verbal tangle as he sought to praise Vice President Harris while announcing his state’s delegates during the roll call.

Part of the confusion may have been Evers describing Harris, without naming her, as a former Wisconsinite.

In fact, the Harris family did live at one point during Kamala’s childhood in Madison, Wis., but that fact is not especially well known.

An embarrassed Evers grew hesitant and appeared to say, “oh my god” at one point before beginning his paean to Harris for a second time.

— Niall Stanage