Chicago — President Joe Biden delivered his valedictory address to the Democratic National Convention on Monday night, as his decision to end his reelection bid released newfound energy within his party with Vice President Kamala Harris' elevation to the top of the ticket.
After 52 years rising to the pinnacle of influence within his party, Biden, 81, received a hero's welcome for the act of stepping aside for Harris, weeks after many in his party were pressuring him to drop his bid for reelection. One month after an unprecedented mid-campaign switch, the opening night of the convention in Chicago was designed to give a graceful exit to the incumbent president and slingshot Harris toward a faceoff with Republican Donald Trump, whose comeback bid for the White House is viewed by Democrats as an existential threat.
A visibly emotional Biden was greeted by a more than four-minute-long ovation and chants of "Thank you, Joe."
"America, I love you," he replied.
Speaking clearly and energetically, Biden appeared to relish the chance to defend his record, advocate for his vice president and go on the attack against Trump. His delivery was more reminiscent of the Biden who won in 2020 than the mumbling and sometimes incoherent one-time candidate whose debate performance against Trump in June sparked the downfall of his reelection campaign.
Biden, in his remarks, repeated his 2020 theme that "we're in a battle for the very soul of America," and pressed the case for why Harris and her running mate Tim Walz were best prepared to wage it.
"Because of you, we've had the most extraordinary four years of progress ever, period," Biden declared. And then he interjected, "I say 'we,' I mean me and Kamala,'" sharing the credit for his most popular successes with the vice president to whom he handed over his political operation.
Harris made an unannounced appearance onstage as the convention's prime-time program began Monday evening to thank Biden for his leadership and watched his remarks from the stands.
"Joe, thank you for your historic leadership, for your lifetime of service to our nation, and for all you'll continue to do," she said. "We are forever grateful to you."
Biden's speech, billed as the marquee event of the evening, was pushed into late night as the convention program lagged more than an hour behind schedule.
The president recalled the 2017 "unite the right" rally, when torch-carrying white supremacists marched in Charlottesville, Virginia, an episode he cites as cementing his decision to run for president in 2020 despite his ongoing grief over the death of his son Beau Biden.
"I could not stay on the sidelines," Biden said. "So I ran. I had no intention of running again. I'd just lost part of my soul. But I ran with a deep conviction."
Biden celebrated the successes from his administration, including a massive boost in infrastructure spending and a cap on the price of insulin. The spending resulted in more money going to Republican-leaning states than Democratic states, he said, because "the job of the president is to deliver for all of America."
During one of the crowd's many chants of "thank you, Joe," he added, "Thank you, Kamala, too."
Not even a month ago, Democrats were riven over foreign policy, political strategy and Biden himself, who was holding on after a disastrous debate by claiming he had a better chance than any other Democrat — including Harris — of beating Trump.
On Monday, Biden insisted he did not harbor any ill will to the many voices in the arena before him who had pushed him to the exits and called on the party to unite around Harris. Accusing Trump of "bowing down" to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Biden said, "I never have and I promise you Kamala Harris will never do it."
"She'll be a president we can all be proud of," he said.
First lady Jill Biden alluded to her husband's wrenching decision to leave the race in her remarks minutes before Biden took the stage. She said she fell in love with him all over again "just weeks ago, when I saw him dig deep into his soul and decide to no longer seek reelection and endorse Kamala Harris."
Still, there was little question that the Democratic Party would almost certainly have been in a far worse state if Biden had continued to cling to his campaign, despite growing concerns about his mental and physical acuity after struggling to complete sentences during his debate against Trump.
Democrats took turns praising Biden's leadership and his choice in Harris to succeed him. "I've never known a more compassionate man than Joe Biden," said his longtime confidant Delaware Sen. Chris Coons, who led the crowd in a "we love Joe" chant.
They tried to connect both Biden and Harris to what the party sees as the governing pair's most popular accomplishments: leading the country out of the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic, pushing for massive investments in the country's infrastructure, working to lower health care costs and promoting clean energy.
"Thanks to Joe and Kamala, we reduced the price of prescription drugs, repaired roads and bridges and replaced lead pipes," said South Carolina Representative Jim Clyburn, whose 2020 endorsement was critical to Biden winning that primary. He added that one of Biden's best decisions was "selecting Kamala Harris as his vice president and endorsing her to succeed him."
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who was greeted with prolonged applause, saluted Harris while noting her potential to break the "highest, hardest glass ceiling" to become America's first female president. Clinton was the Democratic nominee in 2016, but she lost that election to Trump.
"Together, we've put a lot of cracks in the highest, hardest glass ceiling," Clinton said, invoking a metaphor she referenced in her concession speech eight years ago. "On the other side of that glass ceiling is Kamala Harris taking the oath of office as our 47th president of the United States. When a barrier falls for one of us, it clears the way for all of us."
Clinton also saluted Biden for stepping aside, saying, "Now we are writing a new chapter in America's story."
Highlighting the party's generational reach, Clinton, 76, followed New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, 34, who endorsed Harris while delivering the first mention of the war in Gaza from the convention stage, addressing an issue that has split the party's base ever since Hamas' Oct. 7 attack and Israel's resulting offensive.
Outside the arena, thousands of protesters descended on Chicago to decry the Biden-Harris administration's support for the Israeli war effort.
Harris "is working tirelessly to secure a cease-fire in Gaza and bringing the hostages home," Ocasio-Cortez said, drawing cheers from the crowd.
Biden acknowledged the protests outside the convention and inside the arena as he spoke, saying, "Those protesters out in the street have a point. A lot of innocent people are being killed on both sides." He reiterated his push to get Israel and Hamas to agree to a cease-fire deal that would also see the release of hostages taken by Hamas on Oct. 7 in the attack that sparked the 10-month war.
Meanwhile, Democrats also looked to keep the focus on Trump, whose criminal convictions they mocked and who they asserted was only fighting for himself, rather than "for the people" — the night's official theme.
Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow hoisted an oversized copy of "Project 2025" — a blueprint for a second Trump term that was put together by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank — onto the lectern and quoted from portions of it.
"So we read it," McMorrow said. "Whatever you think it might be. It is so much worse."
Trump, the former president, has publicly disavowed any interests in the policies outlined in Project 2025, but he has close ties to its authors and campaign aides had praised its work in the past.
Democrats kept abortion access front and center for voters, betting that the issue will propel them to success as it has in other key races since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade two years ago. Speakers Monday included three women whose health care suffered as a result of that decision. And the convention program included a video of Trump praising his own role in getting Roe struck down.
