>> My name is Ruth Glenn.  Do 
you see something wrong?  We 
were expected to stand up and do
something about it.  
>> Welcome to the second night 
of the Democratic National 
Convention.  
>> This year's choice could not 
be more clear.  A steady, 
experienced public servant who 
can lead us out of this crisis, 
just like he has done before.  
America, we need Joe Biden. 
>> No matter where you come 
from, or where you're watching 
from tonight, you have a place 
in Joe Biden's Democratic Party.
>> All of us. 
>> A mass people's movement, 
working to establish 21st 
century social, economic, and 
human rights. 
>> We all have a profound 
obligation to act, demanding 
more of our Representatives and 
of our democracy. 
>> I nominate my friend, Joe 
Biden. 
>> Joe Biden. 
>> Joe Biden. 
>> We will stay united, and with
our unity, we will bring bold 
and dramatic change to our 
country.  
>> Now we have an official 
nominee.  
>> He does it for you.  Joe's 
purpose has always driven him 
forward.  We have shown that the
heart of this nation still beats
with kindness and courage.  
That's the soul of America Joe 
Biden is fighting for now.  
>> The Democratic Party has 
always risen to our country's 
greatest challenges. 
>> I pledge myself to a new deal
for the American people!  
>> We have moved this country 
forward in a relentless push for
progress, progress for Americans
of all walks of life, not just 
the privileged few.  
>> Well, the harsh facts of the 
matter are that we stand at this
frontier at a turning point of 
history. 
>> We do not want our freedom 
gradually, but we want to be 
free now.  
>> We have brought together 
voices from every part of 
America. 
>> We are a people in a quandary
about the present.  We are a 
people in search of our future. 
We are attempting to fulfill our
national purpose, to create and 
sustain a society in which all 
of us are equal.  
>> And we've made history along 
the way. 
>> PRESIDENT OBAMA:  There is 
not a liberal America and a 
conservative America.  There is 
the United States of America.  
We must pledge once more to 
march into the future. 
>> We are a different society 
than we were in 1961 
[ Applause ]
Brothers and sisters, do you 
want to go back?  
>> No!  
>> Or do you want to keep 
America moving forward?  
>> Yeah!  
>> Well, our motto is when they 
go low, we go high.  
>> We never bow, we never bend, 
we never break.  No, we endure, 
and we always, always, always 
move forward!  
>> This election, we have 
engaged a historic number of 
Americans in the democratic 
process, and now we have to 
cover come the odds once again 
to build back better than 
before.  
>> We lead not only by the 
example of our power but by the 
power of our example.  We are 
America, second to none, and we 
own the finish line.  Don't 
forget it!  
>> We are democrats, and we are 
ready to lead again.  We are 
coming together on August 17th, 
all across America.  Be there.  
>> REPRESENTATIVE THOMPSON:  
Good evening, and welcome to the
third night of the Democratic 
National Convention.  Last 
night, we nominated our 
candidate for President of the 
United States, Joe Biden.  
We also reaffirmed our values as
a party, the party of resilience
and hope, empathy and inclusion.
This is the party that fired me 
up as a young man in the '60s, 
registering voters with the 
Student Nonviolent Coordinating 
Committee in the Mississippi 
Delta, and campaigning for a 
candidate in the US House of 
Representatives.  It's the party
that taught me that public 
servants should serve the 
public, even when your opponents
call you names like "nasty" 
or "slow," and today it's the 
party that calls us to stand up 
for what's right and to get in 
good trouble.  
So, on behalf of this great 
party, it's my pleasure to 
welcome, once again, delegates, 
alternates, standing committee 
members, friends, and fellow 
Americans, members of the media 
and guests from around the 
world.  I now call this third 
session of the 48th quadrennial 
national convention of the 
Democratic Party to order.  
[ Gavel pounding ]
Now, let's get this show 
started.  
>> And now, live from Wisconsin,
please welcome Governor Tony 
Evers.  
>> GOVERNOR EVERS:  Good 
evening, folks.  I am Tony 
Evers, and I am incredibly proud
to be the 46th Governor of the 
great state of Wisconsin.  We 
were really looking forward to 
having you here in America's 
dairy land.  Unfortunately, the 
pandemic means we can't do that 
this year, but what United 
States us is far, far greater 
than what divides us.  So, even 
though we can't be with each 
other, I know we have a shared 
sense of purpose.  That is to 
elect Joe Biden and Kamala 
Harris.  
This November is about returning
kindness, respect, empathy, and 
civility back to the White 
House, and that's who Joe and 
Kamala are, because they know, 
especially during challenging 
times like these, the problems 
we face can only be solved by 
all of us together.  
Holy mackerel, folks, let's get 
to work.  
♪ Rise up ♪
♪ Come on rise up ♪
>> Hello.  My name is Terry 
Williams, and I have been a 
republican for all of my adult 
life. 
>> A lifelong republican. 
>> A republican. 
>> I have been a lifelong 
republican. 
>> I have been a longstanding 
republican, and I'm telling you,
you have got to vote for Joe 
Biden. 
>> I have voted for and 
campaigned for republicans since
the Reagan years, but I won't be
voting for Donald Trump in 
November. 
>> I'm supporting Joe Biden for 
president. 
>> We need a positive leader, 
someone who can work with both 
sides, republicans and 
democrats. 
>> I don't think we can deal 
with the type of person that we 
have in the White House any 
longer. 
>> Vote, America.  That's the 
only way to get out of this, and
Joe Biden is just the person to 
ensure we get our lives back to 
normal.  
>> Joe Biden is a decent man 
with a long history of public 
service to America.  
>> He will restore order and 
integrity to the executive 
branch.  
>> I would strongly encourage 
all of us to come together. 
>> And hopefully return our 
country's political discourse 
back to some measure of normalcy
and decency. 
>> I am sure, I am absolutely 
sure he's going to help us bring
this country together once 
again.  
♪ Rise up ♪
♪ ♪
♪ ♪
>> I pledge allegiance to the 
flag. 
>> Of the United States of 
America. 
>> And to the republic for which
it stands. 
>> One nation. 
>> One nation.  
>> One nation. 
>> Under God. 
>> Indivisible. 
>> With liberty and justice for 
all.  
>> Hey, everybody, it's me, 
Kamala.  So, before I go on 
stage later tonight, I want to 
talk about the importance of 
voting.  I know many of you plan
to vote this year, but amidst 
the excitement and enthusiasm 
for this election, you have also
heard about obstacles and 
misinformation and folks making 
it harder for you to cast your 
ballot.  So, I think we need to 
ask ourselves, why don't they 
want us to vote?  Why is there 
so much effort to silence our 
voices?  
And the answer is because when 
we vote, things change.  When we
vote, things get better.  When 
we vote, we address the need for
all people to be treated with 
dignity and respect in our 
country.  
So, each of us needs a plan, a 
voting plan.  Joe and I want to 
make sure you're prepared.  If 
you text VOTE to 30330, we'll 
help you come up with your plan,
and remember deadlines and get 
ready to vote in your community.
So, send that text, and 
encourage your family and 
friends to send one too.  
Now let's enjoy another night of
inspiration from around our 
country.  I'll see you a little 
later tonight, and until then, I
turn it over to my dear friend 
and tonight's moderator, Kerry 
Washington.  
>> KERRY WASHINGTON:  Welcome to
night three of the Democratic 
National Convention.  I am 
honored to be joining you as we 
continue to celebrate this 
unconventional convention.  
We are going to be hearing a lot
more from Senator Harris later, 
I promise, but first, when I was
in seventh or eighth grade, we 
memorized the preamble of the 
Constitution, and I have never 
forgotten it.  The first 
15 words our constitution are we
the people of the United States 
in order to form a more perfect 
union.  We say "more perfect" 
because our union is not without
flaws.  When our Constitution 
was written, women couldn't 
vote.  Black people were 
considered three-fifths of a 
human being, but therein lies 
the work.  No one is perfect.  
Nothing is.  But it is the 
striving towards justice, 
equality, and truth that 
distinguishes us.  We fight for 
a more perfect union, because we
are fighting for the soul of 
this country and for our lives. 
And right now, that fight is 
real.  Tonight, we are going to 
hear from so many phenomenal 
women who are working to help us
build that more perfect union.  
Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Secretary 
Hillary Clinton, Senator 
Elizabeth Warren, Governor 
Michelle Lujan Grisham.  We are 
going to see an incredible 
performance from Jennifer Hudson
and a world premier performance 
from Billie Eilish.  
We'll meet so many of the 
activists and organizers working
to build a more equal, more just
future, and we are going to hear
from our 44th President, Barack 
Obama.  That's a long way of 
saying this is going to be an 
unforgettable night filled with 
important voices, but the most 
important voice we hope to hear 
from tonight is the one we need 
to hear from most:  It's yours. 
Because if we are going to 
repair the damage that has been 
done, if we are going to finally
realize the dream, we the people
have to get involved.  Each and 
every one of us is the we.  You 
are the we.  It's going to be 
your voice, your service, your 
action that helps us create that
more perfect union.  Tonight, we
are going to talk about where we
are and where we are going on so
many issues important to our 
future.  
90% of Americans support common 
sense gun laws, because we need 
to do more to address the 
epidemic of gun violence.  Let's
start there.  
>> People affected by everyday 
gun violence have to walk by the
street corner where their best 
friend, their brother, their 
mother, their nephew, where they
themselves were shot, and life 
goes on as if we hadn't all just
watched a loved one die and get 
put in the grave.  The whole 
point of what I'm saying here is
until one of us or all of us 
stand up and say I can't do this
anymore, I can't sit by and 
watch the news treat these acts 
of violence like an act of God. 
I'm going to do something to 
prevent it.  
They say that tougher gun laws 
do not decrease gun violence!  
We call BS!  
They say a good guy with a gun 
stops a bad guy with a gun.  We 
call BS!  
They say guns are just tools 
like knives.  We call BS!  
They say that no laws could have
been able to prevent the 
hundreds of senseless tragedies 
that have occurred.  We call BS!
[ Cheers and applause ].
That us kids don't know what we 
are talking about, that we are 
too young to understand how the 
government works.  We call BS!  
What we are fighting for will 
happen, because we are fighting 
so strongly for it.  We are 
going to make this change.  
♪ Rise up ♪
♪ Come on rise up ♪
♪ ♪
>> Long before this pandemic, 
our country has been suffering 
from the epidemic of gun 
violence.  
>> Gun violence is a public 
health crisis, one that 
disproportionately affects the 
black and brown communities.  
First, it was my beloved 
fiancée. 
>> My son Jerry, at the Pulse 
shooting in Orlando. 
>> Seven years later, it would 
be my son. 
>> I know exactly the pain, the 
toll, the heartbreak of gun 
violence.  
>> My freshman year, my high 
school went into lockdown 
because a kid brought a gun to 
school. 
>> We have had to endure live 
shooter training drills on our 
schools.  
>> High schoolers have enough to
deal with.  They shouldn't also 
be responsible for keeping 
themselves safe at school.  
That's the job of the 
government.  
>> We have to end corporate 
lobbying by the NRA.  We have to
invest in mental health in our 
communities, rather than making 
our schools maximum-security 
prisons. 
>> I want a president who will 
make gun violence prevention a 
top priority, and I believe Joe 
Biden is that person.  
♪ Rise up ♪
>> And now, mother and activist 
DeAndra Dycus. 
>> In a split second, a stray 
bullet shattered my family's 
life.  My son DeAndre was only 
13 years old.  He was recognized
as a gifted and talented 
student.  The possibilities were
endless.  He was dancing at a 
birthday party when he was shot 
in the back left side of his 
head, shattering his skull.  One
shot changed our lives forever. 
Today, my Dre does not talk.  He
does not walk.  I know he knows 
me by the smile he shows when I 
walk in his room, but I'm unsure
if he knows a gunshot has 
changed his life.  
Since March, I have only been 
able to see my son three times, 
but I can't touch or hug him due
to COVID-19.  People tell me 
that I'm lucky.  I tell them we 
are blessed.  I remind them that
my son is in a wheelchair and 
unable to feed himself.  I don't
think DeAndre feels lucky when 
he has to be bathed from head to
toe or gets injections for 
muscle contractions.  
I am in a space of gratitude.  
Yes, I can touch DeAndre.  I can
hold his hand, but the child 
that I birthed is not able to 
live his dreams, and that hurts.
Every day, we are reminded that 
he may never be the same.  We 
are not alone.  In every town 
across America, there are 
families who know what a bullet 
can do.  That's why I'm a mom 
who volunteers to stop this.  
President Trump, he doesn't 
care.  He didn't care about the 
victims after Parkland, 
Las Vegas, or El Paso.  I want a
president who cares about our 
pain and grief, a president who 
will take on the gun lobby to 
ban assault weapons and close 
the loopholes to keep guns out 
of the hands of criminals.  Joe 
Biden has taken on the NRA twice
and won, and he will do it again
as president.  
>> VICE PRESIDENT BIDEN:  I have
looked in the eyes of too many 
parents, and I mean literally 
scores of them who have lost 
their children to gun violence. 
I have looked in the eyes of 
brave young people who have 
survived school shootings, and I
made each of them a promise, and
I made myself a promise:  I 
promised them, and I promise all
of you, I will make this promise
today, those families hurting 
across the country, I will 
never, never, never, never give 
up this fight.  
>> Out of pain, we choose to 
find meaning, a glimmer of light
that lands on a promise.  Former
Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, 
shot in the head from less than 
three feet away, but she 
survived.  When tragedy strikes,
we seek comfort in knowing we 
aren't alone.  
>> REPRESENTATIVE GIFFORDS:  
Join us in this fight.  
>> We seek strength to keep 
fighting, to keep moving 
forward.  We turn to leaders who
share our pain.  
>> VICE PRESIDENT BIDEN:  In the
most difficult times, that's 
when we stand closest together. 
It's out of tragedy that we grow
stronger.  
>> REPRESENTATIVE GIFFORDS:  He 
was there for me.  He'll be 
there for you too.  
>> We are a nation ready to end 
gun violence.  A safer America 
is possible, but from this point
forward, we must choose courage.
>> REPRESENTATIVE GIFFORDS:  I 
have known the darkest of days, 
days of pain and uncertain 
recovery. 
But confronted by despair, I've 
summoned hope. Confronted by 
paralysis and aphasia, I've 
responded with grit and 
determination. I put one foot in
front of the other. I found one 
word and then I found another. 
My recovery is a daily fight, 
but fighting makes me stronger. 
Words once came easily; today I 
struggle with speech. But I have
not lost my voice.
America needs all of us to speak
out, even when you have to fight
to find the words. We are at a 
crossroads. We can let the 
shooting continue or we can act.
We can protect our families, our
future. We can vote. We can be 
on the right side of history. We
must elect Joe Biden. He was 
there for me; he'll be there for
you, too. Join us in this fight.
Vote, vote, vote.
Thank you very much.
>> Tonight, we are going to hear
from many change makers who are 
using their power for good, who 
are working to confront the 
other epidemics we are facing, 
COVID-19, structural racism, 
police violence against black 
bodies, violence against members
of the trans community.  We are 
facing so many challenges.  To 
meet these challenges, we will 
need systematic solutions.  We 
need leaders who can see us, 
hear us, represent us, all of 
us.  To Joe Biden, nothing is 
more important than taking the 
time to make sure that people 
are seen, heard, and believed 
in.  
>> I was interning in DC, and I 
remember I called my grand
r
grandmother, and I said Joe 
Biden is walking by, and she 
goes oh my God, oh my God, put 
him on.  And I see a staffer 
going no, no, no, don't take the
call.  What are you doing?  And 
he points to the staffer, like 
go that way, and he sent his 
staffer away.  
>> How could I not be endeared 
to him instantly?  He talked to 
me for the next half hour. 
>> I see Dana Bash from CNN 
there, and she says Senator 
Biden will be on in five, and he
sent her away.  
>> All I knew is it was all 
about me, not about him.  
>> And then he comes back and 
goes it was lovely talking with 
your grandmother, and then he 
starts the interview with Dana 
Bash. 
>> I must interject one thing.  
At the very end of his chat with
me, he said, can you do me a 
favor?  I said, sure, what is 
it.  He said, tell me how I can 
get your grandson's hair [ 
laughter ].  He was good 
humored.  He was sensitive, and 
here it is all of these years 
later, and it's vivid in my 
mind.  
>> You know, as much as I feel 
like I got to know him in a 
moment, it feels like he knows 
us.  I know Joe because he 
listens, and whether he has 
heard your story or someone 
else's story, he cares about 
everyone's story.  
>> He'll care more about you 
than he'll care about himself.  
>> KERRY WASHINGTON:  What a 
beautiful story.  Okay.  Now 
let's talk about another 
important issue, the climate 
crisis.  This is an issue that 
has been on Joe Biden's mind for
decades.  In 1986, while working
as a Senator, Joe Biden 
introduced one of the first 
climate bills in Congress, and 
he has continued to listen to 
and work with climate advocates 
and activists, putting forward a
plan to address climate change 
and create a clean energy 
economy.  
♪ Come on rise up ♪
♪ Come on rise up ♪
>> There are battles that we 
need to fight and we need to win
to secure our future in this 
country, but there's one issue 
that is an existential threat to
all of us, and that is climate 
change. 
>> The climate crisis is here, 
and we must act.  
>> It is the most pressing issue
of our time, and we deserve to 
be treated as such. 
>> We no longer have any time to
wait. 
>> Our generation will bear the 
burden of past mistakes, but we 
stand to benefit most from 
changing course now. 
>> We know that in a couple of 
years, it will be too late. 
>> We need to change the 
paradigm, and that happens here 
with us. 
>> We should invest massively in
wind, solar, geothermal, green 
infrastructure. 
>> We need to have highly 
competitive renewables. 
>> We need to lay out specific 
policies. 
>> So that we can give our 
children, your children, my 
children, a planet that can 
sustain them. 
>> That needs to happen now. 
>> We need it now. 
>> The moment demands it.  We 
can afford nothing else. 
♪ Rise up ♪
>> GOVERNOR GRISHAM:  Good 
evening. I'm Michelle Lujan 
Grisham, governor of the great 
state of New Mexico.  I'm proud 
of my home state every single 
day, especially how we have 
punched above our weight in a 
successful response to COVID-19.
I'm proud of my
neighbors, from Taos to Truth or
Consequences, who have stepped 
up and sacrificed in so many 
incredible ways these last few 
months. I'm proud of how we 
embrace our multicultural 
identity as our greatest 
strength.  And I'm proud that 
New Mexico has shown what 
climate leadership looks like: 
while the Trump Administration 
has been eliminating 
environmental protections, we've
expanded them. While they've 
been rolling back regulations on
oil and gas companies, we've 
taken on polluters and held them
accountable. We've committed to 
a renewable energy future, with 
exciting and fulfilling careers 
for workers all across our 
beautiful state, including right
here in the heart of northern 
New Mexico.  
We are laying a roadmap here for
what America can and should look
like in the 21st century, an 
America where we lead again, 
where we build safer, cleaner, 
and more affordable cities and 
communities, where we provide 
meaningful opportunities for 
workers and families to thrive 
and build better lives.  As 
President, Joe Biden will rejoin
the international climate 
agreement, and the United States
will once again lead on this 
critical issue.  At home, he'll 
invest in energy workers, and he
will deliver for working 
families across the US, helping 
them build meaningful careers 
while accelerating our nation 
and world into a clean, green 
21st century and well beyond.  
We know time is running out to 
save our planet.  We have the 
chance this November to end two 
existential crises, the Trump 
presidency and the environmental
annihilation he represents.  We 
have the chance this November to
attack the climate crisis, 
invest in green 21st century 
jobs, and embrace the clean 
energy revolution our country, 
our young people are crying out 
for and the leadership the rest 
of the world is waiting for.  
The choice is clear:  The choice
is Joe Biden.  
Thank you, America.  
>> Hard work, rising to a 
challenge, the American way, 
going to the moon was all three.
Many astronauts returned home 
and reported a shift in their 
awareness.  The view they saw of
Earth from space was profound.  
The world looked beautiful, 
tiny, fragile.  Our atmosphere 
is all that separates us from 
oblivion.  We now call what they
experienced the overview effect.
>> Here in Detroit, our 
communities for such a long time
have faced the burden of 
pollution, and I think 
addressing climate change gives 
us an opportunity to correct 
some of those wrongs and to also
invest in our vulnerable 
communities.  
♪ ♪
>> Maybe you've read some of the
millions of pages of scientific 
evidence on climate change, or 
maybe you've felt it as you have
walked the neighborhood.  For 
most people, it's overwhelming. 
>> All of this with the global 
warming and -- a lot of it is a 
hoax.  It's a hoax. 
>> I had spent five years 
working on this report.  The 
Trump Administration started to 
remove any mention that humans 
were the cause of climate change
from it. 
>> I wrote my resignation letter
just six months into the 
administration.  They were 
handing the keys of public lands
over to private interests.  The 
Trump Administration has gone 
all out, not just to neglect 
climate change issues and laws 
but to reverse them.  
>> We have about a decade before
it's too late.  
>> I'm a kid, and I'm going to 
say to all of those adults who 
are watching this right now, why
don't you get up and do 
something?  
>> Some of the first climate 
change legislation ever written 
was by a senator from Delaware. 
>> VICE PRESIDENT BIDEN:  When 
Donald Trump thinking about 
climate change, the only word he
can muster is hoax.  
>> America faces a challenge, 
but if we face it together, we 
will rise to the occasion and 
build back better.  
>> VICE PRESIDENT BIDEN:  When I
think about climate change, the 
word I think of is jobs.  
>> That's Joe's plan, creating 
millions of new, good-paying 
jobs, many of them union, like 
mine; invest in critical 
infrastructure, upgrade millions
of buildings; invest in 
micromobility and precision 
agriculture, a clean energy 
future that achieves net-zero 
emissions by 2050, because we 
can't power the economies of the
future without investing in the 
technologies of the future. 
>> I think what's really 
important about Joe Biden's plan
is that 40% of the investment 
will go to vulnerable 
communities. 
>> VICE PRESIDENT BIDEN:  We 
know how to do this, and we'll 
do it again, but this time 
bigger and faster and smarter.  
>> Joe won't ignore the crisis. 
We are seeing what happens when 
we do that.  He won't surrender 
to the fight.  Joe's America 
will lead the world on clean 
energy, will lead on job 
creation, and America will lead 
the world again on climate.  
>> I was 13 when the Camp Fire, 
the most destructive wildfire in
California's history broke out. 
We were visiting family nearly a
hundred miles away, but my 
asthma flared badly.  I could 
hardly breathe.  I'm Alexandria 
Villaseñor, and I have been 
organizing young people around 
climate change since 2015.  It's
robbing my generation of a 
future.  For young people my 
age, every aspect of our lives, 
from where we go to school to 
what kind of careers we'll have,
to whether or not we can raise a
family, depends on us taking 
climate change seriously right 
now.  Joe Biden won't solve this
crisis in four years.  No one 
can.  But he will put us back on
track so that my generation can 
have a fighting chance.  I'm 
asking you to join us.  Don't 
let our futures go up in flames.
>> The corn growers near my 
parents' farm have a saying, 
knee high by 4th of July.  These
days, we are lucky if corn is 
planted because of unpredictable
weather and rains.  Us farmers 
can see the effects of climate 
change happening right in front 
of us, so we have been trying to
do our part.  We are adopting 
sustainable solutions on my 
family's farm, switching to a 
community model, using less land
and reusing our resources to 
grow our food.  We are 
eliminating tons of carbon 
pollution every year by 
mimicking natural ecosystems.  
Farmers can be a part of the 
climate solution instead of a 
problem.  Today, we can all grow
our own future, but we need our 
leaders to be a part of the 
solution as well, instead of 
part of the problem.  We need 
them to commit to the science, 
not ignore it.  We need them to 
put real plans on the table, 
rather than roll them back.  
That's what Joe Biden is doing 
with his clean energy 
revolution.  Instead of being 
left behind, we could lead the 
world again.  
>> I spend a lot of time talking
about climate change with 
different communities here in 
Nevada, and the one question 
that I get asked over and over 
again is what are you doing 
here.  Not a lot of climate 
activists look like me.  My name
is Katherine Lorenzo.  I'm an 
Afro-Latina, and I'm a climate 
activist.  I grew up in an area 
with high pollution rates, where
a lot of kids had asthma.  
Switching to renewable energy 
means cleaner air, better health
and better income if 
neighborhoods like mine, because
clean energy jobs are some of 
the fastest in the country, and 
Joe Biden's plan is 
transformative.  He knows that 
saving the planet isn't just a 
challenge to overcome.  It's an 
opportunity for a better way of 
life. 
>> What's it going to be 
America?  
>> Are you ready to vote for Joe
Biden?  
>> Are you ready to solve a 
climate crisis?  
>> Because our futures depend on
it.  
>> KERRY WASHINGTON:  Like the 
folks we just heard from, next 
up is another activist and 
environmentalist, not to mention
an immensely talented artist.  
She worked to ensure that her 
most recent concert tour was 
green and sustainable, urging 
her fans to take similar actions
in their daily lives, and even 
before she herself was old 
enough to vote, she held 
registration drives before her 
shows, signing up thousands of 
voters.  She's a voice for her 
generation in both her music and
her activism.  Here to perform 
My Future publicly for the first
time, Billie Eilish.  
>> You don't need me to tell you
things are a mess.  Donald Trump
is destroying our country and 
everything we care about.  We 
need leaders who will solve 
problems like climate change and
COVID, not deny them, leaders 
who will fight against systemic 
racism and inequality, and that 
starts by voting for someone who
understands how much is at 
stake, someone who is building a
team that shares our values.  It
starts with voting against 
Donald Trump and for Joe Biden. 
Silence is not an option, and we
cannot sit this one out.  We all
have to vote like our lives and 
the world depend on it, because 
they do.  The only way to be 
certain of the future is to make
it ourselves.  Please register. 
Please vote. 
[ Music Playing:  "My Future" by
Billie Eilish ]
I can't seem to focus
And you don't seem to notice I'm
not here
I'm just a mirror
You check your complexion
To find your reflection's all 
alone
I had to go
Can't you hear me?
I'm not comin' home
Do you understand?
I've changed my plans
'Cause I, I'm in love
With my future
Can't wait to meet her
And I (I), I'm in love
But not with anybody else
Just wanna get to know myself
I know supposedly I'm lonely now
(Lonely now)
Know I'm supposed to be unhappy
Without someone (Someone)
But aren't I someone? (Aren't I 
someone? Yeah)
I'd (I'd) like to be your answer
(Be your answer)
'Cause you're so handsome 
(You're so handsome)
But I know better
Than to drive you home
'Cause you'd invite me in
And I'd be yours again
But I (I), I'm in love (Love, 
love, love, love)
With my future
And you don't know her (Ooh)
And I, I'm in love (Love, love)
But not with anybody here
I'll see you in a couple years
>> KERRY WASHINGTON:  Billie 
Eilish!  Thank you.  
Okay.  Now we are going to talk 
about something close to my 
heart.  The black community in 
this country is hugely diverse. 
On my father's side, I am 
descended from African-Americans
who came from slave ships that 
landed in South Carolina and who
were a part of the great 
migration north that has played 
such a defining role in who we 
are as a nation.  
On my mother's side, my 
grandparents came here as 
immigrants, part of a rich 
history that has also defined 
America.  They emigrated to this
country from the west Indies, 
through Ellis Island in the 
1920s.  I often think about how 
my grandmother must have felt 
when she first saw the Statue of
Liberty and her raised torch. 
-my family's story is not 
unique.  Unless you're Native 
American, your family likely 
came from somewhere else, 
whether it was five years ago or
200 years ago, whether by choice
or by bondage.  Etched into the 
DNA of who we are as a nation is
the very idea that though you 
may be from somewhere else, you 
can find your home here, but 
that idea is in danger, now more
than ever before.  
>> Dear Donald Trump, my name is
Estela.  I am 11 years old.  My 
mom is my best friend.  She came
to America as a teenager over 
20 years ago without papers in 
search of a better life.  She 
married my dad, who served our 
country as a marine in South 
America, Africa, and Iraq.  
My mom worked hard and paid 
taxes, and the Obama 
Administration told her she 
could stay.  My dad thought he 
would protect military families,
so he voted for you in 2016, 
Mr. President.  He says he won't
vote for you again after what 
you did to our family.  
>> The wife of a US Marine 
veteran was deported to Mexico. 
>> Instead of protecting us, you
tore our world apart. 
>> My mom is a good person, and 
she is not a criminal 
[ Crying ]
>> Now my mom is gone, and she 
has been taken from us for no 
reason at all.  Every day that 
passes, you deport more moms and
dads and take them away from 
kids like me.  
>> President Trump:  We will 
begin moving them out, day one! 
>> You separated thousands of 
children from their parents, and
you put them in cages.  
(Child crying. ) 
Some of those kids are now 
orphans because of you.  
>> President Trump:  These 
aren't people.  I don't want 
them in our country.  They are 
animals!  
>> Mr. President, my mom is the 
wife of a proud American Marine 
and the mother of two American 
children.  We are American 
families.  We need a president 
who will bring people together, 
not tear them apart.  Sincerely,
Estela.  
>> I'm Lucy Sanchez, and this is
my mother Sylvia and sister 
Jessica. 
>> I was born with spina bifida,
that means that my spinal cord 
didn't form like it should, and 
the doctors in my town said I 
wouldn't survive.  They gave my 
mother no hope for my future. 
>> I'm a US citizen, but my 
mother is undocumented. 
>> And I am a dreamer.  
(Speaking Spanish). 
>> My mother did what any mother
would do to save her baby's 
life.  
(Speaking Spanish.)  
She took my sister in her arms 
and traveled for days to reach 
the border, and when she got to 
the river, she looked above my 
sister and crossed. 
>> She came to America when I 
was one-year-old.  She saved my 
life. 
>> My mother had no choice.  
There was no time to wait to 
save my sister.  She came here 
looking for a miracle.  
(Speaking Spanish.)  
>> We were afraid they would 
find us and detain us, but she 
had to save her daughter. 
>> Our home is here.  North 
Carolina is all I know.  I 
qualify for DACA, but Donald 
Trump took away my ability to 
apply for the program.  
>> (Speaking Spanish.)  
>> We work hard, we contribute 
to our community, and we pay our
taxes.  I have gone to school 
and built a good life for me and
my two daughters.  
>> I want to go to law school.  
I want to help my community, but
ever since Donald Trump was 
elected, all of our fears have 
returned. 
>> We don't know if our family 
will be separated.  Will my mom 
and sister be detained?  Will my
sister get the health care that 
she needs and deserves?  
>> I don't have the right ID, so
I can't get health insurance 
through the exchange.  I need 
health insurance.  I deserve it,
right?  
>> (Speaking Spanish.) 
>> It breaks our hearts to see 
children separated from their 
families at the border.  That's 
wrong.  Those children need 
their parents.  On November 3rd,
I'm going to vote for my mother,
my sister, and my daughters.  I 
will vote for a future where all
of our lives have dignity and 
respect. 
>> We need a leader who will fix
the broken immigration system 
and commit to keeping families 
together.  
>> I'm voting for Joe Biden and 
Kamala Harris, the daughter of 
immigrants.  Who are you going 
to vote for?  
>> (Speaking Spanish.) 
>> PRESIDENT OBAMA:  There's 
something unique about America. 
We don't simply welcome new 
immigrants.  We are born of 
immigrants.  That is who we are.
Immigration is our origin story.
After all, unless your family is
Native American, all of our 
families come from someplace 
else.  These new Americans, we 
see our own American stories.  
Life in America was not always 
easy.  There was discrimination 
and hardship and poverty, but 
like you, they no doubt found 
inspiration in all of those who 
had come before them, and they 
were able to muster faith that, 
here in America, they might 
build a better life and give 
their children something more.  
The tension throughout our 
history between welcoming or 
accepting the stranger, it's 
about more than just 
immigration.  It's about the 
meaning of America.  What kind 
of country do we want to be?  
Immigrants are the teachers who 
inspire our children.  They are 
the doctors who keep us healthy.
They are the engineers who 
design our skylines and the 
artists and the entertainers who
touch our hearts.  Immigrants 
are soldiers, sailors, airmen, 
Marines, Coast Guards who 
protect us.  
We can never say it often or 
loudly enough:  Immigrants and 
refugees revitalize and renew 
America.  It's not something to 
take for granted.  It's 
something to cherish and to 
fight for.  
God bless you, and god bless the
United States of America.  
♪ ♪
[ Music playing:  "Stand By Me" 
by Prince Royce ]
When the night, has come and the
land is dark
Y la luna, es la luz que brilla 
ante mi
Miedo no, no tendré, oh I won't,
te asustaré
Just as long as you stand, stand
by me
And darling, darling stand, by 
me, oh stand by me
Oh stand, junto a mi, junto a 
mi.
Y aunque las montañas o el cielo
caiga
No voy a preocuparme
Por que se, que tu estas junto a
mi
No llorare, no llorare oh, I 
won't shed a tear
Por que se, que tu estas junto a
mi
And darling, darling stand by 
me, oh stand by me
Oh stand, stand by me, stand by 
me
♪ ♪
♪ ♪
And darling, darling stand by 
me, oh stand by me
Oh stand, junto a mi, junto a mi
And darling, darling stand by 
me, oh stand by me
Oh stand, junto a mi, junto a mi
Where my Latinos at?  Come on!  
Royce.  
♪ ♪
Whenever you're in trouble, 
won't you stand by me 
oh, baby, won't you stand by me 
oh, stand, darlin',
Oh stand, junto a mi, junto a mi
Stand by each other.  Don't 
forget to vote this November.  
Together, we can make a change. 
(Speaking Spanish.)  
Let's go!  
>> KERRY WASHINGTON:  That was 
Prince Royce.  Amazing shout-out
to the boogy down Bronx. 
Next, you'll hear about the 
vital role that women have made 
in building a more perfect 
union, and you'll hear from 
Hillary Rodham Clinton.  
>> This is what democracy looks 
like!  
♪ You have got to understand ♪
>> She was called an instigator,
a rule breaker, a rabble-rouser,
and she is called the agitator, 
the pushy one, the one with 
attitude.  
>> Now is the time for all of us
to stand up and say enough is 
enough!  
♪ ♪
♪ Rise up ♪
>> From the ballot box to the 
factory floor, from her living 
room to the ER, she makes 
trouble, the good kind.  She is 
the mother who cries out for 
sensible gun laws. 
>> This is about right and 
wrong!  
>> The daughter who believes 
that equal justice means justice
for all. 
>> We are America!  
>> The child who knows that 
Black Lives Matter. 
>> No justice, no peace!  
>> She is our warrior on the 
front lines, challenging 
authority to make the world 
safe.  
>> Nobody is above the law.  
>> Refusing to be told who makes
decisions about her body or 
anyone else's.  
>> These women and men of all 
ages, races, and backgrounds 
don't come to Planned Parenthood
to make a political statement.  
They come to get quality 
affordable health care.  
>> You are disadvantaging her 
because of her sex.  
♪ Rise up ♪
>> This is the time. 
>> And she knows that to change 
the world, you need to change 
the idea of power.  
>> Excuse me [ simultaneous 
speech ] -- this is my time and 
I control it. 
>> Because we are fighting for 
you each and every single day.  
>> And she knows her voice is 
heard and amplified by the women
she elects to public office.  
>> If we want families to 
succeed, we start by empowering 
women.  
>> When I first got elected, I 
came to Washington, DC to fight 
for the issues that are so 
important in our community.  
>> We look forward, though, to 
making sure this district is 
finally well represented. 
>> The things that we ran on 
going into November, we are 
doing that. 
>> Women don't just fight for 
women.  They fight for families.
They fight for fairness, 
inclusion, justice.  
>> To make our nation a more 
perfect union, especially for 
those people who are the most 
marginal. 
>> If we are going to jumpstart 
the middle, we have got to 
ensure that college is 
affordable. 
>> Separation of families and 
children are detrimental to 
their health. 
>> Give the victims of gender 
bias in the workplace the tools 
that they need to seek justice. 
>> Women are the most important 
political force in the United 
States of America. 
>> She represents her views on 
education.  
>> We have got to pay educators 
more, and we have got to hire 
more educators.  
>> Raise up the profile of 
teachers and celebrate who they 
are and give them better pay.  
>> She represents her concerns 
about health care. 
>> Health care is the number one
issue in this election, every 
day.  Every day.  
>> She speaks out on equal pay. 
>> It's very frustrating for 
women everywhere, because they 
are feeling like they aren't 
getting paid what they should 
be. 
>> And focuses on protecting our
children. 
>> Let's give parents the peace 
of mind that their kids are safe
and are being set up for 
success. 
>> Caring for our seniors and 
the people who care for them.  
She keeps this nation going even
in challenging times.  
And while running for office is 
not easy. 
>> What's wrong with my running 
for president of this country?  
>> Nevertheless, she persists. 
>> But we learned a long time 
ago, you don't get what you 
don't fight for!  
>> And perseveres. 
>> This is our time!  
>> And prevails. 
>> Although we weren't able to 
shatter that highest, hardest 
glass ceiling this time, it's 
got about 18 million cracks in 
it.  
>> A record breaking number of 
women ran in the midterms and 
won. 
>> She builds coalitions, and 
she knows who her allies are.  
From the fight for health care 
to authoring the Violence 
Against Women Act, to building a
society where fairness and 
equality and opportunity applies
to everyone.  Joe Biden knows a 
stronger America is one that 
works for women.  
So, go ahead and celebrate, you 
rabble-rouser, you rule-breaker,
you force of nature!  Our 
country, our world needs you!  
Keep rising, and vote.  
>> SECRETARY CLINTON:  The 
morning after the last election,
I said, we owe Donald Trump an 
open mind and a chance to lead. 
I meant it.  Every president 
deserves that, and Trump came in
with so much set up for him, a 
strong economy, plans for 
managing crises, including a 
pandemic.  Yes, we democrats 
would have disagreed with him on
many things, but if he had put 
his own interests and EEG -- ego
aside, seeing the humanity of a 
parent with a child ripped from 
them at the border, or a family 
hurt by natural disaster, that 
would have been a good thing for
America and the world.  I wish 
Donald Trump knew how to be a 
president, because America needs
a president right now.  
Throughout this time of crisis, 
Americans keep going, checking 
on neighbors, showing up to jobs
as first responders, hospitals, 
grocery stores, nursing homes.  
Yes, it still takes a village.  
And we need leaders equal to 
this moment of sacrifice and 
service.  We need Joe Biden and 
Kamala Harris.  
Everyone has a story about Joe's
caring and empathy.  I remember 
him calling after my mother, 
Dorothy, died, and we talked 
about being raised by strong 
women.  The best testament to 
Joe is how he's cared for his 
family, and how great is it that
Dr. Jill Biden plans to keep 
teaching as first lady?  And Joe
picked the right partner in 
Kamala.  She's relentless in the
pursuit of justice and equity, 
and she's kind.  When her press 
secretary, Tyrone Gayle, was 
dying of cancer, she dropped 
everything to be with him in his
final moments.  I know something
about the slings and arrows 
she'll face, and believe me, 
this former district attorney 
and Attorney General can handle 
them all.  
So, this is the team to pull our
nation back from the brink, but 
they can't do it without us.  
For four years, people have told
me I didn't realize how 
dangerous he was.  I wish I 
could do it all over, or 
worse, "I should have voted."  
Look, this can't be another 
would have, could have, should 
have election.  If you vote by 
mail, request your ballot now 
and send it back right away.  If
you vote in person, do it early.
Become a poll worker.  Most of 
all, no matter what, vote.  
As Michelle Obama and Bernie 
Sanders warned us, if Trump is 
reelected, things will get even 
worse.  That's why we need unity
now more than ever.  
Remember back in 2016, when 
Trump asked "What do you have to
lose?"  Well, now we know:  Our 
health care, our jobs, our loved
ones, our leadership in the 
world, and even our post office.
But let's set our sites higher 
than getting one man out of the 
White House.  Joe Biden and 
Kamala Harris are going to give 
us so much to vote for.  Let's 
vote for the jobs that Joe's 
plan will create, clean energy 
jobs to fight climate change, 
caregiving jobs with living 
wages.  Vote for emergency 
relief that lifts small business
and is saves hardworking people 
from foreclosures and evictions.
It's wrong that billionaires got
$400 billion richer during the 
pandemic, while millions lost 
their $600 a week in extra 
unemployment.  
Vote for the parents and 
teachers struggling to balance 
children's education and safety,
and for health care workers 
fighting COVID-19 with little 
help from the White House.  
Vote for paid family leave and 
health care for everyone, for 
Social Security, Medicare, and 
Planned Parenthood.  Vote for 
DREAMers and their families.  
Vote for law enforcement, purged
of racial bias that keeps all 
our streets safe.  Vote for 
justice, for George Floyd, 
Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud 
Arbery, because Black Lives 
Matter.  
Vote for honest elections so we,
not a foreign adversary, choose 
our president.  
Vote for the diverse, hopeful 
America we saw in last night's 
roll call.  And don't forget, 
Joe and Kamala can win by 3 
million votes and still lose.  
Take it from me.  So, we need 
numbers overwhelming, so Trump 
can't sneak or steal his way to 
victory.  
Text VOTE to 30330 to get 
started.  
A hundred years ago yesterday, 
the 19th Amendment to the 
Constitution was ratified.  It 
took seven decades of 
suffragists marching, picketing 
and going to jail to push us 
closer to a more perfect union. 
55 years ago, John Lewis marched
and bled in Selma because that 
work was unfinished.  Tonight, 
I'm thinking of the girls and 
boys who see themselves in 
America's future because of 
Kamala Harris, a black woman, 
the daughter of Jamaican and 
Indian immigrants, and our 
nominee for vice president.  
This is our country's story, 
breaking down barriers and 
expanding the circle of 
possibility, and to the young 
people watching, don't give up 
on America.  Despite our flaws 
and problems, we've come so far.
We can still be a more just, 
equal country with opportunities
previous generations could never
have imagined. 
There's a lot of heartbreak in 
America now, and the truth is 
many things were broken before 
the pandemic, but as the saying 
goes, the world breaks everyone,
and afterward, many are strong 
at the broken places.  That's 
Joe Biden.  He knows how to keep
going, unify, and lead, because 
he's done that for his family 
and country.  
So, come November, if we are 
strong together, we'll heal 
together.  We'll redeem the soul
and the promise of our country, 
led by President Joe Biden and 
Vice President Kamala Harris.  
>> KERRY WASHINGTON:  Tonight is
a night steeped in women who 
stepped into service and 
advocacy, and who are using 
their power for good.  The power
of women is undenial, whether 
it's in the office, in the home,
or in the House of 
Representatives.  It is my honor
to introduce the Speaker of the 
House, Nancy Pelosi.  
♪ ♪
>> I was never raised in a way 
that I would be running for 
public office.  It didn't 
interest me.  When I graduated 
college, I got married and had 
five children in six years, so 
that was my life.  When the 
children were grown, the 
opportunity for Congress came 
along. 
>> She ran because another woman
said run, and she won, starting 
on a path that would make 
history, the first woman Speaker
of the House.  
>> SPEAKER PELOSI:  For our 
daughters and our 
granddaughters, today, we have 
broken the marble ceiling.  
[ Cheers and applause ].
>> In her, so many saw 
themselves.  
>> SPEAKER PELOSI:  I did feel a
real responsibility to other 
women, as I stood on the 
shoulders of those who went 
before.  
>> Now it was her turn to 
say "run," and run they did, 
winning and making her Speaker 
once again.  
>> SPEAKER PELOSI:  We didn't 
have a Speaker who would bring a
gun bill to the floor.  We 
didn't have a Speaker who would 
bring a DREAMers issue to the 
floor.  We do now.  
>> And that's good for every 
American, but not everyone was 
on board.  
>> Nancy Pelosi, Pelosi, Pelosi.
>> I'm a mother of five, a 
grandmother of nine.  I know a 
temper tantrum when I see one.  
The power of the Speaker is 
awesome, awesome.  
♪ ♪
♪ ♪
>> SPEAKER PELOSI:  If you want 
to go into the arena, you have 
to be prepared to take a punch. 
You also have to be prepared to 
throw a punch.  
For the children.  
[ Cheers and applause ].
>> Throw a punch for the 
children. 
>> For the children. 
>> From running the house to 
Speaker of the House, and taking
on the White House unapologetic,
unafraid. 
>> Madam speaker. 
>> Congratulations madam 
speaker. 
>> Madam speaker. 
>> Madam speaker.  
>> Madam speaker.  
>> And now, please welcome 
Speaker of the United States 
House of Representatives, Nancy 
Pelosi. 
>> SPEAKER PELOSI:  Good 
evening.  As Speaker of the 
House, it is my honor to bring 
you the greetings of the 
Democrats of the House┘the most 
diverse majority in history: 
more than 60 percent women, 
people of color, and LGBTQ.  
Our diversity is our strength.  
Our unity is our power.  
This month, as America marks the
centennial of women finally 
winning the right to vote, we do
so with 105 women in the House 
Proudly, 90 are democrats.  To 
win the vote, women marched and 
fought and never gave in.  We 
stand on their shoulders, 
charged with carrying forward 
the unfinished work of our 
nation, advanced by heroes, from
Seneca Falls to Selma to 
Stonewall.  
Four years ago, when President 
Obama and Vice President Biden 
were in the White House, they 
made us proud, and their 
leadership made our country 
great.  In that spirit, we come 
together now, not to decry the 
darkness but to light a way 
forward for our country.  That 
is the guiding purpose of House 
democrats, fighting for the 
people.  
We have sent the Senate bills 
for lower health care costs, for
bigger paychecks, for cleaner 
government, for protecting John 
Lewis's voting rights and for 
the George Floyd justice in 
policing act, and to preserve 
our planet for future 
generations and even more.  
All of this is possible for 
America.  Who is standing in the
way?  Mitch McConnell and Donald
Trump.  
Our nation faces the worst 
health and economic catastrophe 
in our history.  More than 5 
million Americans are infected 
by the coronavirus.  Over 
170,000 have died.  The 
science-based action and the 
Heroes Act that enacted three 
months ago is essential to safe 
guard our lives, livelihood, and
democracy.  Who is standing in 
the way?  Mitch McConnell and 
Donald Trump.  Instead of cru
crushing the virus, they are 
trying to crush the Affordable 
Care Act and the pre-existing 
condition benefit.  
As Speaker of the House, 
firsthand I have seen Donald 
Trump's disrespect for facts, 
for working families, and for 
women in particular, disrespect 
written into his policies toward
our health and our rights, not 
just his conduct.  But we know 
what he doesn't, that when women
succeed, America succeeds, and 
so we are unleashing the power 
of women to take our rightful 
place in our national life, by 
championing a woman's right to 
choose and defending Roe versus 
Wade, securing safe and 
affordable childcare, preserving
Social Security and passing 
equal pay for equal work.  Who 
is standing in the way?  Mitch 
McConnell and Donald Trump.  
So, here's our answer:  We will 
remember in November, when we 
will elect Joe Biden president, 
whose heart is full of love for 
America, and rid the country of 
Donald Trump's disregard for 
goodness.  Joe Biden's faith 
gives him the courage to lead.  
His love gives him the strength 
to persevere.  Joe Biden is the 
president that we need right 
now, battle-tested, 
forward-looking, honest, and 
authentic.  He has never 
forgotten who he is fighting 
for.  
And Kamala Harris is the vice 
president we need right now, 
committed to our Constitution, 
brilliant in defending it, and a
witness to the women of this 
nation that our voices will be 
heard.  
Our mission is to fight for 
future equal to the ideals of 
our founders.  Our hopes for our
children, and the sacrifices of 
our veterans, our brave men and 
women in uniform, and their 
families.  We'll increase our 
majority in the House.  We will 
win a democratic majority in the
Senate.  We will elect Kamala 
Harris vice president, and we 
will elect Joe Biden President 
of the United States of America.
God bless you, and God bless 
America.  
>> KERRY WASHINGTON:  Thank you,
Speaker Pelosi.  
The House is the People's House,
and to ensure it stays that way,
we need everyone to help fund 
our work to elect Joe Biden and 
democrats up and down the 
ballot.  
If you are able, please go to 
JoeBiden.com now and chip in 
whatever you can to support this
campaign.  
Last year, under Speaker 
Pelosi's leadership, the House 
reauthorized the Violence 
Against Women Act.  Joe Biden 
wrote that landmark law, nearly 
30 years ago.  Since then, he 
and other leaders have built on 
it.  But for all of this work, 
women are still not entirely 
safe.  So, the work must 
continue.  
Joe Biden knows that, and he is 
committed to doing that work, to
making sure that women are safe 
and to making sure our voices 
are heard.  Let's listen.  
>> RUTH GLENN:  My name is Ruth 
Glenn.  In 1992, my husband shot
me and left me for dead.  For 
13 years, my son and I had been 
abused by him.  We finally 
escaped, but he tracked us down.
Back then, there was limited 
help available and no national 
hotline to call.  Local shelters
were full.  I didn't even know 
the name for what was happening 
to me then, domestic violence.  
Now working to end domestic 
violence is my life's work.  
>> I'm Mariska Hargitay.  When I
started doing research to play
Detective Olivia Benson on Law &
Order: SVU over 20 years ago, I 
was shocked to find out how many
people, including children, 
experience physical or sexual 
abuse. The statistics fueled my 
resolve, and I committed myself 
to the movement to end this 
violence. 
>> CARLY DRYDEN: My name is 
Carly Dryden. In my small 
hometown, I didn't feel like I 
could speak out about my 
experience with sexual assault. 
But at the University of Puget 
Sound, I met an incredible force
of people working to end the 
culture of sexual assault. I 
went from survivor to advocate. 
>> RUTH GLENN: As the president 
and CEO of the National 
Coalition Against Domestic 
Violence, I've seen Joe Biden's 
passionate leadership in passing
the Violence Against Women Act. 
Now domestic violence rates are 
rising due to this pandemic. We 
need Congress to reauthorize and
enhance that law. We need 
leaders  who believe that a 
woman's life is worth fighting 
for. 
>> MARISKA HARGITAY: Joe Biden 
is that kind of leader. I 
created the Joyful Heart 
Foundation to help survivors 
heal, and to change the way our 
society responds to sexual 
violence. The vice president has
worked tirelessly by our side to
end the backlog of hundreds of 
thousands of untested rape kits.
And our work will continue 
because testing kits not only 
makes our country safer, but it 
sends a vital message to 
survivors that what happened to 
them matters.
>> CARLY DRYDEN: The most 
important thing you can say to a
survivor is "I hear you." That's
why I became a leader of It's On
Us. It's a program started by 
Vice President Biden to 
eliminate sexual assault on 
college campuses and support a 
new generation of advocates, 
including men and boys. Because 
if you're silent, you're 
complicit. And we're just 
getting started. 
>> RUTH GLENN: I am voting for 
Joe Biden on behalf of all 
victims and survivors of 
domestic violence. 
>> CARLY DRYDEN: I'm voting for 
Joe Biden because it's on my 
generation to make sure that we 
never go back.
>> MARISKA HARGITAY: I'm voting 
for Joe Biden for my daughter, 
for my sons, for all of our 
children.
♪ ♪
>> The first episode was a slap 
to the face, and he broke my 
eardrum.  
>> Punching, kicking, choking, 
threatening with a knife or a 
gun.  
♪ ♪
>> He had always threatened me, 
if I had ever called the police 
on him, that he would kill me.  
>> You didn't hear voices like 
these in the halls of the US 
capitol. 
>> My husband stabbed me 13 
times and broke my neck while 
the police were on the scene.  I
nearly died, and I am 
permanently paralyzed.  
>> Senator Joe Biden invited 
them to speak. 
>> Battered women need to be 
taken seriously.  Proper police 
response can prevent what 
happened to me from happening to
someone else.  Thank you.  
>> Thank you.  
>> At the time, the police 
considered domestic violence 
something that was not a crime. 
In the home, it's a private 
matter, and so women were 
responsible for their own 
injuries.  
>> I was about to say I know, 
but I don't know.  I can only 
guess how -- how painful that 
is.  
>> Growing up, our father said 
that the greatest of all sins 
was the abuse of power.  He told
us when a bully, when someone 
bigger or stronger takes 
advantage of you, that is a 
really grave sin.  The 
expectation was for all four of 
us to be a person of character. 
If you see something wrong, we 
were then to expected to stand 
up and do something about it.  
♪ ♪
>> When Joe introduced the 
legislation, few believed it 
could pass. 
>> VICE PRESIDENT BIDEN:  Our 
bill is an ambitious 
undertaking.  It is a first 
attempt to address violent 
crimes against women.  
>> It was hard to get the votes,
because we had some 
traditionalists who just didn't 
believe that there should be 
laws about this.  
>> But Joe doesn't give up.  
He's tenacious.  Joe persevered,
and he is very good at 
persuasion. 
>> VICE PRESIDENT BIDEN:  And 
they are doing nothing to help 
them!  Nothing!  
>> He brought together law 
enforcement, prosecutors, 
advocates, and survivors.  
>> Thank you for giving me the 
opportunity to come and speak.  
>> In 1994, the Violence Against
Women Act became law and 
protected millions of American 
women.  
>> A lot of the change in the 
attitudes we have about domestic
violence was shaped by his 
leadership on this.  
♪ ♪
>> If you see something wrong, 
we were then expected to stand 
up and do something about it.  
>> KERRY WASHINGTON:  If you're 
just joining us, welcome.  
Coming up, we are going to hear 
from President Barack Obama and 
Senator Kamala Harris, who will 
talk about the Biden-Harris 
vision for the future.  
But in order to get to that more
perfect union, we have to 
acknowledge where we are.  
Today, in America, we are 
struggling.  Unemployment has 
sky rocketed, and families are 
fighting to keep their jobs.  As
Joe Biden says, we need to build
back better.  
To find out how you can join 
that effort, please text JOIN to
30330 to get plugged into this 
campaign and to get more 
information on how to vote and 
how to volunteer.  
Joe Biden has a plan to help 
working families and small 
businesses.  
Our next speaker, Hilda Solis, 
worked alongside him as 
secretary of labor to make sure 
that there were good American 
jobs and that Americans were 
safe on the job.  To hear more 
about the Biden-Harris economic 
plan, please welcome Hilda 
Solis. 
>> SECRETARY SOLIS:  Hello, I'm 
Hilda Solis. The day Vice 
President Biden swore me in as 
Secretary of Labor was one of 
the proudest moments of my life.
My parents realized they had 
achieved their American dream 
because the daughter of two 
blue-collar immigrants would 
make history and give voice to 
people just like them.
American workers need a fighter 
now more than ever, and Joe 
Biden is that person because he 
has done it before, and I've 
seen it firsthand. He and 
President Obama made it easier 
for home care workers to 
organize. They extended overtime
pay to more than four million 
workers. They saved the 
automobile industry and a whole 
lot of good union jobs with it. 
And when millions of families 
lost their homes, my friend from
California, Senator Kamala 
Harris, took on the big banks 
and won.
But because of Donald Trump's 
failures, we must once again 
rescue a sinking economy. 
Millions of Americans are out of
work, and communities of color 
are the hardest hit. Millions of
essential workers are putting 
their lives at risk with little 
protections, and millions more 
are just plain tired. That's why
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris 
actually have a plan not only to
recover what we lost, but to 
improve upon it, to build back 
better.  Creating five million 
good union jobs by bringing back
supply chains to America, that's
building back better. Creating 
millions of jobs by investing in
clean energy, that's building 
back better. And making sure 
that working families can afford
child care, that's how we build 
back better.
So, let me borrow and slightly 
edit something Joe Biden said at
my swearing in. When it comes to
expanding the economy for all 
people, no one, no one is going 
to be a stronger voice than our 
next president, Joe Biden.  The 
conversation you're about to see
proves it.
>> behind every business, 
there's a story. 
>> Small businesses around the 
country are bearing the economic
brunt of the coronavirus 
pandemic. 
>> And behind every business 
there's a family 
>> A lot of people clearly are 
in pain right now. 
>> For every farm, there's a 
fight to stay whole.  
>> There's hard work. 
>> And there's heartbreak.  
>> We are going to lose 20-30% 
of our small businesses. 
>> The story of Kevin and Molly 
Johnson, a small family-owned 
business in Lake County Ohio. 
>> We have ten to 12 employees 
on a given day.  When COVID-19 
hit, it was a lot of confusion. 
>> I remember being scared and 
being uncertain. 
>> We shut down last week, 
because we ran out of work, and 
we had enough to come in for 
another week.  If we don't get 
additional orders in, we are 
going to have to look at another
shutdown. 
>> You can't make a big purchase
of equipment.  You can't plan 
for the future.  
>> We don't even know if we can 
cover payroll.  When this isn't 
going well, it's scary. 
>> You have kind of forgotten, 
the President always bragging 
about the stock market, it 
leaves a lot of small 
manufacturing companies behind. 
>> We could use a break right 
now, and it seems like we get 
one step forward, two steps 
back. 
>> This is the story of Jernae 
Green who just started a 
clothing store, and then COVID 
hit. 
>> Fashion has been a love of 
mine since I was a kid.  I 
worked really hard to save money
to open this store.  I did my 
ribbon cutting on December 4th, 
2019.  It was booming, and then,
bam, here's COVID.  It was 
scary.  No one was buying 
anything.  My employees, they 
are gone.  I reached out to my 
bank, but they stated that they 
had no more money.  It's gone to
a lot of the bigger businesses, 
the million dollar businesses 
who get the bailout, and a small
business like myself is just 
left to struggle.  
Being an African-American female
business owner under President 
Trump, I feel -- how can I 
say -- I'm alone.  I'm alone.  
>> This is the story of Lien Ta 
and her two restaurants, one 
closed and one still open.  
>> It's always really hard for 
restaurants to begin.  It would 
be crowded in here with babies 
and families and crowds outside 
waiting to get in.  It was 
pretty exciting, and on the day 
of the shutdown, we were 
actually reviewed in the Los 
Angeles Times.  
On that day, the virus was 
announced as a global pandemic. 
>> It's really, really sad to 
see, and if we don't turn this 
around soon, I mean, we are 
going to see this not just here 
but you're going to see ghost 
towns throughout the USA. 
>> The first decision, everybody
was looking at you, and, 
unfortunately, the call was to 
furlough everybody.  At this 
point, I don't even see myself 
in business next month.  
(Speaking Spanish.)  
>> We don't ask for much from 
the government, but catch us 
when we are falling, and I know 
that it must feel like you're 
falling right now without a net.
>> Restaurants are among the 
hardest businesses to succeed 
at, but I was going to do it in 
a way that was going to provide 
a successful career for not only
myself but a hundred employees. 
>> This is the story of Dan 
Ryner.  He's a fifth-generation 
farmer struggling to keep his 
business alive.  
>> I'm not so sure that the 
President understands that when 
he thinks about business, I 
don't think he thinks about 
farmers -- 
>> No. 
>> -- as a business. 
>> No, he has no clue about this
stuff. 
>> Dan, tell me a little bit 
about the farm. 
>> We have been here since 1864.
Trade tariffs with China have 
just been horrible.  Part of the
language in the trade deal said 
that China does not have to buy 
unless the price is to their 
advantage.  What kind of trade 
deal is that?  That's no deal.  
And then when COVID hit, 
everything just plummeted.  
Getting through now, that's the 
problem.  That's the day-to-day 
battle.  
>> I believe that Joe Biden will
be a clear voice for us, 
something that we have not had. 
>> Joe Biden has an 
understanding of what the 
average American is 
experiencing.  I think he's with
me. 
>> Enough is enough.  It's time 
to help small businesses, middle
class folks manage their way 
through a pandemic.  
>> I have a lot of confidence in
Joe Biden.  He's a fighter and 
he's the real deal. 
>> We have taken a lot of 
knockdowns, and we know that at 
the end of the day we will 
endure. 
>> We will rise again. 
>> Every time I get knocked 
down, I have got to get up and 
keep running, keep going, keep 
going.  
>> Tonight, we have heard from 
the people who make America 
work, people who put their lives
on the line to keep our country 
going, and since COVID-19 hit, 
they have taken one gut punch 
after another.  
And what has the COVID fallout 
done to our babies?  Well, I'm 
here at the Early Childhood 
Education Center in Springfield,
Massachusetts, which has been 
closed for months.  Childcare 
was already hard to find before 
the pandemic, and now parents 
are stuck, no idea when schools 
can safely reopen, and even 
fewer childcare options.  
The devastation is enormous, and
the way I see it, big problems 
demand big solutions.  
Now, I love a good plan, and Joe
Biden has some really good 
plans, plans to bring back union
jobs and manufacturing and 
create new union jobs in clean 
energy, plans to increase Social
Security benefits, cancel 
billions in student loan debt, 
and make our bankruptcy laws 
work for families instead of the
creditors who cheat them.  
These plans reflect a central 
truth:  Our economic system has 
been rigged to give bailouts to 
billionaires and kick dirt in 
the face of everyone else.  
But we can build a thriving 
economy by investing in families
and fixing what's broken.  
Joe's plan to build back better 
includes making the wealthy pay 
their fair share, holding 
corporations accountable, 
repairing racial inequities, and
fighting corruption in 
Washington.  
Let me tell you about one of 
Joe's plans that's especially 
close to my heart, child care.  
As a little girl growing up in 
Oklahoma, what I wanted most in 
the world was to be a teacher.  
I loved teaching, and when I had
babies and was juggling my first
big teaching job down in Texas, 
it was hard, but I could do 
hard.  
The thing that almost sank me, 
child care.  One night, my Aunt 
Bee called just to check in, and
I thought I was fine, but then I
just broke down and started to 
cry.  I had tried holding it all
together, but without reliable 
child care, working was nearly 
impossible.  
And when I told Aunt Bee I was 
going to quit my job, I thought 
my heart would break, and then 
she said the words that changed 
my life:  "I can't get there 
tomorrow, but I'll come on 
Thursday."  And she arrived with
seven suitcases and a Pekingese 
named Buddy and stayed for 
16 years.  I get to be here 
tonight because of my Aunt Bee. 
I learned a fundamental truth:  
Nobody makes it on their own.  
And yet, here we are, two 
generations of working parents 
later, and if you have a baby 
and don't have an Aunt Bee, 
you're on your own. 
And here's why that is wrong:  
We build infrastructure like 
roads and bridges and 
communications systems so that 
people can work.  That 
infrastructure helps us all, 
because it keeps our economy 
going.  It's time to recognize 
that child care is part of the 
basic infrastructure of this 
nation.  It's infrastructure for
families.  
Joe and Kamala will make 
high-quality childcare 
affordable for every family, 
make preschool universal, and 
raise the wages of every 
childcare worker.  
Now, that's just one plan, but 
it gives you an idea of how we 
get this country working for 
everyone.  
Donald Trump's ignorance and 
incompetence have always been a 
danger to our country.  COVID-19
was Trump's biggest test.  He 
failed miserably. 
Today, America has the most 
COVID deaths in the world and an
economic collapse, and both 
crises are falling hardest on 
black and brown families, 
millions out of work, millions 
more trapped in cycles of 
poverty, millions on the brink 
of losing their homes, millions 
of restaurants and stores 
hanging by a thread.  This 
crisis is bad, and it didn't 
have to be this way.  This 
crisis is on Donald Trump and 
the republicans who enable him. 
On November 3rd, we will hold 
them all accountable.  So, 
whether you're planning to vote 
wearing a mask or vote by mail, 
please, take out your phone 
right now and text VOTE to 
30330.  
We all need to be in the fight 
to get Joe and Kamala elected, 
and after November, we all need 
to stay in the fight, to get big
things done.  We stay in this 
fight so that when our children 
and our grandchildren ask what 
we did during this dark chapter 
in our nation's history, we will
be able to look them squarely in
the eye and say we organized, we
persisted, and we changed 
America.  
>> KERRY WASHINGTON:  Former 
President Barack Obama has said 
that choosing Joe Biden to be 
his vice president was one of 
the best decisions he has ever 
made, and this is a man who has 
made a lot of good decisions, 
making health care more 
affordable and accessible, 
rescuing our economy, protecting
American jobs, marrying Michelle
Obama.  And through it all, Joe 
Biden was by his side, except 
for maybe marrying Michelle.  
You can witness their mutual 
respect and affection in this 
clip.  Take a look.  
>> PRESIDENT OBAMA:  So, Joe, 
for your faith in your fellow 
Americans, for your love of 
country, and for your lifetime 
of service that will endure 
through the generations, I would
like to ask the military aide to
join us on stage.  
For the final time as President,
I am pleased to award our 
nation's highest civilian honor,
the Presidential Medal of 
Freedom.  
[ Cheers and applause ] .
And -- and for -- 
[ Applause ]
For the first -- for the first 
and only time in my presidency, 
I will bestow this medal with an
additional level of veneration, 
an honor my three most recent 
successors reserved for only 
three others, Pope John Paul the
second, President Reagan, and 
General Colin Powell.  Ladies 
and gentlemen, I'm proud to 
award the presidential award of 
freedom with distinction to my 
brother, Joseph R. Biden,  Jr. 
>> In a career of public service
spanning nearly half a century, 
Vice President Joseph R. 
Biden, Jr. has left his mark on 
almost every part of our nation,
fighting for a stronger middle 
class, a fairer judicial system,
and a smarter foreign policy, 
providing unyielding support for
our troops, combatting crime and
violence against women, leading 
our quest to cure cancer, and 
safeguarding the landmark 
American Recovery and 
Reinvestment Act.  
Joe Biden has garnered the 
respect and esteem of colleagues
of both parties, and the 
friendship of people across the 
nation and around the world.  
While summoning the strength, 
faith, and grace to overcome 
great personal tragedy, this son
of Scranton, Claymont and 
Wilmington has become one of the
most consequential vice 
presidents in American history, 
an accolade that nonetheless 
rests firmly behind his legacy 
as a husband, father, and 
grandfather.  
A grateful nation thanks Vice 
President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. 
for his lifetime of service on 
behalf of the United States of 
America.  
[ Applause ]
>> PRESIDENT OBAMA:  Good 
evening, everybody.  As you have
seen by now, this isn't a normal
convention.  It's not a normal 
time.  So, tonight, I want to 
talk as plainly as I can about 
the stakes in this election.  
Because what we do, these next 
76 days will echo through 
generations to come.  I'm in 
Philadelphia, where our 
constitution was drafted and 
signed.  It wasn't a perfect 
document.  It allowed for the 
inhumanity of slavery and failed
to guarantee women and even men 
who didn't own property the 
right to participate in the 
political process. 
But embedded in this document 
was a North Star that would 
guide future generations, a 
system of representative 
government, a democracy, through
which we could better realize 
our highest ideals, through 
civil war and bitter struggles, 
we improved this constitution to
include the voices of those 
who'd once been left out, and 
gradually, we made this country 
more just and more equal and 
more free. 
The one constitutional office 
elected by all of the people is 
the presidency, so, at a 
minimum, we should expect a 
president to feel a sense of 
responsibility for the safety 
and welfare of all 330 million 
of us, regardless of what we 
look like, how we worship, who 
we love, how much money we have 
or who we voted for. 
But we should also expect a 
president to be the custodian of
this democracy.  We should 
expect that, regardless of ego, 
ambition or political beliefs, 
the President will preserve, 
protect, and defend the freedoms
and ideals that so many 
Americans marched for, went to 
jail for, fought for and died 
for. 
I have sat in the Oval Office 
with both of the men who are 
running for president.  I never 
expected that my successor would
embrace my vision or continue my
policies.  I did hope, for the 
sake of our country, that Donald
Trump might show some interest 
in taking the job seriously.  
That he might come to feel the 
weight of the office and 
discover some reverence for the 
democracy that had been placed 
in his care.  But he never did. 
For close to four years now, he 
has shown no interest in putting
in the work, no interest in 
finding common ground, no 
interest in using the awesome 
power of his office to help 
anyone but himself and his 
friends, no interest in treating
the presidency as anything but 
one more reality show that he 
can use to get the attention he 
craves.  Donald Trump hasn't 
grown into the job, because he 
can't, and the consequences of 
that failure are severe.  
170,000 Americans dead, millions
of jobs gone, while those at the
top take in more than ever.  Our
worst impulses unleashed, our 
proud reputation around the 
world badly diminished, and our 
democratic institutions 
threatened like never before.  
Now, I know that in times as 
polarized as these, most of you 
have already made up your mind. 
But maybe you're still not sure 
which candidate you'll vote for 
or whether you'll vote at all.  
Maybe you're tired of the 
direction we are headed, but you
can't see a better path yet, or 
you just don't know enough about
the person who wants to lead us 
there.  
So, let me tell you about my 
friend Joe Biden.  12 years ago,
when I began my search for a 
vice president, I didn't know I 
would end up finding a brother. 
Joe and I come from different 
places, different generations, 
but what I quickly came to 
admire about Joe Biden is his 
resilience, borne of too much 
struggle, his empathy, born of 
too much grief.  Joe is a man 
who learned early on to treat 
every person he meets with 
respect and dignity, living by 
the words his parents taught 
him:  "No one is better than 
you, Joe, but you're better than
nobody."  
That empathy, that decency, the 
belief that everybody counts, 
that's who Joe is.  
When he talks with someone who 
has lost their job, Joe 
remembers the night his father 
sat him down to say that he had 
lost his.  When Joe listens to a
parent who is trying to hold it 
all together right now, he does 
it as a single dad who took the 
train back to Wilmington each 
and every night so he could tuck
his kids into bed.  
When he meets with military 
families who have lost their 
hero, he does it as a kindred 
spirit, the parent of an 
American soldier, somebody whose
faith has endured the hardest 
loss there is.  
For eight years, Joe was the 
last one in the room whenever I 
faced a big decision.  He made 
me a better president, and he's 
got the character and the 
experience to make us a better 
country, and in my friend Kamala
Harris, he's chosen an ideal 
partner who is more than 
prepared for the job, someone 
who knows what it's like to 
overcome barriers, and who has 
made a career fighting to help 
others live out their own 
American dream.  
Along with the experience needed
to get things done, Joe and 
Kamala have concrete policies 
that will turn their vision of a
better, fairer, stronger country
into reality.  They will get 
this pandemic under control, 
like Joe did when he helped me 
manage H1N1 and prevent an Ebola
outbreak from reaching our 
shores.  
They will expand health care to 
more Americans, like Joe and I 
did ten years ago, when he 
helped craft the Affordable Care
Act and nail down the votes to 
make it the law.  
They will rescue the economy, 
like Joe helped me do after the 
Great Recession.  I asked him to
manage the Recovery Act, which 
jump started the longest stretch
of job growth in history, and he
sees this moment now not as a 
chance to get back to where we 
were but to make long overdue 
changes so that our economy 
actually makes life a little bit
easier for everybody, whether 
it's the waitress trying to 
raise a kid on her own, or the 
shift worker, always on the edge
of getting laid off, or the 
student figuring out how to pay 
for next semester's classes.  
Joe and Kamala will restore our 
standing in the world, and as we
have learned from this pandemic,
that matters.  Joe knows the 
world, and the world knows him. 
He knows that our true strength 
comes from setting an example 
that the world wants to follow, 
a nation that stands with 
democracy, not dictators, a 
nation that can inspire and 
mobilize others to overcome 
threats, like climate change and
terrorism, poverty and disease. 
But more than anything, what I 
know about Joe, what I know 
about Kamala is that they 
actually care about every 
American and that they care 
deeply about this democracy.  
They believe that in a 
democracy, the right to vote is 
sacred, and we should be making 
it easier for people to cast 
their ballots, not harder.  They
believed that no one, including 
the president, is above the law,
and that no public official, 
including the president, should 
use their office to enrich 
themselves or their supporters. 
They understand that in this 
democracy, the commander in 
chief does not use the men and 
women of our military, who are 
willing to risk everything to 
protect our nation, as political
props to deploy against peaceful
protesters on our own soil.  
They understand that political 
opponents aren't un-American 
just because they disagree with 
you.  A free press isn't the 
enemy, but the way we hold 
officials accountable ; that our
ability to work together to 
solve big problems, like a 
pandemic, depend on a fidelity 
to facts and science and logic 
and not just making stuff up.  
None of this should be 
controversial.  These shouldn't 
be republican principles or 
democratic principles.  They are
American principles.  But at 
this moment, this president and 
those who enable him have shown 
they don't believe in these 
things. 
Tonight, I'm asking you to 
believe in Joe and Kamala's 
ability to lead this country out
of these dark times and build it
back better. 
But, here's the thing:  No 
single American can fix this 
country alone, not even a 
president.  Democracy was never 
meant to be transactional, "you 
give me your vote, I make 
everything better."  It requires
an active and informed 
citizenry.  So, I'm also asking 
you to believe in your own 
ability, to embrace your own 
responsibility as citizens, to 
make sure that the basic tenants
of our democracy endure, because
that's what's at stake right 
now.  Our democracy.  
Look, I understand why a lot of 
Americans are down on 
government.  The way the rules 
have been set up and abused in 
Congress make it easier for 
special interests to stop 
progress than to make progress. 
Believe me, I know it.  I 
understand why a white factory 
worker who has seen his wages 
cut or his job shipped overseas 
might feel like the government 
no longer looks out for him, and
why a black mom might feel it 
never looked out for her at all.
I understand why a new immigrant
might look around this country 
and wonder whether there's still
a place for him here, why a 
young person might look at 
politics right now, the circus 
of it all, the meanness and the 
lies and conspiracy theories and
think, "What is the point?"  
Well, here's the point:  This 
president and those in power, 
those who benefit from keeping 
things the way they are, they 
are counting on your cynicism.  
They know they can't win you 
over with their policies, so 
they are hoping to make it as 
hard as possible for you to vote
and to convince you that your 
vote does not matter.  That is 
how they win.  That is how they 
get to keep making decisions 
that affect your life and the 
lives of the people you love. 
That's how the economy will keep
getting skewed to the wealthy 
and well-connected, how our 
health systems will let more 
people fall through the cracks. 
That's how a democracy withers, 
until it's no democracy at all. 
And we cannot let that happen.  
Do not let them take away your 
power.  Do not let them take 
away your democracy.  Make a 
plan right now for how you are 
going to get involved and vote. 
Do it as early as you can, and 
tell your family and friends how
they can vote too.  Do what 
Americans have done for over two
centuries, when faced with even 
tougher times than this.  All of
those quiet heroes who found the
courage to keep marching, keep 
pushing in the face of hardship 
and injustice. 
Last month, we lost a giant of 
American democracy in John 
Lewis, and some years ago I sat 
down with John, and a few 
remaining leaders of the early 
civil rights movement.  One of 
them told me he never imagined 
he'd walk into the White House 
and see a president who looked 
like his grandson, and then he 
told me that he had looked it 
up, and it turned out that on 
the very day that I was born, he
was marching into a jail cell, 
trying to end Jim Crow 
segregation in the south.  
What we do echoes through 
generations.  Whatever our 
backgrounds, we are all the 
children of Americans who fought
the good fight, great 
grandparents working in fire 
traps and sweatshops without 
rights or representation, 
farmers losing their dreams to 
dust, Irish and Italians and 
Asians and Latinos told, "Go 
back where you come from," Jews 
and Catholics and Muslims and 
Sikhs made to feel suspect for 
the way they worshipped, black 
Americans chained and whipped 
and hanged, spit on for trying 
to sit at lunch counters, beaten
for trying to vote. 
If anyone had a right to believe
that this democracy did not work
and could not work, it was those
Americans, our ancestors.  They 
were on the receiving end of a 
democracy that had fallen short 
all of their lives.  They knew 
how far the daily reality of 
America strayed from the minute,
and yet, instead of giving up, 
they joined together, and they 
said somehow, some way, we are 
going to make this work.  We are
going to bring those words in 
our founding documents to life. 
I have seen that same spirit 
rising these past few years, 
folks of every age and 
background who packed city 
centers and airports and rural 
roads so that families wouldn't 
be separated, so that another 
classroom wouldn't get shot up, 
so that our kids won't grow up 
on an uninhabitable planet.  
Americans of all races joining 
together to declare, in the face
of injustice and brutality at 
the hands of the State, that 
Black Lives Matter, no more but 
no less, so that no child in 
this country feels the 
continuing sting of racism. 
To the young people who led us 
this summer, telling us we need 
to be better, in so many ways, 
you are this country's dreams 
fulfilled.  Earlier generations 
had to be persuaded that 
everyone has equal worth.  For 
you, it's a given, a conviction,
and what I want you to know is 
that for all its messiness and 
frustrations, your system of 
self-government can be harnessed
to help you realize those 
convictions, for all of us.  You
can give our democracy new 
meaning.  You can take it to a 
better place.  You're the 
missing ingredient, the ones who
will decide whether or not 
America becomes the country that
fully lives up to its creed.  
That work will continue long 
after this election, but any 
chance of success depends 
entirely on the outcome of this 
election.  This administration 
has shown it will tear our 
democracy down, if that's what 
it takes for them to win.  So, 
we have to get busy building it 
up, by pouring all our efforts 
into these 76 days, and by 
voting like never before, for 
Joe and Kamala and candidates up
and down the ticket so that we 
leave no doubt about what this 
country that we love stands for.
Today and for all our days to 
come.  
Stay safe, God bless.  
>> KERRY WASHINGTON:  Thank you,
President Obama, for your -- 
thank you for your brilliant 
leadership.  
Joe Biden has chosen an 
extraordinary woman to be his 
running mate.  Kamala Harris is 
a fighter and a trailblazer, 
using her ground breaking ideas 
to protect families and keep 
them together by reducing 
recidivism.  
I am so thrilled for her to 
become the Vice President of the
United States. 
Now, please welcome our 
convention chair, Congressman 
Bennie Thompson.  
>> REPRESENTATIVE THOMPSON:  
Delegates and distinguished 
guests, our procedural rules 
provide that the presidential 
candidate who obtained a 
majority of all pledged and 
automatic delegates will 
nominate the democratic 
candidate for vice president.  
In accordance with our rules, 
Vice President Biden has 
nominated Senator Kamala Harris 
as his vice presidential 
candidate.  Our rules further 
provide that if only one 
candidate is nominated for vice 
president, the Chair is 
authorized to declare the 
nominee the democratic candidate
for vice president.  
As such, with only one 
nomination received and pursuant
to our rules, I hereby declare 
that Kamala Harris is elected as
the democratic candidate for 
vice president.  
[ Gavel pounding ]
I am pleased to report that vice
presidential candidate Kamala 
Harris has been invited to 
deliver an acceptance speech.  
>> Kamala Harris is my auntie. 
>> My step mom. 
>> My big sister. 
>> Which means you'll always be 
my older sister. 
>> And there are some things 
we'd like to share with you.  To
my brother and me, you'll always
be Mamala, the world's greatest 
step mom. 
>> You're my role model, who 
taught me I could do and be 
anything I wanted. 
>> My very first friend, my 
confidant, my partner in 
mischief and in justice.  
>> You're our rock, not just for
dad but for three generations of
our big blended family. 
>> You showed me the importance 
of public service and made sure 
I grew up surrounded by smart, 
strong, ambitious women every 
day.  Growing up, heaven help 
the poor kid who picked on me, 
because my big sister would be 
there in a flash ready to have 
my back.  Well, now, we have got
your back as you and Joe fight 
to protect our democracy. 
>> And there's no union more 
perfect than the one that brings
us all to your kitchen table 
every Sunday night for stir fry,
feta chicken, or spaghetti and 
meatball family dinners. 
>> And now that I'm a mom, 
you're showing my daughters and 
so many girls around the world 
who look like them what's 
possible and what it's like to 
move through the world as 
fierce, formidable, phenomenal 
women in their own unique way.  
>> I love you, I admire you, I 
am so proud of you.  And even 
though mommy is not here to see 
her first daughter step into 
history, the entire nation will 
see in your strength, your 
integrity, your intelligence and
your optimism the values that 
she raised us with.  
>> We love you Mamala.  
>> We are so proud of you, 
auntie. 
>> You mean the world to us, 
Kamala. 
>> And we could not be more 
excited --
>> -- to share you with the 
world --
>> As the next. 
>> As the next. 
>> Vice president. 
>> Vice president of the United 
States.  
>> Joe Biden has selected Kamala
Harris as his running mate. 
>> She is the first black woman,
first south Asian woman to be 
named on the democratic 
candidate. 
>> What?  Let's go!  
>> Someone who looks like us on 
a presidential ticket, that's 
crazy.  
>> Kamala Harris is us.  She was
born in Oakland.  
>> A daughter of immigrants. 
>> The daughter of Shamala. 
>> Big sister and protector. 
>> She is an HBCU-bred. 
>> She is a woman of many 
firsts.  
>> She's a hard worker, a really
hard worker.  
>> She's brilliant.  She's 
smart, she's tough, and she has 
got a big future.  
>> She's probably one of the 
best role models. 
>> Kamala Harris is like a dream
to me.  
>> Senator Harris cares about 
people.  There's no doubt about 
it.  
>> When she says for the people,
it is every ounce of who she is.
She is for us.  She is for us.  
>> She fights for women's 
rights.  She fights to end mass 
incarceration. 
>> She is a fearless advocate 
for the voiceless. 
>> The litmus test for America 
is how we are treating black 
women. 
>> I am talking about someone 
who can fight for black people, 
brown people, undocumented 
people, LGBT people, disabled 
people, young people, old 
people, all of America. 
>> It's about all of us knowing 
our power, each of us, to lift 
people up, right, and to remind 
them that we see them and we 
hear them and that they matter. 
♪ ♪
[ Cheers and applause ] 
♪ ♪
>> Are you going to be vice 
president of the United States? 
>> SENATOR HARRIS:  Greetings, 
America.  It is truly an honor 
to be speaking with you tonight.
That I am here tonight is a 
testament to the dedication of 
generations before me.  Women 
and men who believed so fiercely
in the promise of equality, 
liberty, and justice for all.  
This week marks the 100th 
anniversary of the passage of 
the 19th Amendment, and we 
celebrate the women who fought 
for that right.  Yet, so many of
the black women who helped 
secure that victory were still 
prohibited from voting long 
after its ratification, but they
were undeterred.  Without 
fanfare or recognition, they 
organized and testified and 
rallied and marched and fought, 
not just for their vote but for 
a seat at the table.  These 
women and the generations that 
followed worked to make 
democracy and opportunity real 
in the lives of all of us who 
followed.  They paved the way 
for the trailblazing leadership 
of Barack Obama and Hillary 
Clinton, and these women 
inspired us to pick up the torch
and fight on, women like Mary 
Church Terrell, Mary Bethune, 
and Diane Nash, Constance Baker 
mot
mot
motley, and the great Shirley 
Chisholm.  We are not often 
taught their stories, but as 
Americans, we all stand on their
shoulders.  
And there is another woman whose
name isn't known, whose story 
isn't shared, another woman 
whose shoulders I stand on, and 
that's my mother, Shamala 
Harris.  She came here from 
India at age 19 to pursue her 
dream of curing cancer.  At the 
University of California, 
Berkeley, she met my father, 
Donald Harris, who had came from
Jamaica to study economics.  
They fell in love in that most 
American way, while marching 
together for justice in the 
civil rights movement of the 
1960s, in the streets of Oakland
and Berkeley, I got a stroller's
eye view of people getting into 
what the great John Lewis 
called "good trouble."  When I 
was five, my parents split, and 
my mother raised us mostly on 
her own.  Like so many mothers, 
she worked around the clock to 
make it work, packing lunches 
before we woke up and paying 
bills after we went to bed, 
helping us with homework at the 
kitchen table and shuttling us 
to church for choir practice.  
She made it look easy, though it
never was.  
My mother instilled in my sister
Maya and me the values that 
would chart the course of our 
lives.  She raised us to be 
proud, strong black women, and 
she raised us to know and be 
proud of our Indian heritage.  
She taught us to put family 
first, the family you're born 
into and the family you choose. 
Family is my husband Doug, who I
met on a blind date set up by my
best friend.  Family is our 
beautiful children, Cole and 
Ella, who call me Mamala.  
Family is my sister.  Family is 
my best friend, my nieces and my
God children.  Family is my 
uncles, my aunts, and my chitis.
Family is Mrs. Shelton, my 
second mother, who lived two 
doors down and helped raise me. 
Family is my beloved alpha kappa
alpha, our divine nine, and my 
HBCU brothers and sisters.  
Family is the friends I turn to 
when my mother, the most 
important person in my life, 
passed away from cancer, and 
even as she taught us to keep 
our family at the center of our 
world, she also pushed us to see
a world beyond ourselves.  She 
taught us to be conscious and 
compassionate about the 
struggles of all people, to 
believe public service is a 
noble cause, and the fight for 
justice is a shared 
responsibility. 
That led me to become a lawyer, 
a district attorney, Attorney 
General, and a United States 
Senator.  And at every step of 
the way, I have been guided by 
the words I spoke from the first
time I stood in a courtroom:  
Kamala Harris, for the People.  
I have fought for children and 
survivors of sexual assault.  I 
fought against trans national 
criminal organizations.  I took 
on the biggest banks and helped 
take down one of the biggest 
for-profit colleges.  I know a 
predator when I see one.  
My mother taught me that service
to others gives life purpose and
meaning, and oh how I wish she 
were here tonight, but I know 
she's looking down on me from 
above.  I keep thinking about 
that 25-year-old Indian woman, 
all of five feet tall, who gave 
birth to me at Kaiser Hospital 
in Oakland, California.  On that
day, she probably could have 
never imagined that I would be 
standing before you now and 
speaking these words.  I accept 
your nomination for vice 
president of the United States 
of America. 
I do so committed to the values 
she taught me, to the word that 
teaches me to walk by faith and 
not by sight, and to a vision 
passed on through generations of
Americans, one that Joe Biden 
shares, a vision of our nation 
as a beloved community, where 
all are welcome, no matter what 
we look like, no matter where we
come from or who we love, a 
country where we may not agree 
on every detail, but we are 
united by the fundamental belief
that every human being is of 
infinite worth, deserving of 
compassion, dignity, and 
respect, a country where we look
out for one another, where we 
rise and fall as one, where we 
face our challenges and 
celebrate our triumphs together.
Today, that country feels 
distant.  Donald Trump's failure
of leadership has cost lives and
livelihoods. 
If you're a parent struggling 
with your child's remote 
learning, or you're a teacher 
struggling on the other side of 
that screen, you know what we 
are doing right now is not 
working, and we are a nation 
that is grieving, grieving the 
loss of life, the loss of jobs, 
the loss of opportunities, the 
loss of normalcy, and, yes, the 
loss of certainty.  
And while this virus touches us 
all, we have got to be honest, 
it is not an equal opportunity 
offender.  Black, Latino and 
indigenous people are suffering 
and dying disproportionately, 
and this is not a coincidence.  
It is the effect of structural 
racism, of inequities in 
education, technology, health 
care, and housing, job security 
and transportation, the 
injustice in prreproductive and 
health care, and excessive use 
of force by police, and in our 
broader criminal justice system.
This virus, it has no eyes, and 
yet it knows exactly how we see 
each other and how we treat each
other, and let's be clear:  
There is no vaccine for racism. 
We have got to do the work.  For
George Floyd, for Breonna 
Taylor, for the lives of too 
many others to name, for our 
children and for all of us.  
We have got to do the work to 
fulfill that promise of equal 
justice under law, because 
here's the thing:  None of us 
are free until all of us are 
free.  
So, we are at an inflection 
point, the constant chaos leaves
us adrift.  The incompetence 
makes us feel afraid.  The 
callousness makes us feel alone.
It's a lot, and here's the 
thing:  We can do better and 
deserve so much more.  We must 
elect a president who will bring
something different, something 
better, and do the important 
work, a president who will bring
all of us together, black, 
white, Latino, Asian, 
indigenous, to achieve the 
future we collectively want.  
We must elect Joe Biden.  And I 
will tell you, I knew Joe as 
vice president.  I knew Joe on 
the campaign trail, and I first 
got to know Joe as the father of
my friend.  So, Joe's son Beau 
and I served as attorneys 
general of our states, Delaware 
and California.  During the 
Great Recession, he and I spoke 
on the phone nearly every day, 
working together to win back 
billions of dollars for 
homeowners from the big banks 
that foreclosed on people's 
homes, and Beau and I, we would 
talk about his family, how as a 
single father, Joe would spend 
four hours every day riding the 
train back and forth from 
Wilmington to Washington.  Beau 
and Hunter got to have breakfast
every morning with their dad.  
They went to sleep every night 
with the sound of his voice 
reading bedtime stories, and 
while they endured an 
unspeakable loss, those two 
little boys always knew that 
they were deeply, 
unconditionally loved. 
And what also moved me about Joe
is the work that he did as he 
was going back and forth.  This 
is the leader who wrote the 
Violence Against Women Act and 
enacted the assault weapons ban,
who, as vice president, 
implemented the Recovery Act, 
which brought our country back 
from the Great Recession.  He 
championed the Affordable Care 
Act, protecting millions of 
Americans with pre-existing 
conditions, who spent decades 
promoting American values and 
interests around the world.  
Joe, he believes.  We stand with
our allies and stand up to our 
adversaries.  
Right now, we have a president 
who turns our tragedies into 
political weapons.  Joe will be 
a president who turns our 
challenges into purpose.  Joe 
will bring us together, to build
an economy that doesn't leave 
anyone behind, where a good 
paying job is the floor, not the
ceiling.  Joe will bring us 
together to end this pandemic 
and make sure that we are 
prepared for the next one.  Joe 
will bring us together to 
squarely face and dismantle 
racial injustice, furthering the
work of generations. 
Joe and I believe that we can 
build that beloved community, 
one that is strong and decent, 
just and kind, one in which we 
can all see ourselves.  That's 
the vision that our parents and 
grandparents fought for, the 
vision that made my own life 
possible, the vision that makes 
the American promise, for all 
its complexities and 
imperfections, a promise worth 
fighting for.  
So, make no mistake, the road 
ahead is not easy.  We may 
stumble.  We may fall short.  
But I pledge to you that we will
act boldly and deal with our 
challenges honestly.  We will 
speak truths, and we will act 
with the same faith in you that 
we ask you to place in us.  We 
believe that our country, all of
us, will stand together for a 
better future.  And we already 
are.  We see it in the doctors, 
the nurses, the home health care
workers and frontline workers, 
who are risking their lives to 
save people they have never met.
We see it in the teachers, the 
truck drivers, the factory 
workers and farmers, the postal 
workers and poll workers, all 
putting their own safety on the 
line to help us get through this
pandemic, and we see it in so 
many of you who are working, not
just to get us through our 
current crisis but to somewhere 
better. 
There's something happening all 
across our country.  It's not 
about Joe or me.  It's about 
you, and it's about us.  People 
of all ages and colors and 
creeds, who are, yes, taking to 
the streets and also persuading 
our family members, rallying our
friends, organizing our 
neighbors, and getting out the 
vote, and we have shown that 
when we vote, we expand access 
to health care and expand access
to the ballot box and ensure 
that more working families can 
make a decent living, and I'm so
inspired by a new generation.  
You, you are pushing us to 
realize the ideals of our 
nation, pushing us to live the 
values we share:  Decency and 
fairness, justice and love.  You
are patriots who remind us that 
to love our country is to fight 
for the ideals of our country.  
In this election, we have a 
chance to change the course of 
history.  We are all in this 
fight, you, me, and Joe, 
together.  What an awesome 
responsibility, what an awesome 
privilege.  So, let's fight with
conviction.  Let's fight with 
hope.  Let's fight with 
confidence in ourselves and a 
commitment to each other, to the
America we know is possible, the
America we love. 
And years from now, this moment 
will have passed, and our 
children and our grandchildren 
will look in our eyes, and they 
are going to ask us, "Where were
you when the stakes were so 
high?"  They will ask , "What 
was it like?"  And we will tell 
them, we will tell them not just
how we felt, we will tell them 
what we did.  
Thank you.  God bless you, and 
God bless the United States of 
America.  
♪ ♪
[ Applause ]
>> KERRY WASHINGTON:  Thank you,
Senator Harris, so powerful.  To
close out the night, we have got
some amazing music from the 
incomparable Jennifer Hudson, as
well as some highlights from 
tonight, and then tomorrow, 
we'll hear from more Americans 
fighting for a more perfect 
union for all of us, and, 
finally, Joe Biden will 
officially accept the nomination
for president.  I'll be tuning 
in.  I hope you will too.  Thank
you for letting me a part of 
your night.  
♪ ♪
♪ ♪
♪ It's been too hard living, but
I'm afraid to die ♪
♪' Cause I don't know what's up 
there above the sky ♪
♪ It's been a long, a long time 
coming ♪
♪ But I know a change's come ♪
 
♪ Oh, when I go to my brother ♪
♪ And I say brother, brother, 
help me please ♪
♪ Brother ♪
♪ But when I go to my dear 
brother ♪
♪ Oh he winds up smacking me 
back down on my knees ♪
♪ There have been times that I 
thought I wouldn't last for 
long ♪
♪ But somehow I'm able ♪
♪ To carry on ♪
♪ It's been a long, a long, a 
long time coming ♪
♪ But I know a change, a 
change ♪
♪ Is gonna come ♪
♪ Lord, yes it will ♪
>> We must elect a president who
will bring something different, 
something better and do the 
important work, a president who 
will bring all of us together, 
black, white, Latino, Asian, 
indigenous, to achieve the 
future we collectively want.  We
must elect Joe Biden.  
>> He was there for me.  He'll 
be there for you too.  
>> Remember back in 2016 when 
Trump asked, what do you have to
lose?  Well, now we know:  Our 
health care, our jobs, our loved
ones, our leadership in the 
world, and even our post office.
>> We come together now, not to 
decry the darkness but to light 
a way forward for our country. 
>> The way I see it, big 
problems demand big solutions.  
Now, I love a good plan, and Joe
Biden has some really good pl
s
plans.  
>> But here's the thing:  No 
single American can fix this 
country alone, not even a 
president.  Democracy was never 
meant to be transactional, "You 
give me your vote, I make 
everything better," it requires 
an active and informed 
citizenry.  So I'm also asking 
you to believe in your own 
ability to embrace your own 
responsibility as citizens, to 
make sure that the basic tenants
of our democracy endure. 
>> ARCHBISHOP ELPIDOPHOROS:  
Greetings. I am Archbishop 
Elpidophoros of the Greek 
Orthodox Archdiocese of America.
Let us pray.
Most merciful and loving God, as
we gather in soberness of mind 
and of heart for the sake of our
nation and its future, we pray 
that You would shine the light 
of your countenance upon the 
delegates of this convention, 
and upon Vice President Joe 
Biden for the highest office in 
the land.
As we face the future as one 
American nation, bring us to our
best selves and inspire our 
better angels in peace, in 
fairness, and in generosity; 
that we may fight against 
injustice, inequality, and 
hatred; that we may achieve a 
common good, a greater good. In 
the name of the Holy Trinity, we
pray. Amen.
>> REPRESENTATIVE THOMPSON:  
That concludes our convention 
program for this evening.  We 
will stand in recess until 
tomorrow evening.  
[ Gavel pounding ]
