(Chicago) Vice presidential nominee Tim Walz and former President Bill Clinton headline the third day of the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday, as the party hopes to build on the momentum Kamala Harris has gained since she joined the race for the White House a month ago.
Mr. Walz, the Minnesota governor, formerly a teacher and football coach and a Midwestern family man, will introduce himself to the rest of the country.
Organizers dubbed Wednesday night “a fight for our freedoms,” with programming focused on abortion access and other rights that Democrats want to focus on in their campaign against Republican nominee Donald Trump.
PHOTO MARCO BELLO, REUTERS ARCHIVES
Tim Walz to Speak at Democratic Convention Wednesday Night
Speaker after speaker argued that their party wanted to defend freedoms — particularly access to abortion and the right to vote — while Republicans wanted to take them away.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis used an oversized book meant to represent the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, a set of ambitious goals to shrink government and move it to the right that the group hopes will come to fruition if Trump wins. Mr. Polis even tore out a page from the ceremonial volume and said he would keep it and show it to swing voters.
Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz shared the story of a woman in her state who was forced to carry a child with a life-threatening condition to term, only to watch the newborn die within hours of birth, all because her state enacted new abortion restrictions after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
Dana Nessel, Michigan’s attorney general and an openly gay woman, said: “I have a message for Republicans and the justices of the United States Supreme Court: You can rip this wedding ring out of my cold, dead, gay hand.”
Also on the program were Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, whose speeches were accompanied by videos of what organizers called “ordinary Americans” describing how their freedoms depend on the outcome of the upcoming election.
PHOTO JACQUELYN MARTIN, ASSOCIATED PRESS ARCHIVES
Nancy Pelosi
Tribute to the hostages
Democrats paid tribute to the hostages still being held by Hamas after its Oct. 7 attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people. Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg brought tears to some in the arena as they paid tribute to their son Hersh, who was kidnapped in the attack.
The release of the hostages “is not a political issue. It’s a humanitarian issue,” Polin said, adding that “in a competition of pain, there are no winners.”
PHOTO MIKE SEGAR, REUTERS
Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg brought tears to some in the arena as they paid tribute to their son Hersh, who was kidnapped in the attack.
The war between Israel and Hamas has divided the Democratic base, with pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrating outside the United Center and several speakers this week acknowledging the deaths of civilians in Israel’s offensive in Gaza. More than 40,000 people have died in Gaza, according to local health officials.
Mr. Clinton, 42e President of the United States and a veteran of his party’s political convention for decades, spoke later.
“In 2024, we have a clear choice: ‘We the People’ versus ‘Me, Myself and I,’” Clinton said, according to early excerpts of his speech.
He added: “Kamala Harris is the only candidate in this race who has the vision, the experience, the temperament, the will and yes – the pure joy – to do this in good times and bad. To be our voice.”
Two prominent governors, Wes Moore of Maryland and Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, spoke, as did Democratic Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey, Chris Murphy of Connecticut, Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota.
Read “Democratic Convention: Show of Strength”
Read Yves Boisvert’s column “The return of hope”