Former Vice President Joe Biden will accept his party’s 2020 presidential nomination on Thursday evening, the final night of the virtual Democratic National Convention. Tonight’s theme is “America’s Promise.”
Stay tuned to Breitbart News for live updates.
All times Eastern.
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11:50 PM:
11:45 PM:
11:30 PM:
11:13 PM: Biden says he wants history to say that the end of this chapter of American darkness began here, tonight, as love and hope and light joined in the battle of the soul of the nation.
Jill Biden comes on stage with Harris and her husband and they wave at people in squares watching the convention virtually.
11:05 PM: Biden speaks about Beau, and he says he takes personally the responsibilities that come with being Commander-in-Chief.
He says he will make it clear that the days of cozying up to dictators is over and America will not turn a blind eye to Russian bounties. He says he will always stand for our values of human rights and dignity and fight for a more peaceful and prosperous world. Biden asks if we will be the generation that wipes out the stain or racism on our nation’s character.
Biden now talking about Klansman and Neo-Nazis marching with torches in Charlottesville and again saying that is why he decided to run.
10:52 PM: Biden talks about the most urgent calls for racial justice since the 1960s and asks if we are ready. He says we know in our bones that this election is more consequential because America is at an inflection point. He talks about the life-changing election because it will determine what America will look like for a long time. He says character, compassion, decency, science, democracy are on the ballot. All on the ballot.
He says to just judge Trump on the facts–170,000+ deaths and five million infected by COVID and more than 50 million unemployment claims. He predicts more COVID cases and closures of businesses and tax breaks for the wealthy and an “assault on the Affordable Care Act” if Trump is re-elected.
Biden thanks Obama for being a president kids can look up to. He says nobody can say that about Trump.
He accuses Trump believing the job is about him while fanning the flames of hate and racism while cozying up to dictators and taking no responsibility.
Biden says Trump has no plan and goes over his plan for battling the Coronavirus, including making protective gear in America. Biden says he will “take the muzzle off of our experts” so the public gets the unvarnished and honest truth that they can handle. He calls for a national mandate to wear masks as a patriotic duty to protect each other.
Biden says Trump has failed to protect America and “that is unforgivable.” He says he will make a promise to protect America and defend American from every attack–“seen and unseen.”
Biden talks about how his father told him that a job is about dignity (and he has never forgotten it), and that’s why his economic plan is “all about jobs, dignity, respect, and community.”
Biden speaks about an immigration system that powers our economy and reflects our values. He talks about paying essential workers instead of just praising them.
Biden says Social Security is a sacred promise and Trump is threatening the break that promise. He says he will not let that happen.
10:45 PM: Biden opens his speech by quoting Ella Baker about giving people light and they will find their way. He says he will be an ally of the light and not the darkness. He says it’s time for “we the people” to come together and “united we can, and overcome” this season of darkness. He says he’s a proud Democrat but he will be “an American president” and will work as hard for those who didn’t support him as those who voted for him because that’s the job of president. Biden now talking about FDR’s New Deal and says this campaign is not just about votes but by winning hearts and souls. He says the campaign is about winning for those who know the feeling of having a “knee on their neck.”
10:38 PM: Beau Biden’s convention speech in which he introduces his dad is played before the DNC shows a film about the Biden.
10:35 PM: Ashley and Hunter Biden now introduce their father. They say Biden will be a tough, honest, caring, and principled president who will never let you down and the strongest shoulder you will ever lean on and make your grandkids feel that what they got to say matters and treat everyone with respect. They say Biden will be the worst enemy for bullies and your best friend. They talk about how he has been a great father and how he will be a great president.
10:32 PM: Steph, fresh off from being a PGA Tour reporter, and Ayesha Curry are now in a DNC video with their two kids urging people to vote. They speak about social injustices and racial inequalities.
10:30 PM: DNC video now features Biden’s grandchildren talking about Biden eating ice cream. They say Biden calls them every day with the same energy and he will pick up their calls no matter where he is, even if he’s on stage at a campaign event. They talk about calling a meeting to urge Biden to run. They said they weren’t going to take “no” for an answer.
10:28 PM: DNC now features a kid who has a stutter whom Biden met in New Hamspshire and helped him find his voice. He says in a short amount of time, Biden made him feel comfortable about something that has bothered him for a long time. He says Biden cares and imagine what he can do for the country.
10:22 PM: Michael Bloomberg is now speaking at the DNC, saying Trump downplayed the threat and ignored science and recommended quack cures when confronted with a once-in-a-generation crisis.
Bloomberg says vote against Trump not because he is a con and a bad guy but because he is a “bad guy.”
Bloomberg asks people if they would be okay with someone who Tweets more than they work and someone who ran your business to the ground and always does what is best for him/her even if it hurts the country. He says if the answer is no, why the hell would we re-hire Trump. Bloomberg says Trump drove his businesses into bankruptcy six times, leaving behind swindled contractors, but this time the country is hurting. He calls Trump a “joke.” Bloomberg says Trump’s economic plan was to give tax cuts to guys like him who didn’t need it and then lied about it. He says Biden will roll his tax cut back.
10:12 PM: Buttigieg says Beau Biden lived a life of service in office and in uniform. Mayor Pete says he believes in this country because America holds the promise of where everyone can belong. He says for too long those promises have been denied to various groups. He says, unlike when he first joined the military, it is unlawful to fire someone because of one’ sexual orientation. Buttigieg says Biden stepped ahead of his party to say marriage equality should be the law of the land. He wants people to imagine what the coalition they are building now–including future former Republicans–can accomplish in 10, 20 years. Buttigieg then introduces a video of seven candidates who ran against Biden testifying about Biden as a colleague and a person. Sanders, remembering that Biden treated him with respect when others saw him as a nuisance, again goes to bat for Biden, encouraging his supporters to vote for Biden unlike what he did for Hillary Clinton.
10:11 PM: Julia Louis-Dreyfus says Biden called her when she got diagnosed with cancer and it made her cry. She says Trump makes her cry but it’s not because he has any sense of empathy. Now she is introducing Pete Buttigieg.
10:09 PM:DNC now playing tribute video for Beau Biden. Narrator says “some voices are never silenced.”
10:06 PM: Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), from DC, says leaders must command their troops’ respect. She says military service also requires sacrifice from families. She says her husband rushed to Walter Reed by her side and was next to her side and her “anchor” when she had to learn how to walk again. She says Biden understands these sacrifices because his son served overseas.
She says Trump is a “Coward-in-Chief” who doesn’t stand up to Putin and ignores Russia putting bounties on out troops’ head. She says Biden will not let dictators use him like a puppet.
She says unlike Trump doesn’t deserve to call himself Commander-in-Chief for another four minutes.
10:02 PM: Ed Good, a WWII veteran who is a Republican, a member of the NRA, and voted for Trump, urges people to vote for Biden before other “longstanding” Republicans urge Americans to vote for Biden.
9:56 PM: Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) tells a story about how she got sick and had to stay in the hospital for three months. She says her grandparents raised her, so the insurance companies would not cover her stay. She also says she was not covered because insurance companies deemed she had a “pre-existing condition.”
9:55 PM: Former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy is speaking at the DNC and taking not-so-sublte jabs at Trump’s handling and politicization of the Coronavirus. He is now testifying about how Biden lets “science guide his way” when going over COVID briefings. He says Biden kneeled besides his immigrant grandmother’s wheelchair and thanked her for choosing America to trust their family. He says he trusts Biden to lead and heal this nation.
9:50 PM: Sen. Cory Booker (D-NY) talks about how Harris and Biden know the importance of good-paying jobs and rips Trump for saying the economy is good while millions are unemployed and being evicted. Biden has a virtual roundtable about the importance of union jobs and how COVID is impacting working-class Americans.
9:47 PM: The secretaries of state of CA (Alex Padilla) and Michigan (Jocelyn Benson) now talking about defending democracy against foreign and domestic attacks. Padilla says Trump can’t cancel this election and is attacking vote by mail. Benson says there is zero difference between voting by mail and absentee. She says Trump, his family, and his staff all vote by mail. She says Republicans and Democrats all agree it’s safe. Padilla says he will not let Trump “sabotage” the post office this election.
9:45 PM: Trump impersonator Sarah Cooper appears and says nothing is more dangerous than Trump’s attacks on mail-in voting. She says Trump doesn’t want people to vote because he knows he will lose.
DNC loving Trump-hating Sarah Cooper:
9:40 PM: Rep. Deb Haaland (D-MN), speaking on indigenous land, speaks about her Pueblo Tribe’s history and America’s history of “brutal assimilation.” She talks about her mother who served in the Navy. She says she is a 35th generation New Mexican and a symbol of America’s progress as a nation. She talks about how voting is a sacred right before a video that goes heavy on how Trump is trying to sabotage the postal office.
9:35 PM: Julia Louis-Dreyfus mispronounces Pence’s last name again, calls him a cheater (on the golf course) and says she’s proud to be a “nasty woman.”
She then throws to serious historian Jon Meacham, a friend of Biden’s. He talks about extremism, nativism, isolationism, and a lack of opportunities for working people. He says Americans have to choose if they will be prisoners of our darker forces or write a brighter chapter in the country’s history. Meacham says America is a mix of light and shadow while speaking Seneca Falls, Selma, and Stonewall and slavery, segregation, and systemic discrimination. Meacham says our country’s story has soured when we’ve built bridges and not walls, when we’ve lent a hand and not pointed a finger.
9:20 PM: Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms now urging people to early vote before she talks about the late John Lewis’s legacy. She says Lewis walked not as an icon but as a God-fearing man. She says Lewis knew every person in the movement mattered–those who made sandwiches, swept the floors, stuffed envelopes. She says they too changed America and so can we. She says the baton has now been passed to this generation and “now we must passed on the gift John Lewis sacrificed to give us. We must register. And we must vote.”
And now the DNC plays a John Lewis tribute video:
John Legend and Common team up for a duet (“Glory”).
9:19 PM: Julia Louis-Dreyfus says Biden goes to church so often he doesn’t need tear gas and federal troops to escort him. The punchlines are awkward with the serious and somber stories the convention is telling about Biden.
9:16 PM: Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) says Biden will lead the “progressive march toward justice” before testifying about Biden’s faith. He says Biden will be a president for people of all faiths and those of conscience who practice no faiths. Coons says Biden believes the race is a battle for the soul of the country. Convention cuts to video of Biden talking about his faith during one of the debates.
9:11 PM: “The Chicks” are now singing the National Anthem.
Rep. Cedric Richmond’s son recites the pledge of allegiance. Trayvon Martin art behind him.
9:09 PM: Julia Louis-Dreyfus says Biden not only knows how to read but he reads everything after telling a story about how Biden reached out to her after reading an article in Arrive, Amtrak’s magazine.
9:06 PM: Andrew Yang says he has gotten to know both Biden and Harris on the campaign trail. He says they understand the problems we face and are parents and patriots who understand the struggles of everyday Americans. Yang then tosses to Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who will moderate the fourth night, and they engage in some awkward banter while purposely mispronouncing Vice President Pence’s last name.
9:04 PM: Video features Biden talking about how hate can have “no safe harbor,” hammering one of the central points of his campaign.
8:59 PM: CA Gov. Gavin Newsom speaking near Santa Cruz, CA, about an hour away from a wildfire. He rambles on, accusing Trump of threatening to defund the state’s efforts to combat wildfires because the state had not raked enough leaves.
8:55 PM: Perez says he hopes Republicans adhere to safety protocols at their convention.
8:52 PM: DNC Chair Perez says “purpose” and not “partisanship” has brought everyone together the last three nights. Convention now features a video of Biden’s goal to conquer cancer.
8:50 PM: Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) calls the convention to order as the Dems focus on the saving democracy theme. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is prominently featured asking his supporters to vote for Biden as the convention plays its greatest hits from the last three nights.
8:45 PM: The final night of the DNC is about to start. Biden is not as dynamic as Trump is on the stump, so the virtual convention could help him hide his weaknesses.
8:25 PM: Drive-in watch party outside where Biden will speak:
8:20 PM: Other speakers include: Sens. Cory Booker (D-NJ), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), and Chris Coons (D-DE); California Secretary of State Alex Padilla and Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson; Former Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy; California Gov. Gavin Newsom; Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms; Former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg; Andrew Yang, former presidential candidate; Historian Jon Meecham; Rep. Deb Haaland (D-NM); Michael Bloomberg.
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Unlike former President Barack Obama, Biden will reportedly not rip into Trump tonight in his acceptance speech. Trump visited Scranton earlier in the day.