The Democratic Party began its virtual, almost all pre-taped convention Monday night featuring a woman whose father died from COVID-19 claiming his “only pre-existing condition was trusting Donald Trump.”
Kristen Urquiza was one of several speakers who condemned the president’s response to everything from the coronavirus to protests against systemic racism, and endorsed presumptive Democratic White House nominee Joe Biden.
“The coronavirus has made it clear that there are two Americas: the America that Donald Trump lives in and the America that my father died in,” Urquiza said, who claimed her father died after going to a bar after Trump allegedly said the virus was not a big deal.
Other speakers ranged from former Republican Ohio Gov. John Kasich to self-proclaimed democratic socialist US Sen. Bernie Sanders. Former First Lady Michelle Obama, who two weeks ago announced she is suffering from a low-grade depression, was Monday’s headliner.
Sign up for our Election 2020 newsletter
What amounted to the party’s first two-hour infomercial for the week began with a rendition of the pledge of allegiance and the national anthem featuring a compilation of Americans from different races, ages and creeds, that was popular across social media.
Michelle Obama, wife of the nation’s first Black president, vouched for Biden’s empathy and experience. And the ideological range of Biden’s many messengers was demonstrated by former presidential contenders from opposing parties: Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist who championed a multi-trillion-dollar universal health care plan, and Kasich, an anti-abortion conservative who spent decades fighting to cut government spending.
The former vice president won’t deliver his formal remarks until Thursday night, but he made his first appearance just half an hour into Monday’s event as he moderated a panel on racial justice, a theme throughout the night, as was concern about the Postal Service. The Democrats accuse Trump of interfering with the nation’s mail in order to throw blocks in front of mail-in voting.
“We can all see what’s going on in our country today and all the questions that are facing us, and no one person or party has all the answers,” Kasich said in his convention message. “But what we do know is that we can do better than what we’ve been seeing today, for sure.”
Sanders had a similar, if blunter, warning. "My friends, I say to you, and to everyone who supported other candidates in this primary and to those who may have voted for Donald Trump in the last election: The future of our democracy is at stake," the Vermont senator said.
“We must come together, defeat Donald Trump and elect Joe Biden,” Sanders said. “The price of failure is just too great to imagine.”
Actress Eva Longoria emceed the night’s programming, a combination of prerecorded and live material, from a studio.
Democrats showed out of the gate they will continue to draw a sharp contrast with Trump and Republicans on the matter of racial justice.
In the first half hour, Democrats showcased the family of George Floyd, the Black man whose killing by a white Minneapolis police officer on May 25 spawned nationwide protests. One of Floyd’s brothers spoke about him and named a litany of other Black Americans killed by police, followed by a moment of silence.
Mayor Muriel Bowser of Washington, D.C., introduced the Floyd family from Black Lives Matter Plaza, the stretch of 16th Street in Washington leading up to the White House that was repainted and renamed in the wake of Floyd’s death.
Bowser compared the history of peaceful protest in the nation's capital with Trump ordering Lafayette Square cleared with tearing agents so he could walk to a nearby church to be photographed with a Bible.
Biden, who is not in the convention city of Milwaukee, was featured Monday in several video snippets and even appeared in a roundtable segment where he talked to Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and others about racial justice issues, from voting rights to changing policing practices.
In her keynote, Michelle Obama said “I know Joe. He is a fundamentally decent man, guided by faith.”
"And he listens," Obama added, a Biden campaign sign over her shoulder. "He will tell the truth, and trust science."
Other speakers Monday night included US Rep. James Clyburn, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, US Rep. Sara Gideon, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, former New Jersey governor Christine Whitman, US Sen. Doug Jones, US Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, US Sen. Amy Klobuchar and US Rep. Cedric Richmond..
Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez is in Milwaukee, which he’d chosen as the 2020 convention host city. But neither Biden or his running mate, Kamala Harris, are. Nor are the 57 state and territorial delegations, party activists and media hordes that would have filled a downtown arena to see Biden and Harris nominated to take on Trump and Vice President Mike Pence in November.
At the same time the convention was being broadcast, Trump himself was campaigning in the Midwest.
In Mankato, Minnesota, Trump stepped up his rhetoric against Biden, calling him a “puppet of left-wing extremists trying to erase our borders, eliminate our police, indoctrinate our children, vilify our heroes, take away our energy.” Speaking to a crowd of several hundred supporters outside an aircraft hangar, Trump alleged that a Biden victory would “replace American freedom with left-wing fascism.”
“Fascists. They are fascists,” Trump said. “Some of them, not all of them, but some of them. But they’re getting closer and closer. We have to win this election. But the proud people of Minnesota will not let this happen.”
Trump on Monday also visited Wisconsin — the official host state of the entirely virtual Democratic National Convention — to launch a week of travel and political events aiming to blunt the customary polling “bounce” that a candidate gets during their convention week.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
About the Author
