Joe Biden officially becomes the Democratic Party’s nominee on convention’s second night

Joe Biden officially secured the Democratic nomination for president Tuesday, winning votes cast by party delegates scattered across bridges, beaches and statehouses in 57 states and territories in an online spectacle that marked the first virtual national party roll-call vote.

When his nomination became official, cameras flipped to the 77-year-old Biden, who was watching the virtual roll call with his wife, Jill, in a Delaware school. His grandchildren joined them, and shot off streamers and tussled with balloons as Biden beamed at a camera instead of a crowd.

“Thank you very, very much from the bottom of my heart. Thank you all. It means the world to me and my family, and I’ll see you on Thursday,” Biden said, standing in a room filled with more books than people.

“Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.”

Former second lady Jill Biden headlined the two-hour event from an empty classroom. Classrooms like the ones she stood in, empty now because of the pandemic, “will ring out with laughter and possibility” if her husband is elected, she said. She was one of a mix of speakers from across the country who extolled the nominee as a man of character and virtue while making an aggressive and unsubtle case that Trump’s presidency has been a failure.

“The burdens we carry are heavy and we need someone with strong shoulders,” Jill Biden said in an emotional speech about the tragedies in their lives that ended with a surprise appearance by the nominee.

“I know that if we entrust this nation to Joe, he will do for your family what he did for ours. Bring us together and make us whole.”

 

To read the full story visit: The Washington Post, https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/2020/08/18/democratic-national-convention-live-updates/

 

 


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