The four-day 2020 Democratic National Convention kicks off Monday in Milwaukee and around the nation. Journal Sentinel reporters will be providing continuous updates here.
► Find full coverage of the 2020 Democratic National Convention in our special section.
► 2020 DNC kicks off Monday in Milwaukee: What you need to know
10:10 Michelle Obama urges people to vote for Joe Biden ‘like our lives depend on it’
Former First Lady Michelle Obama portrayed Donald Trump as a failed leader who couldn’t rise to the office and needs to be replaced.
“Donald Trump is the wrong president for our country,” she said in her keynote address closing the first night of the convention. “He has had more than enough time to prove that he can do the job, but he is clearly in over his head. He cannot meet this moment. He simply cannot be who we need him to be for us.”
She added, “It is what it is.”
Wearing a necklace that spelled out the word “vote,” she urged people to cast ballots in person or by mail.
“We’ve got to vote for Joe Biden like our lives depend on it,” she said.
She slammed Trump’s leadership, especially during the pandemic and in response to the Black Lives Matter protests, saying children are learning terrible lessons.
“Right now, kids in this country are seeing what happens when we stop requiring empathy of one another,” she said. “They’re looking around wondering if we’ve been lying to them this whole time about who we are and what we truly value.”
She added, “They watch in horror as children are torn from their families and thrown into cages, and pepper spray and rubber bullets are used on peaceful protesters for a photo-op.”
But Obama said she still believes in the importance of “going high.”
“Over the past four years, a lot of people have asked me, ‘When others are going so low, does going high still really work?’ My answer: going high is the only thing that works, because when we go low, when we use those same tactics of degrading and dehumanizing others, we just become part of the ugly noise that’s drowning out everything else,” she said. “We degrade ourselves. We degrade the very causes for which we fight.”
Obama added, “But let’s be clear: going high does not mean putting on a smile and saying nice things when confronted by viciousness and cruelty.”
– Mary Spicuzza
9:43 p.m. Bernie Sanders: ‘Nero fiddled while Rome burned. Trump golfs.’
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders urged Democrats to unite behind Joe Biden Monday night.
“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 future of our economy is at stake. The future of our planet is at stake,” Sanders said. “We must come together, defeat Donald Trump and elect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as our next president and vice president. My friends, the price of failure is just too great to imagine.”
Sanders portrayed Donald Trump as a failed and dangerous leader.
“Nero fiddled while Rome burned,” he said. “Trump golfs.”
-Mary Spicuzza
9:25 p.m.: Wisconsinites talk about pandemic and support for Biden
Keeping in line with the “We the People” theme of the night, the convention featured a few pre-recorded collections of clips of people speaking about issues such as the COVID-19 pandemic and why they’re voting for Biden. Wisconsin residents gave brief remarks in some of the reels.
In a reel of people talking about the COVID-19 pandemic’s effects on schools and children, a woman identified as Annette said that “all the suffering, and pain, and death (caused by COVID)—that really didn’t have to be this way,” later adding, “We still at this time don’t have the necessary PPE (personal protective equipment).”
Later on, in a reel of “lifelong Republicans” who will be voting for Joe Biden, which aired after former Ohio governor John Kasich’s short address about voting for Biden as a Republican, a Wisconsinite named Debra said, “I have voted for and campaigned for Republicans since the Reagan years. But I won’t be voting for Donald Trump in November.” After a few others spoke, she said, “(Biden) will restore order and integrity to the executive branch.”
In another reel about what people want to have access to in America, a Wisconsinite named Anne S. said, “My American dream is to have an America where we have people in affordable housing,” and another Wisconsinite named Thelma S. said, “for every human being in this country to have access to quality healthcare and economic means to care for themselves and families.”
-Oren Oppenheim
8:30 p.m. Gwen Moore show love for Milwaukee and Kamala Harris – and brings the fire
U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore was ready for her close-up. Even if was brief.
Moore, one of the few speakers to speak live from Milwaukee during the first night of the Democratic National, fired up the audience with an impassioned speech praising her hometown and her fellow Democrats, especially vice presidential hopeful Kamala Harris.
“What better way to gather than all across America to nominate my beloved friend Joe Biden to be the 46th president of the United States of America, with my VIP VP nominee sista Kamala Harris by his side,” Moore said from the Wisconsin Center in downtown Milwaukee.
She also praised Milwaukee as the good land, and the “gathering place by the waters.”
“This is a city where blood was shed for labor rights, where a fugitive slave was freed from prison. Where women’s right to vote was first ratified,” Moore said. “But today we gather virtually. However, we gather unified in spirit, unified in our values and purpose to heal divisions, and together move the nation confidently into a prosperous, inclusive future.”
Moore’s speech fired up the virtual crowd, and won praise on Twitter from Democratic nominee Joe Biden and others.
-Mary Spicuzza
5:00 p.m.: Michelle Obama calls Joe Biden ‘a profoundly decent man’
Michelle Obama, in a clip of her Democratic National Convention remarks, describes Joe Biden as a “profoundly decent man” who can help the country recover.
“I know Joe. He is a profoundly decent man guided by faith. He was a terrific vice president,” says Obama, who will be a marquee speaker on Monday night. “He knows what it takes to rescue an economy, beat back a pandemic and lead our country.”
Obama also praises Biden as someone who “listens.”
“He will tell the truth, and trust science,” she says. “He will make smart plans and manage a good team and he will govern as someone who has lived a life that the rest of us can recognize.”
Democrats also released excerpts of comments from U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Mayor Muriel Bowser, former Ohio Gov. John Kasich and others.
“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 future of our economy is at stake. The future of our planet is at stake,” Sanders will say. “We must come together, defeat Donald Trump and elect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as our next president and vice president. My friends, the price of failure is just too great to imagine.”
-Mary Spicuzza
4:55 p.m.: Democratic leaders and health care advocates stress election’s importance
Democratic Party leaders and health care advocates highlighted the importance of the November election in the scope of health care at a virtual convention event Monday afternoon.
“I think we can all agree that America’s health and America’s healthcare is very much on the line and on the ballot this November,” said Leslie Dach, chairman of Protect Our Care, the health care advocacy group hosting the event.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra and former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, in the event live streamed to Facebook, all criticized the Trump administration for its lawsuit filed in late June aiming to overturn the Affordable Care Act.
Pelosi noted recent legislation passed in the House that would lower the price of prescription drugs and touted Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as the next leaders who will continue to add to the benefits of the Affordable Care Act.
Pelosi also called the recent discussion around the United States Postal Service “a health care issue.” She said many people rely on USPS to receive prescriptions and added that the Trump administration’s “assault” on the postal system will make people choose between their health and voting if they can’t vote by mail.
USPS has come under fire in recent weeks for what Democrats have called “sweeping and dangerous operational changes at the Postal Service that are slowing the mail and jeopardizing the integrity of the election.”
Becerra, a Democrat, pledged to fight the lawsuit seeking to repeal the Affordable Care Act in court and pointed out that more than 20 million people rely on the act for health care coverage. He said it “makes no sense” for the Trump administration to move to repeal ObamaCare when millions of people are out of work due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“This is not the time during a pandemic when so many people are losing their jobs and losing their insurance to go in the opposite direction,” Becerra said. “So we’re ready. We’re up for this fight.”
The event also featured personal stories from health care advocates about how the Affordable Care Act has positively impacted them.
Julie Buckholt, a Milwaukee resident, said she suffers from a neuromuscular disease that costs about $16,000 a week to treat. Her two daughters have the same condition.
She said her out-of-pocket costs were “astronomical” prior to the passage of the Affordable Care Act, which alleviated her financial stress.
“We were concerned about going bankrupt, and then the Affordable Care Act was passed and we were elated,” she said.
– Lawrence Andrea
2:30 p.m.: Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett says DNC has been ‘smooth’ so far
Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett on Monday said the DNC had gone smoothly so far, though he acknowledged the much smaller footprint of the downtown convention.
It’s smaller in size has meant that the security needs, too, have shrunk significantly.
While the city had originally planned on using a $50 million federal security grant, then estimated down to about $40 million, it now anticipates using only about $20 to $25 million, Barrett said Monday.
The cost reduction comes almost entirely from a decrease in the number of outside police officers coming to assist Milwaukee with the convention, given its reduced size and former Vice President Joe Biden not attending, he said.
He said he expects that the city will be reimbursed for its security costs and that the costs will not fall to property taxpayers.
The city still doesn’t know exactly what to expect in terms of demonstrations, he said.
He criticized President Donald Trump, saying Trump had not taken the pandemic seriously and that his handling of it has made the pandemic more serious than it had to be.
But Barrett said the city should still be proud that it landed the convention, beating out significant competition.
“Many people were saying, well, the city is too small, the city can’t handle it,” Barrett said. “But I think what we showed people was you bet we can handle this and everyone, everyone in our community … can stand proud that we won the competition to win this convention for our community.”
History will always show, Barrett said, that this was a special convention and that Biden was nominated hereto run for president on the Democratic Party ticket.
Barrett said he still hopes that the convention will be a “big plus” for Milwaukee in the long-run, saying people who came here for the first time because of the convention “fell in love with our city.”
– Alison Dirr
1:25 p.m.: Democratic National Committee Chair Tom Perez promises exciting convention
Democratic National Committee Chair Tom Perez promised an exciting convention during an afternoon press conference.
“It will be an exciting, albeit unconventional, convention,” he said.
He said there will be a diverse array of speakers over the course of the week, including many recognizable names and many “unsung heroes” across the country.
Those tuning in to the DNC each night will hear former Vice President Joe Biden, he said, adding that Biden’s plan to rebuild America begins with listening.
Perez said no one is sadder to not be visiting Milwaukee for the convention than Biden. He added that the “Tulsa model” is unsafe, a reference to President Donald Trump’s controversial rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Former Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain, who attended the rally, died after a battle with COVID-19, and Trump campaign staffers and members of the Secret Service self-quarantined after testing positive for the virus before the rally.
He said Trump didn’t cause the coronavirus pandemic but failed to get it under control.
“We need a Uniter-in-Chief, we need a Healer-in-Chief, we don’t need a Tweeter-in-Chief, we don’t need a Divider-in-Chief,” Perez said. “We need somebody who’s up to the task, somebody with the competence, with the experience, with the moral compass to get the job done.”
Perez also criticized the Wisconsin Supreme Court for striking down Gov. Tony Evers stay-at-home order aimed at preventing the spread of COVID-19.
Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chairman Ben Wikler said the Democratic Party takes the pandemic seriously.
“There is no greater contrast than the difference between a party that is holding a virtual convention in which no one is at risk of contracting coronavirus because they traveled to the place where the convention was happening versus a president, Donald Trump, who has buried his head in the sand, failed to lead and is now holding in-person campaign photo opp stunts,” Wikler said.
And, their comments hinted at optimism for the future:
“When the world gets back to normal and people are able to come back together again,” Joe Solmonese, chief executive officer of the 2020 Democratic National Convention, said. “This as a city that will do a beautiful job hosting a convention.”
– Alison Dirr and Mary Spicuzza
12:55 p.m.: President Donald Trump tells “Fox & Friends” Democrats will fail to unite at DNC
President Donald Trump on Monday told “Fox & Friends” that Democrats would not be able to unite around former Vice President Joe Biden at the DNC.
“They’re not going to unite because they can’t unite, they don’t know how to unite,” Trump said. “And also, (Sen. Bernie Sanders) is very unhappy but actually Biden went further left than Bernie wanted him to and Bernie is still unhappy.”
Trump is slated to speak in Oshkosh Monday afternoon.
– Alison Dirr
12:15 p.m.: UW-Madison College Democrats to feature Madison officials and Elizabeth Warren at online convention watch parties
The College Democrats of the University of Wisconsin-Madison are hosting a series of remote, online watch parties this week for the convention with a plethora of political guests.
On Tuesday night, the group will be joined by former state Senate District 26 candidate Nada Elmikashfi and Madison Ald. Max Prestigiacomo, who is also a UW-Madison student.
On Wednesday night, when Sen. Kamala Harris will be formally nominated as Vice President Joe Biden’s running mate, the group will be joined by a long list of political guests, including Elmikashfi, state Assembly members Shelia Stubbs and Lisa Subeck, and council members from Madison.
Finally, on Thursday night, the College Democrats said they will be joined by Senator and former Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.
– Oren Oppenheim
12 p.m. Monday night’s ‘We the People’ program to feature Americans taking on COVID-19, economic hardship and racial injustice
Monday’s “We the People”-themed program will feature Americans taking on COVID-19, economic hardship and racial injustice, the Democratic National Convention Committee announced.
Everyday Americans will read the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution before Convention Chair and U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson gavels in the 2020 convention.
A multicultural choir will perform the National Anthem virtually, and the singers will represent the 50 states as well as Washington D.C., the Cheyenne Nation, and Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Northern Mariana Islands.
A woman who lost her father to COVID-19 and health care workers confronting the pandemic will also speak.
The program, which runs from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. Central time, will also feature a conversation with former Vice President Joe Biden regarding racial justice and remarks from former 2020 Democratic presidential candidates.
– Alison Dirr
10 a.m. Republicans for Biden
Former Ohio Gov. John Kasich isn’t the only Republican appearing during tonight’s opening session of the 2020 Democratic National Convention.
Former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, Meg Whitman, the former CEO of Hewlett Packard who ran as a Republican for governor in California, and former U.S. Rep. Susan Molinari of New York, are also listed among the speakers.
U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Milwaukee, gets an early speaking slot.
Vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris is also due to appear in a segment with other presidential contenders explaining why they ran in 2020.
Others in the segment include Cory Booker, Kirsten Gillibrand, Jay Inslee, Amy Klobuchar, Seth Moulton, Beto O’Rourke, Tom Steyer and Andrew Yang.
Klobuchar and Bernie Sanders also get speaking slots.
Convention Chair Bennie Thompson will officially gavel in the convention after the reading of the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution.
– Bill Glauber
9:30 a.m.: Wisconsin AFL-CIO State Treasurer: Trump has ‘consistently gone after the people that we advocate for’
Dennis Delie, state treasurer for the Wisconsin AFL-CIO, on a press call Monday said he had “watched in horror” as Trump has “gone after the people that we advocate for nearly every day.”
“Every move this administration has made, including their failed response to the COVID-19 pandemic, has put working families under water and at risk,” he said.
Delie accused Trump of favoring wealthy donors and his “cronies” over working families and said Trump has cost hundreds of thousands of lives and millions of jobs.
“Now, as we struggle to put food on the table, … are forced to make a choice between a paycheck or our health, Donald Trump and his cronies want to insult us by parading around the state for a political photo opp that will endanger our communities and set us even further back on the path to saving lives and reviving our economy,” he said.
Delie was referencing the in-person visits to Wisconsin this week by Trump, his son, Eric, and Vice President Mike Pence.
The call was organized by the Democratic Party of Wisconsin and also included Sen. Tammy Baldwin and business owner Lynn Zawojski.
– Alison Dirr
8:30 a.m.: Wisconsin Democrats slam Trump on COVID-19 response
As the 2020 Democratic National Convention kicked off Monday, Wisconsin Democrats held a welcome breakfast in which they highlighted the state’s importance in November’s election and criticized President Donald Trump’s economic policies and his response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chairman Ben Wikler spoke to previous close elections in the state and said Democrats’ plan is to ensure that the upcoming election is not a close race between Biden and Trump.
And he criticized Trump’s handling of the pandemic.
“We are also gathered virtually because of a tragedy, an unfolding tragedy right now,” he said. “A tragedy, frankly, that we can lay at the feet of the president of the United States: Donald Trump’s failure to confront the coronavirus pandemic is the reason why the right and safe decision was to hold this convention virtually.”
The speeches were broadcast live online as part of the now largely virtual DNC.
Sen. Tammy Baldwin and others juxtaposed Democrats’ decision to hold a virtual convention during the pandemic with the in-person visits to the state this week by Trump, his son, Eric, and Vice President Mike Pence.
“The mismanagement and total, utter failure of leadership during a pandemic is laid out starkly and it’s why we’re responsibly holding our convention virtually,” she said. “But I think it’s also important to think about … turning the corner and building back, building back better.”
The pandemic, she said, has lifted a veil on systemic problems in the country, including systemic racism, the unequal economy and access to health care — problems that can be traced back, she said, to Trump and how he has “utterly failed to manage our economy and manage this pandemic.”
Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley said he would do everything in his power to ensure that Milwaukee, a Democratic stronghold, turns out to vote in November and to ensure that Trump does not win a second term.
And, he said, “we would love to be with you in person, but hopefully we’ll be back in four years right here in the state of Wisconsin.”
Other speakers included Gov. Tony Evers, Rep. Gwen Moore, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and Biden For President Wisconsin State Director Danielle Melfi
– Alison Dirr
8:27 a.m.: Eva Longoria, Tracee Ellis Ross, Kerry Washington and Julia Louis-Dreyfus are Democratic convention emcees
Four woman celebrities are emceeing the Democratic National Convention with two hours of live and pre-recorded material each night of the mostly virtual convention, the DNC announced Monday morning.
The actresses and activists hosting the convention are Eva Longoria, Tracee Ellis Ross, Kerry Washington and Julia Louis-Dreyfus.
The celebrity emcees will primarily broadcast out of a Los Angeles studio. Other stages are set in Milwaukee, where the convention was supposed to take place, New York and Wilmington, Delaware, where Democratic presidential-nominee Joe Biden will accept his nomination.
Music celebrity guests will perform during the DNC, including Leon Bridges, The Chicks, Common, Billie Eilish, Jennifer Hudson, John Legend, Billy Porter, Maggie Rodgers, Prince Royce, Stephen Stills and more.
The musical acts will be featured from 8 to 10 p.m. all four nights of the convention.
– Jordyn Noennig
7:05 a.m.: Andrea Mitchell talks conventions past and what’s lost for the 2020 DNC
A national party convention has a lot of fanfare that doesn’t say much about the contest it creates. The loss of balloon drops, celebrity cameos and hospitality suites from this year’s Democratic nominating event won’t upend the presidential race.
But also lost to the pandemic could be the breakout of the next rising star in Democratic politics and certainly fewer opportunities for the national spotlight to reveal how the candidates for president are resonating across the country through each state’s delegations.
“That’s how you get the flavor of the reaction to a speech. We will have no way of determining how (candidates) are going over with individual parts of the country,” said NBC News Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent and MSNBC anchor Andrea Mitchell in an interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “That’s a real loss, which there’s nothing we could do about.”
Mitchell, 73, has been covering foreign affairs and politics for more than 40 years. Never before has there been a national convention disrupted as this year’s nominating meetings, she said.
“There’s nothing that compares to this because it’s not going to happen,” Mitchell said. “We were so looking forward to being in Milwaukee. It’s a great city, and a great state, and I think a wonderful choice for the Democrats — such a strategic choice given the importance of Wisconsin.”
6:00 a.m.: Democrats launch ad calling Trump’s Wisconsin visit a health risk as president puts up ‘Where’s Joe?’ billboards
Democrats launched a cable TV ad Monday calling President Donald Trump’s visit to Wisconsin a political stunt that’s putting human lives at risk.
Not to be outdone, the president’s campaign put up digital billboards in Milwaukee mocking Joe Biden for not appearing in person at the Democratic National Convention that kicks off Monday. “Where’s Joe?” the billboards ask.
They’re the latest jabs from the two parties as they fight over Wisconsin, which Trump narrowly won in 2016.
The Democrats’ convention will be mostly virtual because of the coronavirus pandemic. Trump is emphasizing that he’s not afraid to campaign in the state by swooping into Oshkosh on Monday.
Read full story here
5:50 A.M. Milwaukee delegates kick off the DNC Sunday with hybrid live and virtual event on military spending
Milwaukee’s Democratic National Convention might not be what Wisconsin delegates had in mind but they kicked off the week with a partially in-person, partially virtual event Sunday afternoon aimed at reducing military spending.
A crowd of three dozen formed at the Peace Billboard at North 7th and West Wells streets that was erected in anticipation of a large convention in Milwaukee, and organizers informed volunteers to remain six feet apart.
“I know you love each other but please don’t reach out and touch each other,” one warned.
The coronavirus pandemic crushed Milwaukee’s hopes for a large-scale event, leaving delegates sitting at home, watching the events on television, as the national ticket accepts their nominations in Delaware. Delegate caucuses during the convention’s daytime schedule will be virtual.
“We can’t talk about it anymore or I’ll break down in tears,” said Chris Walton, Biden delegate and chair of the Democratic Party of Milwaukee County. “It just sucks.”
Read full story here
