CHICAGO (AP) — President Joe Biden delivered his valedictory address to the Democratic National Convention on Monday night, saying, "I gave my best to you" and basking in a long ovation that reflected the energy released by his decision to cede the stage to Vice President Kamala Harris.
Biden, 81, received a hero's welcome weeks after many in his party were pressuring him to drop his bid for reelection. One month after an unprecedented mid-campaign switch, the opening night of the convention in Chicago was designed to give a graceful exit to the incumbent president and slingshot Harris toward a faceoff with Republican Donald Trump, whose comeback bid for the White House is viewed by Democrats as an existential threat.
On Monday, Biden insisted he did not harbor any ill will about the impending end of his tenure — despite reports to the contrary — and called on the party to unite around Harris.
"I made a lot of mistakes in my career, but I gave my best to you," Biden said.
Speaking clearly and energetically, Biden relished the chance to defend his record, advocate for his vice president and go on the attack against Trump. His delivery was more reminiscent of the Biden who won in 2020 than the mumbling and sometimes incoherent one-time candidate whose debate performance sparked the downfall of his reelection campaign.
Visibly emotional when he took the stage, Biden was greeted by a more than four-minute-long ovation and chants of "Thank you Joe."
"America, I love you," he replied.
He called his selection of Harris as his running mate four years ago "the very first decision I made when I became our nominee, and it was the best decision I made my whole career."
"She's tough, she's experienced and she has enormous integrity, enormous integrity," he said. "Her story represents the best American story."
"And like many of our best presidents," he added in a nod to his own career, "she was also vice president."
Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff came out after his address to embrace him and his family.
"Joe, thank you for your historic leadership, for your lifetime of service to our nation, and for all you'll continue to do," she said earlier in the evening. "We are forever grateful to you."
The president touted his proudest accomplishments
Biden's speech, billed as the marquee event of the evening, was pushed into late night as the convention program lagged more than an hour behind schedule. The delay led convention organizers to cancel a performance from legendary musician James Taylor.
He celebrated the successes from his administration, including a massive boost in infrastructure spending and a cap on the price of insulin. The spending resulted in more money going to Republican-leaning states than Democratic states, he said, because "the job of the president is to deliver for all of America."
The president recalled the 2017 "unite the right" rally, when torch-carrying white supremacists marched in Charlottesville, Virginia, an episode he cites as cementing his decision to run for president in 2020 despite his ongoing grief over the death of his son Beau Biden.
First lady Jill Biden alluded to her husband's wrenching decision to leave the race in her remarks minutes before Biden took the stage. She said she fell in love with him all over again "just weeks ago, when I saw him dig deep into his soul and decide to no longer seek reelection and endorse Kamala Harris."
Monday's speakers tried to boost both Biden and Harris
A long list of high-profile speakers tried to connect both Biden and Harris to what the party sees as the governing pair's most popular accomplishments.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who was greeted with prolonged applause, saluted Harris while noting her potential to break the "highest, hardest glass ceiling" to become America's first female president. Clinton was the Democratic nominee in 2016, but she lost that election to Trump.
"Together, we've put a lot of cracks in the highest, hardest glass ceiling," Clinton said, invoking a metaphor she referenced in her concession speech eight years ago. "On the other side of that glass ceiling is Kamala Harris taking the oath of office as our 47th president of the United States. When a barrier falls for one of us, it clears the way for all of us."
Clinton also saluted Biden for stepping aside, saying, "Now we are writing a new chapter in America's story."
Highlighting the party's generational reach, Clinton, 76, followed New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, 34, who endorsed Harris while delivering the first mention of the war in Gaza from the convention stage, addressing an issue that has split the party's base ever since Hamas' Oct. 7 attack and Israel's resulting offensive.
Biden tells antiwar protesters they 'have a point'
Outside the arena, thousands of protesters descended on Chicago to decry the Biden-Harris administration's support for the Israeli war effort.
Israel's counterattack in Gaza after more than 1,200 were killed and about 250 taken hostage on Oct. 7 has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. Pro-Palestinian activists held a panel earlier Monday in which they discussed the plight of Gaza, in what organizers called a first for the DNC.
A couple of protesters from the Abandon Biden movement unfurled a protest sign late Monday that read, "STOP ARMING ISRAEL" a few minutes after Biden began his speech.
The sign was quickly wrestled away from the protesters and the lights in that section of the convention were turned off. Others in the hall responded to the protest by chanting "We love Joe" and holding up their banners in support of the president.
Biden acknowledged the protests as he spoke, saying, "Those protesters out in the street have a point. A lot of innocent people are being killed on both sides." He reiterated his push to get Israel and Hamas to agree to a cease-fire deal that would also see the release of hostages taken by Hamas on Oct. 7.
Democrats presented a giant version of 'Project 2025'
Meanwhile, Democrats also looked to keep the focus on Trump, whose criminal convictions they mocked and who they asserted was only fighting for himself, rather than "for the people" — the night's official theme.
Michigan State Sen. Mallory McMorrow hoisted an oversized copy of "Project 2025" — a blueprint for a second Trump term that was put together by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank — onto the lectern and quoted from portions of it.
Democrats kept abortion access front and center for voters, betting that the issue will propel them to success as it has in other key races since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade two years ago. Speakers Monday included women whose healthcare suffered as a result of that decision, and one woman who was raped and became pregnant by her stepfather attacked Trump for trying to roll back access to abortion. The convention program included a video of Trump praising his own role in getting Roe struck down.
The convention program also honored the civil rights movement, with an appearance from the Rev. Jesse Jackson, the founder of the Chicago-based Rainbow PUSH Coalition, who is ailing with Parkinson's disease. There were several references to Fannie Lou Hamer, the late civil rights activist who gave a landmark speech at a Democratic convention in 1964.
Hamer was a former sharecropper and a leader of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, a racially integrated group that challenged the seating of an all-white Mississippi delegation at the 1964 Democratic National Convention. Hamer spoke on Aug. 22, 1964 — exactly 60 years before Harris is set to accept the Democratic nomination and become the first Black woman and first person of South Asian descent to be the presidential nominee of a major party.
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Associated Press writers Will Weissert and Josh Boak in Chicago, Ali Swenson and Michelle L. Price in New York and Chris Megerian in Washington contributed to this report.