Democrats claim “big tent” for convention,
NEW YORK — The family of George Floyd, the Minnesota man whose death sparked a national awakening on racial injustice, led a moment of silence Monday night in the early moments of the Democratic National Convention.
One of Floyd’s brothers, Philonise, stood alongside another brother, Rodney, and praised the sweeping protests that followed their brother’s death.
“People of all races, all ages, all genders, all backgrounds, peacefully protesting in the name of love and unity is a fitting legacy for our brother,” he said. “George should be alive today.”
The early focus on racial equity came as Joe Biden introduced the breadth of his coalition to a divided America on Monday night, progressive Democrats joining conservative Republicans and a billionaire CEO to deliver an urgent appeal for voters to unite against President Donald Trump regardless of political ideology or party.
Former first lady Michelle Obama vouched for Biden’s empathy and experience, while the extraordinary ideological range of Biden’s many messengers on the opening night of the 2020 Democratic National Convention was perhaps best demonstrated by former presidential contenders from opposing parties: Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist who championed a multi-trillion-dollar universal health care plan, and Ohio’s former Republican Gov. John
Kasich, an anti-abortion conservative who spent decades fighting to cut government spending.
“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 declared.
Kasich said his status as a lifelong Republican “holds second place to my responsibility to my country.”
“In normal times, something like this would probably never happen, but these are not normal times,” he said of his participation at the Democrats’ convention. He added: “We can do better than what we’ve been seeing today, for sure.”
The unified message, outlined in excerpts of prerecorded speeches, came as Democrats launched the first presidential nominating convention of the coronavirus era. The all-virtual affair was the first without a central meeting place or cheering throngs. And there were real questions about whether the prime-time event would adequately energize the disparate factions Biden hopes to capture.
Republicans face a similar challenge next week.
Trump sought to undermine the Democrats’ big night by hosting a political rally in Wisconsin, where Biden’s party had originally planned this week’s convention. He called the Democrats’ event “a snooze” before it even began.
“You know when you hear a speech is taped, it’s like there is nothing very exciting about it, right?” he said.
Democrats abandoned their plans for an in-person gathering in Milwaukee because of the pandemic. The unprecedented gathering is not only testing the bonds of the diverse BidenKamala Harris coalition but the practical challenges of running a presidential campaign in the midst of a pandemic.
Among a series of national crises, speakers planned to address bipartisan concerns that Postal Service changes will make it hard for voters to be sure their mail-in ballots are received in time and counted. Ballot access is a particular concern for people of color, whose communities were disproportionately forced to wait in long lines to cast primary votes earlier in the year.