By Steve Holland and Trevor Hunnicutt
CHICAGO (Reuters) -President Joe Biden, forced by his allies to abandon his reelection bid a month ago, took center stage on opening night of the Democratic National Convention, aware that his party has swiftly moved on without him.
Wiping away multiple tears after being introduced by his daughter Ashley and waving to a crowd that gave him an extended standing ovation, a smiling Biden said: “I love you.”
Instead of his hoped-for high-profile speech on Thursday to accept the Democratic nomination for another four-year term, Biden was the main event at the start of the Chicago convention on Monday before traveling to California for a vacation.
In his speech, Biden was expected to tout his accomplishments – boosting the U.S. economy and strengthening U.S. alliances abroad – and make the case for Americans to elect his vice president, Kamala Harris, as his White House successor.
Earlier in the evening, Harris made a surprise appearance, drawing cheers from the crowd as she vowed to defeat her Republican rival Donald Trump, 78, in the Nov. 5 election. Harris, 59, will formally accept the nomination on Thursday.
“Let us fight for the ideals we hold dear and let us always remember, when we fight we win!” Harris said to the roar of the crowd.
Biden’s reluctant decision to step aside on July 21 came after heavy pressure from party leaders who worried the 81-year-old incumbent was too old to win or serve another four years.
Biden, who served as No. 2 to the nation’s first Black president, Barack Obama, has urged Democrats to unite behind a candidate who, if triumphant, would become the first woman, who is also Black and South Asian, to be elected U.S. president.
The party’s chances of winning have improved dramatically with Harris’ candidacy, based on opinion polls, fundraising and the sizable crowds she has attracted.
During a walkthrough of the convention center earlier on Monday, Biden was asked if it was a bittersweet moment for him.
“It is a memorable moment,” he told reporters.
In his address, Biden planned to portray Trump as a threat to American democracy while touting the achievements of the Biden-Harris administration.
HILLARY CLINTON DRAWS A STANDING OVATION
Democrats also cheered their failed 2016 presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton, whose loss to Trump in 2016 dashed hopes of installing the first woman in the White House.
Clinton, who became the first woman to secure a major U.S. party’s presidential nomination, drew a standing ovation as she took the stage on Monday.
“The story of my life and the history of our country is that progress is possible, but not guaranteed,” said Clinton, who also lost her bid for the 2008 nomination to Obama.
She praised Biden for bringing decency, dignity and competency to the White House.
“And now, we are writing a new chapter in America’s story,” Clinton said. “Kamala has the character, experience and vision to lead us forward.”
Clinton took several shots at her former nemesis. “Donald Trump fell asleep at his own trial, and when he woke up, he made his own kind of history, the first person to run for president with 34 felony convictions,” she said to laughter.
While Democrats gathered for their national nominating convention, thousands of protesters assembled at a nearby park to pressure delegates to drop the party’s military support for Israel’s Gaza offensive.
The pro-Palestinian protesters were fewer than the tens of thousands that organizers had predicted, but a splinter group left the main march and breached a security perimeter near the convention center, drawing riot police who detained four people.
HARRIS CHALLENGES TRUMP
Harris is riding a historic whirlwind into the convention: her campaign has broken fundraising records, packed arenas with supporters, and turned opinion polls in some battleground states in Democrats’ favor.
Harris’ vice presidential running mate, popular Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, was greeted with chants of “We’re not going back” on Monday when he met with groups of delegates.
One prominent backer, however, cautioned fellow Democrats not to be too optimistic. “Our numbers are much less rosy than what you’re seeing in public,” said Chauncey McLean, who heads Future Forward, a committee that has raised hundreds of millions of dollars to help elect Harris.
Biden dropped his reelection bid after his disastrous debate performance against Trump on June 27 prompted longtime allies, major donors and other party supporters to demand he step aside.
Polls a month ago showed Trump with a clear lead over Biden, but Harris has closed the gap both nationally and in many of the highly competitive states, including Pennsylvania, that will play a decisive role in the election.
(Reporting by Doina Chiacu, Andrea Shalal, Bianca Flowers, Trevor Hunnicutt, Jeff Mason and Nandita Bose in Chicago; additional reporting by Kanishka Singh, Steve Holland, Nathan Layne and Gram Slattery; Writing by Andy Sullivan and Doina Chiacu; Editing by Heather Timmons and Howard Goller)
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