U.S. Democrats at their virtual national convention formally nominated Joe Biden on Tuesday as their presidential candidate in the November election.
Delegates from around the country cast votes remotely to confirm Biden as the nominee.
Biden won over 3,000 votes, surpassing the required 2,374 delegates needed to formally become the nominee.
He is expected to formally accept the nomination in a speech Thursday.
The nomination came in the wake of speeches by former U.S. presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, who argued that Joe Biden has the experience and integrity to restore a pandemic-devastated America,
The convention’s second night, under the theme “Leadership Matters,” aimed to make the case that Biden would represent a return to normalcy after the “chaos” of Republican President Donald Trump’s administration, as Clinton put it.
“At a time like this, the Oval Office should be a command centre,” he said in a prerecorded video.
“Instead, it’s a storm centre. There’s only chaos. Just one thing never changes – his determination to deny responsibility and shift the blame.”
As they did on Monday’s opening night, Democrats featured a handful of Republicans who have crossed party lines to praise Biden, 77, over Trump, 74, ahead of the Nov. 3 election.
Jill Biden was set to deliver the headline speech later in the evening, arguing that her husband’s capacity for empathy will help him offer solace to a battered nation. Former Secretary of State John Kerry was also due to speak.
The program started by showcasing some of the party’s rising politicians. But rather than a single keynote speech that could be a star-making turn, as it was for then-state Senator Barack Obama in 2004, the program featured 17 stars in a video address, including Stacey Abrams, the one-time Georgia gubernatorial nominee whom Biden once considered for a running mate.
“America faces a triple threat: a public health catastrophe, and economic collapse and a reckoning with racial justice and inequality,” Abrams said. “So our choice is clear: a steady experienced public servant who can lead us out of this crisis just like he’s done before, or a man who only knows how to deny and distract.”
Sally Yates, the former acting U.S. attorney general whom Trump fired for refusing to defend his travel ban on several Muslim-majority countries, castigated Trump as corrupt.
“From the moment President Trump took office, he’s used his position to benefit himself, rather than our country,” she said. “He’s even trying to sabotage our postal service to keep people from being able to vote.”
Biden was scheduled to give his acceptance speech on Thursday.
His vice presidential pick, Senator Kamala Harris, will headline Wednesday night’s program along with Obama.
