Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com

By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor, associate publisher-August 19, 2024

CHICAGO, Illinois-After quitting the presidential race last month, President Joe Biden highlighted the opening night of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) Monday in Chicago, Illinois, and handed the baton to Vice President Kamala Harris, who will accept her party's nomination for president Thursday night.

Harris will face Republican presidential nominee and former president Donald Trump for the Nov. 5 presidential election.

When he finally took to the stage for a prolonged speech Biden said that Harris "will serve as the 47th president of the United States."

Ohioans who were there include Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb, Cuyahoga County Councilwoman Meridith Turner and Ohio Sen. Nickie Antonio, who did not appear on stage. Bibb and Antonio, however, spoke at the DNC breakfast Monday morning, Bibb a Black mayor and the city's second youngest mayor, and Antonio the Democratic minority leader of the Ohio Senate.In a special and touching segment, convention officials saluted the critically ill Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr., a Civil Rights icon who marched with the Rev Martin Luther KIng Jr. and the first Black man to seek the presidency.

Hillary Clinton and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden also spoke on Monday with former president Barack Obama, Michelle Obama and vice presidential nominee Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz among the prominent Democratic headliners for the remaining days of the four-day, televised convention.

Clinton spoke on breaking the glass ceiling and getting Harris elected as the first female president.

Jill Biden was well-received by the convention crowd of thousands as she lauded her husband's accomplishments and those of Harris. Her daughter with President Biden, Ashley Biden, followed her in speaking and talked about what it is like to be the daughter of a president of her father's stature. She then introduced her father, President Biden, and to rousing applause and a standing ovation as Biden took to the stage.

Both Harris and Walsh, who will accept the nomination for vice president Wednesday night, were in attendance on Monday with their spouses by their sides.

Barack Obama will speak Tuesday night, as will former first lady Michelle Obama, the nation's first Black, female first lady.

President Biden gave a coherent and energetic speech ripe with sharp criticisms of Trump and said progress was and remains possible under Harris' leadership. And he spoke at length on his and the Biden-Harris policies, and called Trump weird, and "a loser." He said that when Trump was president "he killed the first bipartisan, comprehensive border bill," and he blamed Trump for a Supreme Court that overturned Roe v Wade in 2022 and stripped women of their reproductive freedoms.

Biden withdrew last month as the presumptive nominee for president for the Democratic Party and urged Democrats to support Vice President Kamala Harris in his place, changing the political landscape as the Nov. 5, 2024 presidential election nears and handing former President Donald Trump a vibrant Black woman to compete against. Polls have her leading by some three percentage points as the Dems' convention gets underway in Obama's town of Chicago, the city that catapulted him from a south side community organizer and junior U.S. senator to president of the United States of America, America's first Black president in fact, and a two-term president.

President Biden's decision to withdraw from the race came following mounting pressure from congressional and other Democrats after his poor performance in the June 27 first presidential debate showed signs of his deteriorating mental acuity and he came down with COVID-19.

“It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your president. And while it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term,” Biden wrote on his X account.

Democrats quickly convinced campaign donors and voters to switch gears and back Harris, 59 and the country's first Black and first female vice president.

If she wins the November election that she and her fellow Democrats have deemed historic and the most important election in the country's history, Kamala Harris will become the nation's first Black and first female president.

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, the most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog in Ohio and in the Midwest. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview. CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWs.COM