DNC 2024 Day 1 live updates: What time does Joe Biden speak tonight?

Protesters have broken through a fence set up by police near the site of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) on its opening day in Chicago, Illinois, as thousands took to the streets to voice their opposition to the war in Gaza.

Footage online showed a few dozen people breaking away from a larger march, and taking down pieces of the erected security fence.

The protests happened on Monday, ahead of an address by Joe Biden, who has previously been the target of intense criticism from pro-Palestinian groups, including the marchers.

Rep Robert Garcia said on Monday night that both his mom and stepfather died of Covid-19.

“That summer of 2020 my mom and my stepfather both died of the Covid pandemic, and I miss them every single day,” he said. “So when Donald Trump and his Maga extremists like Marjorie Taylor Greene downplayed the horror of the pandemic, it should make us all furious.”

It’s interesting that we’re opening with Covid-19.

The 2020 DNC was mostly virtual and remote. And the first significant lines of attack against Donald Trump are on his bogus claims surrounding the crisis, his response failures and statements downplaying the crisis.

“Our communities were suffering, our economy was struggling, and Donald Trump was playing games,” Peggy Flanagan said in remarks before a supercut of Trump’s statements from 2020.

Democrats held a ceremonial vote for Governor Tim Walz to be the vice presidential nominee on Monday night.

Harris was officially certified as the Democratic nominee during a virtual vote earlier this month before she chose Walz but Democratic party rules don’t require another vote to be held to choose the vice presidential nominee.

Minnesota Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan praised Walz.

“For almost six years, I’ve worked side by side with Governor Walz. I’ve seen how hard he’s worked to for Minnesota to be the best place for kids to grow up. He does it all with a big heart,” she said.

Under the succession plan laid out by the state’s constitution, Minnesota’s Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan would ascend to the governor’s office, if Harris-Walz defeats Donald Trump and his running mate JD Vance in 2024.

Flanagan — a citizen of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe — would also become the state’s first-ever female governor. She spoke at the DNC on Monday night.

She is already the highest-ranking Indigenous woman in statewide elected office and is the first to lead the Democratic Lieutenant Governors Association.

No, the DNC is not “empty” as many on social media have been claiming as the convention is getting underway.

The arena won’t be full for a few hours. It takes time to get everyone through checkpoints, plus President Biden and Dr Biden won’t speak for a few hours.

You can expect a packed house for both Bidens when they take to the stage later this evening.

Reverend Jesse Jackson was brought on stage in a wheelchair to an emotional response from the audience at the DNC, who started a chant of “Jesse! Jesse! Jesse!”

The DNC praised Black trailblazers in their party, such as Jackson and the late US Representative Shirley Chisholm, who was the first Black woman elected to Congress and in 1972 became the first Black candidate for the presidential nomination of a major party. She was also the first woman to run for the Democratic nomination.