By Ted O’Neil | The Center Square
Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden and his running mate Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., watch fireworks during the fourth day of the Democratic National Convention, Thursday, Aug. 20, 2020, at the Chase Center in Wilmington, Del.
Former Vice President Joe Biden accepted his party’s presidential nomination Thursday night during the final evening of the Democratic National Committee’s virtual convention, saying that “as a proud Democrat” his acceptance is with “great honor and humility” but that he would serve as “a dedicated American president” who would represent everyone.
This is Biden’s third time running for president, having formerly participated in the primary process in 1988 and 2008. He served as a U.S. senator from Delaware from 1973 to 2009 and declared his latest candidacy in April 2019.
During his 35-minute acceptance speech, Biden said that his presidency would “overcome a season of darkness in America” created by President Donald Trump by addressing four main concerns – the current coronavirus pandemic, the economy, racial injustice and the environment.
Biden also noted that he would push to raise taxes, fix education, ease immigration restrictions and increase union membership.
Biden eventually won the nomination from a field of more than two dozen hopefuls and last week named former candidate U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris of California as his running mate. Harris during the primary season was often critical of Biden’s opposition in the 1970s to mandatory federal busing to integrate inner-city schools.
Several former 2020 Democratic primary rivals of Biden’s also spoke in support of him, including U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota U.S. Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, and former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, with Sanders calling this year’s election “the most important of the modern era.”
In a lead-in to Thursday night’s convention finale, CNN aired several DNC commercial videos that detailed Biden’s public service career, including his dedication as President Barack Obama’s vice president in the federal government’s continued fight to find a cure for cancer. Biden’s son Beau, a former attorney general for the state of Delaware, died of brain cancer in 2015.
Thursday’s virtual convention was hosted by actress and comedian Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who served jokes about Trump between interviews with various politicians and celebrities. Jon Meacham, a Pulitzer Prize winning author and historian, claimed that voting for Biden would “save” the soul of America.
Another DNC commercial video aired on CNN attempted to claim that Trump was attempting to rig the election by “sabotaging” the United States Postal Service. The term “Text Vote to 30330” was used several times, but without clearly explaining that it leads to a Biden campaign system while saying it would provide information about registering to vote and how to vote by mail.
Biden was nominated on Tuesday night with speeches featuring former Democratic Presidents Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, as well as former Gen. Colin Powell, who served as secretary of state under Republican President George W. Bush.
The Republican National Committee’s virtual convention will be held next week.
