Tim Walz is the American vice-presidential candidate . Evidently excited, the governor of Minnesota accepted the nomination at the Democratic convention in Chicago , introducing himself to Americans in his role as a teacher but also as a coach ("Coach Waltz" the delegates' signs read).
“We have the winning team, we have 76 days to play and we will score,” he said to applause. “ Kamala Harris is ready to lead the country, ” he added, not sparing any jabs at his rival JD Vance. “I grew up in a small town in Nebraska, there were 24 kids in my high school and none of them went to Yale,” he said, winning over the crowd with a combative speech .
Oprah Winfrey , the queen of the small screen, took a surprise stance. Admitting that she is registered to vote as an independent, Winfrey, in her first speech at a convention, attacked Republicans: "They want to scare us, they want to govern us, they make us believe that books are dangerous and assault rifles are safe, that there is a right way to worship and a wrong way to love, people who try to divide and then conquer. But here's the thing: When we are together, we are impossible to conquer," she said to applause from the audience.
Winfrey then launched her appeal to independents and undecided voters to vote for Harris and Walz .
The road to victory - Bill Clinton warned - is not easy and the Democrats must not give up. "We have seen several elections that we thought we had won slip away from us", he said, also referring to the defeat of his wife Hilary Clinton against Donald Trump. He did not use flattering words for the former president: he is a good actor, he jokes referring to his lies. "He keeps talking about Hannibal Lecter. I don't know what to say", he added. "The next time you hear him speak, don't count his lies, count how many times he says I. Always I, I, I. With Kamala, on the other hand, it's you, you, you. “We are ‘We The People,’” he said, noting that voting is a choice between ‘We The People’ and ‘me and myself.’ “Do you want to spend the next four years growing the economy or talking about how big the crowds are at your rallies?” the former president said, urging Americans to vote for Harris, who has “the experience, the character and the joy” to lead. She is “ the president of joy .”
Clinton also recalled the great work done by Joe Biden and compared him to George Washington for having "done something very difficult for a politician: voluntarily abandon power". Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, one of the key figures in the president's retreat, also thanked Biden , who in a short speech defined his administration as "one of the most successful" in recent history.
The party's two rising stars, Pete Buttigieg and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, are instead looking ahead.
The Secretary of Transportation attacked Trump and his vice president JD Vance. "Mike Pence was at least polite, he is a person who thinks that if you don't live life the way he says it doesn't matter," thundered Buttigieg. The former president "doesn't offer us freedom": he has "no limits and wants to take away our rights," "We are the party of freedom," added Shapiro, riding the key theme of the third night of the Democratic convention, the one on which Kamala Harris is betting most for her race to the White House.
Among the highlights of the evening were the screening of images of the assault on the Capitol by Trump fans and the appeal by Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg, the parents of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, kidnapped by Hamas on October 7 during the Nova festival : "The release of the hostages is not political, it is a humanitarian issue," said the hostage's father, thanking Joe Biden and Kamala Harris for their work on the truce in Gaza. "We need a ceasefire to free the hostages and put an end to the suffering of the Palestinians," he added. The crowd at the United Center began chanting "free them all!", and the 23-year-old's mother collapsed on the lectern.
(Online Union)