DNC 2024 live updates: Harris to give high-stakes acceptance speech as Democratic nominee

Rep. Colin Allred, D-Texas, the former NFL linebacker who is seeking to oust Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, slammed trump as a "me guy" who cares only about himself — and "you don't want to be stuck with him at a barbecue."

"The truth is, America has never been about 'me.' As President Obama said, the single most powerful word in our democracy is the word 'we.' 'We shall overcome.' 'Yes, we can.' And we've got a message for the 'me' guys — 'we' is more powerful than 'me,'" Allred told the crowd.

Allred, 41, a civil rights attorney who once played for the Tennessee Titans, presents himself to voters as a bipartisan pragmatist. In campaign ads, he has highlighted his work with the GOP on veterans’ issues and trade with Mexico.

Shomari Figures, the Democratic nominee in Alabama's 2nd Congressional District, told attendees: "What we can do is ensure that the work of those fighters who came before us continues and that our sacred right to vote is always protected. Kamala Harris gets this. She's working to protect our freedoms every single day."

He also quoted rapper Kendrick Lamar, telling the arena: "A California poet named Kendrick Lamar recently reminded us that sometimes we got to 'pop out and show up.' Well, America, it's time we pop out and vote." 

A TikToker and a world-famous TV anchor walked into an elevator together at the Democratic National Convention — and Wolf Blitzer wasn’t the one who got recognized.

“Hey, I know you,” the woman operating the elevator said. Vitus Spehar, who goes by @UnderTheDeskNews on TikTok, looked to Blitzer, the CNN anchor, before realizing the woman was talking to them.

“I thought that was pretty great,” said Spehar, who has 3.1 million followers on TikTok. “I’ll be with an anchor or politician or something and people are like, ‘UnderTheDeskNews!’ I think that’s so fun.”

Read the full story here.

Rep. Maxwell Frost, D-Fla., the first Gen Z member of Congress, said he was here to tell everyone that the climate crisis isn't some "far-off threat."

"It is here. Donald trump and JD Vance think they can divide us by saying this is some type of hoax, but I’ve walked the streets of communities that have been forced to rebuild after hurricane flooding destroyed their homes," Frost said.

He said that Harris and Biden have tackled the crisis and that fighting it is "patriotic."

"Unlike Donald trump, our patriotism is more than some damn slogan on a hat. It’s about actually giving a damn about the people who live in this country," he said. "Because when you love somebody, you want them to have clean air. When you love somebody, you want them to have safe drinking water, and when you love somebody, you want them to have a dignified job. And so, America, it’s simple. Let’s get to work and elect Kamala Harris and Tim Walz for our planet."

Golden State Warriors guard Steph Curry appeared via video wearing his Olympic gold medal and praised Harris, a fellow Californian.

"What a great honor it was represent Team USA and go out there and win that gold medal [at the] Olympics this summer," he said. "And that unity on and off the court reminded us all that together, we can do all things and continue to inspire the world."

"That's why I believe that Kamala as president could bring that unity back and continue to move our country forward," he said. "This is about preserving hope and belief in our country."

Police officers on bicycles have lined up on the sidewalk at the transit station at Damen Avenue, the site of a confrontation between a woman and police during yesterday's march.

During yesterday’s protest, a woman threw a water bottle at a police officer and unsuccessfully tried to flee into a waiting train car on the elevated tracks.

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland blasted trump, who she suggested had little regard for climate science or policies to protect the environment.

Haaland referred to her Native American heritage and her early memories of learning to care for the natural world as a child.

"While fishing with my dad and running through the desert with my cousins, I learned that we have a responsibility to take care of our planet," she said. "Donald trump never learned that lesson."

Content creator John Russell, of Wheeling, West Virginia, spoke tonight in support of clean energy and criticized trump over his record on the issue.

"Across the country, working-class people are looking for a political home after years of both parties putting profit above people," he said. "Now trump, a billionaire, says that he'll take on the elites, but then he promises handouts to big oil. And he punches down at anyone with the guts to be different."

Harris is expected to say her path to the nomination was "no doubt unexpected. But I’m no stranger to unlikely journeys," according to pre-released excerpts of her speech tonight.

She also plans to speak with gratitude about her mother and the neighborhood where she grew up, which was a "beautiful working-class neighborhood of firefighters, nurses and construction workers, all who tended their lawns with pride."

Later in her remarks, she plans to echo the point, saying, “We know a strong middle class has always been critical to America’s success. And building that middle class will be a defining goal of my presidency. This is personal for me. The middle class is where I come from."

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey, the state's first female and first LGBTQ governor, told the crowd that a Harris administration would advocate for vulnerable people across the country who have been exploited by "abusers and bullies."

Healey pointed to Harris' work as San Francisco district attorney when she fought for justice for the parents of children who had been murdered.

"Kamala Harris fights for all Americas. She stays on offense, and she wins," Healey said, later adding: "The contrast between Donald trump and Kamala Harris is clear. He obstructs justice. She upholds it. He swindles people. She serves them. He thinks he's above the law. She actually understands the law."

Healey was elected to the Massachusetts Governor's Mansion in 2022, defeating Republican Geoff Diehl, a state lawmaker. She was previously the state's attorney general.

Georgia state Rep. Ruwa Romman, the first Muslim and first Palestinian American woman elected to the Georgia Legislature, tonight read an emotional speech she would have delivered on the convention stage had she been invited.

Romann spoke at a news conference after the Uncommitted National Movement gave the Democratic National Committee a deadline of 7 p.m. ET to respond to its request to give a Palestinian American speaker five minutes of stage time at the convention tonight.

“The reality is that me, as a Palestinian elected official, I have had to walk a fine line between the grief that I have felt over my people being mass murdered and the fact that I understand the threats that exist in our society that are now looming ever larger,” Romann said.

Protesters have stopped near Park #578 — which is within sight and sound of the United Center — for several minutes to chant.

“We have nothing to lose, we have nothing to lose,” they yelled. After stopping for about five minutes, the protesters continued on their route.

A group of speakers spoke onstage about Harris' work as a prosecutor and said she fought for students, homeowners and people who have been sexually assaulted.

Amy Resner, a former prosecutor and friend of Harris', said that for Harris, "practicing law was always about protecting the vulnerable and giving the victims a voice, women who were sexually assaulted, children who were mistreated and sexually abused. She helped them navigate their nightmares and demand justice for their injuries."

California resident Courtney Baldwin shared a deeply personal story about being a survivor of sex trafficking in 2013.

As state attorney general, Harris helped take down a website on which Baldwin and other victims were bought and sold like merchandise.

"During those dark moments, I held on to hope that one day I'd be seen as more than a victim, that I could pursue my dreams and that my trafficker will be held to justice," she said. "I didn't know it yet, but waiting for me on the other side were people who were fighting for survivors. One of them was Kamala Harris."

"The Exonerated Five," also known as "the Central Park Five," highlighted how trump once called for them to be put to death and has not apologized for his comments.

Yusef Salaam, who is now a member of the New York City Council, said trump "never changed, and he never will."

"That man thinks that hate is the animating force in America," he said. "It is not."

The Rev. Al Sharpton addressed the convention tonight before he welcomed four members of the "Central Park Five" to the stage.

Sharpton, an MSNBC host, accused trump of "fan[ning] racial flames" in 1989, when he spent thousands of dollars urging New York to execute five men convicted of raping a woman in Central Park. All five convictions were vacated in 2002, but in 2019 trump maintained his earlier position.

After he attacked trump, Sharpton praised Harris. "On the other side is a woman that I’ve walked with in Selma, Alabama, to commemorate the 59th anniversary of Bloody Sunday. Kamala Harris spoke to me that day about unity," he said.

Sharpton also referred to trump's "Black jobs" comment at the June presidential debate, saying trump "sat right here in Chicago a few weeks ago refusing to apologize for claims that migrants were taking Black jobs. Well, in November, we're going to show him when Blacks do their job."

Dozens of police officers in riot gear have lined up on each intersection of the march route that has a view of the United Center, the site of the convention’s official proceedings tonight.

Like previous march routes on Monday and Wednesday, demonstators are marching by Park #578, the so-called First Amendment zone that was the site of some protesters on Monday tearing down security fencing.

As the march walked by that park Thursday night, they remained in motion as they chanted, continuing along their route.

Dozens of police officers in riot gear had lined up near one of the entrances into the park.

So far, the only moment of tension occurred after a sole counterprotester waved a large American flag and jumped in front of the parade line.

For at least the fourth consecutive night, Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling is on site for the day's major protest.

His continued presence underscores his direct and personal involvement in policing during the convention, where robust protests have occurred every day since Sunday.

The DJ at the convention just played Taylor Swift's "Shake it Off," stoking rumors that Swift could make a guest cameo.

Many people are speculating Swift could make a surprise appearance tonight.

Rep. Pat Ryan, D-N.Y., a veteran, recounted welcoming Harris at his alma mater, the U.S. Military Academy West Point, when she delivered the commencement address last year.

Leaning into his military background, Ryan drew a contrast between Harris and trump, who he said had violated an honor code that he had learned as a cadet at West Point.

"There's a candidate who has violated every word in that code: a serial liar, cheater, thief," Ryan said.

Rep. Pat Ryan, D-N.Y., who is navigating his re-election in New York's competitive 18th Congressional District, landed a coveted speaking slot on the final night of the convention as he aims to keep his seat this fall.

Before his remarks in Chicago this evening, he said the shake-up at the top of the ticket had fired up his race.

"It’s hard to put into words how impactful the change at the top of the ticket has been in a positive way," Ryan told NBC News. "I mean, it’s just like pouring jet fuel into a jet engine and it taking off. I’ve not ever seen anything like it with a surge of volunteers, a surge of financial support, a surge of optimism and hope at a conversational level with folks."

In her remarks tonight, Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., spoke about national security and what she said is at stake this election.

"Do not give an inch to pretenders who wrap themselves in the flag but spit in the face of freedoms it represents," she said.

Slotkin, the Democratic Senate candidate in Michigan, said that the CIA recruited her after 9/11 and that she took part in three tours in Iraq alongside the military. She also worked at the White House for presidents of both parties.

"I want to talk tonight about national security, because the choice in November is stark: America retreating from the world or leading the world," she said. "trump wants to take us backwards. He admires dictators a lot. He treats our friends as adversaries and our adversaries as friends. But our vision is based on our values, the values that took us to the shores of Normandy and helped us win the Cold War."

Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, posted on X, joking that he's also not appearing at the DNC. Romney, a vocal critic of trump, skipped the Republican convention and in December said he wouldn't rule out voting for Biden.

"Contrary to fake news posts, I am not the surprise guest at the DNC tonight," he wrote. "My guess is that it will be Beyoncé or Taylor Swift. So disappointing, I know!

Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., who served in the Army from 2002 to 2006, said Project 2025 would be a national security disaster for the country.

The policies outlined in the book would "abandon our veterans, our allies and our principles," he told the convention. In chapter four, Crow said, "trump plans to do Putin's bidding" by walking away from NATO, slashing the budget for the Department of Veterans Affairs and firing national security and military professionals.

"As a paratrooper, we learned that the leader of the unit jumps first and then the others follow," Crow said. "Leaders always go first, but trump, trump, he would push your son or daughter out of the plane and then abandon them when they come home."

Several Democrats tonight have made digs at Vance, joking about a false rumor involving Vance, a sex act and a couch.

"Trust Donald trump and JD Vance to look out for your family? Shoot, I wouldn't let those guys, I wouldn't trust them to move my couch," said Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren as the audience roared.

Minutes later, Colorado Rep. Jason Crow talked about his military service, saying his missions taught him what "really makes America strong and secure."

"It's not tough talk, it's not chest thumping," he said. "Because in war, talk is cheap. And trust me, I know a couch commando when I see one."

Tonight’s Coalition to March on the DNC protest has officially begun marching. Approximately 3,500 are in attendance, loudly chanting pro-Palestine slogans as they leave Union Park.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Harris will take on trump.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., wiped away tears as the crowd inside the United Center gave her a sustained standing ovation and round of applause.

Warren, one of the most high-profile progressive lawmakers in the Senate, then launched into a feisty takedown of trump, presenting the GOP nominee as a foe of everyday Americans struggling to pay the bills. She touted Harris' plans to "make life more affordable for working people."

"She'll take on Wall Street firms that buy up millions of houses and apartments, and then jack up the rent. She'll take on drug companies that charge an arm and a leg for prescriptions. She'll take on corporate monopolies that rip off consumers and billionaires who don't pay taxes," Warren said.

The thunderous applause for Warren, who ran for president in 2020, reflects her stature in the modern Democratic Party. She has advocated for many of the populist ideas that have become key planks of the party's agenda, including family policy.

Approximately 3,500 people have already gathered around Union Park for the final major organized march of the week.

That level is still below organizers’ prediction of 5,000-10,000 attendees — but above what many participants had expected tonight and similar to the group’s attendance at its Monday march.

Today’s pre-march rally showcased a circus-like vibe, with many different spectacles to behold, depending on which way you were looking.

There was a main stage with speakers, which the bulk of the audience was focused on. But in various corners of the park, there were drum circles, people smoking cannabis and splinter groups — from both the political left and the right — holding their own smaller protests.

There are mobile ice cream and popcorn vendors, some with long lines, and an army of selfie-wielding streamers, who all appear at first glance to just be rambling to themselves. Many are sporting N95 masks even though it’s an open-air outdoor event.

Moments ago, a bus with a red-white-and-blue painting of presidential candidate Robert Kennedy emblazoned on it pulled up, prompting a cavalry of people to run over for a T-shirt toss carried out by two happy bearded men.

The march is slated to begin in the next 15 minutes.

Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey, who is up for re-election this year, entered to chants of "Bob, Bob, Bob," before discussing the cost of everyday goods for consumers.

Casey argued that prices are up because corporations are "scheming to drive them up."

"This is greedflation," he said, adding that he and Harris have been "fighting it."

Leonardo Williams, the first-term mayor of Durham, North Carolina, touted the Biden-Harris administration's support for small businesses — such as the chain of Zimbabwean restaurants he opened with his wife.

"Kamala Harris is fighting to create an opportunity economy that can break down barriers for entrepreneurs like us, and as president, she will support risk-takers and problem solvers who want to just do their part and claim their piece of the American dream," Williams told the crowd.

Williams recalled that, in order to open his first restaurant, "we emptied our savings account." In an apparent dig at trump's upbringing, Williams added: "I guess not everybody can have a multimillion-dollar loan from their father."

Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi took the stage to talk about his work in Congress to combat China, telling attendees, "They know the only way they'll beat America is if we beat ourselves."

He claimed that leaders in China "want to see Donald trump across the bargaining table, because he'll start endless trade wars that raise prices for Americans, because he'll cut programs that train workers in America. But most of all, trump will pit American against American, and that's what China wants."

Jack Schlossberg, the 31-year-old grandson of President John F. Kennedy, is in Chicago this week hoping to fire up young voters for Harris and Walz. Attending the Democratic National Convention as a first-time delegate from New York and political correspondent for Vogue, he tells us how his own enthusiasm for Harris’ campaign has been growing. 

“Like all Americans, I’ve gotten to know Kamala Harris over the course of her career as a prosecutor, as a senator and a vice president, and now presidential candidate. And you know, the more I see, the more I fall in love with her,” Schlossberg, who supported Biden’s re-election before he dropped out of the race, told NBC’s Peter Alexander in an interview yesterday. “She is going to be a fantastic president, and I’m so, so unbelievably excited about her campaign.” 

House Minority Whip Katherine Clark used her convention remarks to talk about child care costs, something she said she experienced first hand as a mother of three.

The Massachusetts Democrat also criticized Vance and Project 2025 over child care funding.

"JD Vance says affordable child care is class war against normal people. You know what normal people want? A president who understands this shouldn't be so damn hard," Clark said.

Rep. Joe Neguse, D-Colo., touted Harris' efforts to make college more affordable, including as California's attorney general, when she secured a $1 billion settlement for students who were defrauded by a for-profit college.

As vice president, she helped expand Pell grants and secure record funding for historically Black colleges and universities, he added.

"As president, she will build a brighter future, a more affordable future, a future where going to college doesn't break the bank," Neguse said.

Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin talked about Social Security in personal terms invoking her grandparents, who raised her.

"As they grew older, it was my privilege to be there for them," Baldwin said, adding that when she's worked to protect Medicare and Social Security, she's done so with "personal knowledge" of what those programs meant to her grandparents.

"Let's be clear, that's all at risk today," she said, criticizing trump's agenda.

Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., took the stage and told attendees about his first time meeting Harris, when she was California attorney general and he was a state lawmaker.

"I first got to know Kamala Harris during the Great Recession ... millions of hard working families were facing foreclosure. My constituents told me stories about predatory and unfair loan terms and about how hard they were fighting to keep the homes that they loved," Lieu said. "Thankfully, they had someone fighting just as hard for them, Attorney General Kamala Harris."

"Since those days, I’ve seen her continue to fight for affordable housing," Lieu said. "It shouldn't be this hard in America, and President Kamala Harris will make sure it's not."

Puerto Rican delegates at the Democratic and Republican national conventions backed their respective presidential nominees, Harris and trump — even though both parties changed their official platforms on Puerto Rico, not aligning with some delegates’ views on statehood or the future of Puerto Rico.

The platform approved at the Democratic convention in Chicago this week states the party’s explicit support for a bipartisan bill that seeks to change Puerto Rico’s territorial relationship to the U.S. through a federally binding vote — leaving out Puerto Rico’s current territorial option.

Under the terms of the bill, known as the Puerto Rico Status Act, Puerto Ricans living in the U.S. territory would choose among three nonterritorial status options: statehood, independence and sovereignty in free association with the U.S.

Read the full story here.

Former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge praised Harris' record on housing policy and lauded her plans to tackle the affordability crisis.

"She will build 3 million new homes and rentals, limit unfair rent increases and offer down payment support for first-time home buyers," Fudge told the crowd.

Fudge said Harris has "fought to protect homeowners and renters her entire career," including when, as California attorney general, "she held big banks accountable for their role in the foreclosure crisis and won millions of dollars for California homeowners."

Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., dipped into two languages for his address, speaking in both English and Spanish about how he and Harris, whom he replaced in the Senate after she ascended to the vice presidency, have achieved the American dream and how she will work to do the same for generations to come.

"Every fight that Kamala and I have taken on together has been about making life better for this generation and the next," he said.

"It's the American dream, after all, that brought my parents to the United States decades ago," Padilla went on, repeating himself in Spanish. "But today, we know that the dream is out of reach for far too many families."

National Education Association President Becky Pringle tonight kept with a major theme of this week's Democratic convention: pinning Project 2025 on trump and Vance.

In doing so, Pringle said a trump victory would bring an end to the Education Department.

"Donald trump and JD Vance are not just wrong, they're dangerous. It's all right there in Project 2025; they will shut down the Department of Education," Pringle said.

The crowd at the Coalition to March on the DNC protest is slated to march in less than an hour — an event that will cap a week of protests outside the DNC.

About 2,000 people have gathered at Union Park to participate in a rally ahead of the march that has featured more than a dozen speakers.

One — Nicholas Richards, representing a group called Black Lives for Peace — said to the crowd that “we’re not surprised by this genocide.”

“The only way to defeat it,” he added, “is through organized struggle.” The line prompted applause from the crowd.

Ken Martin, the chair of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, says he expects the Uncommitted delegates to do “something,” alluding to a possible disruption during tonight's remarks.

Uncommitted delegates sought to have a Palestinian speaker address the convention, but their request was denied.

Minnesota has a plurality of the Uncommitted delegates — 11 out of 30 total. Those 30 Uncommitted delegates represent a small fraction of the nearly 4,700 delegates gathered in the United Center.

All delegates sign a code of conduct every morning allowing organizers to strip credentials of anyone who breaks it.

Amid ongoing controversy over whether a Palestinian American would take the stage, an imam from Philadelphia helped lead tonight's opening invocation.

"Oh, God help us stand with with humanity against hate. Oh, God bless us to approach each day with a feeling of gratitude and remembrance of you," said Muhammad Abdul-Aleem of Philadelphia, which is home to one of the largest Black Muslim populations in the country.

"And finally, bless America to cherish our freedom and noble essence," he concluded.

Uncommitted delegates who have been staging a sit-in outside the front doors of the United Center are asking for the Democratic National Committee to give five minutes of stage time to at least one Palestinian American speaker this evening — and they want an answer by 7 p.m. ET.

“Gaza is watching and seeing that this party that we hold dear to our hearts, that we know holds human rights dear, is not even letting my Palestinian siblings speak,” said Asma Mohammed, a delegate from Minnesota who says she slept on the cold, painful concrete outside the convention venue in order to elevate their message of asking for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war and to cut U.S. funding for weapons sent to Israel.

More than a dozen elected officials, as well as the United Auto Workers union, have expressed support for the group’s cause.

trump appeared to acknowledge his electoral loss to Biden in 2020, saying today he "didn't quite make it" and fell "just a little bit short."

trump made the comment during a visit to the U.S.-Mexico border in Cochise County, Arizona, as he was discussing a chart that he said featured figures on illegal immigration.

Pointing at the chart, he said, "This was the last week in office for me because of a horrible, horrible election. Where I got many millions more votes than I got the first time, but didn’t quite make it. Just a little bit short."

“We got to clean up our borders. We have to clean up our elections, and we’re not going to have a country,” trump added.

Biden obtained 51.3% of the vote in 2020, while trump won 46.8%, according to an NBC News tally.

A goal of every presidential campaign is to get voters to size up the opponent and, repulsed, decide, “No way.”

President Joe Biden’s approach was to persuade the electorate that trump is a national menace. Harris is instead casting trump as Dennis the Menace.

Read the full story here.

trump today said the cost to deport millions of undocumented immigrants is justified and would not rule out separating families made up of citizens and noncitizens.

“It’ll cost trillions of dollars to keep these people, and I’m talking about in particular starting with the criminals,” trump told NBC News in an interview during a visit to the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona. “That’s costing us a lot more than deporting. But we have no choice, regardless, we have no choice, we’re going to have to deport.”

Read the full story here.

The Arkansas Supreme Court blocked an abortion rights initiative from appearing on the state’s ballot this fall, upholding a July decision by the secretary of state to reject the measure for not following rules related to paid signature gatherers.

The decision means Arkansas will not be among the handful of states where voters will have the chance to weigh in on abortion-related measures on the November ballot, as the court’s majority opinion denies “further relief” to the group behind the proposed constitutional amendment.

Read the full story here.

A record number of sitting Democratic governors — 11 — are speaking at this year's party convention, according to the Democratic Governors Association.

The high number "highlights the increasing role and voice they have within party," Sam Newton, a spokesperson for the association, told NBC News.

That figure includes Walz, who accepted the Democratic Party's nomination to be Harris' running mate last night.

In 2020, five sitting governors spoke at the Democratic convention, and in 2016, four spoke at the convention.

The Harris campaign started a channel on Twitch, the popular video livestreaming platform used by video gamers.

Seth Schuster, a campaign spokesperson, said the Twitch channel would feature Harris' address tonight.

"The VP’s address tonight will be one of the biggest moments of the entire campaign thus far — and we’re making sure we’re bringing her live to voters wherever they may be, Twitch included," Schuster said in a statement. "Our job as the campaign is to break through a historically personalized media landscape, taking the VP and her vision for the future directly to the hardest to reach voters and those who will decide this election."

Former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy showed up in Union Park moments ago, saying that he came to hear and engage with protesters about their political views.

“Even though we don’t agree, I still want to hear,” he said.

His briefly toured the grounds, but his presence quickly created tensions.

March organizer Hatem Abudayyeh confronted Ramaswamy moments after his arrival, asking him, “Are you a supporter of the genocide?”

“I don’t play these kind of games,” Ramaswamy responded, prompting Abudayyeh to retort: “You have no right to be here if you’re not in support of the Palestinian people.”

trump attacked Harris by asserting she is a "Marxist" multiple times during his campaign stop in Arizona near the U.S.-Mexico border today.

During a press conference with media, trump referred to his political opponent as a "radical-left Marxist."

Later, in an interview with NBC News after the conference, trump said: "I don't believe that the world is ready, that this country is ready to put a person like that — a Marxist. I mean, her father's a Marxist, and she's a Marxist."

Harris' father has written about Marxist economics in his role as an economics professor.

Asked whether he would accept an endorsement from independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., trump told NBC News today that he "would love to have his endorsement."

"That would be great honor," trump said in an interview, while also seeming to brush off the idea of giving Kennedy an administration post if he wins a second term.

“It doesn’t mean administration, but certainly having his endorsement — there’s things that he agrees on that I also agree on,” trump said.

Kennedy is considering dropping out of the 2024 race and endorsing trump.

The third night of the Democratic convention drew an estimated 20.2 million viewers, holding steady from Tuesday night's viewership numbers, according to Nielsen.

Numbers for viewers tonight, when Harris accepts the party's nomination for president, will be closely watched to see how they stack up against the Republican National Convention. An estimated 25 million viewers watched the RNC on the night trump gave his nomination acceptance speech.

Organizers for tonight’s Coalition to March on the DNC protest just finished a brief news conference at Union Park, where they rejected suggestions that their robust protest efforts this week advantaged Republicans, whose convention last month featured barely any protests at all.

“We aren’t supporters of Donald trump,” said the group's main organizer, Hatem Abudayyeh, who called trump “the biggest pig in the history” of U.S. politics.

“Democrats are in power,” he said. “That’s why our mobilization is how it is.”

He reiterated that his coalition does “not support any political violence” and that his group has worked hard to make sure tonight’s march is peaceful. 

During the group’s march on Monday afternoon, a smaller breakaway group of protesters tore down security fencing at Park #578, resulting in the arrival of police in riot gear and multiple arrests.

As of 4:00 p.m. local time, few protesters have arrived for the march, which will kick off around 6:30 p.m. local time.

A small handful of counterprotesters, however, have. One repeatedly screamed “America first” on a megaphone while Abudayyeh spoke at his news conference 50 feet away.

The Supreme Court today partly granted a request from the Republican National Committee to make Arizona enforce measures requiring people to show proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote.

In what is likely to be one of many election-related disputes to come before the court ahead of the November election, the justices allowed for one of three provisions of the state law to be enforced.

Read the full story here.

Biden joined in February, then trump in June. Harris signed up in July, followed by Vance and Walz. On Wednesday, Pete Buttigieg joined them. 

Politicians are continuing to flock to TikTok, as Republicans and Democrats jockey for the attention of younger voters in what appears for now to be a tight election. Buttigieg launched his account just hours before he spoke at the Democratic National Convention. The former South Bend, Indiana, mayor describes himself in his bio as “dad, husband, veteran, public servant, Midwestern.”  

“You might recognize me from Fox News,” he joked in his first video, which broke 1 million views in six hours. “Now, I’m on TikTok, obviously.”

Read the full story here.

Vance said he spoke “very briefly” with Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, as trump continues to publicly show no interest in repairing his relationship with the the leader of a key battleground state.

Vance made the remark during his second visit to the state as trump’s running mate at a law enforcement-focused event at the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Department.

“I read the headlines. Brian Kemp and Donald trump have had some disagreements,” Vance said, while assuring that the Georgia governor is “100%” behind the trump-Vance ticket.

“He wants us to win because he believes the policies of Kamala Harris are disastrous for this country, and he’s exactly right about that. So, I’m glad to have the governor’s support," Vance added.

Uncommitted delegates have been staging a sit-in outside the Democratic National Convention hall after being informed last night that a Palestinian American would not get be given a speaking slot in the event.

In response, a number of progressive lawmakers and officials, as well the United Auto Workers, have called on the Harris campaign and DNC officials to reverse the decision.

Several progressive lawmakers have issued public statements of support for a Palestinian speaker on the final night of the convention, including Reps. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn.; Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich.;  Summer Lee, D-Pa.; Delia Ramirez, D-Ill.; Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.; Greg Casar, D-Tex.; Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass.; and Maxwell Frost, D-Fla.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson also endorsed the idea today, as did Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison — who was the first Muslim elected to Congress before running for his current job — and actors and activists Mandy Patinkin and Mark Ruffalo.

Harris joined the popular social media music show “Track Star,” a video released today shows.

The video, which appears to have been taped Monday based on her outfit, comes as her campaign has become increasingly engaged with online content creators, including featuring them onstage at the DNC.

The game consists of guests guessing musical artists based on songs, and Harris got them all correct, including Stevie Wonder — whom she called a "friend" — Miles Davis and Too Short.

Asked to name a song that everybody should know, Harris said one of her all-time favorites is Roy Ayers’ “Everybody Loves the Sunshine.”

Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., is looking to capitalize on his turn in the convention spotlight Thursday night. His Senate campaign sent out a fundraising pitch Thursday afternoon with the subject line, "Before Ruben speaks tonight…"

The pitch implores supporters to help the campaign reach a goal of raising $250,000 by midnight, warning that Gallego's GOP opponent, Kari Lake, is likely seeing a boost in fundraising herself as a response to the Democratic gathering.

Gallego is one of several Senate candidates set to take the stage Thursday night. He also appeared at a Harris campaign rally in Arizona earlier this month.

It's a big night for Harris in more ways than one: The vice president is celebrating her 10th wedding anniversary.

Harris and husband Doug Emhoff marked the occasion on social media, with Harris writing, "Happy anniversary, Dougie. I wouldn’t want to be on this journey with anyone but you."

Emhoff's post included a photo montage of the couple through the years. "Ten years of marriage, forever to go," the post said. "Happy anniversary, honey."

As his fellow Democrats gathered for their national convention, Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio campaigned here Wednesday alongside a Republican sheriff. 

“There’s a lot more voters in Toledo than there are in Chicago,” Brown told reporters after an event designed in part to promote his endorsement from Mark Wasylyshyn, the top law enforcement officer in nearby Wood County. 

Brown is among a handful of vulnerable Democratic senators who are skipping this week’s convention. They prefer to keep a distance, literally and figuratively, projecting independence from their party as they navigate tricky re-election paths back home, where Republicans are eager to tie them to an unpopular president. 

Vance continued his attacks on the vice president's handling of the border crisis during an event in southern Georgia.

"The reason why we have an open border is because Kamala Harris undid the policies of Donald J. trump," Vance said while speaking at an event on border security in Valdosta.

Despite his mischaracterizations of Harris' role in border security and of the border being open, Democrats are aware their border strategy earlier in Biden's term is a political weakness and sought to combat it at the convention Wednesday, where multiple speakers ripped trump for torpedoing a bipartisan border security package.

Vance maintained the bill "had nothing to do with border security. It had to do with codifying a lot of the executive orders of Kamala Harris and Joe Biden that actually further open the southern border."

Yesterday's protests at the Democratic convention ended with no arrests or injuries, law enforcement officials said — a sharp contrast with Tuesday night, when clashes between protesters and police near the Israeli Consulate resulted in nearly 60 arrests.

“It shows that when you have some type of contact and collaboration with those who are organizing, that you can have a peaceful First Amendment gathering,” said Larry Snelling, the superintendent of the Chicago Police Department.

Snelling said “opportunity and preparation is everything” for the Chicago Police Department.

“We had the opportunity to respond to the Democratic National Convention, and we were prepared for it, and that preparation came through training, and our officers just worked with a level of pride that was just unbelievable,” he said.

NEW YORK — New York state lawyers urged an appeals court late Wednesday to uphold Donald trump’s nearly $500 million civil fraud judgment, arguing there’s “overwhelming evidence” to support a judge’s finding that the former president lied for years about his wealth as he built his real estate empire.

In paperwork filed ahead of oral arguments next month, New York Attorney General Letitia James’ office said the current Republican nominee’s appeal is awash in “meritless legal arguments” and ignores volumes of trial evidence showing that he and his co-defendants engaged in “fraud and illegality on an immense scale.”

“On appeal, defendants tellingly ignore almost all their deceptions,” Assistant Solicitor General Daniel S. Magy wrote in a 168-page submission to the state’s mid-level appeals court known as the Appellate Division.

trump, his company and top executives including his sons Eric and Donald trump Jr. “created and used financial statements rife with blatant misrepresentations and omissions to maintain loans worth more than half a billion dollars and to generate over $360 million in ill-gotten profits,” Magy wrote.

The Appellate Division said Wednesday that it will hear the case on Sept. 26, about six weeks before Election Day and just after the start of early voting in some states. The court typically rules about a month after arguments, meaning a decision could come before the presidential race ends.

Read the full story here.

Walz posted a video on X of him greeting members of his former football team backstage at the Democratic convention, where he delivered his acceptance speech last night.

At the start of the video, Walz throws his hands up as he walks over to hug the players and thank them for being there. 

Walz was described by former students as an influential teacher and assistant football coach at Mankato West High School, where he served as a defensive coordinator for the team.

Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said she has hopes that she can maintain a relationship with Biden after she played a key role in pushing the president to drop out of the race after his poor June debate performance.

“Well, I hope so,” Pelosi said in an interview on MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” when asked whether she has any plans to speak with Biden.

“But again, that was then. This is now,” she added. “We have to go forward and use all of our energy not reviewing the past, but going forward to win this election.”

The former House speaker said she expects Harris “will be wonderful” during her speech at the DNC tonight “because she has so much confidence; she will be herself.”

The White House is blasting trump for calling Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro a "highly overrated Jewish governor" in a social media post overnight.

"It is Antisemitic, dangerous, and hurtful to attack a fellow American by calling out their Jewish faith in a derogatory way," White House spokesman Herbie Ziskend said in a statement.  

trump launched the broadside after Shapiro spoke at the convention last night and described the former president as a threat to freedom.

“The highly overrated Jewish Governor of the Great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro, made a really bad and poorly delivered speech talking about freedom and fighting for Comrade Kamala Harris for President," trump's post said. "Yet Shapiro, for strictly political reasons, refused to acknowledge that I am the best friend that Israel, and the Jewish people, ever had."

One journalist was in stitches last night after a camera at the convention cut to a woman just as Oprah Winfrey was referring to JD Vance's "childless cat ladies" comments.

Buzzfeed's Spencer Althouse posted on X that he was "screaming" at the cut to a "random woman." That woman, however, was actually Maryland delegate Teresa Woorman.

"Damn right this childless cat lady is 100% disgusted by J.D. Vance in general and 100% behind @KamalaHarris and @GovTimWalz!" Woorman wrote afterward, identifying herself in the clip. "Also I may be childless but I do hope that’s not a permanent condition, thanks!"

Woorman followed up by noting she was in "good company" as Winfrey is also childless.

NBC’s Jacob Soboroff takes "TODAY" inside the United Center in Chicago on night three of the Democratic National Convention. See what goes on inside!

trump said this morning that he'll be doing "live play by play" of Harris' speech on his social media platform.

"We will start at 10 P.M., Eastern, and be covering and commenting on some of the earlier Speeches made, prior to hers," trump wrote in a post on Truth Social, which is where he said he'd be offering his commentary.

"We will expose all of her Radicalism," he said, referring to the vice president as "Comrade Kamala Harris." "I hope everybody will be following along on TRUTH, tonight!"

The Democratic convention announced an expanded list of speakers for today, including Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, both of whom were considered as Harris' running mate.

Kelly's wife, gun safety advocate Gabby Giffords, a former congresswoman from Arizona, is also scheduled to speak, as is former Rep. Adam Kinzinger, an Illinois Republican who has endorsed Harris.

Rep. Elissa Slotkin, who's running for Senate in Michigan, Rep. Ruben Gallego, who's running for Senate in Arizona, and Rep. Colin Allred, who's running for Senate in Texas, will speak as well.

Other speakers include Sens. Alex Padilla of California, Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts; Govs. Maura Healey of Massachusetts and Roy Cooper of North Carolina; Reps. Katherine Clark of Massachusetts, Lucy McBath of Georgia, Joe Neguse of Colorado, and Maxwell Frost of Florida.

State Reps. Gloria Johnson, Justin Jones and Justin Pearson — the so-called “Tennessee Three” — will speak as well.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is setting aside one ambition and making room for another. 

Kennedy plans to end his independent presidential campaign this week and endorse trump, according to two sources. For weeks, Kennedy’s campaign has floated his interest in a Cabinet position in a future trump White House while publicly denying he would accept it. 

Read the full story here.

Rep. Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y., who flipped a Republican-held district this year while calling for tougher border and asylum laws, was given a speaking slot yesterday to amplify his message at the Democratic convention.

“Let’s be clear, the border is broken,” Suozzi told the crowd before he declared that Harris “joyfully accepts the challenge to work across party lines, to secure our border, to treat people like human beings.”

Read the full story here.

Walz will drop by theMinnesota delegation breakfast this morning in his first event after his keynote speech last night, a Harris campaign official told NBC News. He is expected to thank delegates at the breakfast for their support of the ticket. His wife, Gwen Walz, will also join him.

Pop singer Pink is expected to perform tonight at the Democratic National Convention, two sources familiar with the planning told NBC News. Pink, whose legal name is Alecia Beth Moore, supported Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign and criticized former President George W. Bush’s policies in her critically acclaimed 2007 song “Dear Mr. President.”

Pink’s expected performance comes after fellow chart-topping artists John Legend, Sheila E. and Stevie Wonder performed at the convention last night.

Rapper Lil Jon also did a surprise performance of his hit “Turn Down for What” as Georgia’s guest during the convention roll call vote Tuesday night.

Singer-songwriter James Taylor was scheduled to perform on the first night of the convention on Monday but was cut from the program because of delays in scheduling.

trump said he would be “honored” to receive an endorsement from Robert F. Kennedy Jr. during an interview on "Fox & Friends" this morning when asked about reports that the independent presidential candidate is set to drop out of the race and endorse the former president.

“He’s a little different kind of a guy — very smart guy, a very good person," trump said, referring to Kennedy. "If he endorsed me, I would be honored by it,. I would be very honored by it. He really has his heart in the right place. He is a respected person.”

NBC News reported that Kennedy intends to end his independent presidential campaign and endorse trump, according to two sources familiar with the plans. Kennedy said yesterday that he plans give a campaign speech addressing his “path forward,” and his campaign announced that he will hold an event in Phoenix tomorrow.

trump will also be in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale, Arizona, for a rally tomorrow.

On the last night of the Democratic convention, the party will make committing to maintaining America’s strength — from supporting the military and veterans to protecting the rule of law and preserving the nation’s standing on the world stage — a key theme of the day, according to a Harris campaign official who shared details with NBC News. 

The party plans to showcase its values by featuring a number of speakers who have served in the military and in law enforcement, while “highlighting the threat trump poses to our freedoms and security,” the official said. 

Leon Panetta, who formerly served as both the defense secretary and CIA director, is scheduled to speak as part of the theme. Other planned speakers include Adam Kinzinger, a former Republican congressman and former Air National Guard lieutenant colonel; Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., who is running for Senate and is a former Marine corporal; and Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., who is running for Senate and formerly worked as acting assistant secretary of defense and a CIA intelligence analyst. 

Walz accepted the Democratic nomination for vice president on Night 3 of the Democratic National Convention with a speech focusing on his small-town roots and his years as a school teacher. NBC’s Peter Alexander reports for "TODAY."

Vance is set to speak about border security and immigration in Georgia, a swing state that Democrats flipped in 2020.

Republicans repeatedly hit Democrats as weak on the border, and Democrats have worked to counter that image by pointing to trump’s efforts to tank a bipartisan border deal.

In the morality play that yielded a new Democratic presidential nominee last month, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., could be seen as a heroine who risked a political backlash to save her party’s chances in November or a villain who bloodlessly, needlessly and rashly pushed aside its sitting president.

When she stepped to the lectern at the Democratic National Convention here last night — as a two-time speaker of the House who voluntarily gave up her own power last year after she helped deliver the legislative agendas of Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden — she was greeted as a favorite.

Read the full story here.

The final night of the convention will feature lawmakers and victims of gun violence pushing for changes at the state and national levels, according to a convention official.

Speakers in prime time tonight will include former Rep. Gabby Giffords, who was shot at an event in her Arizona district in 2011; Rep. Lucy McBath, of Georgia, who lost her son Jordan to gun violence in 2012; and a group of state lawmakers known as the “Tennessee Three.”

Read the full story here.

trump will head to Arizona today for a border tour, the same day Harris is set to accept the Democratic nomination.

The trump campaign has continually leaned into migration and border security as a top issue, hitting Democrats as too “weak.”

CHICAGO — Vice President Kamala Harris is set to deliver what is arguably the biggest speech of her life tonight, when she will make history as the first Black woman and first Asian American person to accept a major party’s nomination for president. 

Harris intends to focus her speech on three areas: sharing her personal and professional background, contrasting her vision for America with the one offered by former President Donald trump and rooting her vision in “a deep and abiding sense of patriotism,” according to a campaign official, who, like others for this article, requested anonymity to share details about the remarks. 

The speech — which will reach far beyond the thousands of Democrats gathered in Chicago to a national prime-time audience — will be one of her most significant opportunities for her to define herself since she took over the top of the ticket from President Joe Biden last month.

Read the full story here.