A Sitting President Gives Way for the First Time Since 1968

CHICAGO — President Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton — the last two Democrats nominated for president — are set to deliver speeches Monday night as the Democratic National Convention gets underway in Chicago. Biden’s prime-time address will cap off a night that represents a passing of the torch from the party’s old guard to its new nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris.

The convention opened with a series of speakers meant to highlight the party’s diversity as it celebrated Harris, the first Black woman and person of South Asian descent to lead a major party ticket for president. Mayor Brandon Johnson of Chicago and Derrick Johnson, the president and CEO of the NAACP, addressed delegates. The Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. appeared briefly onstage and was honored for his legacy as a civil-rights leader.

In an overwhelming voice vote, delegates ceremonially confirmed Harris’ running mate, Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, as the party’s vice-presidential nominee — although he and Harris had previously been made the Democrats’ official nominees through a virtual roll call two weeks ago.

Harris has transformed the race against former President Donald Trump since she took over the ticket from Biden last month, and the prospect of an upbeat and celebratory gathering in Chicago is a sharp reversal for Democrats after they had been torn apart by a damaging fight over Biden’s candidacy.

Here’s what else is happening:

— Biden’s early farewell: The last sitting president who decided not to seek a second term, Lyndon B. Johnson, skipped his party’s convention in 1968, which was also in Chicago. By contrast, Biden will be speaking Monday night in what could be one of his last big moments on the national stage. It will be an opportunity for the party to honor Biden and provides him a chance at an early farewell address: to recite accomplishments of his term, make the case for his successor and frame the election as he would have had he remained in the race. Biden and his aides spent days reworking the speech he intended to give while accepting the nomination.

— Harris presents herself: Coming less than a month after Biden stepped aside and endorsed Harris, the convention will be the vice president’s chance to introduce herself to what will likely be, along with any debates with Donald Trump, one of the biggest audiences she will have before Election Day. Her challenge, Democrats say, is to balance loyalty to Biden and assuming control of her party.

— Monday’s speaker lineup: Hillary Clinton is also set to speak on opening night, and thoughts about what might have been will not be lost on anyone in the hall. In 2016, Trump defeated her in her bid to be the first female president. Now it is Harris who is seeking to break that barrier, and Clinton will be seen as handing her the baton. Other speakers scheduled for Monday include Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and influential union leaders like Shawn Fain, the president of the United Auto Workers.

— Trump pushes ‘Swifties’ images: Trump, who has notably harbored a grudge against pop music megastar Taylor Swift, set the internet ablaze on Sunday when he shared social media posts suggesting that she had endorsed him. In a post on his social media site, Truth Social, Trump drew attention to a group of images that were created using artificial intelligence — at least one of which was labeled “satire.”

— Busy week for Trump: Historically, the opposing party lays low during the other side’s convention, but Trump won’t be quiet this week. On Monday, he fell back on attacks on Biden and told supporters the president had been a victim of a “coup” in a campaign stop in York, Pennsylvania. It was the first in a series of battleground-state appearances planned for each day of the convention. He is also planning stops in Michigan, North Carolina and Arizona, where he is expected to visit the U.S.-Mexico border in Montezuma Pass on Thursday, the day Harris will deliver her acceptance speech.

— Gaza protests: This week also looms as a test for the Democrats and their new standard-bearer, as Harris signals how she intends to define her candidacy and endeavors to keep her party unified despite divisions over issues like the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. Shortly before the convention began, a group of about 50 protesters broke off from a march of several thousand people and went through one of the security perimeter gates outside the arena. That breach led to a confrontation with police, who detained at least four people and cleared the area.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times .