Biden set to speak first at Chicago DNC as he gives up his spot on top of the ticket

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

Joe Biden will headline the opening night of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago, Illinois, after giving up his spot on the top of the party’s ticket.

The president is expected to deliver a prime-time address on Monday, August 19, and will then “hand over the keys” to Kamala Harris – the now-presumptive Democratic nominee.

“Monday is going to be Joe’s night, then he’s going to hand over the keys,” a source told CNN.

According to the outlet, the speech will discuss the country’s transition from the Covid-19 pandemic era and bring the focus onto the vice president.

Harris faces an imminent virtual roll call, during which party delegates will pledge themselves and likely nominate her as the official Democratic candidate before the convention even begins.

An in-person roll call and her subsequent nomination at the DNC will be largely ceremonial. She will then give a speech on Thursday, the final day of the convention.

Biden’s address will not be the first time an outgoing president has opened the DNC.

During the 2000 convention, outgoing president Bill Clinton, who was not up for reelection, delivered the opening remarks before passing the torch to his then-VP Al Gore, who went on to face George W Bush.

Barack Obama also did not deliver the opening remarks to the 2016 convention, instead speaking on the last day to promote Hillary Clinton as the Democratic candidate.

It comes as the Harris campaign seems to be gathering strength and momentum. Fresh polls show that she has made gains on Biden’s top performance in all swing states except Pennsylvania, the president’s home state.

The latest slew of national polls also indicate that Harris is securing a lead over Donald Trump at this stage in the race.

Harris has led over Trump in four major polls taken over the past five days, though the race remains tight, with an average of 45.3 percent to Trump’s 43.8 percent.

Donations towards the vice president’s operation have also continued to flow, after pulling in a whopping $81m on the first official day of campaigning.

According to the Harris for President campaign, that sum reflected “money raised across the campaign, Democratic National Committee, and joint fundraising committees,” and includes 888,000 grassroots donors, a full 60 percent of whom gave for the first time this cycle.