The four-day event will end on August 22 (File photo)
The 2024 Democratic National Convention will officially declare US Vice President Kamala Harris as its official nomination for the Presidential election today, replacing incumbent Joe Biden, who withdrew from the race last month.
Here are 10 points on the Democratic Convention
- The four-day event, which will end on August 22, will officially nominate Kamala Harris's Vice President pick, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, in the presidential elections.
- Former US Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton are expected to speak at the National Convention and bid adieu to Joe Biden. The Democrats will also honour Hilary Clinton, their official candidate who lost to Donald Trump in the 2016 US Presidential Elections.
- Last month, Mr Biden dropped out of the Presidential race just 100 days before the election, an unprecedented move in modern US political history. Concerns over the 81-year-old's health surrounded the Presidential campaigns, with rival Republicans targeting the Democrats over the issue. The concerns were aggravated after Biden's presidential debate with Trump in June.
- To designate a formal nominee, delegates chosen from 50 US states, the US capital and overseas territories attend their party's nominating convention to officially anoint the candidate. Biden backed Kamala Harris as the candidate which was later endorsed by several leaders including former US President Barack Obama.
- Joe Biden will give a prime-time address and make a case for his incumbent deputy, Kamala Harris, who is up against Donald Trump, the former US President, with multiple court cases and survivor of an assassination attempt.
- In the Primary Election, a poll where parties select their candidates for the general election, Joe Biden won overwhelmingly with 87.1 per cent votes. The 26th Democratic National Convention will serve as a farewell for Mr Biden as he hangs up his boots. In 1968, President Lyndon B Johnson declared in the middle of the Vietnam War that he would not run for re-election.
- Kamala Harris, the first Black and South Asian US Vice President, is expected to share the stage with Mr Biden. Kamala Harris, who considers herself an "underdog" in the race against Trump, earlier said, "A lot of work has to be done to earn the vote of the American people,"
- Security has been increased near the convention centre in Chicago after an array of possible threats, including tens of thousands of protesters opposing Biden's support for Israel's actions in Gaza. They are expected to march through the city outside the security perimeter.
- The Secret Service, FBI and the local police reportedly spent a year formulating a security plan and cordoning off areas near the United Center Arena where the convention will take place. Musicians and Hollywood celebrities are expected to attend the event.
- Last week, Biden and Harris had put up a show of unity in Maryland when they made their first joint trip since the change of the Democratic Party's plans for the Presidential Elections.