DNC: Obamas fire up Democrats and strongly endorse Harris

"Kamala Harris is ready for the job. This is a person who has spent her life fighting on behalf of people who need a voice," Obama said during his speech.

“As Attorney General of the most populous state in the country, she fought big banks and for-profit colleges, securing billions of dollars for the people they had scammed,” he said.

“After the home mortgage crisis, she pushed me and my administration hard to make sure homeowners got a fair settlement.”

Obama also praised Harris’ running mate Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.

“I love this guy,” he said before cracking: “You can tell those flannel shirts he wears don’t come from some consultant, they come from his closet, and they’ve been through some stuff.” 

He ended his 30-minute speech on stage by saying that it was time to get to work to make Harris-Walz team win the election contest: "So let’s get to work. God bless you, and God Bless the United States of America."

Obama said it was important to learn to live with people whose political views may be different.

"That sense of mutual respect has to be part of our message," Obama said. "Our politics have become so polarized these days that all of us across the political spectrum seem so quick to assume the worst in others unless they agree with us on every single issue."

Obama said that the election contest between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump would be a tough one. 

"Now it is up to all of us to fight for the America we believe in," he said, adding: "And make no mistake, it will be a fight."

The former US president said people have to ask themselves a very simple question "Who’s thinking about my future, about my children’s future, about our future together?"

"One thing is for certain, Donald Trump is not losing sleep over that question."

California Governor Gavin Newsom said that they had shocked the Trump campaign with their "spirit and pride" since Harris ascended to the candidacy.

As Trump slips in the polls in key states, Newsom said that the positive energy was the "one intangible" that the former president could not have anticipated.

Kamala Harris, who was campaigning in battleground Wisconsin on the second day of DNC, shared a picture of herself watching her husband speak at the convention.

"Love you, Dougie," she wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

Progressive Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, during a speech earlier in the evening, praised the work the administration of President Joe Biden had done for a country caught in the grips of the COVID-19 pandemic 

“That was the reality the Biden-Harris administration faced as they entered the Oval Office: A nation suffering, a nation frightened and people looking to their government for support,” he said, praising food programs and rent and mortgage relief iniatives passed in the wake of the pandemic.

Sanders also alluded to Trump-era tax breaks for the wealthy and big businesses.

"Bottom line, we need an economy that works for all of us, not just the billionaire class," he said, arguing that these are things that "the American people want from their government."

Sanders said Monday that while he supports Harris, he also stands by his belief that Joe Biden could have carried out a second term, a view that is not shared by most of his party's leaders.

Barack Obama took a moment to praise President Joe Biden's leadership and for putting the nation first before his personal ambition by stepping aside.

"History will remember Joe Biden as an outstanding president who defended democracy at a moment of great danger," Obama said. "And I am proud to call him my president, but I am even prouder to call him my friend."

Former US president Barack Obama revived his iconic campaign slogan "Yes we can!" cheers at the United Center.

"I'm feeling fired up!" Obama said. "I am feeling ready to go — even If I am the only person stupid enough to speak after Michelle Obama," he added.

Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff came to the stage to praise his wife, saying she was "ready to lead," and be there for the country the way she had been there for their family.

"Hello to my big, beautiful blended family up there. I love you so much," Emhoff began, gesturing to his son and to his ex-wife and the mother of his children, Kerstin Emhoff, who was in the VIP box.

Kamala Harris is close with her stepchildren and enjoys a friendly relationship with Kerstin.

Emhoff, who is Jewish, also highlighted how the pair connected through their faith, even though they are different.

“Kamala has fought against antisemitism and all forms of hate her whole career. She is the one who encouraged me, as second gentleman, to take up that fight, which is so personal to me,” Emhoff said.

Former US first lady Michelle Obama endorsed Kamala Harris while addressing the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, saying, "She is one of the most qualified people ever to seek the office of the presidency."

"Her story is your story, my story. It is the story of the vast majority of Americans who are trying to build a better life," Michelle said in front of the cheering crowd, referring to Harris as "my girl."

"Something magically wonderful is in the air," she said, adding: "It's the contagious power of hope."

Hope, the motto of Barrack Obama's successful 2008 campaign, "is making a comeback," his wife said.

Kamala Harris is campaigning in Wisconsin, with a rally in the same arena where Republicans held their convention last month.

Harris said she is running "a people-powered campaign."

"Together we will chart a new way forward," the vice president said.

 "A future for freedom, opportunity, of optimism and faith," she added.

Parts of her speech in Wisconsin was broadcast to the DNC, where Barack Obama was set to endorse her presidential win.

Republicans who left the GOP after Donald Trump took over, switched to Harris's side on Tuesday night. Those included Trump's former White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham. 

While addressing the DNC, Grisham spoke about her journey from being a Trump "true believer" to becoming the first senior White House staffer to resign after the January attack by Trump supporters on the US Capitol.

"He has no empathy, no morals and no fidelity to the truth," she said. "Kamala Harris tells the truth. She respects the American people. And she has my vote."

Republican Mayor John Giles of Mesa, Arizona, is also expected to address the DNC later in the evening.

Security around the United Center where the convention is being held was tightened Tuesday after dozens of individuals broke off from a pro-Palestinian march Monday to briefly breach police fences before being repulsed.

Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling said the perimeter had since been fortified and that 13 arrests — for infractions ranging from resisting arrest to aggravated battery — had been made as a result of yesterday's events.

At least four people who were demonstrating outside the Israeli consulate in Chicago were handcuffed and moved away from the protest site.

Snelling praised the restraint of police officers at the scene and was careful not to infer that all protesters were violent, saying the vast majority of the roughly 3,500 people gathered were peaceful.

Vice President Kamala Harris — who has been likened to female Democratic trailblazers such as Shirley Chisholm and Geraldine Ferraro — will campaign in nearby Milwaukee Tuesday, in a speech that will be live-streamed at the Chicago convention, before returning to receive Obama's endorsement.

Her opponent, Donald Trump, meanwhile, has set up a counter-programming stand staffed by party loyalists residing at his Trump Hotel Chicago. There, placards decry the Trump-branded, "Kamala Crime Crisis," a retread of the "Biden Crime Crisis."

Trump himself will campaign in neighboring Michigan on Tuesday, where he is staging a "Make America Safe Again" rally in Howell, a Republican stronghold northwest of Detroit. The city made national headlines recently when white supremacists chanting Nazi and Trump slogans paraded through the city.

The Trump campaign brushed off attempts by the Harris campaign to tie the candidate to Howell's long history of close ties to the Ku Klux Klan — saying the campaign has no intention of stirring racial animus. Trump, who came to power in part claiming that Barack Obama was a Kenyan Muslim not born in the US — none off which is true — has repeatedly attacked Harris on the basis of her gender and race.