The 2016 Democratic National Convention just wrapped its first day in Philadelphia. Here’s what’s happened:
• Tonight’s speakers included Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Sen. Bernie Sanders and First Lady Michelle Obama.
Watch their full speeches below.
• Matt Pearce kept up his reporter’s journal from the streets of Philadelphia.
• A series of leaked emails revealing the party’s pro-Hillary Clinton tilt has overshadowed efforts to rally delegates behind the presumptive nominee.
• Nearly every mention of Hillary Clinton’s name was met with a chorus of boos from the convention floor. Bernie Sanders’ supporters also shouted down speakers at California’s delegation gathering and booed when he implored them to support Hillary Clinton. Tonight’s convention theme was “United Together.”
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Day 1 wraps; stay with us for Day 2
Watch: Day one of the Democratic National Convention in less than 3 minutes. More convention coverage at latimes.com/trailguide.
Get up-to-the-moment updates from our teams in Philadelphia and Los Angeles over here.
Republicans hit back after a tumultuous Day 1 at the DNC
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump was active as usual on Twitter, attacking Monday night’s convention speakers individually:
Noticeably missing from his criticism: First Lady Michelle Obama, who gave arguably the biggest speech of the night.
Conservative commentator Ann Coulter noticed too:
Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus focused on the discord of the day and attacked Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren as well as Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Conservative commentator Laura Ingraham, who spoke at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland last week, also played up the lack of unity shown by booing Sanders supporters.
Watch: Bernie Sanders’ full convention speech
Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont speaks at the Democratic National Convention.
Did Bernie persuade his supporters to vote Hillary?
In the Opinion section, I write about Bernie Sanders’ full-throated endorsement of Hillary Clinton and assess whether it will help unite the party. Read it here.
Bernie Sanders lays out the policy rationale for supporting Hillary Clinton
Bernie Sanders has spent months telling voters that his campaign was about the issues, and he used that same argument to tell his supporters to throw their support to Hillary Clinton.
In his speech Monday, he went step by step through Clinton’s proposals, many of which were the product of compromises between the two campaigns.
For example, Clinton originally supported policies to allow students to attend public colleges debt-free. She later expanded the proposal to include free tuition for most students.
“We have come together on a proposal that will revolutionize higher education in America,” Sanders said.
The speech was a glimpse of why Sanders put so much emphasis on the Democratic Party platform, which he fought to make more liberal. Not only did he want progressive ideas enshrined in the party’s principles, he can use the platform as a tool to bring his skeptical supporters around to Clinton.
Sanders touted a pledge by Clinton to introduce a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United, the Supreme Court case that enabled more corporate money in political campaigns. And he praised her dedication to increasing funding for community health centers, even though she never came around to endorsing a government-run, single-payer system.
In the end, Sanders told his supporters, Clinton had taken enough of the right positions to earn their vote.
“I am proud to stand with her tonight,” he said.
Rep. Nancy Pelosi to appear on ‘The Late Show with Stephen Colbert’
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) was interviewed Sunday on the floor of the Democratic National Convention by comedian and late-night talk show host Stephen Colbert.
The interview will appear on CBS’ “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” on Monday, which airs at 11:30 p.m. PT.
Watch Elizabeth Warren go after Donald Trump, advocate for Hillary Clinton
Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts speaks at the Democratic National Convention. More coverage at latimes.com/trailguide.
Sanders holdouts among California’s delegates
Bernie Sanders delegates can support their candidate in roll call vote
Supporters of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders will get to vote for him in a roll call vote on the convention floor Tuesday.
This isn’t surprising news. Sanders said the roll call vote would happen in his speech endorsing Hillary Clinton earlier this month.
Clinton Press Secretary Brian Fallon said Clinton welcomed a full roll call vote on the nomination Tuesday.
“It is exactly in keeping with our philosophy that every vote should be counted. And that means every delegate being counted on the floor of the convention,” he said.
During his speech Monday night, Sanders thanked his delegates ahead of the roll call vote.
“Let me thank the 13 million Americans who voted for the political revolution, giving us the 1,846 pledged delegates here tonight – 46% of the total. And delegates: Thank you for being here, and for all the work you’ve done. I look forward to your votes during the roll call on Tuesday night.”
From the delegates: ‘You could ... hear the glass ceiling breaking’
Los Angeles County Democratic Party Chairman Eric Bauman: “That was the most incredible and intense speech I’ve ever heard Michelle Obama give.... When she talked about Hillary Clinton and breaking that glass ceiling, you could actually hear the glass breaking.”
Watch: Michelle Obama on the historic nature of Clinton’s nomination
First Lady Michelle Obama talked about “the story of this country, the story that has brought me to this stage tonight.”
She made an emotional appeal referencing “generations of people who felt the lash of bondage, the shame of servitude, the sting of segregation, but who kept on striving and hoping and doing what needed to be done so that today, I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves.”
The crowd cheered.
“And I watch my daughters, two beautiful, intelligent black young women, playing with their dogs on the White House lawn,” she said. “And because of Hillary Clinton, my daughters and all our sons and daughters now take for granted that a woman can be president of the United States.”
Michelle Obama, first lady of the United States, speaks at the Democratic National Convention. More coverage at latimes.com/trailguide.
What the convention floor looked like as Bernie Sanders spoke
What the boos sound like from the California delegation’s seats
‘Bernie or bust’ movement apparently choosing bust
In the opinion section, I write about the “Bernie or bust” movement shouting down speakers. Here’s an excerpt:
“Booooo,” shouted Shawnee Badger, 22, an aspiring actress from Santa Clarita. (“That’s my real name,” she assured me.)
“Booooo,” howled Ben Becker, 32, a consumer advocate from San Francisco, who sat behind her in the California delegation.
I hiked across the convention floor to find out what the “Bernie or Bust” delegates wanted. Some talked of walking out of the convention in protest, or trying to nominate an alternative to Sen. Tim Kaine as Clinton’s running mate. Some wanted a deeper apology from Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz for openly favoring Clinton during the primary campaign. (Deeper than the resignation Wasserman Schultz turned in after her aides’ snarky emails surfaced.)
But none of that was enough for Badger or Becker, or many of the other Sanders delegates who ignored their candidate’s own plea that they stop booing.
What do you want the party to do? I asked.
“Choose a different nominee,” Becker snapped.
California delegation is home base for many pro-Bernie Sanders floor protesters
California delegates backing Bernie Sanders were eager to show up the Democratic Party on Monday night, with some concluding that the party was ushering them into the fold without listening to their concerns.
And so, many of them booed.
“They like our passion, but they want it for their candidate and their issues and they want us to join with them. That’s not unity. There’s not a compromise,” said Melissa Michelson of Alhambra, who was attending her first convention and said she was unsure whether she’d remain a member of the party.
Michelson became a Democrat because of Bernie Sanders. She was a Democrat long ago, and voted for the Green Party or not at all until Sanders came along. She’s not sure she plans to stay with the party.
“I’m fed up with the Democratic Party. It doesn’t talk to me, it doesn’t speak to me,” she said. “The Democratic Party is disenfranchising Bernie Sanders” supporters.
“There’s nothing they can say to make us feel better.”
She said it felt like the California Sanders supporters were to only ones still booing by 8 p.m ET and was frustrated by the Clinton supporters in the delegation who said booing was disrespectful and shushed them.
Several California delegates protesting Hillary Clinton said they felt her nomination would hand the election to Donald Trump.
“The political revolution is happening. We’re going to bring more progressives and young people into this party and we’re going to take it over. It’s going to happen whether they like it or not,” said Shawnee Badger, a 22-year-old model and actress from Santa Clarita.
From the delegates: Clinton can’t win
Benjamin Becker, 32, consumer advocate from San Francisco: “Unrealistically, I’d like Hillary Clinton to step down so we can have an actual chance of winning in November.”
Cory Booker at the DNC on what love of country really means
Patriotism is love of country. But you can’t love your country without loving your countrymen and countrywomen.
— New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker speaking at the DNC
The California delegation’s view of the DNC stage
A blunt message from Sarah Silverman
The comedian supported Bernie Sanders in the primary, but is planning to support Hillary Clinton in November. When some of the Vermont senator’s fans booed her declaration, she shot back at them.
To the Bernie-or-bust people, you’re being ridiculous.
Comedian Sarah Silverman has a message for the Bernie-or-bust movement. More coverage at latimes.com/trailguide.
Watch Dreamer Astrid Silva take on Trump at the DNC
Astrid Silva, immigration activist, speaks at the Democratic National Convention
Not long ago, young immigrant Astrid Silva was at home in Las Vegas, writing heartfelt letters concerning her fears about being in the country illegally to someone who became an unlikely pen pal — her home-state senator, Harry Reid.
She never expected that one of the most powerful men in Washington would not only read her handwritten notes, but become so moved that he deepened his commitment to immigration reform.
On Monday night, Silva, now 28, shared the prime-time stage with some of the country’s most prominent leaders, including First Lady Michelle Obama and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, at the Democratic National Convention.
“My family believed so deeply in the promise of this country that we risked everything for the American dream,’’ she told delegates Monday.
Trump running mate Mike Pence gets hammered hard by DNC speakers right out of the gate
The opening day of the Democratic convention featured plenty of digs at Donald Trump’s vice presidential nominee, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence.
Among those loudly criticizing Pence were Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy and Pat Spearman, a state legislator from Nevada.
Spearman, a lesbian, hammered Pence for signing a “religious freedom” law that allows businesses to refuse services to gays.
“Gov. Pence signed a law that allows individuals and businesses to deny services to LGBTQ Americans, and he used religion as a weapon to discriminate,” Spearman said. “As a lesbian, that hurts me. As a person of faith, that offends me. And as a legislator working hard to create jobs, that baffles me.
“Donald Trump and Mike Pence will strip away the progress that we have fought so hard to win,” Spearman continued. “They fear equality; we’ll keep fighting for it.”
Malloy blasted Pence for rejecting federal money that would have gone toward funding preschool for low-income children and for refusing to allow refugee families to settle in Indiana, families that later settled in Connecticut.
“With the Trump-Pence ticket, it’s like a contest to see who can discriminate more,” he said.
Watch Sanders backer Rep. Raul Grijalva talk about why he now supports Clinton
Rep. Raúl Grijalva of Arizona speaks at the Democratic National Convention. More coverage at latimes.com/trailguide
At the DNC, even the politicians are comedians
The Democratic National Convention is going to get a double dose of laughs Monday night when former “Saturday Night Live” writer Al Franken and comedian Sarah Silverman take the stage.
Franken, the junior United States senator from Minnesota, has not been known to whip out his comedic skills often since he entered politics.
Before he was elected, Franken’s brand of liberal-leaning comedy made him popular with Democrats. Among his works: “Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations.”
He tapped into those roots Monday as he skewered Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
Silverman, who supported Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in the primary fight, is due to speak later this evening.
New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker gets another moment to shine after early VP buzz
New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker is back at the Democratic National Convention in a high-profile speaking slot.
Booker, who was once buzzed about as a potential running mate for Hillary Clinton, will speak before Michelle Obama on Monday night.
Booker’s 2012 convention speech was a well-received defense of President Obama’s first term and got the crowd on its feet.
“This platform is a clear choice between economic pathways. Forward or back, inclusion or exclusion — grow together as a nation or be a country of savage disparities that favor the fortunate few over the greatest driving force of any economy: a large and robust middle class,” Booker said at the time.
Booker, like many speakers Monday, will have the tough job of uniting the party. He told CBS News over the weekend that Democrats must contrast themselves against a “dark” Republican National Convention last week.
“We need to be a country that doesn’t degrade or demean other folks, but elevates our nation and pulls us together,” said Booker.
Watch Booker’s DNC speech below:
Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey speaks at the Democratic National Convention. More coverage at latimes.com/trailguide.
With so many Democratic leaders in California, who is running the state during the DNC?
For state Supt. of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson, this isn’t an ordinary week at work.
While Gov. Jerry Brown and many of his fellow Democrats have gathered in Philadelphia, Torlakson’s governing California.
“You’re in safe hands,” Torlakson said Monday.
In addition to Brown, nine of the 10 statewide officials who are specifically named to temporarily fill his shoes are at the Democratic National Convention.
Even in the modern age, you’ve got to be inside the state lines to be governor.
Former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords to take convention stage with husband Mark Kelly
Gabrielle Giffords, the former Arizona congresswoman who survived being shot in the head in an assassination attempt five years ago, is expected to address the Democratic National Convention in a rare public speech this week alongside her husband, retired astronaut Mark Kelly. A time and date for the appearance has not yet been confirmed by the convention committee.
Giffords, who barely survived the shooting, was forced to give up her seat in Congress. After the incident, Giffords underwent a slow, difficult rehabilitation process to regain her ability to walk and speak.
She also became a vocal gun control advocate, founding a super PAC supporting tighter gun restrictions and campaigning for greater oversight on guns.
Giffords, 46, and Kelly were seen performing a sound check on stage earlier Monday.
Although Giffords, who at times has trouble speaking, has given few public speeches in the years since the shooting, she traveled the country advocating for gun control measures and Democratic causes. She and Kelly have served as surrogates for Clinton’s campaign.
Her assailant, Jared Lee Loughner, was sentenced in 2012 to seven consecutive life sentences, plus 140 years, after he pleaded guilty to 19 federal charges in the shooting.
In a New York Times op-ed two years ago, Giffords said recovery was “gritty, painful, frustrating work.”
Giffords, who has skydived in tandem from a twin-engine plane and recently completed a 40-mile bike ride with her husband, said two years ago that she has not ruled out the possibility of returning to office one day.
From the delegates: It’s time for a woman
“We got the right to vote after men did. And now we’ve waited long enough to elect a woman.”
This convention is “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
Storming the barricades, politely: 55 protesters issued citations
One by one, like passengers escaping a disabled airplane, a protester would step out of the crowd, carefully hop over the metal barricade, and then politely and immediately get arrested by the waiting police. Meanwhile, the crowd chanted, “Election fraud, election fraud, election fraud.”
At one point a whole crowd of protesters tried at the same time to hop over the waist-high metal barricades outside the Wells Fargo Center, where the Democratic National Convention Center is being held. But even that became orderly after a few seconds of frenzy.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” the cops said to one guy trying to hop the fence quickly. The protester stopped. “Wait your turn,” a smiling officer said. “You’ll get arrested.” He did, and he was.
New Hampshire grandmother puts prime-time spotlight on drug addiction epidemic
At 50 years old, Pam Livengood didn’t expect to be swapping her motorcycles for diapers.
But in 2010, when the New Hampshire Division of Children threatened to put her grandson in foster care as his parents continued to struggle with drug addiction, she said she had to step in.
“I couldn’t have that. I just couldn’t have it. It would’ve broke our hearts, all of us,” she said in an interview with WBUR’s “Here and Now.”
Livengood, now 54, is an employee at a furniture factory in Keene, N.H., and she and her husband are guardians to her 6-year-old grandson, Francis.
She is speaking at the Democratic National Convention on Monday night as part of an effort to highlight the issue of substance abuse.
When she first met Hillary Clinton at a roundtable discussion at her workplace last May, she initially expected to be speaking with Clinton about the challenges facing small businesses.
But when the conversation veered to addressing the issue of drug addiction, Livengood spoke up.
“My grandson’s mother can’t be quite so responsible. So we’ve picked it up and took over but we also need to see more substance abuse help,” she told Clinton at the event.
Clinton responded, saying the opioid crisis “is not something we can just brush under the rug,” and advocated for policy to combat substance abuse.
Livengood told CNN last year that her daughter was in treatment and looking for jobs. She told WBUR Monday that Clinton has reached out a “couple times” to ask how Francis is doing.
“I hope I will be standing on the stage, talking, and then in November, having been part of history for the first woman president in the United States,” she told the network. “That would be amazing.
Mother-daughter duo who could be separated by deportation try to humanize immigration issues at DNC
Karla Ortiz, daughter of undocumented parents, speaks with her mother Francisca at the Democratic National Convention. More coverage at latimes.com/trailguide.
Last month, Karla Ortiz and her mother, Francisca, spoke to their hometown newspaper about the constant fear they have lived with since Karla’s parents received a deportation order in 2013.
Karla, 11, and her mother appeared in photos in the Las Vegas Review Journal, their faces shrouded in shadows to protect their identities.
On Monday night, the mother-daughter duo will make their national television debut to speak about their experiences, highlighting the high stakes in this election for those in the country illegally and their families.
Karla is a fifth-grader in Las Vegas. Francisca Ortiz, 41, works cleaning houses. Francisca’s husband, Milton Ortiz, is a painter.
The couple came to the United States illegally from Guatemala more than two decades ago, the Daily Mail reported, but Karla is a U.S. citizen.
The family had hoped to qualify for President Obama’s deferred action program, which was stalled after a tie on the Supreme Court left a Texas judge’s order in place.
Karla first met Hillary Clinton when she tearfully described her fear and worry over her parents’ possible deportation.
The emotional encounter was later featured in a Clinton campaign ad in which the candidate told Ortiz, “You’re being very brave, and you have to be brave for them too.... Let me do all the worrying.”
“Possibly she’ll be the one that will be president for right now, but I hope she does,” Karla told NBC News after meeting Clinton. If Clinton wins, Ortiz said, “she’ll be more powerful than Donald Trump” and, she added, “she can help us.”
Speaking at a labor union event in May, Clinton said, “Karla is a typical, bright fifth-grader. She loves science experiments, math and ‘Charlotte’s Web.’ But she leaves for school every day terrified that her mom and dad, who are working hard to support their family, won’t be there when she gets home.... When Donald Trump talks about deporting 11 million immigrants, he’s talking about ripping apart families like Karla’s.”
Stormy weather descends on DNC, forcing media to evacuate tents
It is also really hot.
Early Sanders backers aren’t spared wrath as they make pro-Clinton case at the DNC
The dissension in the hall was especially notable when some of Bernie Sanders’ staunchest backers took the stage to make a case for supporting Hillary Clinton.
Rep. Raul Grijalva of Arizona, the Vermont senator’s first congressional supporter, was booed as he declared: “I stand here in support of Hillary Clinton.”
Beyond Sanders’ digital outreach to supporters, his allies were working delegates personally on the floor. Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver talked with delegates and reporters, repeating Sanders’ appeal against protests.
“We’ve got to be respectful,” he said. “Signs are fine. That’s part of the Democratic process. We shouldn’t be booing anybody.”
He said Sanders and the campaign oppose the idea of nominating an alternative to Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine for the vice presidential nomination.
“If Bernie were the nominee, would you want the conservatives nominating an alternative to his running mate? No.”
Asked about the delegates who say they won’t obey Sanders’ recommendation, he said: “We hope they’ll listen to Bernie.”
Sanders was not revising his planned remarks to address the tumult in the arena. Meanwhile, other former supporters insisted the tension would be short-lived.
“A convention is a cocoon. You go in one way, you come out different,” said Dr. Ben Jealous, the former president of the NAACP and also a Sanders backer who has now endorsed Clinton. “Day 2 will be different than Day 1, and Day 4 will be very different. We come in apart. We’ll leave together.”
Rep. Linda Sanchez on Hillary Clinton: ‘She’s a badass and she’s ready to lead’
Throughout the first day of the convention, Democrats tried to emphasize diversity, with several presenters speaking Spanish and telling stories of their families in response to Trump’s characterization of immigrants.
Rep. Linda T. Sanchez of Whittier told her parents’ story. They emigrated from Mexico; her father an industrial mechanic, her mother an elementary school teacher. They sent seven children to college.
“Donald Trump believes that Mexican immigrants are murderers and rapists. But what about my parents, Donald? Let me tell you what my parents are. They are the only parents in our nation’s 265-year history to send not one but two daughters to the United States Congress!” she said.
Sanchez again referenced her sister, U.S. Senate candidate Rep. Loretta Sanchez of Orange, in talking about growing diversity in Congress.
“Our caucus is growing, and this November we have the opportunity to elect outstanding Hispanic candidates from across the country. With Loretta Sanchez and Catherine Cortez Masto, we will elect a Latina to the U.S. Senate.”
Loretta Sanchez later joined her sister onstage. President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden have endorsed her rival, California Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris, in the race.
A video featuring several of the 26 Latino members of Congress also played during the speech. In the video, Linda Sanchez says of Hillary Clinton: “She’s a badass and she’s ready to lead.”
Bernie Sanders moves quickly to try to extinguish noisy DNC floor protests: ‘That’s what Donald Trump wants’
Bernie Sanders and those attached to his campaign are trying to extinguish a floor revolt that appeared to be consuming the opening of the convention when a chorus of boos met every mention of Hillary Clinton’s name.
Just minutes after the first boos, Bernie Sanders sent a text message to followers asking them to refrain from protests on the convention floor as a “personal courtesy” to him.
Then his former spokeswoman spoke up on Twitter: “No one stole this election! ... we lost,” she wrote.
In an email to supporters, Sanders also earlier asked his supporters to refrain from floor protests.
“Our credibility as a movement will be damaged by booing, turning of backs, walking out or similar displays. That’s what the corporate media wants. That’s what Donald Trump wants,” he wrote.
The boos, while perhaps less intense than they were at the beginning, so far have continued.
California state Senate leader: ‘We don’t manufacture fear’
California Senate leader Kevin de León (D-Los Angeles) argued against bombastic rhetoric in a speech to delegates Monday, saying if Hillary Clinton wins the nomination the Democratic Party can pass more progressive policy.
“We don’t manufacture fear,” he said. “That’s a sign of weakness.” He spoke in Spanish about Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, saying, “We don’t build walls here. We tear them down.”
De León was the first Latino elected Senate president pro tem and was raised by a single, immigrant mother.
“I’m with Hillary because she has spent a lifetime fighting for families just like mine,” he said.
He made the case for more policy such as that coming from Sacramento.
“Democrats in California have led the way,” he said, pointing to increases in the minimum wage, the number of clean energy jobs and the state’s version of the Dream Act.
“When we elect Hillary Clinton as our next president, I know our progress will be America’s progress,” he said. “This is how Democrats govern and when Democrats lead everyone has a shot to succeed.”
De León said before his speech that he didn’t expect interruptions, especially because his speech was more about California’s progressive policies than about Sen. Bernie Sanders or presumptive nominee Clinton.
“Every convention has its drama and this drama will soon be over,” he said.
Bernie Sanders supporters get prominent speaking roles at convention
They were early supporters of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, and now they have the chance to address the Democratic National Convention as the onetime presidential candidate’s delegates are in revolt on the floor.
Rep. Raul M. Grijalva of Arizona, former NAACP President Benjamin Jealous, comedian Sarah Silverman and Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison are all scheduled to speak on the first day of the convention.
Grijalva and Ellison gave Sanders his first and second congressional endorsements, respectively.
Jealous was a key surrogate for Sanders as he aimed to win over African American voters in Maryland and Southern states.
Silverman’s video announcing her support of Sanders went viral this spring.
They now have the task of calming Sanders delegates angry over recently leaked emails showing, among other conversations, Democratic National Committee staffers raising questions about Sanders’ religion.
This man was very happy about getting arrested at the Democratic convention
He was among more than 40 arrested and cited for disorderly conduct.
More than 50 cited for disorderly conduct outside the Democratic National Convention
Bernie Sanders supporters tried to enter the secured perimeter around the Democratic National Convention as the convention got underway, and more than 50 of them were cited for disorderly conduct.
Dozens hopped over a waist-high metal barricade — in a mostly orderly fashion — and were promptly handcuffed one by one.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” the cops said to one guy trying to hop the fence quickly. “Wait your turn,” a smiling officer said. “You’ll get arrested.”
Watch as one of the protesters gets handcuffed:
Here’s some more images from the protest:
4:45 p.m.: An earlier version of this post reported that the protesters were arrested. In fact, they were briefly detained and issued civil citations.
3:05 p.m. Updated with arrest numbers
This post was originally published at 2:30 p.m.
From the delegates: Sticking with Sanders
Julie Perry, 51, labor representative with National Nurses United and delegate from Kansas: “We were selected as Sanders delegates, and we plan to leave as Sanders delegates.”
Trump gleeful over Democratic discord
Donald Trump on Monday gleefully poked at the lack of unity at the Democratic National Convention, and the resignation of party chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz in the aftermath of an email hacking scandal.
“Debbie Wasserman Schultz, I always knew she was highly overrated. Not good,” he told thousands of supporters in a sweltering hotel ballroom. “But she just got fired, they said, ‘Debbie, you’re fired.’ How about that for disloyalty in terms of Hillary Clinton, in all fairness, because Debbie Wasserman Schultz has been so much for Hillary Clinton.”
As Democrats opened their convention in Philadelphia amid palpable discord, Trump offered his take to supporters.
“So Debbie was totally loyal to Hillary and Hillary threw her under a bus and it didn’t take her more than five minutes to make that decision,” Trump said. “Man, I don’t want her covering my back, I’ll tell you that.”
Trump, who was accompanied by his running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, said the emails proved that the system was “rigged” against Sen. Bernie Sanders, and he predicted the Vermont senator’s followers who have been protesting in Philadelphia would back the Republican ticket.
“A lot of the people marching, a lot of those people will vote for us,” he said.
Trump also castigated Clinton for picking Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine as her running mate, saying he was a flawed governor of Virginia and not the smart choice to appease Sanders’ supporters.
“Hillary Clinton has bad judgment. She shouldn’t have picked this guy. It was a big mistake because he is the exact opposite of what all of the Bernie people want,” Trump said.
Trump also threatened not to pay the rental fee at the Hotel Roanoke & Conference Center because of the temperature at the event.
“We’re in a ballroom and I feel like I’m in a sauna,” he said. “… I think the people who own this hotel should be ashamed of themselves.”
Today’s top political stories from the L.A. Times
In addition to our live coverage, we have a number of enterprise stories from our team on the ground in Philadelphia. You can always find our best work here, or check out these headlines:
Defying unity theme, Democratic convention opens amid shower of boos led by Sanders backers
Trump takes lead over Clinton as GOP convention generates a bounce for its nominee
Sanders delegates’ quandary: Take a stand at the convention or work with Clinton Democrats
Clinton has staked out many liberal positions, but will it quell unrest among progressives?
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Who are Marcia Fudge, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and Leticia Van de Putte?
The ouster of the Democratic National Committee chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz means other politicians are stepping into the spotlight in her place.
Let’s meet a few of them:
Rep. Marcia L. Fudge (D-Ohio) was tapped to replace Wasserman Schultz as the permanent chair of the convention. She was the mayor of the Cleveland suburb of Warrensville Heights for eight years before she was elected to Congress in 2008. She is the immediate past chair of the Congressional Black Caucus.
Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, the secretary of the Democratic National Committee, opened the proceedings instead of Wasserman Schultz. Rawlings-Blake became a familiar face to Americans in the wake of the arrest and death of Freddie Gray. She announced in September she would not seek reelection.
Former Texas state Sen. Leticia Van de Putte also appeared early on in the convention as the chair of the rules committee. Van de Putte was at fellow former Texas Sen. Wendy Davis’ side during the latter’s 11-hour filibuster of a Texas abortion bill in 2013. She recently lost a runoff election to be San Antonio’s mayor.
Sanders supporters shout chants typically heard at Trump rallies — and Bernie asks them to stop
Booing that had bubbled up during the day spilled over to the formal proceedings as the Democratic National Convention was gaveled open, with Bernie Sanders supporters shouting at each mention of Hillary Clinton’s name.
Some there to protest Clinton’s nomination shouted a refrain heard frequently during last week’s Republican National Convention: “Lock her up!”
After a few moments during the first boos, Clinton’s supporters began cheering louder to drown out the dissent.
Rep. Marcia Fudge of Ohio leveled with the fractured audience as she opened the convention.
“I am going to be respectful of you, and I want you to be respectful of me,” Fudge urged delegates over loud “Bernie!” chants.
Wellington Webb, the former mayor of Denver, urged the audience to unite behind the presumptive Democratic nominee after telling Sanders supporters they should also cheer for their preferred candidate when he takes the stage Monday night.
“Let’s also cheer for Hillary when she takes the stage on Thursday,” Webb said to the raucous crowd.
In response to the pandemonium, Sanders sent a text message and an email to delegation leaders asking them to keep the peace.
From the delegates: Bernie Sanders ‘votes his values’
Victoria Bard, 50, a delegate from Longmont, Colo.: “I am a Bernie Sanders national delegate. Which is what I will do the entire convention.
“Sen. Sanders votes his values. He has consistently been voting the people. There is no other candidate we have had in my lifetime that I could vote for, as opposed to choosing the lesser of two evils.”
Here are the oldest and youngest Democratic delegates who led the Pledge of Allegiance
Ruby Gilliam has seen many Democratic National Conventions: This is her eighth time representing her home state of Ohio at the event. At 93 years old, Gilliam is the oldest delegate at the convention.
“This convention might be the best of them all,’’ Gilliam told Cincinnati station WVXU. “This is different. This is history. All because we finally have a woman running for president. And I want to be a part of it.”
Gilliam was joined by the convention’s youngest delegate, Clarissa Rodriguez, a 17-year-old Texas delegate who is the convention’s youngest, as they led the hall in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Rodriguez was identified as a Bernie Sanders supporter in a news story last month about the Texas state Democratic convention.
On a GoFundMe campaign page geared toward raising money for her travel expenses to Pennsylvania, Rodriguez said she has recently become passionately involved in politics.
“That passion has brought me to this: wanting to represent a lot of people, like my mom: who makes just above minimum wage, my father: who never really recovered from addiction, my step father: who recently passed due to cancer/liver syrosis [sic} and all others who have not been represented well enough in our system,” she wrote.
Substitute convention chair needs a mulligan
Which California politicians will speak tonight?
As the largest state with the largest delegation, several Californians will address the convention hall throughout the week.
Among the speakers tonight is state Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León, the only California state legislator to address the full convention. He’s expected to talk about climate change, immigration and education.
Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chairwoman Linda T. Sanchez of Whittier is scheduled to speak about immigration and the American Dream.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco and Rep. Maxine Waters of Los Angeles will also speak.
Speakers are still being added, but also expected to speak this week are Gov. Jerry Brown, Sen. Barbara Boxer, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and at least a half-dozen others.
How some protesters at the Democratic convention are preparing for civil disobedience
At the Arch Street United Methodist Church near Philadelphia City Hall, activist groups from across the nation have gathered to commune, cool off and get ready for the Democratic National Convention to begin. This is the place where they have been training for the civil disobedience they promise is soon to come, and for the arrests that might follow.
When I walked into the sanctuary, a group called the Bernie PeaceKeepers were taking nonviolence training from Dion Lerman, 60. Police mugshots of Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. were propped on the altar behind them.
The goal of the training is to prevent or de-escalate violence. A projector beamed advice onto a screen: No violence, no weapons, don’t get arrested, don’t run, act collectively, “Serve the people gladly!” And look out for agents provacateurs, people from the opposition who might be lurking, quietly trying to start trouble.
“I’ve been doing this kind of training for 40 years,” Lerman told me. “The Bernie people are really people of good will, with a lot of experience and a lot of passion about what they’re trying to do.”
Hillary Clinton finally has Al Gore’s vote
The former vice president, who had been viewed as a notable holdout in endorsing Hillary Clinton, says he is encouraging everyone else to do the same. He’d already announced he wouldn’t attend the convention due to unspecified obligations elsewhere.
Outgoing DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz won’t gavel in convention later today after all
Following her weekend announcement that she would step down from her post as DNC chair this week, Debbie Wasserman Schultz told the Florida Sun-Sentinel that she would not gavel in the first day of events at the Democratic National Convention after all.
“I have decided that, in the interest of making sure that we can start the Democratic convention on a high note, that I am not going to gavel in the convention,” Wasserman Schultz told the paper.
Earlier Monday, Wasserman Schultz was booed and heckled when she addressed a gathering of Florida delegates, her first public appearance since she announced she would resign. Her decision came after embarrassing revelations from leaked DNC emails in which a DNC staff member contemplated publicly questioning Bernie Sanders’ faith during the contentious primary season.
Hillary Clinton’s soft landing for ousted Democratic Party chair rankles Bernie Sanders supporters
Democrats might have hoped to appease Bernie Sanders by ousting Debbie Wasserman Schultz as party chair, but many of the Vermont senator’s supporters are far from satisfied.
They’re still raw over internal emails showing national party officials favored Hillary Clinton rather than remain impartial in the primary race, and they’re furious that Clinton named Wasserman Schultz as an “honorary chair” on her campaign.
“A lot of us are feeling betrayed,” said Michelle Ching, who traveled from Santa Monica to show her support for Sanders.
Despite Clinton’s compromises on the party platform and the role of superdelegates, Sanders supporters remain sensitive to any slights. For them, putting Wasserman Schultz on her team, even in a symbolic capacity, feels like an insult.
“It’s showing disrespect to Bernie Sanders,” said Lauren Niedel, a delegate from Rhode Island.
Watch Bernie Sanders tells supporters to boos: ‘We have got to elect Hillary Clinton’
Sanders started the event at the convention center with his standard talking points.
As the rally progressed, Sanders insisted that Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine must be elected in order to stop Donald Trump. He was then booed by some supporters.
As Sanders delegates ponder protests, California’s huge delegation takes lead role
As Bernie Sanders’ delegates to the Democratic convention try to decide how much — and how visibly — to protest this week, the huge California delegation has taken a lead role in trying to shape a response.
But as the week’s official events prepare to begin, the roughly 200 Sanders delegates from California — nearly one in 10 of the Vermont senator’s backers here — remain far from consensus on how aggressive to be.
“We have everything from the Bernie or Busters to what I call the eventual nominee types,” said Karen Bernal of Sacramento, the co-leader of the Sanders California delegation. Sanders delegates from around the country are looking to the California contingent because of its size and prominence, she added.
While Democratic Party leaders want the focus of this week to be on party unity, “Bernie delegates came here with an entirely different agenda,” Bernal said, speaking at a news conference called by a group of Sanders supporters.
“We came here to push a progressive agenda.”
Sanders, she added, “owes his success” to the protest movements that exist outside the party. “He rode that wave,” and the delegates’ actions this week “are going to reflect the zeitgeist” of people whose basic orientation is toward protest, not party loyalty.
The news conference was called by the Bernie Delegates Network, a loosely formed organization that has been trying to serve as a point of contact for Sanders supporters who remain upset at the Democratic Party hierarchy.
In addition to possible protests on the floor, which could range from silently holding signs to jeering certain speakers to potential walkouts, the group has also been trying to gauge support for a challenge to Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine’s nomination as Clinton’s running mate, said Norman Solomon, the veteran activist who leads the network.
Under Democratic Party rules, delegates can nominate an alternative candidate and demand a roll call vote if they receive sufficient support. The vice presidential nomination vote will take place Wednesday.
The key problem for Kaine opponents, so far, has been finding someone willing to run against him, Solomon said.
Potential candidates they approach “run the other way,” he said. “We’re working on it.”
The group’s members also disagree about their ultimate vote in November, although they agree on their opposition to the Republican nominee, Donald Trump.
“I live in California,” said Solomon. “I have no reason to vote for Hillary Clinton.”
If Trump thinks that California will be even remotely competitive in the fall, “he’s delusional,” he added, saying that he might vote for the Green Party or perhaps leave the presidential line blank on his ballot.
By contrast, he said, Sanders delegates from swing states will do “everything they can” to defeat Trump, and that includes a decision to “hold their nose and vote for Clinton.”
In speech to veterans, Clinton tries to get back on message
Hillary Clinton sought to refocus voter attention on her candidacy and policy agenda amid the turmoil gripping the Democratic Party on Monday as she road-tested before veterans the message of optimism and experience she will carry through the party’s national convention this week.
But as the former secretary of State, speaking in Charlotte, N.C., aggressively contrasted her resume on matters of national security and her patriotism with her Republican rival’s bombastic foreign policy pronouncements and dour view of America’s place in the world, she competed for attention with the infighting that has erupted at her party’s convention in Philadelphia.
“I am not a newcomer to these issues,” she told the Veterans of Foreign Wars gathering. She did not delay in presenting an alternative vision to the one Trump offered during his speech at last week’s Republican National Convention. And she made sure to praise Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona, whose time as a prisoner of war in Vietnam was once mocked by Trump.
“I believe the United States of America is an exceptional nation with capabilities that no other nation comes close to matching,” she said. “We have the world’s greatest military. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.”
“You will never hear me say that I only listen to myself on national security,” Clinton told the group of veterans. “If you want somebody who will scapegoat other people, peddle fear and smear, I am not your candidate.”
Clinton took aim at Trump’s suggestion that under his leadership, the U.S. might not come to the aid of NATO partners who he believes have not lived up to their financial commitments to the alliance.
“I believe in standing with our allies because they are part of what makes us exceptional,” Clinton said. She noted that the son of her running mate, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, is a Marine about to deploy to Europe. “America’s word has to mean something.”
She mocked Trump’s kind words for some of the world’s more ruthless leaders.
“One thing for certain you will not ever hear from me is praise for dictators and strongmen who have no love for America,” she said. And she vowed never to “commit war crimes,” a reference to Trump’s suggestion that the military should use certain torture techniques.
“I’m not interested in talking provocatively,” Clinton said. “I’m not interested in insulting people, including our military. I’m interested in bringing our country together. I’m interested in healing the divisions.”
A glimpse of home outside the California delegation’s hotel
California has its very own donkey in Philadelphia: On one side of the 250-pound fiberglass figure is the Golden Gate Bridge, on the other is the Hollywood sign. Its legs and neck are dotted with California poppies, the state flower.
There are 57 fiberglass donkeys scattered throughout Philadelphia that are meant to represent one of the 50 states, Washington, D.C., or the six U.S. territories. The Philadelphia 2016 Host Committee is rewarding convention goers with food and prizes for tracking them down in a scavenger hunt.
California’s donkey is being guarded by velvet ropes at the entrance to the Philadelphia Marriott where many of the state delegates are staying.
Philadelphia-based artist Karina Puente painted California’s donkey. The California native grew up north of Santa Barbara in Santa Ynez, and when her application to participate was accepted, Puente asked organizers to let her work on the donkey for her home state. Puente also painted the Arkansas donkey.
State delegates suggested images for the donkey, Puente said. She weaved together the images of the Golden Gate Bridge, Hollywood sign and poppies using acrylic paint and collage.
“I spent a lot of time in those places growing up,” she said. “There’s the hometown feel and the connection.”
California Democratic Party spokesman Michael Soller said the donkey will be shipped to the party’s headquarters in Sacramento after the convention. Donkeys that go unclaimed by their states will be auctioned off.
Puente was ecstatic to hear the donkey is making the cross-country trip.
Clinton campaign downplays early tensions at the Democratic convention
Top Hillary Clinton aides said they weren’t fazed by the harsh reception that outgoing party chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz received at her own home state delegation breakfast Monday, and insisted this week’s convention would be a showcase for Democratic unity.
Campaign manager Robby Mook sidestepped a number of questions about whether the campaign was comfortable with the Florida congresswoman still gaveling the convention into session.
“The chairwoman’s statement speaks for itself,” he said of her announcement Sunday that she will resign after the convention amid controversy over leaked party emails.
“I would hope that anyone that continues to have strong feelings about the chairwoman keep in mind the extraordinary step she’s taken,” Clinton press secretary Brian Fallon told reporters later. “For her to step down at the end of the week is really an extraordinary gesture on her part to achieve party unity and to achieve a distraction-free convention.”
Mook said the gathering would be “optimistic” and”hopeful” and would speak to Clinton’s plans for the future. It would stand in contrast with a Republican convention that few of the party’s biggest names even attended, including the home state governor.
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz addressed the gathering in Cleveland without backing the party’s nominee, but his Democratic primary equivalent of sorts, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, will be the final speaker on the Democratic convention’s first night to “double down” on his endorsement of Clinton. Fallon would not say, though, if Clinton’s campaign has seen an advance copy of Sanders’ speech.
Fallon also said Clinton welcomed a full roll call vote on the nomination Tuesday — something Sanders’ backers were working to ensure.
“It is exactly in keeping with our philosophy that every vote should be counted. And that means every delegate being counted on the floor of the convention,” he said.
After the convention, Clinton will launch a bus tour with her running mate, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, to reach out to the kinds of economically distressed voters Sanders attracted and Trump has been targeting.
“There’s been a way overwrought narrative about the idea that Bernie Sanders supporters are in play for Donald Trump,” Fallon said. “I don’t think that’s true at all.”
DREAMer to California delegates: ‘Thank you for prioritizing the voiceless’
California delegates opened the Democratic convention Monday not by listening to a party elder but by hearing the story of Elmer Lizarde, 19, who praised the state for making in-state college tuition available to people brought to the U.S. illegally as children.
“I hope that my words and my story are a testament to every California lawmaker who has paved the way to give me the privilege to speak, to preserve and to achieve,” he said.
Lizarde, 19, who is UCLA-bound, was brought to the U.S. as a 5-year-old by his grandfather. He went on to became salutatorian of his high school class.
California Democratic Party Chairman John Burton gave up his spot at the convention, sending Lizarde in his place.
“Elmer is a DREAMer, who was brought to this country as a child and grew up as a Californian,” Burton wrote in a letter to delegates before the convention. “Listen carefully to what Elmer has to say, because his success is our success, and his dream is our dream.”
Lizarde praised state laws that grant aid at public universities and colleges to students in the country illegally. Gov. Jerry Brown signed them into law in 2011.
Lizarde said California set the precedent for the rest of the country, adding that he wouldn’t have been able to afford college without the help.
“Thank you for prioritizing the voiceless,” Lizarde said.
FBI confirms it is investigating email hack of DNC
The FBI confirmed Monday for the first time that it is investigating the hack of the Democratic National Committee that resulted in the unauthorized release of at least 20,000 internal emails.
“The FBI is investigating a cyber intrusion involving the DNC” and is working “to determine the nature and scope of the matter,” the bureau said in a statement.
“A compromise of this nature is something we take very seriously, and the FBI will continue to investigate and hold accountable those who pose a threat in cyberspace.”
A trove of internal DNC emails were posted online several days ago by WikiLeaks; law enforcement officials and cyber security experts have said Russian intelligence services appear to be behind the hack, an allegation echoed Monday by Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager, Robby Mook.
Mook told reporters that it appeared the Russians were “feeding the email to hackers for the purpose of helping Donald Trump.”
Campaign spokesman Brian Fallon said the idea Russia might be trying to tilt the election in Trump’s favor should be taken seriously.
“Trump has been espousing a public a bunch of policies from a foreign policy standpoint that would completely play into Vladimir Putin’s hands,” he said. “I think there’s a lot of track record from a personnel standpoint in the person of Paul Manafort, and policy positions, as well as general comments he has made praising and admiring Putin that are quite perplexing and can only lead one to the conclusion that this is somebody that will be more linked arm-in-arm with Russia than with our historic allies in NATO.”
Sanders’ campaign ‘long knew’ it was being treated unfairly by Democratic Party, manager says
Leaked emails proving Democratic Party leaders favored Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders in the primary might come as news to the public, but not to Sanders’ campaign, its manager said Monday.
“We long knew it based on how we were treated,” campaign manager Jeff Weaver told CNN’s “New Day.”
Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz made the right decision in resigning, Weaver added, echoing what Sanders said over the weekend. But Democrats can’t waste time dwelling on a scandal — now is the time to prepare for a fight against Republican nominee Donald Trump in the fall, he said.
“The thing to do now is to elect Hillary Clinton and defeat Donald Trump,” Weaver said.
Angry Sanders delegates drown out California speakers
Supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders, upset over the disclosure of Democratic National Committee emails showing officials privately discussing ways to help Hillary Clinton beat Sanders, repeatedly shouted down speakers at the California delegation’s breakfast Monday morning.
The ruckus came shortly after DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz was similarly booed and heckled by Sanders supporters as she addressed the Florida delegation.
At the meeting of California delegates, Sanders supporters waved “Bernie or Bust” signs and chanted Sanders’ name whenever a speaker mentioned Clinton.
The first chants started over the speech of Rep. Barbara Lee of Oakland, a progressive icon and the last member of the congressional delegation to endorse Clinton.
Bruce Jones, 53, of Half Moon Bay, wearing a tri-corner hat, lead his table in chants of “Bernie! Bernie!”
He said in an interview that until delegates vote on the nominee at the convention he doesn’t think it’s right to talk about Clinton as if she were the nominee.
“We know that she is a presumptive nominee and hasn’t gotten our votes yet,” he said. “We don’t like to be told who to vote for. After the vote tomorrow night we can talk about who we should vote for in November, but right now we’re talking about who we should vote for Tuesday night.”
Jones said he became a Democrat because Sanders was talking about climate change.
“Bernie Sanders has brought a lot of passionate new energy to the party and the party should maybe consider their messaging on how to win us over,” Jones said. “Apparently their messaging today is not winning us over.”
The crowd also chanted over California Secretary of State Alex Padilla’s speech, yelling “do your job” and “count our votes.”
Padilla said the complaints stemmed from a misunderstanding, spread on social media, about a new state law that allows mail-in ballots to be counted as long as they are postmarked by election day and arrive within three days.
“We have our work cut out for us to better explain to all voters, for that matter, how the process works,” Padilla said.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (San Francisco) said that passionate supporters are often disappointed when their candidate does not win, but she downplayed the number of Sanders supporters who are upset.
“People get excited about the campaigns that they are in, and it doesn’t turn off the day the determination is made,” Pelosi said. “Some people are new and just are not familiar with how things work. You make your case, you take your vote, you make a difference, you demand a compromise, you bring the policy or rules closer to you. That is success.”
Wasserman Schultz needs to stay off the Democratic convention stage, former party chairman says
If Debbie Wasserman Schultz gets on stage at the Democratic National Convention, it will get messy, a former party chairman warned Monday.
“It’s wrong for her and it’s wrong for us,” former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, himself once head of the Democratic National Committee, said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
Wasserman Schultz announced Sunday that she will resign as the party chair after the convention because of leaked DNC emails that revealed that officials at party headquarters were not as neutral as they publicly insisted during the primary fight between Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders.
With the Democratic Party leaders already working to bring Sanders delegates and supporters on board with Clinton, the emails only increase the challenge, Rendell said. He added that although he knows Wasserman Schultz is dedicated, she must put aside her “single-minded” and “stubborn” tendencies and not get on stage.
“Anything that exacerbates that situation, it’s important to get rid of it,” he said.
He suggested the Floridian focus on being reelected to her seat in Congress.
In political turnabout, Democrats play soft-on-Russia card by linking Trump to Putin
For decades, Republicans were the fiercest of Cold Warriors, fighting the spread of communism and, not incidentally, winning elections by painting Democrats as the party of the frail and feckless.
Even with the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the GOP and its defense and foreign policy leaders warned against the threat posed by a revanchist Russia.
Four years ago, Republican nominee Mitt Romney portrayed President Obama as too timorous to end the bullying behavior of Vladimir Putin and contain “our No. 1 geopolitical foe.”
But in one of the most startling turnabouts in a campaign filled with role reversals, it is now the Democrats brandishing fear of Moscow as a club, accusing Donald Trump of an oddly worshipful regard for the Russian leader and suggesting that the Kremlin may be interfering in the U.S. election on his behalf.
A Florida delegate gets creative in Philadelphia
Outgoing Democratic chairwoman met with boos from home state delegates
Why Philadelphia protests are already bigger than anything in Cleveland
The Democratic National Convention is going to hit some in-flight turbulence in Philadelphia. I can already tell. This morning, I’m staring at a full calendar of protests that includes training sessions for civil disobedience.
One popular grassroots organizing site, Democracy Spring, is asking visitors to sign up if they’re willing to get arrested with “hundreds” of others this week to protest “to end the corruption of big money in politics and ensure free and fair elections.”
Last week’s Republican National Convention in Cleveland was, depending on your perspective, either a police state or a model of control.
It’s worth reflecting for a moment on why Cleveland didn’t yield the election riots that the press corps had feared for months. It’s not like those fears came out of nowhere. I covered a couple of Donald Trump rallies in Southern California that ended with crowds of protesters and police in the streets, with Latino teenagers brandishing Mexican flags and telling me they were afraid of a “civil war” if Trump got elected. Plus, lefty activists often protest the Republican conventions.
The activists and protesters simply didn’t show up in Cleveland. Not in numbers, anyway.
But they’re here in Philadelphia, which is easier to get to from the big Eastern cities, has more places to stay, and, probably most importantly, has Bernie Sanders.
Bernie Sanders supporters push to make sure he gets a roll-call vote
Bernie Sanders volunteers fanned out across Philadelphia on Monday morning, collecting signatures to ensure the Vermont senator gets a roll call vote on the convention floor.
Thank you for being here, and for all the work you’ve done. I look forward to your votes during the roll call on Tuesday night.
— Sanders during DNC speech tonight
READ SANDERS’ PREPARED REMARKS >>
They staked out hotel breakfasts, waiting to catch delegates as they finished their eggs or grabbed coffee. Some of the volunteers hope Sanders will find a way to bypass Hillary Clinton and become the Democratic nominee; others just want to ensure Sanders gets a prominent show of support.
“I think this will help further the things that he’s fighting for,” said Frank Burns, 58, who lives nearby in Pennsylvania.
He was making the rounds at a hotel near the airport where state delegations from New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont and Maine, all strongholds of Sanders support, were staying. The volunteers said they were asked by the Sanders campaign to collect signatures; whether there will be a roll-call vote has also been the subject of negotiations between Clinton and Sanders representatives.
Another volunteer, Kim Gollub, 55, of New Jersey, said she won’t support Clinton and doesn’t plan to heed Sanders’ endorsement of her.
“That was a formality,” she said. “As far as I’m concerned, he’s still a candidate.”
Host-state delegation focusing on party unity
The first order of business for the Pennsylvania Democrats on Monday? Party unity.
The host-state delegation’s breakfast Monday morning opened with state Democratic chairman Marcel Groen inviting delegates for Bernie Sanders to rise.
Hillary Clinton won the state’s April 26 primary by a double-digit margin, so the Sanders backers were a minority in the room. But they nonetheless were greeted with warm applause as they stood in a downtown hotel ballroom here.
“We want you. We need you,” Groen said. “We’re going to hug you. We need your thoughts. We need your ideas. We need your passion. and we need your ability to come together, so we can speak with one voice.”
The party’s breakfast was supposed to feature DNC chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who announced Sunday she would step down at week’s end.
John Podesta, chairman of the Clinton campaign, did address the breakfast and expressed confidence they would carry the key battleground state.
“We’ve won the last six. We’re going to win this one,” he said.
A bump for Trump: Convention generates a bounce for the GOP
The Republican convention has generated a modest increase so far in Donald Trump’s poll standing, moving the New York businessman back into a lead over Hillary Clinton.
Through Sunday, the USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times “Daybreak” tracking poll of the race shows Trump gaining about three percentage points in the aftermath of the convention. That would be roughly in line with the convention bounces enjoyed by Democratic and Republican nominees in the past three election cycles.
As of Sunday, the poll, which is updated daily, showed Trump leading Clinton 45%-41%.
As of Sunday, the poll, which is updated daily, showed Trump leading Clinton 45%-41%. The lead is within the poll’s margin of error of 3 percentage points in either direction, meaning that the apparent lead could be the result of chance.
Keynote address by Elizabeth Warren highlights DNC schedule Monday
Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts speaks at the Democratic National Convention. More coverage at latimes.com/trailguide.
Democrats are kicking off their convention with a prime-time lineup of some of the party’s biggest names. At least the biggest names who haven’t served in the Oval Office.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who provided a quick endorsement of Hillary Clinton after she clinched the nomination in June, has been designated as the convention’s keynote speaker, the Clinton campaign announced Monday.
The Massachusetts senator will address delegates here in Philadelphia just before Bernie Sanders, providing a powerful back-to-back dose of the party’s best known progressive forces.
First up, in the 9 p.m. Eastern hour, will be Sen. Cory Booker, the popular New Jersey senator and social media denizen.
First Lady Michelle Obama will speak next, leading up to Warren.
The Clinton campaign is building the first night around a theme they describe as the former secretary of State’s lifelong work on behalf of putting families first.
That, campaign officials say, is intended to contrast with what they called the dark and divisive Republican convention, which was capped by Donald Trump’s declaration that “I alone” could solve the nation’s problems.
Tuesday will be headlined by former President Bill Clinton. Wednesday features President Obama and Vice President Biden. The Democrats note that no former Republican president spoke at Trump’s gathering.
What would it take for this pro-Bernie Sanders voter to vote for Hillary Clinton? ‘A brain injury’
Amid the hot Philadelphia protests on Sunday, I asked a man with a pro-Sanders sandwich-board setup what he thought about Hillary. “Who’s Hillary?” responded Mark Kelderman, 60, of Brownsville, Wis., deadpan at first.
The race for the Democratic nomination is over in all but name only. But like many Sanders supporters I talked to, Kelderman wants the superdelegates to vote for Sanders even though Sanders has endorsed Clinton.
“After I got done throwing up, I decided I would make my own vote of conscience come election time,” he said. Not Clinton or Donald Trump. “At this point, maybe Jill Stein,” the Green Party candidate.
I asked him what it would take to make him vote for Clinton.
“A brain injury,” Kelderman said.
There will probably be far fewer superdelegates at the next Democratic convention
Hillary Clinton this week will be officially nominated by the Democratic Party by a combination of ordinary pledged delegates and superdelegates. Superdelegates are a group of elected officials and party leaders who can throw their support to a candidate regardless of primary results.
Although Clinton ultimately won a majority of pledged delegates and the popular vote, the pledged delegate system was a major sticking point in the fight between Clinton and runner-up Bernie Sanders, who repeatedly said he would seek to get the superdelegates on his side.
Now, under a deal struck Saturday, only elected officials would be allowed to be superdelegates, reducing their numbers by two-thirds.
Although the move will require a commission’s report and the approval of the full Democratic National Committee, the Sanders campaign is confident the process will result in far fewer superdelegates.
Prominent Democrats to meet California delegates for breakfast sessions
Several big names in Democratic politics will join the 551 California delegates at the Democratic National Convention for breakfast this week at their hotel in downtown Philadelphia.
Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro, who was floated as a possible choice to join the ticket, former U.S. Atty. Gen. Eric Holder, and Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a longtime Clinton friend and supporter, will speak Thursday.
Such delegation breakfasts are common at both the Democratic and Republican parties’ conventions. Despite being housed 60 miles from Cleveland, the California delegation at last week’s GOP convention drew up-and-coming Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton, first-season “The Apprentice” contestant Omarosa Manigault and conservative author and television personality Ann Coulter.
The Democrats’ daily 8:30 a.m. breakfasts will be held at the Philadelphia Marriott, where many delegates are staying for the convention.
Other speakers include civil-rights icon and U.S. Rep. John Lewis of Georgia, who led House Democrats in a 25-hour sit-in on the House floor last month to advocate for gun-control legislation, on Tuesday, and former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean on Thursday.
Several California members of Congress will address the party faithful over the course of the week, including Sen. Barbara Boxer, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and House Democratic Caucus Chairman Xavier Becerra.
Delegates will also hear from California state and city elected officials, including Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom; Senate President pro Tempore Kevin de León; Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon; Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee.
Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris, who is running for the Senate seat currently held by Sen. Barbara Boxer, is scheduled to address delegates over breakfast Tuesday morning. Her opponent, Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Orange), is not on the speakers list.
The state party has endorsed Harris.
“While we are definitely proud of having the nation’s largest congressional Democratic delegation, we will have 39 great speakers at our daily breakfasts and they couldn’t be a steady diet of congressional members from California,” California Democratic Party spokesman Michael Soller said.
Beyond politicians, delegates will hear from NextGen Climate President Tom Steyer and the heads of California’s teacher and labor unions.
Steyer founded climate-focused political action committee NextGen California and has spent millions supporting Democrats.
Delegates will also hear from the leaders of several women’s rights and women’s reproductive choice groups including Planned Parenthood Federation of America President Cecile Richards; Emily’s List President Stephanie Schriock; National Organization of Women President Terry O’Neill and NARAL Pro-Choice America President Ilyse Hogue.
Here are the 3 big problems Hillary Clinton needs to solve at the Democratic convention
1. Her first challenge is an old one: Can she make herself seem likable enough for Americans to want her in their living rooms?
2. In a year when most voters are deeply dissatisfied with the direction the country’s going, Clinton needs to cast herself as an agent of change.
3. Clinton faces a problem that some of her aides acknowledge may be insoluble between now and November: her trust deficit.
Catch up on the DNC-WikiLeaks email controversy that ended Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s reign
Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who has long been under fire for the appearance of partiality toward Hillary Clinton in the Democratic presidential primaries, announced her resignation in a statement Sunday afternoon.
The move culminated a series of steps by the Clinton campaign to sideline her — first by appointing a new party executive last month to run the party’s operations, then by taking away her speaking role at the convention and removing even the simple task of gaveling the convention in and out of session.
The announcement ultimately came after internal emails newly disclosed by the website WikiLeaks revived long-running suspicions on the part of Sanders supporters that the Florida congresswoman had tilted the scales in favor of Clinton.
One email, in particular, caught the attention of Sanders loyalists. In it, the party’s chief financial officer — an ally of Wasserman Schultz — indicated interest in raising questions about whether Sanders lacked active involvement with his Jewish heritage.
First, balloons
Workers raised tens of thousands of balloons to the top of the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia on Saturday in preparation for the balloon-drop after Hillary Clinton’s speech Thursday night. We’ll be here covering the convention until the last balloon drops.
As it turns out, some of the balloons got loose as workers were putting them in place Saturday.