Dems formally nominate Biden for president; wife gives keynote speech from school classroom

MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin -- Democrats formally nominated Joe Biden as their 2020 presidential nominee Tuesday night, as party officials and activists from across the nation gave the former vice president their overwhelming support during his party’s all-virtual national convention.

The moment marked a political high point for Biden, who had sought the presidency twice before. At the convention, Biden is drawing on a collection of the Democratic Party's most experienced leaders_ and fresher faces, too _ to show the party has the experience and energy to defeat Donald Trump this fall.

RELATED STORY: Highlights from night two of the DNC

Also Tuesday night, Biden introduced his wife, Jill Biden to the nation for the first time as the prospective first lady.

She gave the keynote address after her husband was formally nominated, speaking to the nation from a sentimental spot in Delaware: Brandywine High School, where she taught English from 1991 to 1993.

Jill Biden offered a deeply personal and hopeful endorsement of her husband as a man who can lead the nation through adversity.

She pledged to the nation that if her husband is elected president, America’s classrooms “will ring out with laughter and possibility once again.”

Speaking from our former high school classroom, room 232, Jill Biden described “the anxiety that echoes down empty hallways” and the uncertainty that’s come as schools grapple with whether to resume in-person teaching as the coronavirus pandemic rages on.

“The burdens we carry are heavy, and we need someone with strong shoulders,” Mrs. Biden said. “If we entrust this nation to Joe, he will do for your family what he did for ours: Bring us together and make us whole, carry us forward in our time of need, keep the promise of America, for all of us.”

Mrs. Biden drew parallels with her husband’s experience leading his family through personal adversity and what she described as his ability to lead the nation through its current crises.

Former President Bill Clinton also spoke at the Democratic convention on Tuesday night, recalling his forensic political skills with a takedown of the current President.

"Donald Trump says we're leading the world. Well, we are the only major industrial economy to have its unemployment rate triple," Clinton said.

"At a time like this, the Oval Office should be a command center. Instead, it's a storm center. There's only chaos. Just one thing never changes -- his determination to deny responsibility and shift the blame. The buck never stops there."

The evening also featured a video about the cross-party friendship between Biden and late Sen. John McCain, narrated by the Arizona Republican's widow, Cindy.

The Senate veterans once traded barbs on foreign policy but bonded across party lines in a friendship dating to when McCain served as a military aide after returning from years as a prisoner in the Vietnam War.

Another prominent Republican -- former Secretary of State Colin Powell, who served under President George W. Bush -- offered a video testimonial about Biden during Tuesday night's program as part of the Democrats' effort to draw in Republicans and independents who are frustrated with Trump's leadership and his divisive tactics.

In his video message, Powell said that America needs a commander in chief who will take care of U.S. troops the same way that he would take care of his own family.

"For Joe Biden that doesn't need teaching, it comes from the experience he shares with millions of military families sending his beloved son off to war and praying to God he would come home safe," Powell said in the taped address.