A majority of the elected officials who spoke Monday night were younger than 50.
On Monday night, President Joe Biden finally built the bridge.
“I view myself as a bridge, not as anything else,” Biden, then still a septuagenarian, said in March 2020, onstage with Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and then-Sen. Kamala Harris. “There’s an entire generation of leaders you saw [standing] behind me. They are the future of this country.”
For 3½ years, there was little sign Biden intended to follow through. Harris, selected as his vice president, seemed to be flailing. As Biden struggled through his 2024 reelection bid, other promising Democrats were stuck in place. But after he was forced out of the race in July following a shockingly poor debate performance, the first night of the Democratic National Convention featured the party’s old guard handing over the keys to the party to a new generation.
Of the 25 elected officials who were scheduled to speak, 13 were under 50 years old. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, 34, brought the house down and seemingly leveled her career up with her speech. Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, 37, slammed ― literally ― the conservative blueprint called Project 2025 after bringing it out as a large printed book. Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear, 48, and a trio of young women delivered the party’s most important message, promising to protect abortion rights.
Other young leaders, including Whitmer, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, were seemingly held in reserve, with the speaking schedule for the next three nights not yet fully revealed.
The youth push also helps the party sell the idea of Harris as a fresh start, a way to move past the chaotic politics of eras defined by former President Donald Trump and the coronavirus pandemic.
Meanwhile, the party gave time to the leaders of its past. An early segment honored the Rev. Jesse Jackson, now stricken with Parkinson’s, whose presidential runs in the 1980s helped create the modern progressive movement. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton placed Harris in a tradition of groundbreaking female candidates. And, of course, Biden himself passed the direct responsibility of defeating Trump and defending democracy to Harris.
“There’s a transition taking place,” said Rep. James Clyburn (S.C.), one of a trio of House Democratic leaders who held on to power into their eighth decades before stepping down after the 2022 elections. “You know, it’s kind of interesting. Joe Biden said from day one that he wanted to be that kind of president.
