Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez to speak at Democratic convention
Aug 16, 2020, 4:30 PM
(Facebook Screenshot/Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez and Vice President Myron Lizer)
PHOENIX — Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez will speak Tuesday night as part of the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention, according to Joe Biden’s campaign.
Former President Bill Clinton, U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Jill Biden, the nominee’s wife, will also speak Tuesday, along with former acting U.S. Attorney General Sally Yates, who Trump fired early in his administration.
The convention, which formally begins Monday, is not a convention in the traditional sense. There will be no physical gathering place, no cheering audience, no balloons. The program will consist instead of a series of online video addresses — half of which will be prerecorded — that play out for two hours each night until Biden formally accepts the Democratic presidential nomination in a mostly empty Delaware ballroom on Thursday.
Party officials and Biden aides have described the convention’s agenda as a way to pitch the nominee as a steady, consensus-building figure in contrast with Trump’s turbulent tenure. Yet the unusual format, with just eight hours of prime-time programming spread over four nights from Aug. 17-20, will test Biden’s ability to project a cohesive message to a splintered electorate wrenched by a pandemic, a devastated economy and an ongoing reckoning on systemic racism.
“We had two goals in mind: to include more Americans than ever before and to ensure that all Americans see themselves reflected in what they were viewing,” said Stephanie Cutter, a veteran Democratic strategist who is directing the program for Biden.
Despite President Donald Trump’s efforts to scare away would-be Biden-Harris backers by describing the Democrats’ 2020 ticket as the most ideologically extreme in American history, Biden has attracted the support of former Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a Republican, who is scheduled to speak Monday.
The Biden campaign hinted that Kasich would not be the only high-profile Republican featured at the convention, but refused to say more.
Trump is looking to counter this week’s Democratic National Convention with travel to several swing states — including Arizona on Tuesday.
It will be his third trip to the Grand Canyon State during the coronavirus pandemic.
Trump is scheduled to appear in Yuma where he plans to discuss immigration-related matters after trips to Wisconsin and Minnesota on Monday.
On Thursday, the president will head to Scranton, Pennsylvania, to discuss policies regarding jobs and trade.
Later that night, former Vice President Joe Biden will deliver an acceptance speech to be the presidential nominee for the Democratic Party.
An OH Predictive Insights poll released last week found Biden up 49%-45%, but it’s the third consecutive poll the Republican incumbent has whittled down the difference.
In a similar poll in July, Biden was ahead 49%-44%. In May, he led 50%-43%.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.