Former US President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama have given impassioned endorsements of Kamala Harris on the second night of the Democratic National Convention.
They urged voters to back a “new chapter’ with her in back-to-back speeches that electrified the audience in a packed arena in Chicago.
In her speech Michelle Obama mocked Donald Trump directly, asking if he knew he was running for a “black job”, referring to being president.
The Republican candidate has come under fire for saying migrants are taking “black jobs” in the US
The four-day convention formally anoints Harris as the Democratic presidential contender; Donald Trump had his convention last month after surviving an assassination attempt.
The Obamas both took the opportunity to use their convention speeches to back Kamala Harris’s White House bid as well as tear into her Republican opponent, Donald Trump.
Michelle Obama spoke in support of Harris, saying “something wonderfully magical is in the air…the contagious power of hope” and that she was “more than ready for this moment”.
She contrasted the upbringing of Harris with that of the “generational wealth” of Donald Trump, saying Harris’s story is “your story…the story of the vast majority of Americans trying to build a better life”.
Obama also criticised Trump for his attacks on her and her husband, and one line that got a huge roar of approval was her taunt over his claim that migrants were taking ‘black jobs’, questioning if he realised that the job he was running for was one of them.
Barack Obama told the convention that the “torch has been passed” between Biden and Harris, but warned that Democrats faced a “tight fight” for the presidency.
He said that the US was ready for a President Harris and that she was ready for the job and would work to unite the country.
Obama said America did not need another four years of Donald Trump, saying: “We have seen that movie before – and we all know that the sequel is usually worse.”
He described the former president as a billionaire “who has not stopped whining about his problems” and when mention of Trump prompted the crowd to boo, said: “Do not boo. Vote”.