Jill Biden closes out night 2 of the Democratic National Convention

Sen. John McCain receives the the 2017 Liberty Medal from former Vice President Joe Biden at the National Constitution Center on October 16, 2017 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. William Thomas Cain/Getty Images

Joe Biden’s cross-party friendship with the late Arizona Sen. John McCain was remembered in an emotional video at the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday, one that featured the voice of McCain’s widow, Cindy McCain.

The video was a not-so-subtle denunciation of Donald Trump, who has repeatedly slammed McCain -- both before and after his death in 2018. McCain, before his death, voted against Trump’s attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act drew the President’s ire, leading him to attack McCain in personal terms.

The video recalls how Biden and McCain met -- the former Arizona senator was assigned to Biden as a military aide on a foreign trip -- and how their relationship blossomed when they were both in the Senate.

A narrator described the Biden-McCain relationship as a “friendship that shouldn’t have worked” and featured the voices of other top Democrats who saw their relationship up close.

And Cindy McCain later in the video said their friendship represented a “style of legislating and leadership that you don’t find much anymore.”

The video of McCain voting against Trump’s Affordable Care Act repeal was also included, another rejection of Trump.

Cindy McCain, while not endorsing Biden, is just one of many Republicans helping Biden that have been on full display during the first two nights of the convention. Former Ohio Gov. John Kasich addressed the convention on Monday night, while former Secretary of State Colin Powell spoke on Biden’s behalf on Tuesday.

“My husband and Vice President Biden enjoyed a 30+ year friendship dating back to before their years serving together in the Senate, so I was honored to accept the invitation from the Biden campaign to participate in a video celebrating their relationship,” Cindy McCain tweeted on Tuesday about her participation in the video.

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Colin Powell. Democratic National Convention

Colin Powell, a Republican who has frequently broken ranks to back Democratic presidential candidates, made the case for Biden as a uniter who would make Americans proud when he hits the world stage.

Powell, a retired four-star general who served as secretary of state during President George W. Bush’s first term, including the invasion of Iraq, also pointed to the military service of Biden’s son, the late Beau Biden, who was deployed there in 2008 and 2009.

“Our country needs a commander-in-chief who takes care of our troops in the same way he would his own family,” Powell said. “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 also addressed Trump’s performance on the home front.

“Today, we are a country divided, and we have a president doing everything in his power to make it that way and keep us that way,” he said. “What a difference it will make to have a president who unites us, who restores our strength and our soul.”

Former Secretary of State John Kerry. Democratic National Convention

Former Secretary of State and 2004 Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry slammed Trump's foreign policy, saying that when the current President goes oversees, "it isn’t a goodwill mission, it’s a blooper reel."

"This is the bottom line: Our interests, our ideals, and our brave men and women in uniform can’t afford four more years of Donald Trump," Kerry said.

Kerry touted Biden's "moral compass" that has "has always pointed in the right direction."

"Our troops can’t get out of harm’s way by hiding in the White House bunker. They need a president who will stand up for them. And President Biden will," he said.

Activist Ady Barkan. Democratic National Convention

Activist Ady Barkan, who was diagnosed with ALS after the 2016 election, conducted a series of interviews with the Democratic candidates before the primaries.

He eventually endorsed Elizabeth Warren, then Bernie Sanders after she dropped out of the race. Joe Biden was not among the group who visited him for the taped conversations.

But on Tuesday night, Barkan – who has since spoken with the former vice president and endorsed him – said, “We must elect Joe Biden.”

Barkan’s remarks, which were voiced by a computer that tracks his eye movements, focused on his own family, including a poignant message to his young children, and the fight to guarantee health care to every American. Biden has never bought in to “Medicare for All,” so Barkan included a nudge to his fellow advocates.

In describing his painful, debilitating struggle against a “mysterious illness,” Barkan said that he, like so many others, had “experienced the ways our health care system is fundamentally broken: enormous costs, denied claims, dehumanizing treatment when we are most in need.”

Barkan connected his experience to the suffering that has accompanied the coronavirus pandemic, which he said laid bare the cruelest elements of a broken system.

“Today we are witnessing the tragic consequences of our failing health care system,” Barkan said. “In the midst of a pandemic, nearly 100 million Americans do not have sufficient health insurance.”

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Democratic National Convention

Joe Biden was officially nominated for president by the Democratic Party on Tuesday night, after a roll call spanning 50 states and 7 territories.

After his home state of Delaware delivered the final delegates in his favor, the former Vice President appeared live on screen for the first time in the convention.

Shots of Biden and his wife Jill Biden -- and then his grandchildren, who shot celebratory streamers over him -- were interspersed with videos of Americans cheering.

"Thank you all from the bottom of my heart from my family, and I'll see you on Thursday," Biden said, referring to his upcoming speech to close the convention.

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Former President Barack Obama tweeted congrats to Biden on his acceptance of the nomination.

"Congrats, Joe. I'm proud of you," Biden said.

Gold Star father Khizr Khan, who represented Virginia in the roll call to officially nominate Joe Biden as the presidential Democratic nominee, invoking the violence that happened in Charlottesville in 2017 in his remarks.

"That was the day Joe Biden decided to join this battle for the soul of America. Over time, my wife and I have come to know his soul. He's a decent, compassionate man. He will bring the nation together," he added.

This was Khan's second appearance at the 2020 Democratic National Convention, who was also included in a video about the convention's theme on Monday.

Virginia cast 32 votes for Bernie Sanders and 91 votes for Joe Biden. 

Democratic National Convention

The roll call vote to nominate Joe Biden for president is going in alphabetical order at the convention, but Delaware, Biden's home state, passed so that it can be the decisive state to nominate Biden.

Gov. John Carney and Sen. Tom Carper are expected to appear for Delaware.

The roll call vote to formally nominate Joe Biden for president has begun at the Democratic National Convention. 

The roll call vote will be held with people from all 57 states and territories appearing over video. The range of Democrats set to nominate Biden includes elected officials, including a number of his 2020 opponents, to activists like a fisherman from Alaska, a farmer in Kansas and a bricklayer in Missouri.

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The New York Times security guard Jacquelyn Asbie. Democratic National Convention

The New York Times security guard who blurted "I love you" to Joe Biden in an elevator -- and delivered the former vice president his first viral moment of the 2020 campaign -- officially nominated him for president on Tuesday night.

Jacquelyn Asbie, whose elevator conversation with Biden on the way to an editorial board meeting proved much more potent for the Biden campaign than the newspaper's actual endorsement (it backed Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar), played the ceremonial role of kicking off the vote on Biden's nomination.

In a brief but heartfelt speech, she said she felt in their short interaction that "my life meant something to him."

Asbie continued: "That’s because Joe Biden has room in his heart for more than just himself. We’ve been through a lot, and we have tough days ahead. But nominating someone like that to be in the White House is a good place to start. That’s why I nominate my friend, Joe Biden, as the next president of the United States."

Her nomination of Biden was seconded by two of his home-state allies in Delaware's congressional delegation: Sen. Chris Coons, who said that "he’s always brought that same personal concern he showed for Jacquelyn to getting things done as our senator and then as President Obama’s vice president." And Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, who said Biden "restored decency to our government and integrity to our democracy."

Watch the moment: