[Speakers, start time, schedule and more: Here’s how to watch the Democratic National Convention.]
Democrats on Tuesday night will seek to straddle themes of national security, American unity and generational change, with an array of speakers from the Democratic Party’s past — like Bill Clinton and John F. Kerry — and a few who appear to represent its future, like Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Much as they did on Monday night, Democrats are set to cast the 2020 election as an existential test for the country, with an important early speech coming from Sally Q. Yates, the former acting attorney general who was fired by President Trump for refusing to enforce a travel ban on Muslim-majority countries.
The central events of the evening figure to be closing remarks by Jill Biden, the former second lady and Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s wife, who occupies the same slot in the program that Michelle Obama took on the convention’s first night, and a virtual roll call vote of delegates from all the American states and territories that will culminate in Mr. Biden’s formal designation as the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee.
In a typical convention, the roll call vote is often one of the most entertaining parts of the week, featuring colorful speeches often brimming with parochial pride in each state’s delegation. This one promises to be a distinctive and perhaps more sober take on that tradition, with a combination of prearranged testimonials about Mr. Biden, descriptions of his campaign promises and personal accounts of adversity in the coronavirus pandemic and other crises of the Trump administration.
Tuesday’s lineup
Tracee Ellis Ross, the Emmy-nominated actress, will be the M.C. on the second night of the convention.
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Jill Biden. An English professor at Northern Virginia Community College in Annandale, Dr. Biden broke ground by continuing to work during her tenure as second lady.
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Representative Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware. She is a co-chairwoman of Mr. Biden’s campaign and was also a member of his vice-presidential vetting committee.
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Former President Bill Clinton. A perennial star of Democratic conventions, he has only a brief speaking slot this time. It’s a sign both of how much the party has shifted ideologically and of the re-evaluation of sexual misconduct allegations against him.
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John Kerry, the former secretary of state and 2004 Democratic presidential nominee. He was one of Mr. Biden’s highest-profile supporters during the primary.
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Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York. She is one of the most prominent members of the party’s progressive wing, and her small role in the convention — she will have just 60 seconds to speak — frustrated some on the left.
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Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the minority leader. Along with the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, he is currently battling with the Trump administration over coronavirus relief and funding for the Postal Service.
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Sally Yates, the former acting attorney general. A holdover from the Obama administration, she was fired by President Trump in 2017 after she refused to defend his executive order banning travel from predominantly Muslim countries.
