By The Associated Press

The Democratic National Convention kicks off its fourth and final night Thursday.

After a week of Democrats’ most prominent figures rallying the party faithful, Vice President Kamala Harris will accept her party’s nomination for president during a speech in which she’s widely expected to offer her vision and policy agenda to the American people.

The theme of the final night is “For Our Future,” according to convention organizers.

Follow the AP’s Election 2024 coverage at: https://apnews.com/hub/election-2024.

Here’s the Latest:

‘The answer is no’: Pro-Palestinian delegates say their request for a speaker at DNC was shut down

Leaders of the “Uncommitted” movement, which garnered hundreds of thousands of votes in Democratic primaries across the nation in protest of the Israel-Hamas war, have been negotiating for weeks to secure a speaking slot for a Palestinian American at the DNC this week.

The Uncommitted National Movement said Wednesday that a Democratic National Committee official delivered a firm response: “The answer is no.”

In response, delegates decided to stage a sit-in outside Chicago’s United Center and vowed to remain until their request is granted or the convention ends on Thursday night. The sit-in has exposed the most visible cracks in the Democratic Party during an otherwise energized week.

The news came just a day after featuring the parents of an Israeli American hostage held by Hamas, igniting a firestorm of criticism from some on the left.

More than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war in Gaza, according to the territory’s Health Ministry.

▶ Read more about the “Uncommitted” movement’s DNC shutout

Will Beyoncé perform at the DNC tonight? The internet sure thinks so.

Intense speculation that Beyoncé will make an appearance at the DNC has built to a frenzy in recent hours.

The pop icon already gave Harris permission to use her hit song “Freedom” as a campaign anthem. But many have surmised that Beyoncé herself will make an appearance at the Democrats convention, pointing to a cryptic tweet by a top Harris aide, as well as an afternoon soundcheck inside the United Center that featured the Beyonce song “Cuff It.”

An hour before festivities were set to kick off, White House political director Emmy Ruiz tweeted out an emoji of a bee, which some took as a reference to the Beyhive, a colloquialism for avid Beyoncé fans.

Beyoncé isn’t the only star who was rumored to be making a surprise appearance. Some on social media postulated that Taylor Swift could appear, too.

Live from the DNC, it could be one of your favorite online influencers

Across this week’s convention, more than 200 online influencers, streamers and other social media personalities have been capturing and livestreaming their impressions of what’s going on.

There’s the 12-year-old nicknamed “Knowa,” who’s posted with a swath of prominent Democrats and went head-to-head with Republican personalities like MyPillow founder Mike Lindell inside the convention hall.

A veteran from rural North Carolina with more than 5 million TikTok followers proclaimed himself a “Hillbilly for Harris.” Other influencers and social media personalities are sharing everything from the food available at trucks outside the United Center to attendees’ thoughts on more serious issues, such the war in Gaza.

The creators were invited to the DNC by convention organizers, a new but significant part of a digital strategy that aims to leverage the sizable followings of creators across platforms like TikTok, Instagram, Discord and Twitch, according to officials with Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris’ campaign. They hope it will help Harris and running mate Tim Walz reach new voters who might not be following along with political news via traditional media.

▶ Learn more about Democrats’ influencer strategy

Trump visits the US-Mexico border alongside victims of violent crime

Trump ticked through a list of brutal crimes blamed on people who were living in the country illegally during a campaign event on the Arizona-Mexico border.

Trump invited relatives of two victims to join him in front of the wall.

Alexis Nungaray, whose 12-year-old daughter Jocelyn was killed in Houston, said the men charged with killing her should have been in immigration detention. She implored Americans to vote for Trump, saying he would get the border controlled.

“Please, please, I really hope everybody can hear my pain,” she said. “He needs to be in office. We need better control. We need to stop this. We need to stop losing our littles.”

Trump said Harris likes to talk about the future, calling out a central message she’s promoting at the Democratic convention, but the families joining him in Arizona, he said, “want to go back to the safe past.”

Sudden fame for Tim Walz’s son focuses attention on challenges of people with learning disabilities

“That’s my dad!” 17-year-old Gus Walz could be seen exclaiming Wednesday night during his father’s speech at the DNC. He stood, tears streaming down his face, and pointed to his father, the governor of Minnesota, who accepted the party nomination for vice president.

Gus wept through much of the 16-minute speech, and took the stage with his family afterward, wrapping his dad in a tight bear hug, burying his face in his shoulder.

The high school senior’s joy quickly went viral. He was still trending Thursday on X. And his newfound fame is focusing attention on the challenges of people with learning disabilities. His parents recently revealed to People magazine that Gus has ADHD, an anxiety disorder and something called a nonverbal learning disorder. Searches on Google have spiked since Thursday night this week for the disorder and for the teen’s name.

▶ Read more about Gus Walz and Democrats’ policy on disabled Americans

Denied a DNC speaking slot, uncommitted delegates call shutout ‘soul-crushing’

Uncommitted delegates who oppose U.S. support for Israeli military operations in Gaza said Thursday that they still want Democrats to feature a Palestinian American speaker on stage.

Sabrene Odeh, an uncommitted delegate from Washington, said that “it’s incredibly soul-crushing” to have their voices shut out of the convention.

She said party leadership gave them a “flat out no” on Wednesday, leading the uncommitted delegates to spend the night outside the United Center in protest.

“The lowest bar we could set is asking for a Palestinian American to speak,” said Asma Mohammed, an uncommitted delegate from Minnesota.

The delegates represent voters from several states who chose “uncommitted” during primary votes to protest President Joe Biden’s approach to the war in Gaza.

Layla Elabed, a leader of the movement, said the goal was “not another bomb.”

Trump criticizes Harris’ handling of border security

Before his remarks, Trump began criticizing Harris’ record on immigration and border security, calling her “the worst vice president” as he walked and talked to a few locals near a fence.

“She was the border czar. All of a sudden she is saying she is not the border czar,” he said. “There’s never a border in the whole world that’s leaked like this border.”

Harris was tasked in March 2021 with tackling the “root causes” of migration from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador — Central America’s so-called “Northern Triangle” — but was not given the title of “border czar” or put in charge of border security.

Trump’s motorcade has arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border near Sierra Vista, Arizona

He plans to look at the fence with local law enforcement and border officials, then will speak to reporters. Trump sees border security, the issue that defined his first presidential campaign, as a major liability for Harris.

Illegal border crossings reached record levels during the Biden-Harris administration, though they’ve ebbed more recently.

Trump stepped out of his SUV wearing a suit and red tie and was talking to about a dozen people who greeted him, including several wearing law enforcement uniforms.

In addition to it being the day of her DNC speech, Thursday is also Harris’ wedding anniversary

Thursday isn’t just the biggest day of Kamala Harris’ political career as she accepts her historic presidential nomination.

It’s also her 10th wedding anniversary with Doug Emhoff.

Harris and Emhoff met on a blind date in 2013. In a speech Tuesday night, Emhoff recalled introducing himself in a rambling voicemail.

“I remember I was trying to grab the words out of the air and just put them back in my mouth,” he said.

Emhoff added that “Kamala saved that voicemail and she makes me listen to it on every anniversary.”

CEO of Democratic-leaning think tank: ‘Folks don’t vote for 10-point plans’

Patrick Gaspard, the CEO of the Center for American Progress Action Fund, the large Democratic-leaning think tank, says Vice President Kamala Harris doesn’t need to roll out detailed policy plans to win in November.

“Folks don’t vote for 10-point plans, if they did, we probably would have had President Warren emerge in that contest or Hillary Clinton’s campaign might be remembered differently,” Gaspard told reporters at a Bloomberg event at the Democratic National Convention.

He said voters are more focused on values and their perceptions of whom candidates are fighting for.

Said Gaspard: “It’s a vibes election, but guess what, every election for the last 200 years has been a vibes election. And that’s actually one of the reasons that I feel more confident today than I thought I could feel, at this point in the election.”

Sen. Schumer talks about his hopes for Harris’ speech at the DNC

Hours before Harris’ DNC speech, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said he hoped “Kamala will talk about the aspirations of working families and what we, as Democrats, will do to help make their lives better.”

He said he’d be listening specifically for efforts to reduce costs on housing, prescription drugs and groceries and to create new jobs, particularly green ones — all themes Harris has spoken about while campaigning around the country recently.

“Talking about the aspirations of working families, what we can do to both lower costs and create ladders to give people greater income,” Schumer told a small group of reporters Thursday.

Asked if it felt like Trump — rather than President Joe Biden — was the incumbent given how much the Democratic convention has focused on the former president, Schumer said Harris “will also talk about the danger of Trump winning again.”

“The reason he’s mentioned so much is the great depth of the danger” Trump poses, Schumer said. “The feeling about the danger.”

Police: It may have been mealworms, not maggots, that sickened hotel diner during the DNC

Mealworms may have been what sickened a diner at a Chicago hotel earlier this week during the Democratic National Convention, the city’s police superintendent said Thursday.

While the investigation continues, Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling said clues point toward the foreign object being mealworms.

“I’m not sure that those were maggots,” Snelling said when asked for an update on allegations of maggots being placed in food. “There was sawdust, so they were probably mealworms. They look the same. But that’s still under investigation.”

Mealworms are common insects that have worm-like, yellow-to-brown colored bodies. They are the larval form of the mealworm beetle. Maggots are similar in appearance, but soft-bodied with white to transparent color. They are the larval stage of flies.

Multiple female suspects entered the Fairmont Chicago, which was hosting a breakfast for delegates at the DNC and began placing “unknown objects” onto tables with food before leaving the area at around 6:45 a.m. Wednesday, police said.

One person who ingested the food was treated by medical personnel and released at the scene, according to Chicago police.

Shapiro responds to Trump calling him ‘the highly overrated Jewish Governor’ of Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said Donald Trump is “obsessed” with spewing hatred after the Republican nominee for president criticized Shapiro as “the highly overrated Jewish Governor of the Great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.”

Shapiro spoke Wednesday night at the Democratic National Convention and said Trump “wants to take away our rights and our freedoms.”

Trump’s missive on social media also said Shapiro had “refused to acknowledge that I am the best friend that Israel, and the Jewish people, ever had” and that “Shapiro has done nothing for Israel.”

Asked about Trump’s statement by a reporter Thursday morning, Shapiro said “it’s clear over the last few years, Donald Trump is obsessed with me and obsessed with continuing to spew hate and division in our politics. He’s someone who has routinely peddled antisemitic tropes like this.”

Shapiro has years of experience making Trump the focus of his rhetorical attacks, first as state attorney general and now as governor.

The White House issued a statement, saying “it is antisemitic, dangerous, and hurtful to attack a fellow American by calling out their Jewish faith in a derogatory way, or perpetuating the centuries-old smear of ‘dual loyalty.’”

Senate’s top Democrat shrugs off possible political effect of protesters staging a sit-in outside DNC

Asked about a small group of uncommitted delegates doing a sit-in because convention organizers haven’t including a pro-Palestinian voice among the speakers, New York Sen. Chuck Schumer recalled Vice President Kamala Harris saying when protesters interrupted her at a recent rally in Michigan that their disruptions might benefit Republican Donald Trump.

“She said, ‘Be quiet unless you want to elect Trump,’” Schumer told a small group of reporters Thursday, ahead of the convention’s final evening.

“We believe we need unity and there’s overwhelming — I have never seen such unity,” he said. “A small handful of people does not represent close to even a sliver of where the Democratic Party is right now.”

Pressed on whether a pro-Palestinian voice should have a convention speaking spot, Schumer responded, “I think Kamala Harris has had a very diverse convention.”

Chicago police say they’re not changing tactics and are ready for final night of pro-Palestinian demonstrations at DNC

On Wednesday night, more than 2,000 pro-Palestinian protesters marched peacefully past a park where pro-Israel demonstrators had gathered earlier. That demonstration came a day after violent clashes between police and protesters led to 56 arrests at a much smaller, unsanctioned protest outside the Israeli Consulate in downtown Chicago.

Police Superintendent Larry Snelling said the protest Wednesday night ended without arrests and that no one was injured.

▶ Read more about DNC protests

Democrats are rounding out list of speakers for DNC’s final night before Harris takes the stage

Among the politicians on tap are Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona, who was considered as a possible running mate for Harris, and his wife Gabby Giffords, a former representative who was nearly killed in a mass shooting in 2011.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, a progressive leader, is scheduled to speak as well. So is former Rep. Adam Kinzinger, an Illinois Republican who became one of the few elected leaders of his party to oppose Donald Trump.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper and Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healy will also deliver remarks. And Tennessee state lawmakers Justin Jones, Justin Pearson and Gloria Johnson, the “ Tennessee Three, ″ will speak. Jones and Pearson were expelled from the state Legislature for participating in a protest on gun control at the state Capitol.

Chicago police superintendent says Wednesday night protest ended with no arrests and no one injured

Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling said the protest was pretty large though “not as large as we had necessarily anticipated.”

Snelling praised organizers of the Wednesday protest, saying it’s an example of how people can hold First Amendment protected demonstrations peacefully by collaborating with law enforcement ahead of time.

“Did we have a couple dustups? Sure, but those things were quickly rectified,” he said.

Ramaswamy says media not giving enough coverage to Harris’ ‘policy deficits’

At a Thursday morning Trump campaign news conference in Chicago, Vivek Ramaswamy also blamed the media for what he characterized as lack of probative coverage of Harris’ policy proposals.

“Many covered for Joe Biden’s cognitive deficits in the same way that I worry the media is now covering for Kamala Harris’ policy deficits, and Americans are left holding the bag both times over.”

Ramaswamy also listed celebrities participating in this week’s DNC, portraying them as a distraction from the issues at stake in this campaign.

“I see Oprah Winfrey. I see John Legend. I see Lil Jon,” Ramaswamy said. “Great — then still tell me what she stands for.”

Trump says he plans to do a ‘LIVE PLAY BY PLAY’ on Truth Social of Harris’ speech at the DNC

Trump has been largely quiet on the platform during convention programming, commenting mostly in interviews and events he’s been holding in battleground states.

White House responds to Trump criticizing Shapiro as ‘the highly overrated Jewish’ governor of Pennsylvania

The White House issued a statement on antisemitism the morning after Donald Trump criticized Josh Shapiro as “the highly overrated Jewish Governor of the Great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.”

Trump wrote on social media that Shapiro had “refused to acknowledge that I am the best friend that Israel, and the Jewish people, ever had.”

Herbie Ziskend, the White House principal deputy communications director, said “it is antisemitic, dangerous, and hurtful to attack a fellow American by calling out their Jewish faith in a derogatory way, or perpetuating the centuries-old smear of ‘dual loyalty.’”

He added that “President Biden and Vice President Harris believe we must come together as Americans to condemn and combat antisemitism — and hate and bigotry of all kinds.”

Trump’s allies are still counterprogramming against Harris’ policies as DNC wraps up

At a news conference Thursday morning, Carlos Trujillo, who served as Trump’s ambassador to the Organization of American States, decried Biden-Harris administration policies that “completely eliminated” Trump-era immigration achievements.

Vivek Ramaswamy, a businessman who went from one of Trump’s GOP primary rivals to one of his most vocal surrogates, listed crime statistics for the city of Chicago. The DNC host city, Ramaswamy said, has been “ravaged and devastated … by rampant crime worsened by the effects of illegal mass migration to this country” he blamed on the Biden-Harris administration and the vice president specifically, due to her responsibilities related to the border.

“From one kid of legal immigrants to this country to another, my message to her is, shame on you,” Ramaswamy said.

Trump also said Democrats are spending more time at DNC talking about him than issues

“It’s like they’re having a party. They don’t mention the border. All they do is make up lies about me,” the GOP presidential nominee complained as he called into “Fox & Friends” on Thursday morning.

Trump is set to visit the southern border in Cochise County, Arizona, on Thursday as he continues to criticize the Biden administration’s border policies.

He’s been spending the week campaigning across battleground states.

Democrats on Wednesday night argued that they’re offering leadership on the U.S.-Mexico border, working toward policy solutions rather than simply demonizing immigrants and trying to use the issue as a political motivator for their base.

Texas Rep. Veronica Escobar, from the border city of El Paso, said, “Forget what you hear on the news, I’m from there. … When it comes to the border, hear me when I say, you know nothing, Donald Trump.”

Trump criticizes Democrats for linking him to Project 2025

Former President Donald Trump is taking issue with continued efforts by Democrats to tie him to the conservative Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 at this week’s Democratic National Convention.

Calling into “Fox and Friends” on Thursday ahead of the convention’s final night, Trump called the efforts “disgraceful.”

“They know I have nothing to do with it. I had no idea what it was,” he said, despite the fact that the plan — which Trump and his campaign have repeatedly disavowed — was written by many longtime former staffers. “I have no idea what Project 2025 is.”

He took particular issue with Democrats saying he would sign a federal abortion ban after appointing the Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade.

“I would never,” Trump said. “There will not be a federal ban. This is now back in the states where it belongs.”

Trump also lashed out at Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Harris’ running mate, who spoke at the convention Wednesday night, calling him a “total lightweight.”

Dems gave freedom an expansive definition

Wednesday night’s convention theme was “Freedom.” Backed by Beyoncé’s song of the same name, which the musician has authorized the Harris campaign to use, the word flashed on the video screen and in speech after speech at the United Center.

Democrats firmly tied it to the fight over reproductive rights that went into overdrive after the fall of Roe v. Wade.

But Democrats also used the freedom argument to slam Republicans on other social issues, from gay rights to the spread of book bans in schools.

Hundreds of protesters rallied at park and train station on Democratic convention’s 3rd night

More than 1,000 pro-Palestinian protesters marched Wednesday past a park where pro-Israel demonstrators had gathered earlier.

The demonstration, which stayed largely peaceful, came a day after violent clashes between police and protesters led to 56 arrests.

As marchers passed under a new elevated train station near the United Center that was completed just before the DNC, officers were seen bringing a person to the ground on the platform above. In response, hundreds of protesters pushed against the edge of the station, banging on the glass with their hands and flag poles as they called on police to free the person. The person left through the station’s emergency exit moments later, accompanied by officers but not in handcuffs, prompting cheers from the crowd.

▶ Read more about Wednesday’s demonstrations

Originally Published: August 22, 2024 at 5:52 a.m.