Democrats formally nominate Joe Biden at party convention

U.S. Democrats on Tuesday formally nominated Joe Biden to be their 2020 U.S. presidential candidate on the second night of the first-ever virtual Democratic National Convention.

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In a roll call vote that took place entirely online due to the coronavirus pandemic, each of the 50 states and seven territories announced their vote tallies for Biden and for the race's second-place finisher, the progressive Senator Bernie Sanders.

"Well thank you very, very much, from the bottom of my heart," a beaming Biden said in a live video link as he celebrated the nomination.

"It means the world to me and my family," he added, reminding viewers he will deliver a formal acceptance speech on Thursday at the conclusion of the four-day jamboree.

The nomination was a formality as he had already won the majority of the more than 3,900 delegates back in June.

'Make chaos'

Tuesday's lineup featured President Jimmy Carter, who served one term from 1977, and 1990s commander-in-chief Bill Clinton, who warned that the Trump White House is swirling with chaos instead of the competence necessary to address the nation's crises.

Under the theme "Leadership Matters," the second night's convention aimed to make the case that Biden would represent a return to normalcy after the "chaos" of Republican President Trump's administration, as Clinton put it.

"At a time like this, the Oval Office should be a command center," he said in a prerecorded video. "Instead, it's a storm center. There's only chaos. Just one thing never changes – his determination to deny responsibility and shift the blame."

While Carter stressed Biden must be next U.S. president," saying "Joe has the experience, character, and decency to bring us together and restore America's greatness. We deserve a person with integrity and judgment, someone who is honest and fair, someone who is committed to what is best for the American people."

U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his wife Jill Biden embrace as they speak from Brandywine High School in Delaware, as participants from across the country are hosted over video links from the originally planned site of the convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S. August 18, 2020. 2020. /Reuters

Biden's wife, Jill, an educator, Tuesday delivered the headline speech from a Delaware high school where she once taught, offering a deeply personal account of how their love helped him heal after his first wife and infant daughter were killed in a car accident.

"I never imagined at the age of 26 I would be asking myself, 'How do you make a broken family whole?'" she said. The answer, she said, is the same for a broken nation: "With love and understanding."

"If we entrust this nation to Joe, he will do for your family what he did for ours: bring us together and make us whole," she said.

(With input from agencies)