DNC 2024, Day 2: Lil Jon Turns Up for Kamala Harris in Chicago

Following a bumpy and, at times, exhilarating opening day into a late night of the 2024 Democratic National Convention — which saw President Joe Biden’s emotional keynote speech pushed out of primetime by the pitfalls of live TV — night two of the DNC, dubbed “A Bold Vision for America’s Future,” will feature speeches from two Obamas, First Gentleman Douglas Emhoff, Sen. Bernie Sanders, Sen. Chuck Schumer and other key figures of the Democratic Party.

The DNC has caught some flack for pushing Biden so far back on Monday, a day that a convention staffer tells The Hollywood Reporter was meant to be about celebrating the president’s lifetime of public service, in addition to capturing the energy around Harris. Also dropped from the schedule: House members Grace Meng (NY) and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL) and James Taylor, the top musical guest for the first day at Chicago’s United Center. Now it’s unclear if Taylor will return; Politico reports that a Harris campaign official spent the day on the phone with Democrats scheduled to speak asking them to trim their remarks, but convention officials aren’t indicating that a course correction is underway to reign in some of the speeches.

“Because of the raucous applause interrupting speaker after speaker, we ultimately skipped elements of our program to ensure we could get to President Biden as quickly as possible so that he could speak directly to the American people. We are proud of the electric atmosphere in our convention hall and proud that our convention is showcasing the broad and diverse coalition behind the Harris-Walz ticket throughout the week on and off the stage,” DNC officials told THR.

Following the formal opening of the convention on Tuesday, remarks were heard from Jimmy Carter’s son and Pennsylvania Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta; the latter was tasked with discussing what has become a frequent sword against the GOP for the Democrats: Project 2025. Also known as the 2025 Presidential Transition Project, the Heritage Foundation initiative lays out a series of conservative and right-wing policies, and is billed as “a policy agenda, personnel, training and a 180-day playbook” to be implemented “on day one” by the next Republican president. The Harris campaign is tying the plan to Trump at every mention, as are several speakers at the convention.

“It is a radical plan to drag us back. They broke the middle class and raised prices on working families like yours and mine. Under Project 2025, a family making just $75,000 a year with just two kids will pay 1800 bucks more in federal taxes,” Kenyatta stated. “No, no, no, but there’s more because on page 465, Project 2025 would stop Medicare from negotiating to lower the price of prescription drugs and capping out-of-pocket costs.

“It’s our turn to make sure democracy doesn’t die on our watch,” he added. “It’s our turn to make history, my friends, by electing Kamala Harris as the next President of the United States of America.”

The official Roll Call, where states pledge their votes in a ceremonial show of support, began around 7 p.m. CT. If the DNC planners wanted to cut for time, this time-eating tradition could be a strong choice for the axe. States and delegates deserve moments in the convention spotlight — but does Lil John? The rapper appeared when Georgia was called and treated the stadium to his 2013 hit “Turn Down for What.” Yes, it was fun and unexpected to see the rapper (and former Celebrity Apprentice and All-Star Celebrity Apprentice star), but it went on for a few beats too long. Though it did give everyone a little taste of what went down at the Democratic Party of Georgia’s “Southern Soul Party,” the hottest event in Chicago this week, according to Politico. Viewers also got a glimpse of legendary filmmaker Spike Lee when representatives of New York cast the state’s votes.

The Roll Call is looking to eat up a full hour of the convention. Let’s hope the Obamas don’t find themselves booted from primetime slots for their speeches, too.

This is a developing story.