Biden campaign raises $70 million in four-day Democratic convention

Joe Biden and closely allied Democratic groups have raised $70 million during their four-day convention this week.

The convention's broadcasts drew 122 million views across 15 digital platform live streams and also attracted 85.1 million to television broadcasts, the campaign said in an emailed statement on Friday.

President Donald Trump’s campaign and closely allied groups pulled in $165 million during the typically sluggish political fundraising month of July, more than Democratic rival Joe Biden’s $140 million, Trump's campaign said earlier this month.

That result allows Trump to enter the final stretch of the US presidential campaign with a slim, but intact, cash advantage.

Trump and party-backed groups now have more than $300 million to spend on advertisement, door-knocking organisers, and other political expenses, they said, compared with Biden’s $294 million.

The virtual Democratic convention wrapped up on Thursday night with Biden accepting his party's nomination during a speech in which he accused Trump of a chaotic and divisive presidency.

The convention's closing night attracted roughly 24.6 million primetime television viewers, the largest audience of the week, according to data from the Nielsen rating agency.

Trump's four-day nominating convention, a mix of virtual and live events, starts on Monday.

READ MORE: Biden vows to end 'season of darkness' as he accepts Democratic nomination

Speech of a lifetime

Joe Biden accepted the Democratic presidential nomination with a vow to be a unifying “ally of the light” who would move an America in crisis past the chaos of President Donald Trump’s tenure.

Afterward, fireworks lit the sky outside the arena, where supporters waited in a parking lot, honking horns and flashing headlights in a moment that finally lent a jovial feel to the event.

The keynote address was the speech of a lifetime for Biden, who would be the oldest president ever elected if he defeats Trump in November. Trump, who is 74, publicly doubts Biden’s mental capacity and calls him “Slow Joe,” but with the nation watching, Biden was firm and clear.

Still, the convention leaned on a younger generation earlier in the night to help energize his sprawling coalition.

Tammy Duckworth, an Illinois senator who lost her legs in Iraq and is raising two young children, said Biden has “common decency.”

Cory Booker, only the ninth African American senator in US history, said Biden believes in the dignity of all working Americans.

And Pete Buttigieg, the 38-year-old former South Bend, Indiana, mayor, and a gay military veteran, noted that Biden came out in favour of same-sex marriage as vice president even before President Barack Obama.

“Joe Biden is right, this is a contest for the soul of the nation. And to me that contest is not between good Americans and evil Americans,” Buttigieg said. “It’s the struggle to call out what is good for every American.”

Above all, Biden focused on uniting the nation as Americans grapple with the long and fearful health crisis, the related economic devastation, a national awakening on racial justice — and Trump, who stirs heated emotions from all sides.

Biden’s positive focus Thursday night marked a break from the dire warnings offered by Obama and others the night before.
The 44th president of the United States warned that American democracy itself could falter if Trump is reelected, while Biden’s running mate, Kamala Harris, the 55-year-old California senator, and daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants, warned that Americans’ lives and livelihoods were at risk.

READ MORE: Kamala Harris makes history with Democratic vice president nod

'Chance to heal'

While Election Day isn’t until November 3, early voting gets underway in several battleground states in just one month.

Biden has maintained a polling advantage over Trump for much of the year, but it remains to be seen whether the Democratic nominee’s approach to politics and policy will genuinely excite the coalition he’s courting in an era of uncompromising partisanship.

Biden summed up his view of the campaign: “We choose a path of becoming angry, less hopeful and more divided, a path of shadow and suspicion, or we can choose a different path and together take this chance to heal.”