Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Sen. Chuck Schumer and former President Bill Clinton were among the slate of speakers at the Democratic National Convention on the night Joe Biden was formally nominated to take on Donald Trump.
WATCH: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's comments to the DNC
Ocasio-Cortez caused a stir on Twitter when she appeared to nominate Sen. Bernie Sanders, but she later clarified via her own Tweet that the comment was a formality for the convention.
In her speech, Ocasio-Cortez described the progressive movement started by Bernie Sanders as “a mass people’s movement” that’s working to move the country toward guaranteed health care and higher education.
She said Sanders ran a historic grassroots campaign that realized that turns away from an American history checkered by violence, xenophobia, racial injustice and more and “that realizes the unsustainable brutality that rewards explosive inequalities of wealth for the few at the expense of long-term stability for the many.”
WATCH: Comments by Sen. Chuck Schumer
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer made a pitch at the Democratic National Convention not just for Joe Biden, but for flipping control of the Senate to Democrats.
Schumer said Tuesday: “If we are going to win this battle for the soul of our nation, Joe can’t do it alone. Democrats must take back the Senate.”
Schumer outlined a potential 2021 agenda on making health care “affordable for all” and tackling income inequality, climate change and other issues, including the COVID-19 crisis.
With the Statue of Liberty as a backdrop, he said President Donald Trump has “demeaned” everything it stands for.
“America, Donald Trump has quit on you,” he said.
“We need a president with dignity, integrity, and the experience to lead us out of this crisis, a man with a steady hand and a big heart who will never — ever — quit on America,” he said. “That man is my friend Joe Biden. He will be a great president.”
WATCH: Bill Clinton's comments to the DNC
Bill Clinton delivered a stinging attack on President Donald Trump, saying the nation knows what he’d do with four more years in the White House: “Blame, bully and belittle.”
The former president addressed the second night of the virtual Democratic National Convention on Tuesday and said Trump “defines the job as spending hours a day watching TV and zapping people on social media.”
Clinton said, “Denying, distracting, and demeaning works great if you’re trying to entertain and inflame. But in a real crisis, it collapses like a house of cards.”
He also praised Democratic candidate Joe Biden but spent far more time on the offensive against Trump, who defeated his wife, Hillary, to clinch the presidency in 2016.
Bill Clinton played a major role in conventions for four decades but was limited to five minutes on Tuesday.
But even abbreviated, his appearance is tricky for Democrats. In the #MeToo era, as the party is focused on overt appeals to female voters, putting Clinton on stage is problematic for Democrats, given the numerous accusations of sexual misconduct against him.
Associated Press wire reports contributed to this article.
