Biden’s acceptance speech will follow night of women in the spotlight

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• Judy Woodruff:

  The Democratic National Convention finishes its business and launches the fall campaign tonight. The delegates and the nation will hear from Joe Biden, the party's presidential standard-bearer for 2020.

  It follows a night when Biden's former boss and his new running mate set the stage.

  Once again, Amna Nawaz begins our coverage.

• Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif.:

  I accept your nomination for vice president of the United States of America.

• Amna Nawaz:

  An historic moment delivered without applause to a mostly empty convention hall, under the pall of a pandemic.

  California Senator Kamala Harris' formal acceptance speech capped the penultimate night of the convention. The daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants is the first woman of color on a major-party ticket.

  Tonight, the convention finale, Joe Biden's moment to claim the prize he has sought for more than 30 years. The proceedings will also feature former Biden campaign rivals-turned-backers, a reminder of a crowded Democratic primary, when debate stages were full and auditoriums packed.

  Among them, entrepreneur Andrew Yang, former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and New Jersey Senator Cory Booker.

  Officials reportedly considered by Biden to be his running mate will also speak on his behalf tonight, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth.

  They all follow a night when the party made its policy pitch to likely voters on what was an overwhelmingly female broadcast. The women featured last night included business owners, a DACA recipient, and a mother whose son was shot and disabled.

• Woman:

  One shot changed our lives forever

• Amna Nawaz:

  And the programming leaned heavily into issues like the economy, climate change and gun violence.

  An appearance by former Arizona Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, who suffered a severe brain injury after being shot nearly a decade ago, made for a powerful moment.

• Gabrielle Giffords:

  We must elect Joe Biden. He was there for me. He will be there for you, too. Join us in this fight. Vote, vote, vote.

• Amna Nawaz:

  And a parade of prominent Democratic women, from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, urged voters to turn out.

  The party's 2016 presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton, who lost to President Trump in the Electoral College, but won the popular vote, underscored the point.

• Hillary Clinton:

  Joe and Kamala can win by three million votes, and still lose. Take it from me.

• Amna Nawaz:

  And in live remarks from Philadelphia's Museum of the American Revolution, former President Barack Obama delivered his harshest rebuke of his successor yet.

• Former President Barack Obama:

  Donald Trump hasn't grown into the job, because he can't. And the consequences of that failure are severe, because that's what is at stake right now, our democracy.

• Amna Nawaz:

  President Trump anticipated the remarks, tweeting earlier in the evening: "Welcome, Barack. See you on the field of battle."

  Meanwhile, as Kamala Harris stepped onto the stage and into the history books, she shared her own family story about how she was raised, alongside her sister, by a single mother.

• Sen. Kamala Harris:

  She raised us to be proud, strong black women, and she raised us to know and be proud of our Indian heritage.

• Amna Nawaz:

  The vice presidential nominee then pivoted to tackling systemic racism, painfully exemplified by the way COVID-19 has ravaged black and brown communities.

• Sen. Kamala Harris:

  This virus, it has no eyes. And yet it knows exactly how we see each other and how we treat each other. And let's be clear, there is no vaccine for racism. We have got to do the work.

• Amna Nawaz:

  That work, with Joe Biden on the virtual campaign trail, resumes tomorrow, after his formal acceptance speech tonight.

  For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Amna Nawaz.