• By The Financial District


Joe Biden was officially nominated as the Democratic candidate to take on US President Donald Trump in November in the race for the White House, on the second day of the party's national convention Tuesday (Wednesday, August 19, 2020 in Manila), Sophie Wingate and Shabtai Gold reported for Deutsche Press-Agentur (dpa.)

For Biden, a former senator and vice president, the nod comes more than three decades after he first tried to become president. He will share the ticket with Kamala Harris, 55, a senator from California and the first black woman to run for vice president. "Thank you very very much. From the bottom of my heart. Thank you all, it means the world to me and my family," the 77-year-old said over video-link upon the completion of the counting of delegates.

"It is the honor of my life to accept the Democratic Party's nomination for President of the United States of America," Biden said in a tweet. He will make his formal acceptance speech on Thursday, the last day of the mostly-online Democratic National Convention.

The second day of the convention continued a theme of the first, stressing messages of embracing diversity, including presenting a broad swath of ethnicities, races and sexual identities who support the party. It also saw more Republicans jump party lines to get behind Biden. Former secretary of state Colin Powell, who served under Republican president George W Bush, endorsed Biden, while Cindy McCain, the wife of the late Republican lawmaker John McCain narrated a video praising Biden's record and personal character.