and we are live in chicago with you on the third night of the democratic national convention. tonight's program is well underway here. we are

inside united center and it is a packed tonight's program is well underway. we are inside the united center and it is a packed crowd already with a lot of big speeches coming up. main event which tonight is the speech by minnesota governor tim walz to accept the vice presidential nomination and you can hear it. we are coming to you live on the special edition. welcome. i am erin burnett alongside my friend, wolf blitzer. they're calling this a fight for freedom. >> you are absolutely right , erin. there will be a major focus this evening. they will introduce governor tim walz to voters not only here but around the country. campaign insiders tell us tim walz will address small town values and former players coached by walt will be on hand to underscore his work

as a mentor and a teacher. other prime time speakers include former president bill clinton and representative nancy pelosi . two vice presidential prospects who lost out to governor walz, pete buttigieg , pennsylvania governor josh shapiro . they will also speak. we are expecting more celebrity appearances including musical performances by both stevie wonder and john legend . cnn has exclusive reporting that oprah winfrey will be part of the dnc program later tonight. erin? >> you know, they do have a big celebrity component, performance component. pink will be performing tonight as well. i want to get over to john berman for the celebrities expected at tomorrow 's appearance. >> reporter: you are mentioning the person , pink, and i am surrounded by a lot of people wearing pink in the delegation,

erin . the focus has been on reproductive rights . why are you all wearing pink here ? >> we are wearing pink because we stand with women having the freedom to choose and when people can see that we are wearing pink and we are standing with them, they are not alone. >> reporter: and we see a lot of pink. thank you so much. everyone is standing up and of surrounding me . there are a few other reasons people wearing pink tonight in addition to the delegation. one, there is a mean girls tie in. on wednesday, we wear pink , they say. managers are also wearing pink . they are easily spotted for each delegation and finally all over the floor we are seeing members of a sorority vice president kamala harris was in . their colors are pink and green. they have been wearing it all week long. tomorrow night especially you can expect the pink and green

to be very, very visible. not to mention, erin, the artist , pink, will be performing. >> everywhere you look. all right. john berman on the floor. let's get over to caitlin , who is also on the floor. what are you hearing from delegates? >> reporter: i am excited to see the governor on stage introducing himself to america. they know him very well . the lieutenant governor is standing to my left . she will be in a prime position if he does win and she will replace him as the governor . we have been hearing tim walz will talk about his bio tonight. you are seeing that represented in the delegation . we got the camouflage here. we've got shirts, flannel shirt that president obama was talking about in his speech, saying that is what you always see governor walz wearing. you can see shirts with walt on the back. you can see they are wearing those. obviously they're shaped like clipart

football jersey. you can see everyone is wearing -- and obviously the lieutenant governor is making her way around saying hi to everyone. every delegation has been really excited this week. minnesota stands out from what we have been hearing from all of them waiting for their governor to get up on stage, erin. >> thank you so much . and of course, that will be happening in the next few hours. for now i'm joined by governor andy beshear. governor, i appreciate your time. just take everyone into the room of what a day is like here. you are essentially going on to day four but we are coming into these big prime time speeches and events after, what, 12 hours of meetings? what is it like? >> it is a marathon. you start speaking at three or four different breakfasts, getting people fired up for a convention that will start many hours later. you then get to go to the caucuses. you then do

some meetings. you then get over here, do a bit of press, and you hear the prime time . >> all right, so you do all of that. is a part of you -- i know you are enjoying every meeting but is there a part of you what could have been what might have been close to what was happening? >> tim walz is a great friend of mine. he is a great governor. he helped me get reelected last year. you see every other person considered up there on that stage. the full throated support of governor walz, he is that good of a guy, that good of a leader. we are all in and for me, i've got a great job. kentucky is in my dna and i cannot wait to further implement the bipartisan infrastructure law, the inflation reduction act. it is creating a lot of job and there is a lot more to do . >> what is your view of what happens if he does what is expected, rfk jr. endorses trump on friday morning? what

will that do to the race? >> it reminds people this is a true choice between a and b, going forward or going backward . donald trump is a focus on the past, on retribution, vengeance of his own personal enemies. vice president harris is focused on building up the middle class, providing tax credits , more affordable housing. do you want someone focused on himself, or a president focused on you? >> i want to ask you about a controversy out there. we have obviously spoken and one of the topics you took head on was abortion. when you did that, you are talking about that and you went on and said -- talking about j.d. vance, think about what people had to go through because of these laws. j.d. vance calls pregnancy resulting from rape inconvenience. make them go through this. someone being violated , harmed, and told they have no options after

that. that is what you set here j.d. vance went on twitter and said, what the hell is this? why does andy beshear wish a member of my family get raped? what did you mean by that? >> j.d. vance will never have to go through this as a man or make decisions, yet he lacks the basic empathy to put himself in the position . this was all deflection. j.d. vance knows he is wrong and is trying to make himself the victim. j.d. vance is not a victim. hadley duval is a victim. i'm trying to stand up for her, for women all across the united states of america and that is why we have to elect the vice president. >> you believe this is an issue that matters to men like yourself? white middle-aged men that have become part of the trump coalition. >> the extremism has gotten so

bad, there are laws in places like kentucky where there is an almost total ban. no exceptions for rape, incest, nonviable pregnancies. that has gone way too far and this is a constitutional right that donald trump supreme court ripped away from my mom, my wife, and my daughter. there are a lot of men out there that think this has gone way too far and we have to make a change. >> governor beshear, i appreciate your time. great to see you here in chicago. >> thanks for having me. just ahead, senator elizabeth warren will join us as coverage continues here. you are watching the dnc live right here on cnn .

welcome back to night three of the dnc live in chicago and the keynote address will be minnesota governor tim walz. moments ago we were talking to

a high school student in the 1990s who said he only graduated because of coach walz at the time who got him on track and said he would have ran through a brick wall for that guy. the high school teacher who changed daniel clemens ' life, it is that that tim walz is trying to bring to the stage tonight and to the country. >> message -wise first before i get to the map, the point they are trying to make, when you travel, you meet republicans, democrats, they don't think washington does anything for them and it is a bipartisan feeling. this guy helped me, right? he did things that changed my life. you get a listen. doesn't mean you get a vote but you get a listen. where is he from? he is from minnesota. joe biden got 53%. donald trump, 45. that is a blue state but it has an aging, wider population . it's one of

those places trump thought he could get. bush used to think of it as pennsylvania, never got it. this is minnesota. minneapolis, st. paul, let's go over the neighbors. kamala harris when she's in wisconsin she spends most of her time down here in milwaukee because that is where the people are. there is no evidence in history that the vp pic has changed someone's vote but you want people turning up and volunteering. walz is an interesting figure. he will go to the lacrosse s and the places the candidate probably doesn't go. that is important for a ticket. you will get extra poll data that says i voted for the democrats because of tim walz? probably not a lot of that but you will see people who stayed engaged, volunteered. you can have fundraisers . you can have more fundraisers if you have more bodies to go to them . he is an asset at the moment because he's different. the harris/walz campaign is trying

to tap into the voters want change and they don't want traditional politicians. that is why so many were affected by the by then trump race. can they define themselves as different before trump uses his money to defined them as far left? he will say san francisco, minnesota. he will try to stir up the california and the liberal stuff there so this is a race for definition. if he can be the plaid shirt guy, that helps. >> it has to be authentic too, right, john? you have seen candidate after candidate. they just bought it the day before and still have creases in it and it looks inauthentic. if walz is truly that guy and candy wearing that plaid shirt and can be the coach and knows the personal stories, if he can be that guy, he will be an asset but you only get to know that once he's out there . you will not know that before.

>> it is a yes and. you have oprah coming. she came into our homes for four days. we didn't feel like oprah was an extreme radical in her days as a talkshow host. she validates them . as donald trump tries to say kamala harris and tim walz are so different, you've got someone like oprah and someone who can also go into the small town like tim walz and say this is a coalition. this is diversity. everyone belongs here and we are not the everyday extreme . we are the average american. >> to add to your point, he is likable. he is a great retail politician. he does come across as authentic and i talked to -- there is a democratic strategy list from pennsylvania. has father, hard-core publican. his father looks at someone like tim walz and says, i know that guy . i like that guy . i'm going to vote for that guy . he

doesn't hurt the ticket. >> he is going to have to answer tough questions. he's got to show up in westmoreland county and they will ask him about fracking and these really hard questions and he will have to do some political jujitsu the vice president may not be able to do. >> running for senate in delaware, delaware's first person of color to win if she does. let's listen to the current congresswoman, lisa blunt rochester. >> i, lisa blunt rochester, mother , grandmother, and congresswoman . and hopefully the next senator for the great state of delaware. the proud home of president biden. we love you, joe! in delaware , we know that when small businesses thrive , communities thrive . we know that when our roads and

bridges are strong , communities are strong . when everyone has a fair shot at a better future, america is limitless. now , democrats, we know this. but do you know who doesn't know it? donald trump. he has, with his friends, said the quiet parts out loud but not only said them out loud, he wrote a book about it. what is it called? project 2025. so , with so much on the line, we've got to turn our biggest challenges into our greatest and brightest hope . for me, bright hope was the name of a church my grandmother attended for 70 years in philadelphia. it is not just a name . it is how i approach my life. it is how i will lead as delaware's senator. it is how kamala sees

the future of america. some think our politics are too broken for hope that if you want to see hope , just look. bright hope is record numbers of black and brown entrepreneurs starting businesses. bright hope is an opportunity economy , where we invest in our communities and build affordable housing. ladies and gentlemen, bright hope is four words. madam president kamala harris. are you ready for bright hope ? are you ready to fight for our freedom? are you ready to flip the house , protect the senate, and send kamala to the white house? then let's go! >> representative lisa blunt

rochester speaking very passionately. she is running for the senate from the state of delaware as well. kaitlan collins , i understand you've got some news . i want to go down to you, kaitlan. >> reporter: i am standing here with senator elizabeth warren in front of the delegation . they are quite excited to have their home state senator here. senator, what you want to hear from governor walz on the stage tonight? >> you know, i want to hear from a public school teacher. i want to hear about 20 years in the lunch room. i want to hear about all of his time in public service as a public school teacher , ask someone in the national guard , as someone who has run for congress and who has done a terrific job as governor, a man who believes we can make the investment in our future and that is how we will build a stronger country. >> reporter: you and vice president harris ran into democratic primary for the 2020 election in 2019. she has

changed her position on medicare for all, things you are ones an agreement on. i wonder what you make of that . are you okay with that, or is it cold, hard, political calculus? >> i see it right now we are dealing with the issues that are right in front of us and a big issue right now for us is first, we need to perfect -- protect access to roe v. wade and access to abortion. percentn a state that effectively bans abortion and if donald trump and j.d. vance make it to the white house, it will be 100% . the other thing we are tightly focused on and president harris will lead us on is how to cut down costs for american families. she has put out some really strong plans, like those on price gouging. donald trump got nothing. i think it is a

big contrast and it tells us about who kamala harris is and what kind of president she will be. >> reporter: trump says he will not sign the national abortion ban . i want to ask you about new reporting today that robert f. kennedy jr. is -- >> one more thing about donald trump. he said this week he is not sorry and has absolutely no regrets about having an extremist supreme court that put dobbs in place and have women told when they go to the emergency room in the middle of a miscarriage that, gee, you're not close enough to death. go out of the hospital and hemorrhage a little while longer in the parking lot . you know, that is a real problem and all of us need to address head on what that means. >> reporter: senator elizabeth warren, thank you for your time. wolf, back to you. >> kaitlan, thank you. coming up, special live

coverage continues. stick with cnn for speeches including an appearance by oprah that cnn just learned about. we will be right back.

the excitement is building big time at the democratic national convention in chicago as we approach the biggest speeches of the night. vice presidential nominee tim walz and former president bill clinton among those to take the stage. bill clinton is upcoming. what have you learned? >> reporter: former president bill clinton who is speaking tonight ended up ripping up his copy of the convention speech he had been working on after watching the first night of the convention here and feeling the energy and speaking to the people here in united center because remember, he has been here since the weekend given his wife, hillary clinton, spoke on the first night he felt he needed to start a new draft of this speech to make it more fun, youthful, and give it a more joyful approach, i am told by a clinton aide. he said

he will have fun . i cannot stress this enough . that's interesting given kamala harris and her campaign have tried to stress the joyful lists in a 2024 election. i'm told by a former aide to the president that if this speech will try to capture and join in that joyful energy, it will be the former president 's most critical public remarks about the president donald trump. based on the excerpts based 2024 represents we , the people, and me, myself, and i. that reference will clearly be about donald trump. he sees kamala harris someone who for years worked to expand the definition of us but donald trump is somebody who at every turn has been singularly focused on himself. now one reference when it comes to the former

president donald trump that bill clinton will not be making is about 2016 and that presidential election where hillary clinton lost donald trump. wolf? >> mj, thank you for that stronger reporting . i appreciate it very much. it has been a while since we have heard a major address speech by bill clinton, which he will do tonight and it will presumably be designed to have a big impact on the upcoming election. >> you know, mj's reporting is interesting because it reflects a broad change as a whole. he would have been writing a speech for a joe biden convention where biden's message was darker and fear-based. we need to protect our democracy. it's at risk . that is why you need to vote for me. the tone of this convention has been completely different and if he had a speech he perceived to be kind

of a downer, it would not fit the mood permeating the room for the entirety of this convention. and i also think the democratic party is clearly changing. you saw michelle obama i think kind of the embodiment of this, right? it was no longer they go low, we go high. it was right at donald trump in sort of a feisty way . it make sense to me that he might need to change how he approaches this. >> i was talking with a top convention organizer this morning who said this crowd, these delegates are eating up inspiration. they want to be taken on a journey. they want to be entertained . they want to be fired up and bill clinton is enough of a politician, enough of a person who has a sense of what people want . he will give it to them and, you know, the idea he will try to stay with this joyful vibe in terms of both the way it

presents the future and what the harris/walz ticket can provide, and the way they go after donald trump . you know, he wants to give them what they want and i find it so interesting because joe biden kept building up donald trump as a fearsome figure , a figure who might destroy our democracy . what we have been hearing and we certainly heard from the obamas last night was to diminish trump, to make him attired person, an over the hill person. i am guessing you will hear the same from bill clinton tonight to diminish him and make him not a big , larger-than-life -- the idea that he is a small figure with small values and we are better and bigger than that . >> one phrase someone used with

me in a conversation this morning, they want to make him selfish and small. those two things together because that is kind of a stereotype people latch onto. you know, villains and fairytales, et cetera . it is something that you are hearing in mj's reporting when he says i'm all about myself , right? that is part of it as well. it really is a striking shift and it's also a shift for frankly what hillary clinton did in 2016 where a lot of her campaign -- she has criticism for that slogan, "i'm with her " because it made the election more about clinton herself and less about the people clinton was fighting to serve. you will see kamala harris avoid that. >> all of those years ago, we remember when he used to give a big speech like this it was powerful and almost always

effective . i am just hoping and wondering if he has that ability to do so tonight . >> well, there has been some talk that the years have taken a toll on bill clinton. i know he has had serious heart problems. i certainly hope he comes out as a bill clinton we all know but we will have to wait and see. >> i am expecting bill clinton to be pumped and ready to go based on what i'm hearing from his folks. standby. keith ellison, minnesota attorney general is about to speak. we will listen and when he begins speaking. >> understood. >> i think it will be important to hear what he has to say. >> keith ellison, attorney general of minnesota , he might be about to walk up here. clearly someone who -- he had some rough patches . >> all right, he is walking up right now. there he is. let's

listen in. >> friends, i will never forget when i first saw the video of the murder of george floyd. i was heartbroken. i was angry. and that morning, my phone rang and on that line was governor tim walz. tim walz felt the exact same way i did. and a few days later, tim appointed me to prosecute floyd's murder . almost a year after that , minutes after the guilty verdict came down, my phone rang again. and it was vice president kamala harris calling to congratulate my team and the work . now, kamala and tim,

they understand the legacy of george floyd. no one is above the law and no one is beneath it . no one is outside the circle of our compassion. in the republican party, everyone thinks they are above the law. nearly a dozen of their own lawyers are facing serious charges . even their lawyers need lawyers. these con artists are trafficking the defective goods of division, exclusion , and fear . and , friends, selling defective goods is a scam. and like kamala harris, i am an attorney general. and attorney generals know what a scam is when they see it. like my friend , tish, from new york. america, we won't

scammed again . we are not going back. we are going forward. kamala harris and tim walz are ready to lead us there. i've worked side-by-side with tim walz for 18 years . his office is right across the hall from mine. and i've seen him deliver for the people of the state of minnesota every day. everybody knows minnesota is one of the best states to live in, to raise a family, to do business . and we've got the best voter turnout in america. kamala and tim, they fight for the people and they also listen. and when they say we need a ceasefire and an end to the loss of innocent lives in gaza , and to bring hostages home , they are

listening, friends. they agree with us. there are people watching tonight , maybe even here tonight who aren't sure yet about kamala harris and tim walz . if you want to know where they stand on some of the most urgent issues facing our country in the world, let me assure you, kamala and tim here you. they listen. day care. and everyone is included in this circle of compassion. they believe everybody counts and everybody matters. let's put a stop to the scam of donald trump once and for all , and let's put kamala harris and tim walz in the white house. let's go win. >> very strong words from keith

ellison, minnesota's attorney general and there is much more coming up as they set the stage for the final, major event tonight including tim walz's speech to delegates and the nation. still ahead, high profile officials and rising stars take the stage including cory booker and chris murphy . lots going on. we will be right back.

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welcome back to cnn's live coverage of the democratic national convention in chicago on the third night of speeches and celebrations of the harris/walz ticket. governor walz getting ready to accept the vice presidential nomination tonight . we are watching what is going on very, very closely. this is a very, very important moment for the democrats as they get ready for this presidential election and so far, clearly the speakers and all of the events at this convention have energized the democratic base as the republicans and maga republicans did in milwaukee . these democratic delegates, they are pumped . they are excited and they think they can win the presidential election

coming up in november. we will be hearing much more. we've got a lot of major speakers coming up , including the former president of the united states bill clinton. cory booker is coming up, the senator from new jersey , right now. i want to listen in on what he has to say. he is coming out right now. here he is. >> i just want to say thank you, attorney general nessel . so, coming up , we have john and rachel , proud , loving parents of three. on october 7th, their son, hirsch , a u.s. citizen, was at a music festival when hamas attacked. he was taken hostage and he is still being held today . an american citizen. rachel and

john want what every parent wants , to hold their child close and love on them , and keep them safe . i'm honored to introduce the two of them tonight. ♪ [ applause ]

[ crowd chanting ] bring them home . >> at this moment, 109 treasured human beings are being held hostage by hamas in gaza . they are christians , jews, muslims, hindus, and buddhists . they are from 23 different countries. the youngest hostage is a

1-year-old redheaded baby boy , and the oldest is an 86-year-old grandpa . among the hostages are eight american citizens. one of those americans is our only son . his name is hirsch . he is 23 years old , and like vice president kamala harris , hirsch was born in oakland, california . hirsch is a happy, go lucky, good-humored, respectful, curious person . he is a civilian . he loves soccer, is wild about music and music festivals, and he has been obsessed with geography and travel since he was a little

boy. his bedroom overflows with atlases, globes, maps, and national geographic magazines. on october 7th, hersh and his best friend went to a music festival in the south of israel . it was advertised as celebrating peace, love, and unity. they also went to celebrate hersh 's 23rd birthday. as rockets began to fall, hersh and 27 other young festivalgoers took refuge in a 5 foot by 8 foot bomb shelter. terrorists began to throw grenades into the shelter . he stood in the doorway and repelled seven of those grenades before the eighth one

killed him. altogether at the music festival, 367 young music lovers were killed. this was just one of the many attacks on neighborhoods and communities in southern israel on that terrible day . in total, 1200 were killed including 45 americans . hersh 's left forearm , his dominant arm , was blown off before he was loaded onto a pickup truck and stolen from his life and me and john into gaza. and that was 320 days ago. since then , we live on another planet . anyone

who is a parent or who has had a parent can try to imagine the anguish and misery that jon and i and all of the hostage families are enduring. >> rachel and i are comforted to be back in our suite home , chicago. we were both born and raised here, and our families still live here. this is a political convention , but are only son and all of the cherished hostages home is not a political issue. it is -- it is a humanitarian issue. [

applause ] the families of the american hostages meet every few weeks in washington. we heartened that both democratic and republican leaders demonstrate their bipartisan support for our hostages being released. we have met with president biden and vice president harris numerous times at the white house. they are both working tirelessly for hostage and ceasefire deal that will bring our precious children , mothers, fathers , spouses , grandparents , and grandchildren home . and will

stop the despair in gaza. we are all deeply grateful to them . we are also profoundly thankful to you, the millions of people in the united states and all over the world who have been sending love, support , and strength to the hostage families. you have kept us breathing in a world without air. there is a surplus of agony on all sides of the tragic conflict in the middle east. a competition of pain, there are no winners. in our

jewish tradition, we say every person is an entire universe. we must save all of these universes. in an inflamed middle east, we know the one thing that can most immediately release pressure and bring calm to the entire region , a deal that brings this diverse group of 109 hostages home and ends the suffering of the innocent civilians in gaza . the time is

now. >> hersh -- hersh, if you can hear us, we love you . stay strong. survive. >> bring them home. >> jon and rachel goldberg-polin, parents of hersh. he has been held hostage in gaza . very, very powerful , emotional words. you know, erin, when i was in israel , so many hostage families said they hope there is an opportunity at the democratic national convention for hostage families to speak out and they certainly did speak out . you can see the audience here , a lot of people in tears listening to these

parents . >> the silence, wolf. so much emotion, silence, just searing pain the family feels. i know, wolf, they made the point this is not about politics . of course, this issue of the war is a central one for kamala harris and her campaign as we both know and one that very much they want to connect with those families and , you know, it will be hard to imagine hearing something more emotional and harder to hear than what we've just heard now. >> so powerful and emotional. these parents and brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers. just hear what they have been going through on a day by day basis . the pain they are feeling . we spoke with one woman who lost a 16-year-old daughter. 18-year-old daughter, excuse me. the other kids were

young. 8, 9, 10 years old asking where is my sister, where is my daddy? they are being held hostage. it is so heartbreaking to hear that. there will be a ceasefire deal that will allow these hostages to come home. >> yes. it is that searing pain continuing for the family as she has been living on another planet. in just a moment, wolf, you will hear cory booker and mindy kaling will be emceeing . they will be bringing in one of their big ask as they're trying to reach out to voters who have traditionally been seen as less democratic and making a broad, broad statement here. they are reaching out to a broader voting group . a big country music star will be appearing in a couple of moments, wolf. they are trying,

wolf, to create the concept of big ten in a bigger way than we have ever heard before. let's listen to cory booker as he introduces mary morris. >> hope is the active conviction that despair will never have the last word. and so, tonight there are so many challenges in our nation, so many problems we are facing. if america has not broken your heart, you don't love her enough. but yet we will be joyful warriors. we will bring back to the journey of our nation joy and if there is any tradition in america that has helped us generate that joy, it has been the artist of america. it's the folks bringing the rock 'n roll, the funk, the

gospel. well, tonight we are blessed by one of those great american artists that helps us cleanse our spirits to raise our hearts and bring in that joy. ladies and gentlemen, i give you one of the true greats in america , someone to bring the joy to this incredible arena, mary morris. ♪

♪ ♪ ♪

♪when time turns this moment to dust ♪ ♪ or will we leave this world better than we found it? ♪ america, america divided we fall america, america ♪ god save us all ♪ from ourselves and the hell ♪ that we've built for our kids ♪ america, america ♪ we're better than this ♪