The huge crowd at Chicago’s United Center erupted in cheers when Vice President Kamala Harris made a surprise appearance onstage on the first night of the 2024 Democratic National Convention, with the party’s presidential candidate leading the crowd in a chant, “When we fight, we win!”

A campaign video announced Harris’ surprise appearance at the convention, where she was not scheduled to speak until Thursday evening when she officially accepts the party’s nomination. Harris’ campaign went into overdrive almost immediately, and she has overtaken Donald Trump in several national polls as well as in swing states. Polls released this weekend show the Democrat leading the Harris-Trump presidential race by 50 points to 46 in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.

After Harris’ brief appearance, Steve Kerr, the coach of the NBA’s Golden State Warriors, who led the U.S. team to gold at the Paris Olympics, gave a speech about leadership and praised Harris’ abilities. He also praised the accomplishments of her running mate, Governor Tim Walz, as a coach, saying, “Coach to coach? The guy is great.”

The DNC theme on Monday is “For the People,” with celebrity moderator Tony Goldwyn of scandal Fame. President Joe Biden, Dr. Jill Biden, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, Hillary Clinton and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson would all speak.

The convention began with a gavel blow from Jaime Harrison, the first African American elected chairman of the South Carolina Democratic Party, which he left to take the DNC post. Harrison delivered stirring opening remarks and closed with a call to “save our democracy with our MVP Kamala Harris and our coach Tim Walz!” The energy in the stadium – which was not quite filled to capacity with delegates and other attendees – was high when Representative Maxine Waters was introduced.

Waters, 86, further energized the crowd by telling an anecdote about civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer, who gave a famous, harrowing speech to the DNC’s Credentials Committee in 1964, asking, “Is this America?” Waters then moved on to Harris.

“Our nominee is the best leader to lead us into the future,” Waters said. “Kamala has been a trial attorney, a district attorney, an attorney general, a U.S. senator and vice president of the United States. And when the dust settles in November and Americans of all stripes have elected her president, I’m sure she will be thinking of Fannie Lou… In that moment, all of us, from New York to Pennsylvania to Arizona to California, can ask ourselves, ‘Is this America?’ And we will be able to say loudly and proudly, ‘Damn right it is.'”

Following Waters was civil rights activist Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, who suffers from Parkinson’s disease and uses a wheelchair. Although Jackson, who ran for president in 1988, is unable to speak due to his illness, he was wheeled onto the United Center stage with his family. The 82-year-old blew the crowd a kiss, a moment that moved many to tears.

When Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, one of the final candidates for Harris’s 2020 vice presidential slot, took the podium, she sang the praises of her longtime colleague. Bass, who served in the House of Representatives for 11 years and the California State Assembly from 2004 to 2010, praised Harris’ move as California’s attorney general to create the state’s Bureau of Children’s Justice and spoke about how, with their careers as California politicians going back 20 years together, she even pushed Harris to swear her in as LA mayor in 2023.

“We knew we were sending a message to young women everywhere that they can lead,” Bass said of that moment last year. “She feels the importance of this work in her bones. When Kamala meets a young person, you feel her passion, you feel that in her heart and you feel her fearlessness, that she is willing to fight for every child. Trust me, Kamala has done that her whole life.”

In a voice message from the plenary session of the convention, delegates overwhelmingly voted for the vice presidential candidate, Governor Walz of Minnesota, and broke out into chants of “USA!”

Meanwhile, “Union yes!” could be heard chanting from the crowd as six leaders of major unions – AFSCME, SEIU, LIUNA, IBEW and AFL-CIO – took the stage. Kenny Cooper, president of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, told the crowd that Harris is “bringing back American jobs” and “she’s not afraid to use the word ‘union.'”

One of the few white men on the United Center stage Monday night was Senator Dick Durbin, who took to the podium and attacked former President Trump, quipping that the “very stable genius” was the first president to leave office while fewer Americans were working than when he was sworn in. But Senator Mallory McMorrow of Michigan upped the ante on such attacks by releasing a major novelty-sized book outlining the Heritage Foundation’s plan for a second Trump administration – the not-so-secret weapon Democrats are using to scare voters away from the Republican Party.

“On page 873, it says, quote, ‘Conservatives have long held that either the law enforcement activities of independent agencies or their independent status should be ended,'” McMorrow said. “That sounds pretty boring, but it means that under Project 2025, Donald Trump could use the Justice Department as a weapon to pursue his political opponents. He could even turn the FBI into his personal police force.”

This is a breaking news story, check back later for updates.