The messages from Democrats during the four-day Democratic National Convention in Chicago were marked by exuberance and determination, culminating in Vice President Kamala Harris’s official acceptance of the presidential nomination.
Harris mobilized her electorate on issues such as abortion rights, voting rights and the economy. But she also called on all Americans to “find a new way forward, regardless of party, race, gender or the language your grandmother speaks.”
Vice presidential candidate and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz reflected on his former role as a high school football coach and touted his accomplishments as a politician and governor.
The DNC’s speaker list included numerous other high-ranking Democrats, including President Joe Biden, former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, former First Lady Michelle Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
PolitiFact fact-checks politicians across the political spectrum. We also fact-checked the Republican National Convention in July. Read more about our process.
Here’s a summary of the claims we verified day by day during the DNC.
President Joe Biden speaks on the first day of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on August 19, 2024. (AP)
Day 1: Monday, August 19
Biden was the night’s most prominent speaker. Throughout the night, attendees chanted “Thank you, Joe” as speakers praised Biden’s tenure and warned against re-electing Donald Trump as president.
Biden: “Instead of paying $400 a month for insulin, seniors with diabetes pay $35 a month.”
Half true.
The Inflation Reduction Act, which Biden signed in 2022, capped insulin deductibles for Medicare beneficiaries at $35 a month, but pharmaceutical experts told PolitiFact that most beneficiaries probably paid no more than $400 before the law took effect.
Experts say costs and other factors vary, so it’s possible that some Medicare beneficiaries paid as much as $400 for insulin in a given month.
Biden: The average salary in the semiconductor industry “will be over $100,000 a year, and you don’t need a college degree.”
Mostly wrong.
Although the average salary in the semiconductor industry is about $170,000, that figure includes salaries for jobs that require a college degree. According to a 2021 report by the Semiconductor Industry Association and Oxford Economics, an industry group, the highest salary a person without a college degree can earn is about $70,000.
Read all our fact checks from day one here.
Former President Barack Obama speaks at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on August 20, 2024. (AP)
Day 2: Tuesday, August 20
The Obamas were the star speakers of the evening. Michelle Obama called the party convention to action with slogans such as “Do something” for the Harris-Waltz campaign, while Barack Obama praised Biden’s achievements.
Michelle Obama: One of Trump’s proposals is to “shut down the Department of Education.”
TRUE.
Trump has proposed closing the federal Department of Education.
According to Trump’s plans, the agency’s responsibilities would be transferred to the states. “In conjunction with the complete reorientation of schools to success in the world of work, President Trump promises to close the Department of Education in Washington, DC and return all educational responsibilities and needs to the states,” his campaign website states.
Barack Obama: Under Joe Biden, the USA would have created “15 million jobs, higher wages and lower health care costs”.
Half true.
The U.S. has created 15.8 million new jobs under Biden’s presidency, but some of those were regained after pandemic-related unemployment. While wages are also higher, they have not always kept pace with high inflation. Health care costs depend on several factors, including insurance. But U.S. health care spending as a percentage of gross domestic product peaked during the pandemic in 2020 and has since fallen to roughly pre-pandemic levels.
Read all our fact checks from day two here.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz speaks after accepting the Democratic vice presidential nomination at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on August 21, 2024. (AP)
Day 3: Wednesday, August 21
On the third night, Walz took the stage and highlighted his background as a public school teacher, high school football coach and National Guard veteran, as well as his accomplishments in Congress and as governor.
The Democratic vice presidential candidate also attacked Trump and his policies, calling them “weird,” but also “wrong” and “dangerous.” Another key speaker on the third night was Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
Walz: “And we know that if these people come back to the White House, they will repeal the Affordable Care Act.”
This is a standard phrase in Harris and Walz’s campaign speeches. Trump’s own words often make it difficult to discern his position. But he is not actively campaigning on this position.
Trump worked unsuccessfully as president to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, but he retained his position during the 2023 election campaign.
But Trump changed his mind in March 2024, writing on Truth Social that he was “not running to repeal the ACA,” but to make it “better” and “less expensive.” He did not detail how he plans to achieve this.
Buttigieg: “Crime was higher under Trump’s leadership.”
Half true.
Violent crime rates have declined under Biden, although the latest data is not official, but property crime increased in 2022, reversing a long-standing trend, FBI data show.
In the first three years of Trump’s presidency, the violent crime rate in the United States fell before skyrocketing in 2020. The increase in murders was particularly sharp: the increase in 2020 was almost three times the previous record since 1961.
Official data from Biden’s term is incomplete (the last full year of FBI data is from 2022), but preliminary government estimates and independent measurements show a significant decline in violent crime over the past year and a half. Official data from 2023 are expected in October.
Read all our fact checks from day three here.
Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris speaks at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on August 22, 2024. (AP)
Day 4: Thursday, August 22
On the final night of the DNC, Harris officially accepted the Democratic nomination for president, becoming the second woman, second Black woman and first Asian American to do so. Harris shared her story as the daughter of immigrants – her father came to the U.S. from Jamaica and her mother from India – and how that shaped her path to the top of the Democratic ticket.
She also addressed several important political issues: abortion rights, voting rights, foreign policy, the economy and immigration.
Here are some of Harris’ statements that we verified.
Trump “plans to establish a national anti-abortion coordinator and require states to report women’s miscarriages and abortions.”
Mostly wrong.
What Harris is describing is Project 2025, a 900-page policy manual written by some of Trump’s allies but not something Trump himself has claimed for himself. Project 2025 makes no mention of a “national anti-abortion coordinator.” The document calls for a “pro-life politically appointed senior coordinator of the Office for Women, Children and Families.”
It says the CDC’s systems for monitoring abortion and reporting maternal deaths are inadequate and proposes withholding federal funding from states that do not report to the CDC how many abortions occur in their state.
In an interview with Time magazine in April, Trump said some states could choose to monitor and punish women for illegal abortions, but when asked about the issue, he told the reporter to “talk to individual states about it.”
“I … helped pass a Homeowners Bill of Rights, one of the first of its kind in the country.”
TRUE.
As California’s attorney general, Harris was involved in a multistate settlement that provided debt relief to homeowners affected by the 2007-2010 housing crisis. When a settlement was reached in 2012, California obtained a total of $20 billion for its homeowners.
In July 2012, the California Legislature passed the California Homeowner Bill of Rights, a set of laws designed to protect homeowners from foreclosure. The laws, which were largely modeled on the foreclosure lawsuit, went into effect in January 2013. Harris supported them.
In 2012, the Los Angeles Times reported that California would become the first state to ban the practice through legislation. And the Associated Press wrote that California would be the first state to codify the parts of the mortgage agreement into law.
Read all our fact checks from day four here.
Checking misinformation about Harris and the DNC
No, social media videos do not show Kamala Harris drunk at public events
Viral posts falsely claimed Harris couldn’t stand up at the DNC because she was drunk. But Harris stood and applauded several times, and the clip of her sitting was taken as delegates cheered her on.
No, the DNC has not canceled the women’s restrooms
When social media falsely claimed that the DNC had no women’s restrooms in the press center, PolitiFact journalists on the ground began counting. We found that there were several women’s restrooms throughout the venue, far more than gender-neutral restrooms.
Related Posts
What has Joe Biden achieved as president?
How accurate are the warnings from Democrats and Kamala Harris about Donald Trump’s “Project 2025” agenda?
Fact check of Tim Walz before his 2024 DNC speech – plus the attacks on his record
Walz confused IVF and IUI when talking about his family. What’s the difference?
Ask PolitiFact: Are Democrats offering “free abortions and vasectomies” at their Chicago convention?
Read our DNC coverage in Spanish
Check out the discussions on the first day of the Convención Nacional Democrata
Barack Obama and other Democrats were confirmed to be present on the second day of the convention in Chicago
What are the discussions of Tim Walz and others during the National Democratic Convention?
It is about reviewing the discourse on the acceptance of Kamala Harria in the democratic assembly
PolitiFact chief correspondent Louis Jacobson, senior correspondent Amy Sherman, editors Grace Abels, Madison Czopek, Samantha Putterman, Loreben Tuquero and Maria Ramirez Uribe, and researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this article.
