CHICAGO — Well after midnight on the East Coast, an emotional President Biden closed out his 13th — and final as a party leader — Democratic National Convention with a song verse from his inaugural address, Axios' Zachary Basu writes.

• "America, I gave my best to you," Biden boomed. He then ad-libbed: "I made a lot of mistakes in my career. But I gave my best to you."

Why it matters: When Biden stepped away from the podium, he was comforted not just by his wife, his children and Vice President Kamala Harris — but by a United Center packed to the gills with deeply grateful Democrats.

Chants of "Thank you, Joe!" and "We love Joe!" rained down from the rafters.

• A thunderous standing ovation led Biden to reach for his handkerchief and wipe away a tear before he began his remarks.
• Speaking Monday as the party's outgoing president — and not Thursday, as its nominee — was a bitter pill for Biden to swallow.
• But for Democrats, Biden's farewell was a show of grace that seemed to bury much of the guilt stemming from the successful campaign to nudge him off the 2024 ticket.

4 takeaways from Night 1

1. Biden claims closure

• The president's keynote speech, which lasted about 48 minutes, seldom strayed from his usual themes — Donald Trump, democracy, unions, the middle class, NATO and American exceptionalism.
• Biden did, however, reject the notion that he's still "angry" at the Democratic elites who pushed him to step aside — and vowed to be the "best volunteer" the Harris campaign has ever seen. "Volunteer-in-chief," faithful adviser Anita Dunn called him during PBS coverage a few hours earlier.
• Whether Biden is truly past the painful episode, the DNC's late-running programming, which meant Biden started at 11:26 p.m. ET, reopened the wounds for some of his allies. "This is awful. He literally set up a campaign and handed it over to them — do they have to cut him out of prime time?" a longtime Biden aide texted Axios' Alex Thompson.

2. Harris' surprise cameo

• The vice president, who received a raucous reception virtually every time her name was mentioned, brought the house down with an appearance on stage that seemed to surprise even her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, and her husband, Doug Emhoff.
• A beaming Harris walked out to Beyoncé's "Freedom" — some media members momentarily thought it was the pop artist herself — but kept her remarks short as she asked the crowd to thank Biden for his service.

3. Clinton's catharsis

• Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the first woman to win a major party's nomination as the Democratic pick in 2016, was honored by an adoring crowd of delegates far more united than they were eight years ago.
• At times emotional, Clinton reminded Democrats how close they came to breaking the "highest and hardest glass ceiling" as she celebrated Harris as the party's new torch-bearer: "This is when we break through."
• Clinton relished the chance to needle her old foe, Trump, mocking him for his felony convictions and nodding along as the DNC crowd chanted: "Lock him up!"

4. Three show-stealers

• Fresh off an Olympic gold medal, Team USA basketball coach Steve Kerr returned to the site of his Chicago Bulls championships to campaign for Harris: "After the results are tallied ... we can — in the words of the great Steph Curry — we can tell Donald Trump, 'Night, night,'" Kerr joked, channeling Curry's viral taunt from the gold medal game.
• At the GOP convention last month, Hulk Hogan electrified the crowd by ripping off his shirt to reveal a Trump-Vance tank top. At the DNC, United Auto Workers president Shawn Fain decided it was his turn — removing his jacket to show off a shirt that read: "Trump is a scab. Vote Harris."
• Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), once a proud party insurgent, had the DNC in the palm of her hand as she delivered a scorching speech attacking Trump as a "two-bit union buster." The remarkable full-circle moment sparked speculation about her future plans for higher office.

The bottom line: Biden's speech sounded similar to the one he would have given as the party's nominee. But it's hard to believe the audience he would have addressed under that scenario could have matched Monday's atmosphere in jubilance and relief.

• Go deeper: What to watch on Night 2 (President Obama, Michelle Obama, Doug Emhoff, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker).

Vice President Harris will accept the Democratic presidential nomination Thursday without having sat for an interview, held a press conference or released many details about her policy priorities in the month since she entered the race, Axios' Alex Thompson writes.

• Why it matters: The initial strategy is part of a larger pattern of Harris being risk-averse, with highly choreographed and scripted appearances — and just a couple of short gaggles with reporters.

Harris' team has put off repeated interview requests from media outlets for four weeks.

• She has committed to one interview by Aug. 31.
• Through anonymous campaign spokespeople, Harris' campaign has said she wouldn't ban fracking, try to pass Medicare for All, or implement some other progressive ideas she embraced during her presidential campaign for the 2020 nomination.

🔎 Between the lines: Harris' cautious approach has been evident during her time as vice president.

• Some of her aides have felt she has been too risk-averse, and would get too frustrated when anything went wrong — a dynamic the aides say made them less likely to push for creative proposals.
• This past week, she proposed some of her first policy initiatives. They largely focused on the economy, as Donald Trump maintains a polling lead on the issue.

Flashback: When Hillary Clinton and Biden ran for president in 2016 and 2020 respectively, each campaign wrote out dozens of policy proposals they touted publicly.

• Harris' current website still doesn't have a policy page.
• The Democratic Party's policy platform was originally passed before Biden dropped out and still includes repeated references to a second Biden term.

🥊 Reality check: Harris' defenders cast her approach as steady and disciplined, rather than overly careful.

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Democrats have closed a large enthusiasm gap among Latino voters in the weeks since President Biden dropped his re-election bid, according to a new Axios Vibes survey by The Harris Poll.

• Why it matters: The shift to a Harris-Walz ticket has particularly energized millennial Latinos — ages 28-43 — as well as the younger Generation Z and women in this fast-growing demographic, Axios' Margaret Talev and Russell Contreras write.

Those voting blocs of Latinos appear especially motivated by having a new alternative to former President Trump.

• "It's back to a wide-open race," said John Gerzema, CEO of The Harris Poll.
• "With Latinos, we were seeing this pronounced shift in enthusiasm toward Trump and a populist message. Now, this is a new race. It's a reset."

🖼️ The big picture: 83% of registered Latino Democratic voters and 84% of Latino Republican voters now say they're extremely likely to vote.

• In last month's survey, only 71% of Latino Democrats felt that way, compared with 86% of Latino Republicans.
• 63% of Latino voters in both major parties now say they're enthusiastic to vote. That closes last month's 16-point gap of 40% for Democrats and 56% for Republicans.

Keep reading.

Startups are shutting down at a rapid rate, as raising money from venture capitalists becomes more difficult, Axios Pro Rata author Dan Primack writes from data by Carta, which manages stock for startups.

• Why it matters: Venture capitalists — under pressure from their investors due to a lack of IPOs and mergers — are becoming more selective about which companies they invest and reinvest in. Well, unless it claims to do generative AI.

🧮 By the numbers: The number of startup shutdowns increased by 58% between the first quarters of 2023 and 2024.

• This came after a 124% jump between the first quarters of 2022 and 2023.

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A Democratic presidential candidate hasn't won North Carolina since former President Obama in 2008. But Gov. Roy Cooper is certain that'll happen again in November.

• "I have a 2008 feeling about this," Cooper told Axios' Sophia Cai at an Axios House event during the DNC yesterday.
• "We're going to be the wide receiver this year, and we're going to dance in the end zone," Cooper said.

Why it matters: Every four years, North Carolina Democrats are adamant that they can recreate Obama's first presidential win, and every year since then they've been wrong, Axios Raleigh's Lucille Sherman writes.

• Election after election, Cooper has won statewide contests — from attorney general to governor — in years when the state's voters also elected Republicans like Trump to federal office. Go deeper.

💡 More highlights:

🗳️ Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) predicted that women will "win this election" for Harris and congressional Democrats.

• "We're looking at women consolidating around this country like we've not seen in the past." Go deeper.

🏠 Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) — at 27, the youngest member of Congress — called housing a priority for young voters. Go deeper.

An implant that responds to brain signals in real time was shown to ease symptoms of Parkinson's disease instantaneously in a limited trial of whether the technology can help patients as they go about their daily lives, Axios' Maya Goldman writes.

• Why it matters: It's an example of how deep brain stimulation combined with artificial intelligence can track a patient's brain activity for tremors, limb stiffness and other features of a condition diagnosed in almost 90,000 people in the U.S. each year.

How it works: The approach developed by UC San Francisco researchers differs from conventional deep brain stimulation treatments that deliver constant electric currents and can lead to unwanted side effects.

• It uses algorithms that sense motor symptoms and produce a personally tailored level of brain stimulation to prevent them.
• The new technology reduced involuntary movements and other symptoms by 50% in four patients who had Parkinson's for at least 10 years, researchers wrote yesterday in Nature.

Reality check: The technology doesn't change the trajectory of the underlying disease.

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President Biden took his first flight aboard the more modern helicopter model that will serve as Marine One.

• Why it matters: The flight from O'Hare International Airport to Soldier Field's parking lot in Chicago marks a crucial milestone in a long process to replace the Vietnam-era helicopters that have carried presidents, in some cases, since the 1970s.

Issues with the secure communications system on board the VH-92A helicopters — which will be called Marine One when flying the president — and a tendency to scorch the White House South Lawn led to years of delays.

• Go deeper.

It's Stephen Colbert! In character as Chicago hot dog vendor Donny Franks.

• Franks — the late-night star wearing a wig, fake mustache, sunglasses and a Bulls hat — also interviewed Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and DNC chair Jaime Harrison at United Center on Sunday.

Colbert first went undercover as Donny Franks selling hot dogs during a Cubs game in 2016.

• "The Late Show" is broadcasting live from Chicago during the DNC this week.

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