Former President Barack Obama, whose organizing and political career launched in Chicago decades ago, takes to the United Center stage for the DNC’s main speech around 10 p.m. Tuesday night.
Obama moved to Chicago in the mid-1980s, working as a community organizer on the far South Side, a summer associate at local law firms and a constitutional law instructor at the University of Chicago Law School. A Hyde Parker, he was elected to the Illinois Senate in 1996 and made his first attempt at national office in 2000, a failed congressional race against Rep. Bobby Rush.
He rebounded four years later in the race for the U.S. Senate. After emerging from a crowded primary, Obama was poised to become the Senate’s only Black member with a November win when he was tapped to give the keynote Democratic National Convention speech in 2004. His “audacity of hope” speech helped catapult him to national prominence and a successful run for president four years later.
Since leaving the White House following the 2016 election of Donald Trump, Obama has turned his attention to his namesake foundation and Hollywood ventures.
Former First Lady Michelle Obama is slated to introduce him. As Democrats considered other potential presidential nominees, her name often emerged as the most popular.
Watch the speech below.