Democratic National Convention Day One: Bernie Sanders tells supporters, ‘Hillary Clinton must become the next president of the United States’

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Watch: Day one of the Democratic National Convention in less than 3 minutes. More convention coverage at latimes.com/trailguide.

Get up-to-the-moment updates from our teams in Philadelphia and Los Angeles over here.

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It was an intense day of booing and protests. But there were still some funny moments captured in the Twittersphere.

There was that time when Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders dropped some papers (perhaps his speech?) behind two people sitting in front of him:

And some gavel problems, which seem to be bipartisan.

Last week, House Speaker Paul Ryan had a tough time figuring out from which end to hold a gavel.

Monday it was Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake’s turn.

Rep. Marcia Fudge, the newly named chairwoman of the convention, had trouble with the gavel too.

One supporter of Sen. Bernie Sanders was brought to tears during the convention.

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump was active as usual on Twitter, attacking Monday night’s convention speakers individually:

Noticeably missing from his criticism: First Lady Michelle Obama, who gave arguably the biggest speech of the night.

Conservative commentator Ann Coulter noticed too:

Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus focused on the discord of the day and attacked Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren as well as Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Conservative commentator Laura Ingraham, who spoke at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland last week, also played up the lack of unity shown by booing Sanders supporters.

In the Opinion section, I write about Bernie Sanders’ full-throated endorsement of Hillary Clinton and assess whether it will help unite the party. Read it here.

(Saul Loeb / AFP / Getty Images)

Bernie Sanders has spent months telling voters that his campaign was about the issues, and he used that same argument to tell his supporters to throw their support to Hillary Clinton.

In his speech Monday, he went step by step through Clinton’s proposals, many of which were the product of compromises between the two campaigns.

For example, Clinton originally supported policies to allow students to attend public colleges debt-free. She later expanded the proposal to include free tuition for most students.

“We have come together on a proposal that will revolutionize higher education in America,” Sanders said.

The speech was a glimpse of why Sanders put so much emphasis on the Democratic Party platform, which he fought to make more liberal. Not only did he want progressive ideas enshrined in the party’s principles, he can use the platform as a tool to bring his skeptical supporters around to Clinton.

Sanders touted a pledge by Clinton to introduce a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United, the Supreme Court case that enabled more corporate money in political campaigns. And he praised her dedication to increasing funding for community health centers, even though she never came around to endorsing a government-run, single-payer system.

In the end, Sanders told his supporters, Clinton had taken enough of the right positions to earn their vote.

“I am proud to stand with her tonight,” he said.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) was interviewed Sunday on the floor of the Democratic National Convention by comedian and late-night talk show host Stephen Colbert.

The interview will appear on CBS’ “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” on Monday, which airs at 11:30 p.m. PT.

Supporters of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders will get to vote for him in a roll call vote on the convention floor Tuesday.

This isn’t surprising news. Sanders said the roll call vote would happen in his speech endorsing Hillary Clinton earlier this month.

Clinton Press Secretary Brian Fallon said Clinton welcomed a full roll call vote on the nomination Tuesday.

“It is exactly in keeping with our philosophy that every vote should be counted. And that means every delegate being counted on the floor of the convention,” he said.

During his speech Monday night, Sanders thanked his delegates ahead of the roll call vote.

“Let me thank the 13 million Americans who voted for the political revolution, giving us the 1,846 pledged delegates here tonight – 46% of the total. And delegates: Thank you for being here, and for all the work you’ve done. I look forward to your votes during the roll call on Tuesday night.”

Los Angeles County Democratic Party Chairman Eric Bauman: “That was the most incredible and intense speech I’ve ever heard Michelle Obama give.... When she talked about Hillary Clinton and breaking that glass ceiling, you could actually hear the glass breaking.”

First Lady Michelle Obama talked about “the story of this country, the story that has brought me to this stage tonight.”

She made an emotional appeal referencing “generations of people who felt the lash of bondage, the shame of servitude, the sting of segregation, but who kept on striving and hoping and doing what needed to be done so that today, I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves.”

The crowd cheered.

“And I watch my daughters, two beautiful, intelligent black young women, playing with their dogs on the White House lawn,” she said. “And because of Hillary Clinton, my daughters and all our sons and daughters now take for granted that a woman can be president of the United States.”

Watch the full speech:

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Michelle Obama, first lady of the United States, speaks at the Democratic National Convention. More coverage at latimes.com/trailguide.

In the opinion section, I write about the “Bernie or bust” movement shouting down speakers. Here’s an excerpt:

“Booooo,” shouted Shawnee Badger, 22, an aspiring actress from Santa Clarita. (“That’s my real name,” she assured me.)

“Booooo,” howled Ben Becker, 32, a consumer advocate from San Francisco, who sat behind her in the California delegation.

I hiked across the convention floor to find out what the “Bernie or Bust” delegates wanted. Some talked of walking out of the convention in protest, or trying to nominate an alternative to Sen. Tim Kaine as Clinton’s running mate. Some wanted a deeper apology from Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz for openly favoring Clinton during the primary campaign. (Deeper than the resignation Wasserman Schultz turned in after her aides’ snarky emails surfaced.)

But none of that was enough for Badger or Becker, or many of the other Sanders delegates who ignored their candidate’s own plea that they stop booing.

What do you want the party to do? I asked.

“Choose a different nominee,” Becker snapped.

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California delegates backing Bernie Sanders were eager to show up the Democratic Party on Monday night, with some concluding that the party was ushering them into the fold without listening to their concerns.

And so, many of them booed.

“They like our passion, but they want it for their candidate and their issues and they want us to join with them. That’s not unity. There’s not a compromise,” said Melissa Michelson of Alhambra, who was attending her first convention and said she was unsure whether she’d remain a member of the party.

Michelson became a Democrat because of Bernie Sanders. She was a Democrat long ago, and voted for the Green Party or not at all until Sanders came along. She’s not sure she plans to stay with the party.

“I’m fed up with the Democratic Party. It doesn’t talk to me, it doesn’t speak to me,” she said. “The Democratic Party is disenfranchising Bernie Sanders” supporters.

“There’s nothing they can say to make us feel better.”

She said it felt like the California Sanders supporters were to only ones still booing by 8 p.m ET and was frustrated by the Clinton supporters in the delegation who said booing was disrespectful and shushed them.

Several California delegates protesting Hillary Clinton said they felt her nomination would hand the election to Donald Trump.

“The political revolution is happening. We’re going to bring more progressives and young people into this party and we’re going to take it over. It’s going to happen whether they like it or not,” said Shawnee Badger, a 22-year-old model and actress from Santa Clarita.

Benjamin Becker

(Colleen Shalby / Los Angeles Times)

Benjamin Becker, 32, consumer advocate from San Francisco: “Unrealistically, I’d like Hillary Clinton to step down so we can have an actual chance of winning in November.”

The comedian supported Bernie Sanders in the primary, but is planning to support Hillary Clinton in November. When some of the Vermont senator’s fans booed her declaration, she shot back at them.

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Comedian Sarah Silverman has a message for the Bernie-or-bust movement. More coverage at latimes.com/trailguide.

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Astrid Silva, immigration activist, speaks at the Democratic National Convention

Not long ago, young immigrant Astrid Silva was at home in Las Vegas, writing heartfelt letters concerning her fears about being in the country illegally to someone who became an unlikely pen pal — her home-state senator, Harry Reid.

She never expected that one of the most powerful men in Washington would not only read her handwritten notes, but become so moved that he deepened his commitment to immigration reform.

On Monday night, Silva, now 28, shared the prime-time stage with some of the country’s most prominent leaders, including First Lady Michelle Obama and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, at the Democratic National Convention.

“My family believed so deeply in the promise of this country that we risked everything for the American dream,’’ she told delegates Monday.

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(Mary Altaffer / Associated Press)

The opening day of the Democratic convention featured plenty of digs at Donald Trump’s vice presidential nominee, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence.

Among those loudly criticizing Pence were Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy and Pat Spearman, a state legislator from Nevada.

Spearman, a lesbian, hammered Pence for signing a “religious freedom” law that allows businesses to refuse services to gays.

“Gov. Pence signed a law that allows individuals and businesses to deny services to LGBTQ Americans, and he used religion as a weapon to discriminate,” Spearman said. “As a lesbian, that hurts me. As a person of faith, that offends me. And as a legislator working hard to create jobs, that baffles me.

“Donald Trump and Mike Pence will strip away the progress that we have fought so hard to win,” Spearman continued. “They fear equality; we’ll keep fighting for it.”

Malloy blasted Pence for rejecting federal money that would have gone toward funding preschool for low-income children and for refusing to allow refugee families to settle in Indiana, families that later settled in Connecticut.

“With the Trump-Pence ticket, it’s like a contest to see who can discriminate more,” he said.

Sen. Al Franken during a confirmation hearing for Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor.

(Nicholas Kamm / AFP/Getty Images )

The Democratic National Convention is going to get a double dose of laughs Monday night when former “Saturday Night Live” writer Al Franken and comedian Sarah Silverman take the stage.

Franken, the junior United States senator from Minnesota, has not been known to whip out his comedic skills often since he entered politics.

Before he was elected, Franken’s brand of liberal-leaning comedy made him popular with Democrats. Among his works: “Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations.”

He tapped into those roots Monday as he skewered Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.

Silverman, who supported Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in the primary fight, is due to speak later this evening.

New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker is back at the Democratic National Convention in a high-profile speaking slot.

Booker, who was once buzzed about as a potential running mate for Hillary Clinton, will speak before Michelle Obama on Monday night.

Booker’s 2012 convention speech was a well-received defense of President Obama’s first term and got the crowd on its feet.

“This platform is a clear choice between economic pathways. Forward or back, inclusion or exclusion — grow together as a nation or be a country of savage disparities that favor the fortunate few over the greatest driving force of any economy: a large and robust middle class,” Booker said at the time.

Booker, like many speakers Monday, will have the tough job of uniting the party. He told CBS News over the weekend that Democrats must contrast themselves against a “dark” Republican National Convention last week.

“We need to be a country that doesn’t degrade or demean other folks, but elevates our nation and pulls us together,” said Booker.

Watch Booker’s DNC speech below:

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Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey speaks at the Democratic National Convention. More coverage at latimes.com/trailguide.

For state Supt. of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson, this isn’t an ordinary week at work.

While Gov. Jerry Brown and many of his fellow Democrats have gathered in Philadelphia, Torlakson’s governing California.

“You’re in safe hands,” Torlakson said Monday.

In addition to Brown, nine of the 10 statewide officials who are specifically named to temporarily fill his shoes are at the Democratic National Convention.

Even in the modern age, you’ve got to be inside the state lines to be governor.

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Former Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords practices for her speech at the Democratic National Convention Monday night.

(Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Gabrielle Giffords, the former Arizona congresswoman who survived being shot in the head in an assassination attempt five years ago, is expected to address the Democratic National Convention in a rare public speech this week alongside her husband, retired astronaut Mark Kelly. A time and date for the appearance has not yet been confirmed by the convention committee.

Giffords, who barely survived the shooting, was forced to give up her seat in Congress. After the incident, Giffords underwent a slow, difficult rehabilitation process to regain her ability to walk and speak.

She also became a vocal gun control advocate, founding a super PAC supporting tighter gun restrictions and campaigning for greater oversight on guns.

Giffords, 46, and Kelly were seen performing a sound check on stage earlier Monday.

Although Giffords, who at times has trouble speaking, has given few public speeches in the years since the shooting, she traveled the country advocating for gun control measures and Democratic causes. She and Kelly have served as surrogates for Clinton’s campaign.

Her assailant, Jared Lee Loughner, was sentenced in 2012 to seven consecutive life sentences, plus 140 years, after he pleaded guilty to 19 federal charges in the shooting.

In a New York Times op-ed two years ago, Giffords said recovery was “gritty, painful, frustrating work.”

Giffords, who has skydived in tandem from a twin-engine plane and recently completed a 40-mile bike ride with her husband, said two years ago that she has not ruled out the possibility of returning to office one day.

“We got the right to vote after men did. And now we’ve waited long enough to elect a woman.”

This convention is “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

One by one, like passengers escaping a disabled airplane, a protester would step out of the crowd, carefully hop over the metal barricade, and then politely and immediately get arrested by the waiting police. Meanwhile, the crowd chanted, “Election fraud, election fraud, election fraud.”

At one point a whole crowd of protesters tried at the same time to hop over the waist-high metal barricades outside the Wells Fargo Center, where the Democratic National Convention Center is being held. But even that became orderly after a few seconds of frenzy.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” the cops said to one guy trying to hop the fence quickly. The protester stopped. “Wait your turn,” a smiling officer said. “You’ll get arrested.” He did, and he was.

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At 50 years old, Pam Livengood didn’t expect to be swapping her motorcycles for diapers.

But in 2010, when the New Hampshire Division of Children threatened to put her grandson in foster care as his parents continued to struggle with drug addiction, she said she had to step in.

“I couldn’t have that. I just couldn’t have it. It would’ve broke our hearts, all of us,” she said in an interview with WBUR’s “Here and Now.”

Livengood, now 54, is an employee at a furniture factory in Keene, N.H., and she and her husband are guardians to her 6-year-old grandson, Francis.

She is speaking at the Democratic National Convention on Monday night as part of an effort to highlight the issue of substance abuse.

When she first met Hillary Clinton at a roundtable discussion at her workplace last May, she initially expected to be speaking with Clinton about the challenges facing small businesses.

But when the conversation veered to addressing the issue of drug addiction, Livengood spoke up.

“My grandson’s mother can’t be quite so responsible. So we’ve picked it up and took over but we also need to see more substance abuse help,” she told Clinton at the event.

Clinton responded, saying the opioid crisis “is not something we can just brush under the rug,” and advocated for policy to combat substance abuse.

Livengood told CNN last year that her daughter was in treatment and looking for jobs. She told WBUR Monday that Clinton has reached out a “couple times” to ask how Francis is doing.

“I hope I will be standing on the stage, talking, and then in November, having been part of history for the first woman president in the United States,” she told the network. “That would be amazing.

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Karla Ortiz, daughter of undocumented parents, speaks with her mother Francisca at the Democratic National Convention. More coverage at latimes.com/trailguide.

Last month, Karla Ortiz and her mother, Francisca, spoke to their hometown newspaper about the constant fear they have lived with since Karla’s parents received a deportation order in 2013.

Karla, 11, and her mother appeared in photos in the Las Vegas Review Journal, their faces shrouded in shadows to protect their identities.

On Monday night, the mother-daughter duo will make their national television debut to speak about their experiences, highlighting the high stakes in this election for those in the country illegally and their families.

Karla is a fifth-grader in Las Vegas. Francisca Ortiz, 41, works cleaning houses. Francisca’s husband, Milton Ortiz, is a painter.

The couple came to the United States illegally from Guatemala more than two decades ago, the Daily Mail reported, but Karla is a U.S. citizen.

The family had hoped to qualify for President Obama’s deferred action program, which was stalled after a tie on the Supreme Court left a Texas judge’s order in place.

Karla first met Hillary Clinton when she tearfully described her fear and worry over her parents’ possible deportation.

The emotional encounter was later featured in a Clinton campaign ad in which the candidate told Ortiz, “You’re being very brave, and you have to be brave for them too.... Let me do all the worrying.”

“Possibly she’ll be the one that will be president for right now, but I hope she does,” Karla told NBC News after meeting Clinton. If Clinton wins, Ortiz said, “she’ll be more powerful than Donald Trump” and, she added, “she can help us.”

Speaking at a labor union event in May, Clinton said, “Karla is a typical, bright fifth-grader. She loves science experiments, math and ‘Charlotte’s Web.’ But she leaves for school every day terrified that her mom and dad, who are working hard to support their family, won’t be there when she gets home.... When Donald Trump talks about deporting 11 million immigrants, he’s talking about ripping apart families like Karla’s.”

It is also really hot.

The dissension in the hall was especially notable when some of Bernie Sanders’ staunchest backers took the stage to make a case for supporting Hillary Clinton.

Rep. Raul Grijalva of Arizona, the Vermont senator’s first congressional supporter, was booed as he declared: “I stand here in support of Hillary Clinton.”

Beyond Sanders’ digital outreach to supporters, his allies were working delegates personally on the floor. Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver talked with delegates and reporters, repeating Sanders’ appeal against protests.

“We’ve got to be respectful,” he said. “Signs are fine. That’s part of the Democratic process. We shouldn’t be booing anybody.”

He said Sanders and the campaign oppose the idea of nominating an alternative to Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine for the vice presidential nomination.

“If Bernie were the nominee, would you want the conservatives nominating an alternative to his running mate? No.”

Asked about the delegates who say they won’t obey Sanders’ recommendation, he said: “We hope they’ll listen to Bernie.”

Sanders was not revising his planned remarks to address the tumult in the arena. Meanwhile, other former supporters insisted the tension would be short-lived.

“A convention is a cocoon. You go in one way, you come out different,” said Dr. Ben Jealous, the former president of the NAACP and also a Sanders backer who has now endorsed Clinton. “Day 2 will be different than Day 1, and Day 4 will be very different. We come in apart. We’ll leave together.”

(Alex Wong / Getty Images)

Throughout the first day of the convention, Democrats tried to emphasize diversity, with several presenters speaking Spanish and telling stories of their families in response to Trump’s characterization of immigrants.

Rep. Linda T. Sanchez of Whittier told her parents’ story. They emigrated from Mexico; her father an industrial mechanic, her mother an elementary school teacher. They sent seven children to college.

“Donald Trump believes that Mexican immigrants are murderers and rapists. But what about my parents, Donald? Let me tell you what my parents are. They are the only parents in our nation’s 265-year history to send not one but two daughters to the United States Congress!” she said.

Sanchez again referenced her sister, U.S. Senate candidate Rep. Loretta Sanchez of Orange, in talking about growing diversity in Congress.

“Our caucus is growing, and this November we have the opportunity to elect outstanding Hispanic candidates from across the country. With Loretta Sanchez and Catherine Cortez Masto, we will elect a Latina to the U.S. Senate.”

Loretta Sanchez later joined her sister onstage. President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden have endorsed her rival, California Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris, in the race.

A video featuring several of the 26 Latino members of Congress also played during the speech. In the video, Linda Sanchez says of Hillary Clinton: “She’s a badass and she’s ready to lead.”

Bernie Sanders and those attached to his campaign are trying to extinguish a floor revolt that appeared to be consuming the opening of the convention when a chorus of boos met every mention of Hillary Clinton’s name.

Just minutes after the first boos, Bernie Sanders sent a text message to followers asking them to refrain from protests on the convention floor as a “personal courtesy” to him.

Then his former spokeswoman spoke up on Twitter: “No one stole this election! ... we lost,” she wrote.

In an email to supporters, Sanders also earlier asked his supporters to refrain from floor protests.

“Our credibility as a movement will be damaged by booing, turning of backs, walking out or similar displays. That’s what the corporate media wants. That’s what Donald Trump wants,” he wrote.

The boos, while perhaps less intense than they were at the beginning, so far have continued.

California Senate leader Kevin de León (D-Los Angeles) argued against bombastic rhetoric in a speech to delegates Monday, saying if Hillary Clinton wins the nomination the Democratic Party can pass more progressive policy.

“We don’t manufacture fear,” he said. “That’s a sign of weakness.” He spoke in Spanish about Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, saying, “We don’t build walls here. We tear them down.”

De León was the first Latino elected Senate president pro tem and was raised by a single, immigrant mother.

“I’m with Hillary because she has spent a lifetime fighting for families just like mine,” he said.

He made the case for more policy such as that coming from Sacramento.

“Democrats in California have led the way,” he said, pointing to increases in the minimum wage, the number of clean energy jobs and the state’s version of the Dream Act.

“When we elect Hillary Clinton as our next president, I know our progress will be America’s progress,” he said. “This is how Democrats govern and when Democrats lead everyone has a shot to succeed.”

De León said before his speech that he didn’t expect interruptions, especially because his speech was more about California’s progressive policies than about Sen. Bernie Sanders or presumptive nominee Clinton.

“Every convention has its drama and this drama will soon be over,” he said.

Benjamin Jealous speaks during the opening day of the Democratic National Convention.

(Saul Loeb / AFP-Getty Images)

They were early supporters of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, and now they have the chance to address the Democratic National Convention as the onetime presidential candidate’s delegates are in revolt on the floor.

Rep. Raul M. Grijalva of Arizona, former NAACP President Benjamin Jealous, comedian Sarah Silverman and Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison are all scheduled to speak on the first day of the convention.

Grijalva and Ellison gave Sanders his first and second congressional endorsements, respectively.

Jealous was a key surrogate for Sanders as he aimed to win over African American voters in Maryland and Southern states.

Silverman’s video announcing her support of Sanders went viral this spring.

They now have the task of calming Sanders delegates angry over recently leaked emails showing, among other conversations, Democratic National Committee staffers raising questions about Sanders’ religion.

He was among more than 40 arrested and cited for disorderly conduct.

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Bernie Sanders supporters tried to enter the secured perimeter around the Democratic National Convention as the convention got underway, and more than 50 of them were cited for disorderly conduct.

Dozens hopped over a waist-high metal barricade — in a mostly orderly fashion — and were promptly handcuffed one by one.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” the cops said to one guy trying to hop the fence quickly. “Wait your turn,” a smiling officer said. “You’ll get arrested.”

Watch as one of the protesters gets handcuffed:

Here’s some more images from the protest:

4:45 p.m.: An earlier version of this post reported that the protesters were arrested. In fact, they were briefly detained and issued civil citations.

3:05 p.m. Updated with arrest numbers

This post was originally published at 2:30 p.m.

Click the link to see the entire gallery.

(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)

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