Ceremonial roll call for the 2020 Democratic National Convention

On the second night of the 2020 Democratic National Convention, a roll call of the states was ceremonially held. Due to the then-ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the roll call and convention were held virtually rather than in a single venue. ^[1] Also due to the pandemic, formal voting on the party's nomination was done virtually and in advance of the convention, making the roll call at the convention purely ceremonial. ^[2]

The roll call saw participation by all of the convention's 57 delegations (including all 50 states and seven additional territories/jurisdictions (the District of Columbia, the five inhabited U.S. territories, and Democrats Abroad). ^[1] Organizers planned for it to last approximately 30 minutes. ^[3] Convention secretary Jason Rae directed the roll call from Wisconsin Center in Milwaukee. ^[4]

The production of the remote roll call was widely praised. ^{[5] [6] [7] [8]}

Order of nominations

Announcing their states' delegates' nominations were:

List of speakers announcing delegations' roll-call votes, sortable

State		Speaker	Position/Notability	Location	Notes	Cite
Alabama		Terri Sewell	United States Representative from Alabama	Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama		[9] [10] [11]
Alaska		Chuck Degnan	Veteran, commercial fisherman, Alaska Native leader and Democratic Party activist			[12] [13]
American Samoa		Aliitama Sotoa	Democratic Party leaders of American Samoa			[12]
		Patti Matila
Arizona		Marisol Garcia	Middle school social studies teacher			[12] [14]
Arkansas		Gilbert Alaquinez	Chef at Clinton Foundation	Clinton Presidential Center in Little Rock, Arkansas		[12]
California		Barbara Lee	United States Representative from California			[9] [11]
		Hilda Solis	Member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors from the 1st District and former United States Secretary of Labor			[9]
Colorado		Howard Chou	Immigrant and party activist			[12]
Connecticut		Peter Carozza	Retired firefighter and firefighters' union leader	Hartford, Connecticut		[12] [15]
Delaware		John Carney	Governor of Delaware	Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Railroad Station in Wilmington, Delaware	Passed to go last	[9] [11] [12]
		Tom Carper	United States Senator from Delaware
Democrats Abroad		Julia Bryan	International Chair of Democrats Abroad [16]	Prague, Czech Republic		[12]
District of Columbia		Muriel Bowser	Mayor of the District of Columbia	Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, DC		[9] [11]
Florida		Fred Guttenberg	Gun control activist	Pompano Beach, Florida		[9] [11]
Georgia		Nikema Williams	Chair of the Democratic Party of Georgia, Georgia State Senator for Georgia's 39th state senate district and 2020 Democratic nominee for Georgia's 5th congressional district	Atlanta, Georgia		[9]
Guam		Sarah Thomas-Nededog	Chair of the Democratic Party of Guam			[12]
Hawaii		Dr. Amy Agbayani	Civil rights activist			[12]
Idaho		Lauren McLean	Mayor of Boise	Boise, Idaho		[9]
Illinois		Carol Moseley Braun	Former United States Senator from Illinois	Old State Capitol State Historic Site in Springfield, Illinois		[9]
Indiana		Pete Buttigieg	Former mayor of South Bend	South Bend, Indiana		[9] [11]
Iowa		Tom Vilsack	Former United States Secretary of Agriculture and former governor of Iowa			[9]
Kansas		Mark Pringle	Farmer			[12]
Kentucky		Colmon Elridge	Education advocate			[12]
Louisiana		Cedric Richmond	United States Representative from Louisiana	New Orleans, Louisiana		[9]
		LaToya Cantrell	Mayor of New Orleans			[9]
Maine		Craig Hickman	Maine State Representative from Maine's 82nd state house district	Winthrop, Maine		[9]
Maryland		Brandon Scott	President of the Baltimore City Council	Frederick Douglass-Isaac Myers Maritime Park in Baltimore, Maryland		[9]
		Bianca Shah	College student			[9]
Massachusetts		Claire D. Cronin	Massachusetts State Representative from the Massachusetts House of Representatives' 11th Plymouth district			[9]
Michigan		Gary Peters	United States senator from Michigan	Detroit, Michigan		[9]
		Ray Curry	UAW auto worker			[9]
Minnesota		Amy Klobuchar	United States senator from Minnesota	Minneapolis, Minnesota		[9] [11]
		Melvin Carter	Mayor of St. Paul	St. Paul, Minnesota		[9]
Mississippi		Dr. Carmen Walters	President of Tougaloo College			[12]
Missouri		Reuben Gill	Bricklayer	St. Louis, Missouri		[9] [12]
Montana		Rachel Prevost	Recent college graduate			[12] [17]
Nebraska		Geraldine Waller	Meatpacking employee			[12]
Nevada		Dina Titus	United States Representative from Nevada's 1st congressional district	Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign in Paradise, Nevada		[9]
New Hampshire		John Lynch	Former governor of New Hampshire			[9]
New Jersey		Phil Murphy	Governor of New Jersey	Paramount Theatre in Asbury Park, New Jersey		[9]
New Mexico		Derrick J. Lente	New Mexico State Representative from New Mexico's 65th state House district	Sandia Pueblo Reservation in New Mexico		[9]
New York		Scheena Iyande Tannis	Registered nurse and member of 1199 SEIU		Lieutenant Governor of New York Kathy Hochul in attendance	[9] [12]
North Carolina		Cozzie Watkins	Democratic activist	Charlotte, North Carolina		[12]
North Dakota		Cesar Alvarez	Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation citizen and advocate			[18]
Northern Mariana Islands		Nola Kileleman Hix	Chair of the Northern Mariana Islands Democratic Party			[12]
Ohio		Tim Ryan	United States Representative from Ohio's 13th congressional district			[9]
		Josh Abernathy	IBEW organizer			[9]
Oklahoma		Alicia Andrews	Chair of the Oklahoma Democratic Party	Greenwood District in Tulsa, Oklahoma		[9] [12]
Oregon		Dr. Rosa Colquitt	Activist	We Choose Love memorial in Portland, Oregon		[12]
		Travis Nelson	Registered Nurse
Pennsylvania		Bob Casey Jr.	United States senator from Pennsylvania	Childhood home of Joe Biden in Scranton, Pennsylvania		[9] [11]
Puerto Rico		Carmelo Ríos Santiago	Majority leader of the Puerto Rico Senate			[12]
Rhode Island		Joseph McNamara	Chair of the Rhode Island Democratic Party and Rhode Island State Representative from Rhode Island's 19th state house district	Oakland Beach, Warwick	John Bordieri, a chef from Bristol, accompanied McNamara, holding a plate of fried calamari. His presence attracted much Internet chatter, as did McNamara's dubbing of Rhode Island as the "calamari comeback state".	[9] [11] [19]
South Carolina		Jaime Harrison	U.S. Senate nominee and former chair of the South Carolina Democratic Party	South Carolina State University in Orangeburg, South Carolina		[9]
South Dakota		Kellen Returns From Scout	Tribal activist of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe	Black Hills in South Dakota		[9] [12] [20]
Tennessee		Keely Sage	College student	Hermitage Hotel in Nashville, Tennessee	Hermitage Hotel was the location of the final ratification of the 19th Amendment (granting female suffrage) 100 years prior on August 18, 1920	[12] [11]
Texas		Veronica Escobar	United States Representative from Texas's 16th congressional district	El Paso, Texas		[9]
Utah		Jenny Wilson	Mayor of Salt Lake County	Utah State Capitol in Salt Lake City, Utah		[12]
Vermont		David Zuckerman	Lieutenant Governor of Vermont		Bernie Sanders and Jane Sanders in attendance	[9] [11] [12]
Virgin Islands, U.S.		Cecil Benjamin	Chair of the Democratic Party of the Virgin Islands			[12]
Virginia		Khizr Khan	Lawyer	Freedom of Speech Wall, Charlottesville, Virginia		[9]
Washington		My-Linh Thai	Washington State Representative from Washington's 41st state house district	Kerry Park in Seattle, Washington		[9] [12]
West Virginia		Fred Albert	Educator and union organizer			[12]
Wyoming		Dennis Shepard	Activists, parents of Matthew Shepard			[11] [12]
		Judy Shepard
Wisconsin		Mandela Barnes	Lieutenant governor of Wisconsin	Wisconsin Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin		[9] [12]
Delaware		John Carney	Governor of Delaware	Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Railroad Station in Wilmington, Delaware		[9]
		Tom Carper	United States senator from Delaware

See also

• Ceremonial roll call at the 2024 Democratic National Convention

References

1. Mary Spicuzza; Daniel Bice. "Report: Joe Biden may end up giving the only major Democratic convention speech from Milwaukee". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Archived from the original on July 22, 2020. Retrieved July 22, 2020.
2. Merica, Dan (10 July 2020). "Democrats reveal remote voting rules for convention amid pandemic". CNN. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
3. "Democrats Announce Inspiring Lineup of Americans Who Will Speak at the 2020 Democratic National Convention: "Uniting America"". 2020 Democratic National Convention. August 10, 2020. Archived from the original on August 13, 2020. Retrieved August 10, 2020.
4. "Democrats Announce Wisconsin Speakers and Schedule Updates for 2020 Democratic National Convention: "Uniting America"". 2020 Democratic National Convention. August 11, 2020. Archived from the original on August 17, 2020. Retrieved August 11, 2020.
5. Collinson, Stephen (August 19, 2020). "Analysis: A risky roll call turns into a surprise moment of national unity". CNN. Retrieved 2020-08-19.
6. Behrmann, Savannah. "'Looks like America': DNC's virtual roll call, the first of its kind, widely lauded online". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2020-08-19.
7. Vanderhoof, Erin (August 18, 2020). "The DNC Roll Call Was an American Travelogue—and an Unexpected Delight". Vanity Fair. Retrieved 2020-08-19.
8. Cauterucci, Christina (2020-08-19). "The DNC's Roll Call Made Me Feel More Patriotic Than I Have in Years". Slate Magazine. Retrieved 2020-08-19.
9. "Democratic National Convention: Day 2". YouTube.com. 2020 Democratic National Convention. August 19, 2020. Archived from the original on August 19, 2020. Retrieved August 19, 2020.
10. Deliso, Meredith. "DNC's roll call across America a highlight of a largely virtual convention". ABC NEWS. Archived from the original on August 19, 2020. Retrieved August 19, 2020.
11. Vanderhoof, Erin (August 19, 2020). "The DNC Roll Call Was an American Travelogue—and an Unexpected Delight". Vanity Fair. Archived from the original on August 19, 2020. Retrieved August 19, 2020.
12. Dan Merica (August 18, 2020). "Former opponents and Democratic activists to officially nominate Biden in revamped roll call vote". CNN. Archived from the original on August 18, 2020. Retrieved 2020-08-19.
13. Alaska Native leader featured in DNC roll call, KTUU (August 19, 2020).
14. Arizona teacher gets turn in spotlight, as Democrats officially nominate Biden, Cronkite News (Arizona PBS) (August 10, 2020).
15. Emilie Munson, Firefighters' union chief wins CT roll call honors at Democratic convention, CT Insider (August 18, 2020).
16. "Volunteer Profile: Julia Bryan, International Chair". Archived from the original on August 19, 2020. Retrieved August 19, 2020.
17. Phil Drake, Montana delegation delivers 24 votes for Biden, 1 for Sanders, Great Falls Tribune (August 18, 2020).
18. Grace Kraemer, New Town man gets to cast North Dakota's Democratic delegates for president, KFYR-TV (August 19, 2020).
19. Armus, Teo; Farzan, Antonia Noori (August 19, 2020). "Calamari, Rhode Island's controversial state appetizer, becomes an unexpected star of Democratic convention". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 30, 2021.
20. Member of Standing Rock Sioux Tribe represents South Dakota during DNC, KOTA-TV (August 19, 2020).