Jon Sopel
BBC North America Editor

Image source, Reuters

The objective tonight is to show Kamala Harris in her own words: her own story, how she's got to be where she is.

What's known about Kamala Harris is she's tough. She's got a sharp brain that has been used to great effect on the Senate judiciary committee - and she'll want to show a rounder picture as well tonight.

Of course, you've also got Barack Obama coming to the stage again. It'll be fascinating to see what he has to say, following on from his wife, Michelle, on Monday night.

And it's no accident that you've seen all these numbers of women speaking in high profile roles at this convention.

In 2016, 53% of white, college-educated women voted for Donald Trump - the Democrats are determined to pull those numbers back. They saw evidence those numbers are coming back in the November 2018 mid-term elections, and they're determined to do even better in 2020.

One of the things of having a televised conference is you don't have the lows. You don't have the boos, the unseemly bits you may have had at other conventions because you edit that out.

You don't get the incredible highs either, but I think the Democratic party will feel they're getting the message out in the way they wanted to.

Tonight's programme - starting at 21:00 EST (01:00 GMT) - is certainly a historic one: We'll hear from former President Barack Obama, the US's first black president, as well as see Senator Kamala Harris, the first black and South Asian woman on a major party's ticket, formally accept her role as Joe Biden's running mate.

But that's not all, folks.

Look forward to speeches from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton - beaten by Donald Trump in the 2016 election - plus another former Biden rival, Senator Elizabeth Warren, and the top Democrat on Capitol Hill, Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

There are going to be some emotional moments. Early in the schedule the Democrats will be talking about the US's problem with gun violence. One speaker is former Arizona lawmaker Gabrielle Giffords, who was terribly injured by a gunman who tried to kill her in 2011, and another is Emma Gonzalez - a survivor of the high school mass shooting in Parkland, Florida.

"Joe understands that when times get tough, we don't give up - we get up," Obama said in a fundraising message earlier. "It's time for us all to get up, right now, and stand with Joe in this fight for the soul of America."

Laura Trevelyan
Presenter, BBC World News America

Image source, Getty Images

It’s showtime! The giant lighting rigs are being assembled outside the Chase Center here in Wilmington, the media tents have arrived, and there’s finally a sense of anticipation and momentum.

This first virtual convention has been particularly odd from a reporter’s perspective. There’s barely been anyone on site for the past two days, nobody to talk to, but now the place is full of secret service, and police officers doing bag and security wand checks - and the photographers with the telephoto lenses are here, so they can capture Kamala Harris as she speaks tonight.

There’s a buzz in the atmosphere. The press briefings in the morning for the DNC have been on Zoom, devoid of much interaction - now something is actually happening here on site, we’ll see Kamala Harris’ motorcade sweep by tonight. In this strange time, some of the familiar trappings of a presidential campaign are now coming into focus.

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of day three of the Democratic National Convention 2020 - or Veep night. It's a big moment for Kamala Harris as she formally accepts the nomination as Joe Biden's vice presidential running mate, and gives the evening's major speech.

The California senator has broken barriers all her life - the latest in being the first black woman and Asian American person on a major presidential ticket. (Catch up on the rest with our Kamala Harris profile.) Now she gets the chance to reintroduce herself as Biden's potential second in command.

She'll be backed by some heavyweight Democrat supporters - former President Barack Obama, and Hillary Clinton, who lost the 2016 election to Donald Trump, will be on the virtual stump tonight.

We'll be live streaming the event on this page and bringing you rolling text coverage of every significant moment. Expect insight from the BBC's correspondents in the US and beyond, reaction from real America and all the context you need to make sense of this year's unconventional showpiece.