Former Vice President Joe Biden was featured as the keynote speaker at the Iowa Democratic Party’s (IDP) 2020 Hall of Fame event Sunday night. 

The event honored IDP workers from different Iowa counties and also featured speakers such as IDP Chair Mark Smith, former first lady and governor of Iowa Christie and Tom Vilsack, and former United States Sen. Tom Harkin.

Six awards were presented and the evening was punctuated by reminders of the importance of showing up to vote. Vilsack said during the June primary, 42 percent of registered Democrats showed up to vote, as opposed to 38 percent of registered Republicans.

Biden started his address by thanking the IDP and congratulating the award winners. He went on to talk about the COVID-19 pandemic, the record unemployment numbers and the civil unrest the country is feeling at the hands of systemic racism.

“Today we are dealing with multiple national crises and all at once,” Biden said.

Carrying on the evening’s theme of persuading viewers to vote this fall, Biden presses the importance of electing Theresa Greenfield and of also reelecting the other Iowa Democrats in office. 

Greenfield is running to represent the United States Senate against current incumbent Joni Ernst. 

As of July 22, Greenfield leads Ernst by two points, according to polling done by Spry Strategies and posed on FiveThirtyEight. Greenfield has been consistently leading Ernst by a few points since she won the Iowa Democratic primary on June 6.

Biden also emphasized the importance of electing a leader, drawing on recent criticisms of President Donald Trump’s handling of the pandemic and racial relations.

“We need real leadership and now. We need leadership that recognizes the real threat of this pandemic, that doesn’t just wave a white flag of surrender like the president has,” Biden said. “We need leadership that brings everyone to the table to rebuild an economy that works for working families and creates millions of good-paying jobs for the future. We need leadership that strives to finally deliver on our founding principles — to ensure that all men are not only equal at creation, but treated equally throughout their lives.”

In national polls, Biden is consistently leading President Trump by quite a few points, even double digits in some polls. Biden is also up in some unexpected states, such as Texas and Arizona.

As the COVID-19 pandemic has progressed, President Trump’s approval rating has consistently dropped due to his handling of the pandemic response.

The Democratic National Convention is scheduled for the week of Aug. 7. Biden will receive the presidential nomination and will also be announcing his pick for vice president.