VP Harris praises Biden in surprise remarks at DNC's opening night: 'We are forever grateful to you'

CHICAGO — Vice President Kamala Harris delivered surprise remarks at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Monday night and praised President Biden calling him "incredible" and saying "we are forever grateful" to him.

"It is so good to be with everyone this evening in this hall and everyone at home," Harris told the crowd at the United Center on the convention's opening night. 

"This is going to be a great week. And I want to kick us off by celebrating our incredible president, Joe Biden, who will be speaking later tonight. Joe, thank you for your historic leadership, for your lifetime of service to our nation and for all you will continue to do. We are forever grateful to you. Thank you. Joe."

Harris told the crowd that she sees the "beauty of our great nation" when she looks at everyone in attendance.

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"People from every corner of our country and every walk of life are here, united by our shared vision for the future of our country," Harris said. "And this November, we will come together and declare with one voice as one people, we are moving forward."

Harris said in closing, "With optimism, hope and faith so guided by our love of country, knowing we all have so much more in common than what separates us, let us fight for the ideals we hold dear and let us always remember when we fight, we win. God bless you. God bless the United States of America. Good night everyone."

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Harris' prime time remarks came at around 8 PM CST leading up to the planned speech of President Biden who will be addressing the convention weeks after he dropped out of the presidential race and Harris took his place as the nominee.

Just over a month ago, Biden was considered the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, having won each Democratic primary race unchallenged. 

But after a disastrous debate performance against former President Trump in June, Democrats began mounting a pressure campaign for Biden to suspend his re-election bid. 

Axios reported earlier this week that Biden is "stunned" about the circumstances and pressure from within his own party to drop out of the race.

Fox News Digital's Brooke Singman contributed to this report