Here are key moments from the first night.
The opening night featured a moment of silence for George Floyd, the Black man killed by Minneapolis police in May, delivered by his brother Philonise. Philonise Floyd commended the nationwide protests against racial injustice as a fitting tribute for his late brother and listed the names of other Black Americans killed by police.
"For the names we do not know, the faces we'll never see, those who can't mourn because their murders didn't go viral, please join me in a moment of silence to honor George and the many other souls we lost to hate and injustice," Philonise Floyd said. "And when this moment ends, let's make sure we never stop saying their names."
D.C. Mayor Muriel Boswer introduced Philonise and his brother Rodney while standing at a balcony overlooking the newly minted "Black Lives Matter Plaza" - just blocks from the White House.
'We can't just paint those words behind me, we can't just say those words. We have to live those words," Bowser said. "We have to undo the laws and systems that have codified racism for far too long."
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo slammed Trump for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic and his failure to unite the nation.
"Only a strong body can fight off the virus. And America's divisions weakened it," Cuomo said. "Donald Trump didn't create the initial division. The division created Trump."
Cuomo, who saw his national stock rise during the pandemic thanks to his frequent press conferences and aggressive measures to combat the outbreak, said the Trump administration's incompetence led to its weak virus defense.
"Now we need a leader as good as our people, a leader who appeals to the best within us, not the worst, a leader who can unify, not divide, a leader who can bring us up, not tear us down," Cuomo said. "That man is Joe Biden."
During a brief panel that focused on police violence, Biden said that "most cops are good. The fact is that the bad ones have to be identified, prosecuted and out, period."
The message is a stark contrast from the repeated calls from Trump's camp that Biden is out to "defund the police" and from the anti-police chants that have been ringing at protests in cities across the country. Biden told reporters in July that he didn't agree with defunding police departments, but that officers needed to "meet minimum basic standards of decency."
Biden has called for reform among police-community relations, and asked the panelists about the best course to do so. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot pressed the need for economic opportunity in struggling communities, and Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo suggested a national ban on chokeholds.
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