Was there a dry eye in the house? Brayden Harrington, a 13-year-old from Concord, New Hampshire, spoke at last night’s Democratic National Convention, explaining how Joe Biden encouraged him to overcome his stutter, something Biden has dealt with since he was a child.
Twenty seconds into his speech, he started to stutter. But he kept going — smiling and never losing his cool – and delivered a powerful message.
“I’m just a regular kid,” he said, “and in a short amount of time, Joe Biden made me more confident about something that’s bothered me my whole life.”
Watch below. And have a tissue handy.
“Brayden Harrington, the 13-year-old boy with a stutter. Pure, unvarnished, courage,” tweeted journalist and former television anchor Dan Rather.
John Hendrickson, the Atlantic journalist, who has written about his own stutter, called it the “best speech” of the convention. “Consider the emotional maturity it takes at Brayden’s age to talk about his personal struggle — especially when that personal struggle is talking, when it’s hard to talk at all, when it hurts to speak,” he wrote in the Atlantic.
A must – watch moment. Brayden for President2050. https://t.co/aYKPfnFl7a
— Nancy Lee Grahn (@NancyLeeGrahn) August 21, 2020
"What that young man did tonight, is he put on a clinic of courage and guts for the country," @SteveSchmidtSES says of Brayden Harrington, a 13-year-old who spoke at the #DemConvention about his struggle with stuttering and his relationship with Joe Biden. pic.twitter.com/dLhnjo77DX
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) August 21, 2020
Wow! What a story! #BraydenHarrington! BRAVO!
— bettemidler (@BetteMidler) August 21, 2020
Brayden Harrington showed the nation incredible courage and strength tonight. Go, Brayden! https://t.co/eBiebJ69mn
— Philip Rucker (@PhilipRucker) August 21, 2020
I hope everybody recognizes the guts it took for Brayden Harrington to get up there tonight. Astounding.
— Charles P. Pierce (@CharlesPPierce) August 21, 2020
I wrote about Brayden Harrington, whose stutter and poise took the air out of American living rooms tonight: https://t.co/epTs6FBZ3s
— John Hendrickson (@JohnGHendy) August 21, 2020
