During a teleconference Wednesday night with Colorado Democrats just hours before Kamala Harris would accept the vice presidential nomination, Lt. Gov. Dianne Primavera invoked the spirit of the suffragettes behind the adoption 100 years ago this week of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, guaranteeing women the right to vote and, she said, taking the country “one step closer to living up to the promise of our founding.”

“This is a historic night, a historic campaign and a historic moment,” she said. “Tonight, we join together in pursuit of a critical task – the task of electing Joe Biden and Kamala Harris this November.”

The Democratic ticket, she said, “will lead us out of this chaos and crisis produced under the Trump administration. They will rebuild a better America, and an America for all.”

Moments later, she passed the virtual baton to actress and producer Alyssa Milano, who said it was her patriotic duty “to give every bit of my energy I can spare to stop Trump.”

Part pep rally, part heart-to-heart, the half-hour series of remarks from Primavera, Milano, Secretary of State Jena Griswold and former Labor Secretary Hilda Solis held on the Zoom platform was billed as the pre-show before a watch party held on the the third night of the Democratic National Convention.

And like the DNC, which had been scheduled for earlier this summer in Milwaukee until the coronavirus pandemic forced organizers to delay it and then turn it into a virtual event, the watch party took place online, on phones and laptops across the state.

The Biden campaign sponsored online watch parties in every state Wednesday and plans to do the same again Thursday, when Biden accepts the nomination. Each featured a couple of celebrities from the worlds of politics or entertainment, as well as familiar Democrats from each state.

Local campaigns and groups are also throwing similar watch parties – more than 40 took place Wednesday night across Colorado, a Biden campaign spokeswoman said – with dozens more scheduled for the final night of the convention.

Capped by a fiery speech by Harris, a first-term senator and former California attorney general, the convention’s third night also featured pointed remarks by former President Barack Obama.

Others who spoke were U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, 2016 presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and former U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords of Arizona, founder of the anti-gun violence organization that bears her name, delivering the longest speech she’s given since she was shot in the head during an assassination attempt at a constituent outreach event nine years ago.

The Colorado watch party’s pre-show opened with a brief video that set the tone, featuring Biden, Harris and a cast of smiling, determined Democrats that appeared to be as diverse as America.

“Who are we? We are the ones who step up for each other. I’ve got your back, and you’ve got mine,” the narrator said. The words “Kindness,” “Humility” and “Empathy” flashed on screen as the narrator recited them. “It’s not just talk. It’s who we are.”

Emceed by veteran Democratic strategist Jennie Peek-Dunstone, the Colorado Biden campaign’s senior adviser, the online event moved briskly between the women, each speaking for about five minutes. She noted that state Rep. Leslie Herod, D-Denver, who was online at the call’s outset, lost power mid-way through so would be unable to participate.

“It feels so great to see Democrat coming together this week under one unified goal,” said Solis. “That goal is to defeat Donald Trump and bring victory to all of our communities and neighborhoods, and also to make sure that we don’t leave anyone behind – because this administration has left too many behind with their failures and incompetency.”

Griswold summed up the night’s them: “The ladies get it done.”

Referencing the unfolding scandal surrounding the U.S. Postal Service and allegations the postmaster general, a major Trump donor, is crippling its ability to handle what’s expected to be a flood of mail ballots, Griswold repeated a line she’s honed this week in appearances on national news shows. 

“I am concerned that President Trump is more concerned about suppressing the vote than suppressing the virus,” she said. “All I can say is that we are not going to allow this election to be tilted or cheated.”

She added: “Here in Colorado, I am confident that we are going to have a great election,” noting that the state’s mail-ballot operation – in place since 2013 – is known nationwide as the “gold standard.”

Nearly every speaker urged those watching to “make a plan” to vote, a familiar directive among Democrats since the Obama campaign made the instruction a core element of its strategy in 2012 after research found that articulating a plan increased turnout rates by 9% among certain groups of voters.

Milano, like the other speakers, alternated between a grim depiction of life under Trump with encouragement to redouble efforts in the home stretch.

“There is just so much that is wrong right now,” she said. “Every single election cycle I have hard, this is the most important election of our lifetime But quit honestly, there has never been a time in my life that I can remember that so many people were suffering so much because of a president and his administration and their failings.”

Calling those on the call fellow patriots, she said: “We have got 76 days – 76 days to save the soul of America. That’s it. That is all we have left.”