U.S. Reps. Joe Neguse and Jason Crow touted Vice President Kamala Harris and derided former President Donald Trump, respectively, during the Colorado Democrats’ brief remarks delivered Thursday night at the party’s national convention in Chicago.

The Coloradans were among a cavalcade of current and former Democratic officials and activists who took the stage inside the packed United Center in the lead-up to Harris’ speech accepting the nomination.

“My fellow Americans, let me say this clearly: don’t let anyone, don’t let anyone tell you that the American Dream is dead,” Neguse told the delegates after describing his immigrant parents’ journey from war-torn Eritrea. “It is alive and well, and it will grow even stronger with Kamala Harris as the next president of the United States.”

“How do we know that?” Neguse said. “It’s because Kamala Harris believes that college can be a ticket to the middle class, and she has fought to make it more affordable for her entire career.”

Pointing to the Democratic presidential nominee’s record as California’s attorney genera, a U.S. senator and as part of the Biden administration, Neguse hailed Harris’ commitment to making higher education achievable and affordable. Among the examples cited by Neguse, he said Harris led the charge to return $1 billion to students who were defrauded by for-profit colleges, helped expand student grants and funding for the nation’s historic Black colleges and universities and helped put in place loan relief for teachers, first responders and nurses.

“As president, she will build a brighter future, a more affordable future, a future where going to college doesn’t break the bank, a future where my 5-year-old daughter, Natalie — who is watching us back home in Colorado right now — a future where she can live her dreams.”

Crow, a decorated Army Ranger veteran, took a more confrontational approach toward the prospects of another Trump presidency in his remarks.

Like Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, who addressed the convention the previous evening, Crow wielded an oversized copy of Project 2025, a document published by the Heritage Foundation for overhauling the federal government in a Republican administration, and sounded warnings about what could lie in store if Trump wins another term.

Trump has repeatedly disavowed knowing anything about the roughly 900-plus page plan. The Associated Press reported that the initiative’s contributors included numerous former aides and top advisors, and the website The Daily Wire reported earlier this year that the project’s team would be involved with Trump’s transition effort.

While Polis focused on what he characterized as limits on access to reproductive care — the book recommends that the federal government rescind approval for a drug commonly used to induce medical abortions, among other measures — Crow took aim at the book’s national security directives.

“Over 100 combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan taught me what really, really makes America strong and secure,” Crow said. “You see, it’s not tough talk, it’s not chest-thumping, because in war, talk is cheap. And trust me, I know a couch commando when I see one.”

The quip, which drew laughter from the crowd, was an oblique jab at U.S. Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, Trump’s vice presidential running mate and a Marine veteran, who has been dogged since his nomination by claims involving fondness for couches.

Turning serious, Crow gestured toward the giant bound volume in front of him and enumerated objections to its propositions.

“Real strength and security come from our people, from our allies,” Crow said. “Donald Trump’s Project 2025 would abandon our troops, abandon our veterans, our allies and our principles.”

Crow said the plan describes an insular foreign policy that includes “abandoning Ukraine and walking away from our NATO allies,” which the Democrat said amounted to doing Russian President Vladimir Putin’s bidding.

Also in the plan, Crow said, is a proposal to move toward privatizing the administration of veterans’ health care and steps to replace top career national security and military personnel with Trump loyalists.

“But I refuse to let Trump’s golf buddies decide when and how our friends are sent to war,” Crow said. “Our troops deserve a commander in chief who will always have their back. That leader is Kamala Harris.”