Editor’s note: Charlotte County’s Teresa Jenkins and Robert J. Taylor, together with the eight other delegates , are at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., representing Florida’s 16th Congressional District, which encompasses parts of Charlotte, Glades, Hendry, Highlands, Okeechobee, St. Lucie, Martin and Palm Beach counties.

We arrived with our spouses, Mary Ellen Taylor and Steve Nelson, on Monday to a Labor Day celebration with family-oriented activities and live music, including folk icon James Taylor, who sang right outside our hotel. The Marriott at City Center houses the entire Florida delegation.

A delegation breakfast kicked off the convention at the Marriott on Tuesday. There are 570 Florida Democrats at the convention, 300 of whom are delegates. The Florida delegation was fired up by a number of speakers, including U.S. Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia; Mark Stanley of the National Jewish Democratic Council; Newark, N.J., Mayor Cory Booker; and U.S. House Reps. Corrine Brown and Kathy Castor of Florida.

Warner noted President Obama’s accomplishments: halting the foreclosure crisis; ending one war and putting us on a path to end another; and fully restoring the stock market from 7,000, when Mr. Obama took office, to 13,000 today.

Booker energized the audience with his passionate appeal for truth in this election. The Democratic Party is about principles, inclusion and ideas, he said. “We cannot get caught up in sedentary agitation. Get up and get into the game.”

Brown asked for all former veterans to stand, and we gave them a round of applause. She reminded us that President Obama presided over the largest Veterans Administration budget in U.S. history, giving Florida three new VA hospitals.

Castor reminded us that “under President Obama, the U.S. is exporting more petroleum than ever and he is committed to taking care of veterans and women.” She noted that Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan voted against the bill the president signed in 2009 to protect women’s wages.