At the pinnacle of the Democratic National Convention’s pageantry on Thursday night, Kamala Harris took the stage to accept her party’s nomination in a thirty-five-minute speech that stressed national unity, support for the middle class, a prosecutorial posture toward her opponent and a hawkish one on foreign policy.
“On behalf of everyone whose story could only be written in the greatest nation on Earth, I accept your nomination to be president of the United States of America,” Harris told the tens of thousands filling the United Center.
The speech capped off a celebratory week inside the arena that took place amid outcries from thousands of mostly peaceful Pro-Palestinian protesters in the streets surrounding it. At marches and sit-ins, protesters advocated for a ceasefire in Gaza and the inclusion of a Palestinian speaker at the convention. As Democrats celebrated their past successes with an eye towards November, the DNC was laden with direct attacks at former President Donald Trump, but provided little new information about Harris’s platform.
Day four of the DNC, themed “For Our Future,” touched on key Democratic issues that have been featured throughout the week, such as police misconduct, gun violence, and reproductive rights. Rev. Al Sharpton brought four members of “The Central Park Five,” now known as “The Exonerated Five,” to speak on how Donald Trump villainized them from indictment through exoneration, calling for their execution. Gun violence survivors of Sandy Hook, Uvalde and Charleston shootings reflected on their experiences. The “A New American Chapter” conversation included a family’ struggles with reproductive care.
As on previous days, a steady line of politicians of varying seniority delivered remarks. U.S. representative Raja Krishnamoorthi (IL-8),former Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, and former Republican U.S. representative Adam Kinzinger (IL-11) were among local politicians to take the stage Thursday. Harris’s family and friends, including her sister Maya Harris, also delivered remarks ahead of the Vice President’s.
Harris took the stage at 9:30pm. A video montage introduced the Vice President, praising her upbringing as a “protector” of family and friends and tracing her path as a prosecutor and towards the White House. Beyonce’s “Freedom” closed the video and provided fanfare as Harris took the stage. Wearing a navy blue suit that featured a gold American flag pin, she waved to a sea of supporters clad in white, a symbolic color of the suffrage movement that secured the vote for women 104 years ago.
Harris opened by acknowledging her husband, First Gentleman Doug Emhoff, and wishing him a happy ten-year wedding anniversary. Then, she acknowledged her two strongest allies as of late: President Joe Biden and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
“The path that led me here in recent weeks was no doubt unexpected. But I’m no stranger to unlikely journeys,” Harris said. “So, my mother, our mother, Shyamala Harris, had one of her own.”
Harris continued the introduction by describing her mother’s journey from India to America at nineteen to pursue her dream of being a breast cancer researcher, meeting their father Donald Harris, a Jamaican economist. She recalled her working-class family moving from California to Illinois to Wisconsin and eventually landing in the Bay Area. She credited her mother for teaching her the “do something about it” attitude that Former First Lady Michelle Obama stressed on the convention’s second day.
“I grew up immersed in the ideals of the civil rights movement,” Harris said, referencing her parents meeting at a civil rights event. This, she says, led her to decide to pursue a career in law. She says her decision to be a prosecutor came from a childhood experience of discovering a close friend, Wanda, was being molested by her stepfather.
“This is one of the reasons I became a prosecutor—to protect people like Wanda, because I believe everyone has a right to safety, to dignity and to justice.”
Harris described “the people” as her client during her career in law, saying “a harm against any one of us is a harm against all of us.” She said the people remained her client as she traced a career from California Attorney General to the Senate and the White House as Vice President.
“On behalf of every American, regardless of party, race, gender or the language your grandmother speaks,” Harris said, she accepted the nomination.
The audience roared.
Harris then pointedly contrasted herself with Trump. “You can always trust me to put country above party and self. To hold sacred America’s fundamental principles, from the rule of law, to free and fair elections, to the peaceful transfer of power,” she said.
After reiterating her prosecutorial experience, Harris put her courtroom demeanor on display as she zeroed in on the former President.
“Donald Trump is an unserious man, but the consequences of putting Donald Trump back in the White House are extremely serious,” she said. “Consider not only the chaos and calamity when he was in office, but also the gravity of what has happened since he lost the last election. Donald Trump tried to throw away your votes. When he failed, he sent an armed mob to the U.S. Capitol, where they assaulted law enforcement officers. Consider what he intends to do if we give him power again.”
Harris said that Trump’s intentions are already laid out in Project 2025, a political policy initiative drawn up by former Trump advisors and the ultra-conservative Heritage Foundation that would radically remake the federal government should he win.
Project 2025’s “sum total is to pull our country back to the past,” Harris said, pausing for effect. “But America, we are not going back!”
After recounting Trump’s attempts to cut Social Security and Medicare, and repeal the Affordable Care Act, Harris described what her administration would pursue. The Vice President, whose campaign began a little more than a month ago, had been criticized by some for not articulating a comprehensive policy platform more quickly. And the 2024 Democratic Party platform a that delegates approved on Monday had not been updated after President Joseph Biden withdrew from the race.
She laid out her plan to support the middle class, a policy pitch dubbed the “opportunity economy.” CNBC reported that it would introduce a federal ban on price-gouging groceries, a $6,000 tax credit for newborns, and $25,000 in down-payment support for first-time home buyers. Trump has attacked the plan as “full communist” and referred to the Vice President as “Comrade Kamala.”
“This is personal for me. The middle class is where I come from,” Harris said. “That’s why we will create what I call an ‘opportunity economy,’ where everyone has the chance to compete and a chance to succeed whether you live in a rural area, small town, or big city. And as president, I will bring together labor and workers and small business owners and entrepreneurs and American companies to create jobs, to grow our economy, and to lower the cost of everyday needs like health care and housing and groceries.”
She then turned to foreign policy, highlighting her experience as Vice President navigating the Russian invasion of Ukraine and Israeli war on Gaza. Last week, the Biden administration approved an additional $20 billion in arms sales to Israel.
Thousands March for Gaza on First Day of DNC
Harris said she and Biden were working “around the clock” to get a cease-fire and hostage release.
“And let me be clear. And let me be clear. I will always stand up for Israel’s right to defend itself, and I will always ensure Israel has the ability to defend itself,” she said, referencing the Oct. 7 , 2023 Hamas cross-border attack on Israeli towns that killed over 1,100 Israelis.
“At the same time, what has happened in Gaza over the past ten months is devastating,” Harris continued. “So many innocent lives lost. Desperate, hungry people fleeing for safety, over and over again. The scale of suffering is heartbreaking.
“President Biden and I are working to end this war, such that Israel is secure, the hostages are released, the suffering in Gaza ends and the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, security, freedom and self-determination.”
Harris concluded with a call to action that was steeped in patriotism.
“We are the heirs to the greatest democracy in the history of the world,” she said. “And on behalf of our children and our grandchildren and all those who sacrificed so dearly for our freedom and liberty, we must be worthy of this moment.”
She called on viewers to “do what generations before us have done,” and “to fight for this country we love.”
“Let’s get out there, let’s vote for it, and together, let us write the next great chapter in the most extraordinary story ever told,” she said. “Thank you. God bless you, and may God bless the United States of America. Thank you.”
As thousands of red, white, and blue balloons fell from the ceiling of the United Center, Harris was embraced by her husband before they were joined by Walz, his wife Gwen Walz and their families.
“Freedom” blared again from speakers, and this time Beyonce’s lyrics were nearly drowned out by the thundering crowd.
Michael Liptrot is a staff writer for the Weekly and the Hyde Park Herald.
