Vice President Kamala Harris pledged “a new path forward” for all Americans as she formally accepted the Democratic nomination for president on Thursday night, delivering a message of unity and urging voters to reject Donald Trump.
She said the November election was a chance to “move beyond the bitterness, the cynicism and the divisive battles of the past,” closing her party convention in Chicago with cheers and falling balloons.
Harris’ speech capped a four-day campaign designed to highlight her backstory and shape a still-vague policy agenda.
She made history as the first black woman and Asian American to lead a major party’s presidential ticket.
The 59-year-old officially became the Democratic nominee after several weeks of significant events, starting with President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the race for the White House.
Polls show she is now in a tight race with Trump, who has criticized Harris’s appearance as it unfolded.
Ms Harris used her nearly 45-minute speech, the most important of her political career, to reintroduce herself to the nation.
She shared personal anecdotes about her childhood in a “beautiful working-class neighborhood” as the daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants.
And she argued that her background as a prosecutor — a detail she avoided emphasizing during the 2020 campaign — made her uniquely qualified to defeat Trump and serve in the Oval Office, similar to her record as vice president under Mr. Biden.
Ms. Harris also spent several minutes of her speech talking about how her late mother, Shyamala Gopalan Harris, shaped her life and political career.
“She taught us never to complain about injustice, but (instead) to do something about it,” Ms Harris recalled. Her sister, Maya, 57, also spoke that night, saying their mother was a “pioneer” who set “high expectations for us”.
“She raised us to believe we could be or do anything,” she said, to loud applause. “That is a quintessentially American story.”
Ms Harris has pitched to aspiring families across America that she will create an “economy of opportunity, where everyone has the chance to compete and the chance to succeed”.
She said she would “end America’s housing shortage” and help entrepreneurs, but did not describe any specific policy changes from the administration she currently serves in.
Trump responded to his opponent’s speech on his social media platform Truth Social and called into Fox News after the event ended to criticize her remarks.
He questioned her performance during her four years in the White House as vice president.
“Why doesn’t she do something about the things she complains about?” the Republican wrote.
United States Environmental Protection AgencyFive weeks ago, Democrats thought the party’s big event would be centered on President Joe Biden, as he seeks another term despite widespread concerns about his age and whether he could beat Trump.
But a surprise turn came in late July, when Mr Biden, bowing to party pressure after a poor debate performance, announced he would resign and endorse Ms Harris.
Within days, party leaders, delegates and potential challengers had united behind Ms. Harris’s candidacy. And in Chicago, the vice president’s speech was warmly received by delegates who had formally endorsed her for the top job.
“I think she’s set the tone for the enthusiasm that the Democratic Party is going to have from now until November,” Georgia delegate Edward Bohannan told the BBC. “There wasn’t a lot of excitement about the election before. But now people are getting involved.”
Among the other figures who energized the thousands of convention attendees in the days leading up to the event were Barack and Michelle Obama, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Oprah Winfrey, and even defectors from the Republican Party.
Mr Biden, 81, was the keynote speaker on the first night, in a symbolic torch-passing ceremony. While on vacation in California, he also called Ms Harris to wish her luck with her own speech.
The DNC’s fourth night also featured speakers who highlighted the consequences of gun violence, an issue Harris focused on as California’s top prosecutor and one she has pursued during her vice presidency. Last year, Biden created an office dedicated to combating gun violence and tapped Harris to lead it.
Gabby Giffords, a leading gun safety advocate and former U.S. congresswoman who was shot in the head in 2011 in Arizona, appeared with her husband, Sen. Mark Kelly, a leading candidate to be Harris’s running mate. Georgia congresswoman Lucy MacBath, who has pushed for gun restrictions and was elected after her son was shot and killed, also spoke.
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, a rising Democratic star who has also been considered a potential vice presidential candidate for Ms Harris, described the Democratic nominee as “tough, experienced and incredibly cool”.
Adam Kinzinger, a former Republican congressman who now supports the Democratic Party, used his moment in the spotlight to attack Trump.
“It’s the defense of our Constitution and our democracy that is the soul of being a conservative,” Kinzinger said. “It used to be the soul of being a Republican, but Donald Trump has strangled the soul of the Republican Party.”
“Democrats are just as patriotic as we are,” he added as the crowd chanted “USA.”
But DNC organizers rejected protesters’ demands to allow a Palestinian to speak, after days of demonstrations in Chicago against the war in Gaza and White House policy.
Ms Harris did not directly address the protesters, although she did mention Gaza. She said she would always defend Israel’s right to security, and called on Palestinians to live in “dignity” and “freedom”.
An arena filled with delegates and supporters held up American flags and placards bearing Ms Harris’s name. Many wore white to honor the women’s suffrage movement.
And there was no shortage of star-studded appearances on Thursday — following a packed program of celebrity appearances on previous nights, which was also seen at the Republican convention last month.
Steph Curry — a basketball star who is a member of Harris’ hometown team the Golden State Warriors, and recently led Team USA to an Olympic gold medal — sent a video message that featured performances by Pink and The Chicks (formerly the Dixie Chicks).
But those hoping for an appearance from Beyoncé were left disappointed, after rumours throughout the evening about a “surprise guest” led to hopes that the star would perform her hit Freedom, which was used as a campaign anthem by Ms Harris.
As 100,000 red, white and blue balloons fell from the ceiling, hopes of a grand ending quickly faded.
“After all that, no more Beyoncé,” one man joked as he left, popping balloons with his foot.
Additional report by Bernd Debusmann Jr at the conference.
