Kamala Harris summoned Americans on Thursday to reject political division and instead chart what she called a “new way forward,” as she accepted her party’s nomination while blending biography with warnings about electing Donald Trump again to the White House.
Taking the stage to a thunderous standing ovation as she closed out the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, the vice president argued that her personal story and background as a prosecutor made her uniquely qualified to protect Americans’ interests against a former president she cast as only having his own interests in mind.
“Our nation with this election has a precious, fleeting opportunity to move past the bitterness, cynicism, and divisive battles of the past,” Harris said. “A chance to chart a new way forward. Not as members of any one party or faction, but as Americans.”
The daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants, Harris became the first Black woman and person of South Asian descent to accept a major party’s presidential nomination and she would become the first female president if elected. Harris did not explicitly reference the historic firsts she would set in her 40-minute speech, and she only mentioned the words “Democrat” or “Republican” in the context of discussing a bipartisan border bill that Trump helped scuttle earlier this year, which she promised to sign into law if elected.
Her address — and the Democratic convention at large — was intended to appeal to a broad swath of Americans, not just partisans already energized by Harris’ ascension after President Joe Biden ended his reelection bid. She made several implicit appeals to the large swath of voters who just weeks ago were disaffected with both of their options for the White House, particularly those disaffected with Trump, underscored by the appearances of several people who have broken with the 45th president, while embracing the policies and approach of Biden, the 46th.
She was joined for the traditional balloon drop by a large blended and mixed-race family. Earlier, two of her grandnieces had led the packed United Center in teaching people how to pronounce her name, which means lotus in Sanskrit.
“America, the path that led me here in recent weeks was no doubt unexpected,” Harris said. “But I’m no stranger to unlikely journeys.”
Raised primarily by her mother in a small apartment in San Francisco’s East Bay after her parents’ divorce, Harris described being reared as well by friends and caregivers who were “family by love.” She also detailed a key part of her political origin story, when Wanda, her best friend from high school, confided in her that she was being abused by her stepfather and came to live with Harris’ family.
“That is one of the reasons I became a prosecutor. To protect people like Wanda,” Harris said.
Outlining her work as a prosecutor, state attorney general, senator and now vice president, Harris declared, “My entire career I’ve only had one client: the people.” Meanwhile, she said Trump has only ever acted in the interests of “the only client he has ever had: himself.”
As she took the stage, she saw a sea of female delegates and Democratic supporters wearing white — the color of women’s suffrage, the movement that culminated with American women securing the right to vote in 1920.
Harris’ address came on her 10th wedding anniversary to her husband, Doug Emhoff, whom she called “Dougie” on stage and who blew her a kiss from the stands at the start of her remarks.
