By ZEKE MILLER, WILL WEISSERT and DARLENE SUPERVILLE
CHICAGO (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris told voters they have a chance to chart a «new way forward» as Americans this November, as she looked to introduce herself to voters and prosecute her case against Republican Donald Trump as she accepted her party’s nomination Thursday night at the Democratic National Convention.
Harris walked onstage to thunderous applause and a long standing ovation as convention-goers chanted her name, before beginning her remarks.
“Our nation with this election has a precious, fleeting opportunity to move past the bitterness, cynicism, and divisive battles of the past,” Harris said, as she accepted the nomination. “A chance to chart a New Way Forward. Not as members of any one party or faction, but as Americans.”
Harris’ address in Chicago caps a whirlwind eight weeks in American politics and manifests the stunning reversal of Democratic fortunes just 75 days until Election Day. Party leaders, who had publicly despaired over President Joe Biden’s candidacy after his disastrous debate against Trump, were jubilant both at the historic nature of Harris’ candidacy and their buoyed hopes for this November.
“America, the path that led me here in recent weeks was no doubt unexpected. But I’m no stranger to unlikely journeys,» she said.
Just a month after Biden ended his reelection bid and endorsed her to replace him atop the Democratic ticket, Harris was looking to make the most of her chance to define herself and her political vision to voters on her own terms before an audience of millions.
Harris talked about being raised primarily by her mother after her parents divorced in a small apartment in San Francisco’s East Bay, and being raised 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.
Harris is the first Black woman and first person of South Asian descent to accept a major party’s presidential nomination, and if elected, she would be the first female U.S. president. 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.
A festive mood filled the United Center all evening, with a packed audience including running mate Tim Walz dancing and singing along to a mix of pop and classic rock. Two of Harris’ young grandnieces were brought onstage by actress Kerry Washington to remind the convention how to correctly pronounce her first name. At the girls’ direction, one side of the arena shouted “comma” and the other “la.”
Harris, the daughter of immigrants from Jamaica and India, spoke a day after Walz, her choice for running mate, thanked the packed Chicago arena for “ bringing the joy ” to the election.
Despite speculation about a potential surprise appearance by the music superstar Beyoncé at Thursday’s convention ahead of Harris’ speech, a source involved in the evening’s planning who was not authorized to discuss it publicly said she would not be in attendance.
Harris spoke briefly to the convention on Monday, when she thanked Biden and celebrated his record as president, and again on Tuesday, when the beginning of her rally in Milwaukee was streamed into the convention hall after Democrats reaffirmed their nomination of her with a state-by-state roll call.
Among others who spoke before Harris on Thursday were Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, Gabby Giffords, the Arizona Democrat who was nearly killed in a mass shooting in 2011, and civil rights leader Al Sharpton.
Sharpton highlighted the historic nature of Harris’ nomination, noting that 52 years ago, he was a youth director for former Rep. Shirley Chisholm’s 1972 Democratic primary bid for the White House. Chisholm, who was Black, died in 2005, but Sharpton drew cheers when he declared, “I know she’s watching us tonight as a Black woman stands up to accept the nomination for president of the United States.”
Sharpton also introduced the now-exonerated members of the Central Park Five — the Black teenagers who were wrongly convicted of rape in New York City in 1989. Trump took out full-page newspaper ads at the time calling for five to receive the death penalty — and even today sidesteps calls to apologize.
Harris made a direct appeal to anti-Trump Republicans to put aside party labels and to support her over Trump, who denied his loss to Biden in the 2020 election, which inspired the Jan. 6 2021 Capitol insurrection.
“I know there are people of various political views watching tonight, and I want you to know I promise to be a president for all Americans,” Harris said. “I promise to be a president for all Americans to hold sacred America’s constitutional principles, fundamental principles, from the rule of law and fair elections to the peaceful transfer of power.»
The convention also granted a prime speaking slot to former Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, a Republican critic of Trump’s who said: “Whatever policies we disagree on pale in comparison with those fundamental matters of principle. Of decency. Of fidelity to this nation. To my fellow Republicans: If you still pledge allegiance to those principles, I suspect you belong here, too.»
Casting Harris as the better guarantor of the nation’s security, former Obama administration Defense Secretary Leon Panetta evoked Ronald Reagan and Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego of Arizona slammed Trump for targeting the late Republican Sen. John McCain, the GOP nominee for president in 2008.
“John McCain was an American hero,” Gallego said. “Show some respect.”
Republicans, meanwhile, have raced to define Harris, accusing her of being a “communist” and “dangerously liberal.” Trump has also targeted her race, while his running mate JD Vance describes her as a “chameleon.”
Harris’ team has emphasized her law enforcement background, including her time as San Francisco district attorney and California attorney general. She was later elected to the U.S. Senate and sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020.
Her campaign imploded that year before a single primary vote was cast, but Biden chose her as his running mate, catapulting her to the national stage.
Although Harris initially struggled as vice president, her reputation grew when she became the administration’s leading advocate for abortion rights after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Democrats harnessed anger over the decision to stem their losses in the last midterm elections.
When Biden stumbled in his debate with Trump in June, Harris defended him until he decided to drop out of the race. With the help of his endorsement, she swiftly unified the Democratic Party behind her candidacy, resetting a presidential race that Trump had appeared on track to win.
“We know what we’re dealing with in this moment,” Harris said this week in Milwaukee. “And we must remember — as the generations of Americans before us who led the fight for freedom — the baton is now in our hands.”
