Vice President Kamala Harris used her acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention on Thursday to present herself as a pragmatic leader who could unite all Americans behind a “new way forward,” painting her opponent, former President Donald Trump, as a dangerous and “unserious man” whose election would alter the foundation of American democracy.
In a nearly 40-minute speech, delivered to tens of thousands of supporters at the United Center arena in Chicago, she said that her candidacy was not the one her party was expecting as little as a handful of weeks ago. But she told the crowd that she was “no stranger to unlikely journeys,” describing herself as the daughter of an Indian scientist whose dreams of a new life in the United States became the catalyst for Harris’ legal and political career.
“I will be a president who unites us around our highest aspirations,” she said. “A president who leads — and listens. Who is realistic. Practical. And has common sense. And always fights for the American people. From the courthouse to the White House, that has been my life’s work.”
Harris’ nomination is barrier-breaking: She is the first Black woman and first person of South Asian descent to accept a major party’s nomination. If elected, she would be the first female president in the nation’s history.
Yet Harris did not try to sell her supporters on a presidency that would be wildly different from the one held for the past 3 1/2 years by President Joe Biden, who, as a candidate, fought against a leftward drift in his party during the 2020 presidential race and later pulled Harris onto the ticket. Biden, 81, also promised to be a uniter at a time when the country was deeply divided and reeling from the coronavirus pandemic. He, too, had long embraced a “middle out, bottom up” economic philosophy focused on protecting American technology advancements, curbing the rise of global competitors and retraining workers.
On Thursday, Harris promoted policies that would address housing affordability, ideas that amount to incremental change. But what is different now is not the policies — it is the candidate, a 59-year old woman who took the stage to rapturous applause and vowed that she would push her party forward.
“With this election, our nation has a precious, fleeting opportunity to move past the bitterness, cynicism and divisive battles of the past,” she said. “A chance to chart a new way forward. Not as members of any one party or faction, but as Americans.”
For weeks, Harris had approached the biggest speech of her political career knowing that she needed to reintroduce herself to Americans who may know her only as the vice president who ascended to the top of the ticket after Biden botched a debate and abandoned his candidacy.
Harris and her advisers also knew that she needed to further define the threat of Trump, choosing to focus at length on Project 2025, a conservative policy agenda drafted by his allies. She warned that the policies could have a devastating effect on reproductive health, leading to a nationwide abortion ban and further restrictions to women’s health care.
“Simply put, they are out of their minds,” Harris said. She said that she would “proudly” sign legislation protecting abortion rights into law — a promise also made by Biden, but one that is a long shot in the current Congress.
“In many ways, Donald Trump is an unserious man,” Harris said. “But the consequences of putting Donald Trump back in the White House are extremely serious.”
She added: “Just imagine, Donald Trump with no guardrails, and how he would use the immense presidency of the United States.”
The race remains uncomfortably close for Democrats, though in recent weeks Harris has gained ground with young people, Black voters and women, all groups that are crucial to the party’s success in November. And with rousing speech after rousing speech at the convention this week, members of the Democratic Party made it clear that they were optimistic about her chances in the months ahead. And several party leaders, including former President Barack Obama, have hinted that Harris and her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, will have help on the campaign trail.
Throughout the week, the most famous figures in the Democratic Party made their cases for a Harris presidency. Hillary Clinton, the first female Democratic presidential nominee who lost to Trump in 2016, said Harris was the latest in a line of American women who have fought for civil rights, run for public office and knocked on the door of the presidency. Obama argued that Harris’ candidacy was an extension of his own political movement.
Others have used their time on the stage to thrash Trump’s behavior and policies. Michelle Obama, the former first lady, bluntly cast the former president as a racist and a sexist.
But the convention’s final night wove chapters of Harris’ biography with a focus on the party’s key issues: climate change, racial justice and preventing gun violence. A lineup of speakers argued that Trump had transformed the Republican Party beyond recognition, and that people who felt alienated by that party could find a home with the Harris campaign.
“None of us has to fail for all of us to succeed,” she said. “In unity there is strength.”
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
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