Vice President and now-Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris formally accepted the party’s nomination on the final day of the Democratic National Convention Thursday night in Chicago.
Harris’ comments come after several days of speeches at the convention from party leaders, including former President Barack Obama and current President Joe Biden. The event sets the stage for the remaining weeks in the race with Republican nominee and former President Donald Trump heading into November.
Harris began her speech by telling her life story, from her Indian mother and Jamaican father meeting, to moving often as a child, including a handful of family anecdotes.
“From my earliest years, [my father] taught me to be fearless, but the harmony between my parents did not last,” Harris said, going on to explain her parents’ divorce.
Harris pointed to being raised by a hardworking single mother in a working class neighborhood.
She discussed her career as a lawyer and took an inspirational note, talking about hard work, community values and chasing dreams.
“To be clear, my entire career I’ve only had one client: the people,” she said.
Her speech capped off several wild weeks that included former President Joe Biden ending his candidacy after his disastrous June debate performance, passing the torch to Harris, and Harris cementing her hold on the party.
“Our nation with this election has a precious, fleeting opportunity to move past the bitterness, cynicism, and divisive battles of the past, a chance to chart a new way forward,” Harris said. “Not as members of any one party or faction but as Americans.”
The latest polling shows Harris in a near dead heat with Trump, who had a lead on Biden before he dropped out of the race.
Real Clear Politics’ polling average shows Harris has a 1.5 point lead over Trump nationally.
In battleground states, though, Trump fares better. He leads Harris in Arizona, Nevada, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Georgia. Harris leads in Wisconsin and Michigan.
Harris spent much of her speech attacking her opponent, beginning with the Jan. 6, 2021, storming of the Capitol and Trump’s felony convictions.
“In many ways, Donald Trump is an unserious man, but the consequences of putting Donald Trump back in the White House are extremely serious,” Harris said.
She went on to attack Project 2025, a conservative policy playbook published by the Heritage Foundation with a coalition of other groups. Trump has disavowed that project, but Democrats have made it a focal point of their attacks against Trump including at the convention this week.
“America, we are not going back,” Harris said, repeating that refrain in her speech in reference to the Project 2025 policies.
Harris offered vague references to creating jobs and lowering costs but gave few details, giving fodder to critics who have accused Harris of not telling voters what she will do if in office.
In fact, Harris gave more details on Trump’s policies when she attacked them.
She went on to blast Trump for appointing justices to the U.S. Supreme Court who overturned Roe v. Wade, which handed the abortion issue back to the states.
Harris falsely stated that Trump supports a nationwide abortion ban, something Trump has made clear he does not support. Trump has said repeatedly the issue should be left to the states.
Harris vowed to bring back and sign the Senate immigration bill that died in negotiations earlier this year. Critics say the Senate bill would not lower illegal immigration and in fact would hand more power to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who House Republicans impeached in February over the ongoing border crisis.
Harris voiced her support for Ukraine as well as calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, toeing the line by also calling out Hamas as a terrorist group from which Israel has the right to defend itself.
Notably, Harris also backed Palestinians’ “right to self determination.”
Trump responded to Harris’ speech in real time on TruthSocial.
“SHE HATES ISRAEL,” Trump said just moments after Harris’ Israel comments. “Wouldn’t even show up to Congress for [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s session!”
Trump also responded to Harris’ border bill comments.
“The Border Bill is one of the worst ever written, would have allowed millions of people into our Country, and it’s only a political ploy by her!” Trump said. “It legalizes Illegal Immigration, and is a TOTAL DISASTER, WEAK AND INEFFECTIVE! She doesn’t need a Bill. As President, Crooked Joe and her could have just said, ‘CLOSE THE BORDER!’ like I did – I didn’t have a Bill, I didn’t need a Bill. The Border Patrol respected me, they did their job. We had the Safest Border in Recorded History!”
He also pushed back on Harris’ abortion claims.
“I do not limit access to birth control or I.V.F. – THAT IS A LIE,” Trump said. “These are all false stories that she’s making up, that I’ve never even heard of. It’s just words coming out of her mouth.“
