There were signs, funny costumes, and silly hats. There was a roll call vote that turned into a dance party. There were chants and cheers from “U-S-A” to “We’re Not Going Back,” and even “Lock Him Up.”
There was an oversized copy of Project 2025. There were accolades about records as a prosecutor, as a U.S. Senator and as vice president. There were speeches about freedom and democracy, about abortion and education and every issue in between. There were protests and demonstrations and arrests.
There were Obamas. There were Clintons. There was Joe Biden, passing the torch to his former running mate and vice president. There were would-be, passed-over running mates. There was a pep talk, as actual running mate Tim Walz channeled his high school football coaching days — complete with a fight song andcameo from his former players.
There were accolades and anecdotes from governors, senators, congressmen, activists, advocates, vice presidential hopefuls, former presidential candidates, and everything in between.
There were celebrities, from Lil Jon to Kerry Washington, Mindy Kaling to Steph Curry (and his Olympic gold medal to boot) and even his coach in Golden State, Chicago Bulls legend Steve Kerr. There were musical performances, from Stevie Wonder’s “Higher Ground” to John Legend and Sheila E. paying tribute to Prince with “Let’s Go Crazy,” a nod to Minnesota’s Walz.
And there were more than a few pointed comments about former President Donald Trump and his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance.
But at the end of the final night of the Democratic National Convention, it came down to Vice President Kamala Harris, accepting the party’s nomination for president of the United States — becoming the first Black and South Asian woman to accept a major party’s nomination — and making the case for her vision of America’s future.
Harris, who before ascending to Capitol Hill then the vice presidency, was a career prosecutor. And, as a prosecutor, she said she “charged every case not in the name of the victim, but in the name of the people, for one reason: in our system of justice, a harm against any one of us is a harm against all of us.”
"To be clear,” she said, “my entire career, I’ve only had one client: the people.”
"And so on behalf of the people, on behalf of every American, regardless of party, race, gender, or the language your grandmother speaks, on behalf of my mother and everyone who has ever set out on their own unlikely journey, on behalf of Americans like the people I grew up with, people who work hard, chase their dreams and look out for one another, on behalf of everyone whose story could only be written in the greatest nation on Earth, I accept your nomination to be president of the United States of America."
"The path that led me here in recent weeks was no doubt unexpected, but I’m no stranger to unlikely journeys," Harris said of her march to the Democratic nomination, recounting the journey of her mother, Shymala, who immigrated to California from India with the "unshakable dream to be the scientist who would cure breast cancer."
Harris said that her mother was intended to return home for a traditional arranged marriage — but then she met Donald Harris, a student who emigrated from Jamaica. "They fell in love and got married, and that act of self-determination made my sister Maya and me."
She idolized her mother ("a five-foot-tall brown woman with an accent," she said) who insisted that young Kamala never complain about injustice but "do something about it."
Harris said that when she learned that her high school best friend Wanda was being sexually abused by her stepfather, she did something. She said she insisted Wanda stay at the Harris family home, and she did.
Harris told the audience that fighting for the American people, “from the courthouse to the White House, that has been my life's work.”
“I will tell you, these fights were not easy, and neither were the elections that put me in those offices,” Harris said. “We were underestimated at practically every turn, but we never gave up, because the future is always worth fighting for.”
After vowing to keep the country's military strong and pledging to stand up to Russian President Vladimir Putin and defend the people of Ukraine, Harris turned to the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, an issue that has been somewhat of a third-rail within Democratic politics -- as evidenced by the protests in Chicago over the course of the DNC's four days.
Harris said that she and President Joe Biden are working "around the clock" to get a deal done to end the fighting in Gaza.
"Now is the time to get a hostage deal and a cease-fire deal done," she said, before vowing steadfast support for Israel.
"And let me be clear -- I will always stand up for Israel's right to defend itself and I will always ensure Israel has the ability to defend itself, because the people of Israel must never again face the horror that a terrorist organization called Hamas caused on Oct. 7, including unspeakable sexual violence and the massacre of young people at a music festival."
She then immediately turned to the situation in Gaza.
"At the same time, what has happened in Gaza over the last 10 months is devastating. So many innocent lives lost. Desperate, hungry people fleeing for safety over and over again, the scale of suffering is heartbreaking. President Biden and I are working to end this war, such that Israel is secure, the hostages are released, the suffering in Gaza ends and the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, security, freedom and self-determination."
That last line garnered one of the largest cheers of the night.
"And know this, I will never hesitate to take whatever action is necessary to defend our forces and our interests against Iran and Iran-backed terrorists," she vowed. "I will not cozy up to tyrants and dictators like Kim Jong Un, who are rooting for Trump -- who are rooting for Trump. Because they know he is easy to manipulate with flattery and favors, they know he won't hold autocrats accountable because he wants to be an autocrat himself."
"Because in the enduring struggle between democracy and tyranny, I know where I stand and I know where America belongs," she concluded.
Harris said her goal was to have the U.S. “live up to our proud heritage as a nation of immigrants and reform our broken immigration system” by implementing a “earned pathway to citizenship” while simultaneously securing the border.
She pointed to the failed bipartisan border deal negotiated earlier this year with some of the most right-wing Republicans in the Senate as evidence of her intentions. That deal would have included tougher asylum standards and hiring more border agents, immigration judges and asylum officers.
Former President Trump opposed it, and other Republicans, like House Speaker Mike Johnson, joined him in that effort.
“I refuse to play politics with our security, and here is my pledge to you as president, I will bring back the bipartisan border security bill that he killed, and I will sign it into law,” Harris said, noting “after decades in law enforcement, I know the importance of safety and security, especially at our border.”
Harris has endorsed comprehensive immigration reform, seeking pathways to citizenship for immigrants in the U.S. without legal status, with a faster track for young immigrants living in the country illegally who arrived as children.
As he watched the speech, Trump responded on social media, calling the border bill “one of the worst ever written” and claimed that Harris “wants to spend all of our money on Illegal Immigrants,” calling her a “RADICAL MARXIST.”
Harris said Americans cannot be prosperous unless they can make their own decisions about their own lives -- including women’s control over their own bodies.
“Too many women are not able to make those decisions,” Harris said, more than two years after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which guaranteed a woman’s right to an abortion.
Harris, who has championed the Biden administration's abortion rights efforts, said she had met with women across the country who shared stories of miscarrying in parking lots and losing their ability to have children because doctors are too afraid to treat pregnant women.
“Couples just trying to grow their family, cut off in the middle of IVF treatments, children who have survived sexual assault, potentially being forced to carry a pregnancy to term,” she said.
She contended that Trump will continue to erode women’s rights by limiting access to birth control, ban medication abortion and enact a nationwide abortion ban with or without Congress. She said he also plans to create a national anti-abortion coordinator that would force states to report on women’s miscarriages and abortion.
“Simply put, they are out of their minds," she charged.
Shyamala Harris had another lesson for her daughters: "‘Never let anyone tell you who you are. You show them who you are.’ America, let’s show each other, and the world who we are."
This is the moment, Harris said, to demonstrate the hope, the privilege, the pride of being an American.
"Everywhere I go, in everyone I meet, I see a nation that is ready to move forward, ready for the next step in the incredible journey that is America."
She continued the narrative, pushed throughout the convention, that a Trump presidency was about negativity and moving backward.
"We are the heirs to the greatest democracy in the history of the world,” she said. “And on behalf of our children and our grandchildren and all those who sacrificed so dearly for our freedom and liberty, we must be worthy of this moment."
"Let’s get out there, let’s vote for it, and together, let us write the next great chapter in the most extraordinary story ever told."
