Vice President and 2024 Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris arrives to speak on the fourth and last day of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) at the United Center in Chicago on August 22, 2024. | Source: CHARLY TRIBALLEAU / Getty
Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday night formally accepted the Democratic presidential nomination during a speech in which she emphasized the ideological between Donald Trump’s campaign and hers while laying out her plans to lead America forward.
The final night of a weeklong celebration of Harris and Democrats at the United Center in Chicago saw the vice president make an effort to connect with audience members and viewers in part by offering personal anecdotes of her upbringing and career to lay out the agenda she intends to carry out a president. She also broached several delicate political issues, like the violence in Gaza, to set the record straight on where he stands.
But there was so much more to Harris’ historic speech in which she formally became the first Black and Indian American woman to be nominated for president of the United States.
Keep reading to find five key takeaways from Vice President Kamala Harris’ speech at the Democratic National Convention accepting her Party’s nomination to be president.
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Her mother’s influence
Telling the audience that she is “no stranger to unlikely journeys,” Harris explained the role her mother played in her upbringing, emphasizing the importance of family.
“She taught us to never complain about injustice, but do something about it,” Harris said before adding later: “And she also taught us – never do anything half-assed.”
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How she became a lawyer
Harris credited her parents’ activism within the Civil Rights Movement — they met at a protest — for giving her the drive to go on and become a successful prosecutor, a role for which she had at times been vilified.
“Everyday, in the courtroom, I stood proudly before a judge and said five words — ‘Kamala Harris for the people,” Harris said. “And to be clear, my entire career, I’ve only had one client: The people.”
Harris has been criticized for some of her prosecutions, but she ought to clear up any misconceptions about her intent first as San Francisco district attorney and later as the attorney general for the state of California.
“I fought against the cartels … who threatened the security of our communities,” Harris said. “These fights were not easy, and neither were the elections that put me in those offices.”
Calling herself “underestimated at practically every turn,” Harris told the audience that “the future is always worth fighting for.”
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Harris had plenty of smoke for Trump
While Harris shared parts of her presidential vision, she also made sure no one could forget what an existential threat Donald Trump would be to the U.S. should he be elected again.
Harris drew a further distinction with Trump by proclaiming that he would be “a president for all Americans” and “not as a member of any one party or faction,” an apparent swipe at MAGA.
“You can always trust me to put country above party and self,” Harris said, including “the peaceful transfer of power.”
Then she really started to go in on Trump.
Harris urged all Americans to consider Trump’s “explicit intent” as president.
“Donald Trump is an unserious man,” Harris said. “But the consequences of putting Donald Trump back in the White House are extremely serious.”
Harris pointed to the Capitol riots on Jan. 6, 2021 — violence that Trump was accused of directing in order to stop the certification of Joe Biden’s election in 2020.
“Consider what he intends to do if we give him power again,” Harris warned before pointing to the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that would make him immune from any criminal prosecution a president.
“Imagine Donald Trump with no guard rails, and how he would use the immense powers of the presidency of the United States,” Harris said. “Not to improve your life, not to strengthen national security, but to serve the only client he has ever had — himself.”
Harris added: “And we know what a second Trump term would look like: Project 2025,” Harris said in a reference to what NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson called “an effort to completely redesign the role of government to shut black people out and put us in a position as the disposable, cheap laborer.”
That prompted Harris to offer a refrain familiar to anyone who’s been watching the DNC this week: “We are not going back.”
She later chided Trump about his affection for autocrats.
“I will not cozy up to tyrants and dictators like Kim Jong Un who are rooting for Trump,” Harris said. “They know he is easy to manipulate with flattery and favors.”
No lies there.
Source: CHARLY TRIBALLEAU / Getty
On presidential ambitions
While Project 2025 wants to strip Americans of their civil liberties and freedoms, Harris said her presidential agenda would do the opposite.
“With this election, we finally have the election to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and the Freedom To Vote Act,” critical pieces of legislation that have languished in Congress after Republicans have prevented it from moving for years.
Harris also rejected the criticism for her work on immigration and the nation’s southern border by placing the blame on the current crisis on Trump-influenced Republicans who killed a border security bill. Harris said she would instead create a safe, legal pathway to citizenship for migrants.
In addition, Harris vowed to strengthen the military, touted her own foreign policy experience as vice president and said — unlike Trump — that she would “stand strong with Ukraine and our NATO allies.”
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On Gaza
That was the perfect segue to allow her to address the violence in Gaza, where tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed following an attack on Israel by the Hamas militant group. It is a topic that was barely spoken about at the DNC amid reports that convention officials would not allow any of the Uncommitted pro-Palestinian DNC delegates a chance to speak on the convention stage.
It was in that context that Harris said he and Biden have been working to secure deals for the hostages and a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, the latter of which has been on the receiving end of billions in U.S. funding and arms being used in Gaza.
However, Harris said, “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.”
Harri acknowledged the carnage on the other side of the conflict.
“At the same time, what has happened in Gaza over the past 10 months is devastating,” Harris lamented. “So many innocent lives lost.”
She added: “The scale of suffering is heartbreaking.”
Harris said she was working toward a day when “Israel is secure, and Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, freedom and self-determination.”
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