Vice President Kamala Harris formally accepted the Democratic presidential nomination on Thursday, vowing to unite the country and bring a pragmatic perspective to the presidency if elected in November.
“I know there are people of all political persuasions watching tonight,” Harris said in her keynote address on the final night of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
“And I want you to know: I promise to be a president for all Americans,” she added.
“I will be a president who unites us around our highest aspirations,” Harris said. “A president who leads and listens. A president who is realistic and practical. A president who has common sense. And who always fights for the American people.”
Harris also promised that building the middle class “will be a defining goal of my presidency.”
“This is personal for me, I come from the middle class,” she said.
This line echoed President Joe Biden's rhetoric, which made history in late July when he withdrew his candidacy for re-election and endorsed Harris as his replacement.
But Harris's speech also gave her an opportunity to break away from the 81-year-old incumbent prime minister — who has suffered from low approval ratings — and offer a “new way forward.”
“With this election, our nation has a precious and fleeting opportunity to move beyond the bitterness, cynicism and divisive battles of the past,” she added. “Not as members of any party or faction, but as Americans.”
The speech capped a four-day Democratic National Convention march that featured politicians, celebrities, activists, artists and everyday Americans, from Oprah Winfrey and Bill Clinton to the wrongfully imprisoned members of the Central Park Five.
It also reflected the patriotic initiatives and positive sentiment that defined much of the convention — a clear effort to appeal to more moderate voters, and to thwart Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's attempts to brand Harris a far-left “Marxist.”
The tone serves another purpose: to underscore the Democrats’ recent claim that former President Trump and his running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, are “outsiders” who do not represent most of the country.
“In many ways, Donald Trump is not a serious man,” Harris said Thursday evening.
“But the consequences of Donald Trump returning to the White House are very serious.”
She warned that Trump would gain even more power if he were rewarded with a second term, referring to a recent Supreme Court ruling that granted former presidents “presumptive immunity” from criminal prosecution for their official actions.
“Just imagine Donald Trump without guardrails,” she said, adding that he would use them “to serve the only client he ever had: himself.”
She mentioned the Supreme Court again later in her speech, when she criticized Trump for “personally” selecting three justices who helped overturn longstanding federal abortion rights.
Harris has also taken an aggressive stance on immigration, one of the issues on which the Biden-Harris administration has received the lowest approval ratings.
She criticized Trump for opposing the bipartisan border security bill, saying he ordered Republicans to “kill the deal” because he believed it would hurt his campaign.
“As president, I will bring back the bipartisan border security bill that killed him. And I will sign it into law,” she said.
She affirmed her support for Israel, rebuking Trump, who claimed Harris “hates” the Jewish state, while acknowledging the “devastating” loss of life in Gaza and vowing to continue working toward a ceasefire.
“I will not befriend tyrants and dictators, like Kim Jong Un, who are cheerleaders for Trump,” she added.
