Kamala Harris and The Biggest Speech Of Her Life: 5 Takeaways From The DNC

CHICAGO — Standing before a roaring crowd waving American flags and “Kamala” signs, Vice President Kamala Harris officially accepted the Democratic Party’s nomination for president on Thursday night, capping a whirlwind 32 days since she entered the race.

It was Harris’ opportunity to introduce herself to the nation, and while her speech included attacks on her Republican opponent Donald Trump, it was centered on lessons from her mother, their middle-class life and her own realization of the American dream.

“America, the path that led me here in recent weeks, was no doubt unexpected. But I’m no stranger to unlikely journeys,” she said, describing how she was raised by her mother, a cancer research scientist who moved to California from India.

“I miss her every day, especially now,” Harris said. “And I know she’s looking down tonight and smiling.”

Below are our five key takeaways from the final night of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center.

Harris shared her Bay Area middle-class roots

Harris leaned into her Bay Area roots, recounting childhood years spent with her mother, Shyamala Harris, and her sister, Maya, in a small apartment in Berkeley.

“In the Bay, you either live in the hills or the flatlands,” Harris said to cheers from California’s delegation. “We lived in the flats — a beautiful, working-class neighborhood of firefighters, nurses and construction workers, all who tended their lawns with pride.”

Harris touted her work fighting for relief for middle-class homeowners after the foreclosure crisis. And as president, she vowed that building up the middle class would be her “defining goal.”

“This is personal for me,” she said. “The middle class is where I come from.”

Harris leaned into justice in all forms

Harris is a former prosecutor, but Thursday’s program leaned not just into holding people who break the law accountable but also highlighting victims, including those wronged by the justice system and wronged by Trump.

Among the speakers: Members of the so-called Central Park Five, five Black and Latino teenagers wrongfully convicted in New York for the 1989 rape and assault of a white female jogger. Trump took out full-page newspaper ads calling for the boys to face the death penalty.

They spent more than a decade in prison before being exonerated in 2002. Korey Wise told the arena that their youth was stolen. Yusef Salaam, now a New York City Council member representing Harlem, also spoke.

Another speaker, Courtney Baldwin, a human trafficking survivor who is now a youth organizer, said she endured a horrific ordeal.

“I didn’t know it yet, but waiting on the other side were people who were fighting for survivors. One of them was Kamala Harris,” she said.

Baldwin said Harris, as California Attorney General, shut down the sex trafficking website that made her abuse possible and filed criminal charges against its operators.

“She’s protected people like me her whole life, and I know she’ll fight for us as president,” Baldwin said.

In her speech, Harris spoke about Wanda, her childhood best friend, who Harris said was sexually abused by her stepfather. Harris’ family took in Wanda.

“That is one of the many reasons I became a prosecutor,” Harris said. “To protect people like Wanda.”

Broad promises, warnings and a cease-fire call

Harris’ meteoric rise in the presidential race has been heavy on vibes and light on policy promises. On Thursday, she stuck with that.

Harris’ agenda included some leftover Biden to-do’s, such as passing voting rights legislation to reinstate requirements on certain states to gain federal approval before changing their election laws.

But mostly, Harris spoke of broad promises to foster collaboration with business and labor, end the nation’s housing shortage and enshrine federal abortion protections — all without much detail.

Harris spent far more time warning of the ideas contained in Project 2025, a policy playbook written by Trump’s allies.

The vice president summed it up simply: “They are out of their minds.”

Harris also warned of the dangers of a second Trump presidency, one with considerably more power after the recent Supreme Court presidential immunity ruling.

“Just imagine Donald Trump with no guardrails,” she said.

In one of the biggest applause lines of the night, Harris called for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war and the release of hostages in Gaza. She first reiterated her support for Israel and its right to defend itself, then called what has happened in Gaza “devastating.”

“So many innocent lives lost. Desperate, hungry people fleeing for safety over and over again. The scale of suffering is heartbreaking,” she said. “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.”

The crowd roared in approval.

President for all Americans

To a nation still getting to know Harris, she emphasized that while she is a Democrat from California, she will put the country above her party.

“I know there are people of various political views watching tonight,” she said. “And I want you to know, I promise to be a President for all Americans.”

With battleground states like Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, Harris will need every vote she can muster in order to win, including from disaffected voters like those who supported Nikki Haley in the Republican primaries. Harris’ message was intended to assure them she could be trusted with the keys to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

“Our nation, with this election, has a precious, fleeting opportunity to move past the bitterness, cynicism and the 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.”

There was also the imagery: Chants of “U-S-A,” an arena full of people waving American flags as Springsteen’s “Born in the USA” blasted and a short speech from a Michigan sheriff. It might have reassured viewers that Harris is not the “communist” Donald Trump has labeled her.

No Beyoncé, but we did find Newsom

A few hours before Harris took the stage, we were summoned to the club level of the United Center to interview a man who has led something of a parallel political life to the vice president: Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Newsom and Harris were elected San Francisco mayor and district attorney, respectively, in the same 2003 election and took office the same day. While they’ve often been seen as political rivals, Newsom said Thursday that they had been in the same social circles for years prior to 2003, making his role in sealing the symbolic nomination of Harris on Tuesday especially sweet.

“It was all surreal for both of us. It’s just a hell of a thing,” he said. “It was really kind of a powerful moment in terms of the narrative of our lives.”

Newsom said Harris will be telling the story of California, one of inclusion and representation and sometimes of hardship and challenge.

“Social justice, racial justice. It’s about rights,” Newsom said. “I really believe that’s what we represent — the best of America”

Newsom acknowledged that Trump will attack Harris and the Democrats in the next 74 days, but they’ll be ready.

“We know what’s coming. It’s spaghetti on the wall; they’re going to throw everything up,” Newsom said. “He’s not landing any punches right now. But, oh gosh, he will figure it out. And so none of us are naive about that.”

Newsom believes having Harris at the top of the ticket will bolster Democrats up and down the ballot this fall, potentially impacting key battleground congressional races in California.