CHICAGO — The balloons dropped on the Democratic National Convention without Beyoncé, or any of the other rumored surprise guests, but the delegates and guests in the packed United Center were more than content with Kamala Harris and the now very real possibility that she could become America’s first female president. In fact, they were thrilled.
When Harris walked on stage to ceremoniously accept the nomination, the crowd roared, alternating between chants of “Kamala!” and “USA! USA! USA!” Caught in the energy of the moment, the vice president beamed, laughed, and took it all in before finally calling for quiet: “Ok, let’s get to business.”
And this business was twofold.
Harris made a broad pitch for national unity before pivoting to attack Donald Trump as if he was still the president. He is not – Joe Biden still occupies the Oval Office – but for the purposes of campaigning, Harris hit the Republican like he was an incumbent. “In many ways, Donald Trump is an unserious man,” she said. His ideas put into action, however, Harris warned, “are extremely serious.”
“Consider not only the chaos and calamity when he was in office, but also the gravity of what has happened since he lost the last election. Donald Trump tried to throw away your votes,” she said to begin a whirlwind tour of carnage. She started with the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol, emphasized the reversal of Roe v. Wade, and warned that a second Trump term in the White House would permanently erode democratic values.
“Just imagine,” she said, “Donald Trump with no guardrails.”
During the 38-minute speech, Biden and the challenges that have emerged during his, and her, time in office were mostly an afterthought. Harris predicted that history would remember his record as “extraordinary,” expressed her gratitude, and then mostly moved on from the last four years. She made no mention of inflation and discussed rising costs exactly once, promising only generally to work to lower the costs of groceries, healthcare, and housing.
With soaring rhetoric, and a voice that grew stronger through the evening, Harris invited voters to join her in charting “A New Way Forward.” It is a vibe. She described the coming election as “a precious, fleeting opportunity to move past the bitterness, cynicism, and divisive battles of the past.”
Biden stumbled eight weeks ago at the Atlanta debate, setting off one of the most remarkable, and improbable, periods in modern American history. His defenestration, facilitated by former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, created the conditions for her rise. Addressing the nation the night after former President Barack Obama passed her the torch, Harris said that “the path” to the nomination had been “unexpected, but I’m no stranger to unlikely journeys.”
She is the product of an immigrant mother, Shyamala Harris, who came to America only for an education and then found a permanent home. She was raised in and by “a beautiful working-class neighborhood of firefighters, nurses and construction workers.” She remains defined by lessons from childhood. One is to “never complain about injustice but do something about it.” Another is to “never let anyone tell you who you are; you show them who you are.”
Harris endeavored to introduce herself to the nation while delivering an exhortation. “America, let us show each other, and the world, who we are,” she said. The vice president is a former prosecutor who had fought “for the people.” And here in Chicago, she vowed to be a president who “put country above party and above self,” who would “hold sacred America’s fundamental principles,” and “who unites us around our highest aspirations.”
This vision of the future clashed with her presentation of the immediate past. Harris pointed to how Trump publicly bragged about killing a bipartisan border bill for political gain then said, “I will sign it into law.” She described his prepared spate of tariffs as a tax that would cost families $4,000 annually, before calling for what she called “a middle-class tax cut.” The current vice president said that, while the former president facilitated the reversal of abortion access across the nation, she would enshrine the right to an abortion in law.
“He plans to create a ‘national anti-abortion coordinator,’ and force states to report on women’s miscarriages and abortions,” Harris claimed. “Simply put: They are. Out. Of. Their. Minds.” Trump has not adopted any such policy, but throughout the evening, she alleged that he would draw his policies directly from the Heritage Foundation’s “Project 2025.” That document says nothing about any kind of coordinator, though it does call for renaming the Department of Health and Human Services the “Department of Life” by explicitly rejecting the notion that abortion is health care.
The particulars were not the point for Harris. Instead, it was the generalities and the feelings they conjured. The party is now leaning into what some might describe as a new kind of progressive patriotism. Organizers passed out American flags. Speakers heralded the inherent goodness of the nation throughout the week. Democrats sought to claw back from Republicans the verbiage of freedom.
Harris identified at least five freedoms to expand and enshrine. Abortion was at the top of the list. Then environmental liberty – “the freedom to breathe clean air, drink clean water, and live free from the pollution that fuels the climate crisis.” Her administration would be the one to ensure “the freedom to live safe from gun violence” and protect LGBTQ rights, which she described as “the freedom to love who you love openly and with pride.” All encompassing, “the freedom that unlocks all the others,” she said, was “the freedom to vote.” This would be preserved through a sweeping new federal election law.
Democrats have existing legislation to achieve that final reform. It is called the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, and Harris referenced it specifically. The other proposals are not new either. They are generalities that Democrats already support, and this seemed to be the point.
Before the vice presidency, Harris was considered the most progressive Democrat in the Senate. But as she prepared to accept the Democratic nomination, her campaign quietly jettisoned her more liberal proposals such as calls to ban fracking, decriminalize border crossings, and force gun buy-backs. Was the candidate tacking to the center? Nevada Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, a confidant of the vice president, told RealClearPolitics that she could only speak from “my perspective” but “we need to continue to ensure that we are flexible when it comes to solving the problems of this country.”
Pelosi said earlier in the week during an interview with Politico that Harris would “have to” govern from the center “because that is where the public is.” Hence, perhaps, the reason for the ongoing policy softening of the Democratic nominee. What was undisputable was the speaking line-up that points to the electoral map.
While Beyoncé did not make an appearance, as the celebrity gossip rag TMZ erroneously reported would happen, Rep. Ruben Gallego of Arizona, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, and Gov. Roy Cooper of North Carolina all spoke during the final evening of the convention. They have one thing in common: All of them hail from swing states that Harris hopes to carry on her way to winning the White House.
For his part, Trump complained about the lack of specifics during an interview with Fox News, arguing that the Biden-Harris administration had failed to fix the “things that she’s talking about complaining about.” The vice president did clear one significant hurdle when she dealt with the most divisive topic in Democratic politics. “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,” Harris said in her clearest articulation of foreign policy.
She condemned Hamas as “a terrorist organization” but also described the civilian suffering in Gaza as “devastating.” Harris vowed to keep pushing for a cease-fire so that ultimately the “Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, security, freedom, and self-determination.” For a passing moment, a lone protestor could be heard yelling “free Palestine,” but not for long. The crowd erupted into one of its many sustained applause lines.
The evening ended with an exhortation wrapped in optimistic and patriotic appeals. “We are the heirs to the greatest democracy in the history of the world,” Harris bellowed. “And on behalf of our children and grandchildren, and all those who sacrificed so dearly for our freedom and liberty, we must be worthy of this moment.”
This was the third bit of business. Harris called on the crowd “to fight for the ideals that we cherish, and to uphold the awesome responsibility that comes with the greatest privilege on Earth – the privilege and pride of being an American.” Her national introduction complete and the contrast with Trump painted, the new Democratic nominee said that all that was left to do was vote, win, and “write the next great chapter in the most extraordinary story ever told.”
