Harris Accepts Historic Nomination Vowing Fight for Middle Class

Harris Accepts Historic Nomination Vowing Fight for Middle Class·Bloomberg
Justin Sink and Josh Wingrove
6 min read
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(Bloomberg) -- Vice President Kamala Harris formally accepted the Democratic presidential nomination on Thursday, delivering a deeply personal speech as she vowed to prioritize a fight for the middle class and Americans’ reproductive rights.

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Harris and her fellow Democrats spent a week gathered in Chicago reinvigorated, eager to seize the mantle of progress and extend a hand to the undecided voters they’ll need to recapture the White House.

Her speech harnessed that momentum while also blunting Republican attacks head-on, leaning on her biography to argue she was best positioned to tackle issues like the economy, immigration, and crime traditionally seen as vulnerabilities. She slammed her opponent, Donald Trump, as being out for himself, not voters.

Left largely unsaid were the many ways her nomination remained remarkable. Harris is the first Black and Asian woman ever to lead a major-party ticket, and her ascension to the nomination only a month after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race is unprecedented in the modern era.

Still, Harris presented her candidacy as a path forward for a nation riven by years of pandemic and political division.

“Our nation with this election has a precious, fleeting opportunity to move past the bitterness, cynicism, and divisive battles of the past,” Harris said. “A chance to chart a new way forward. Not as members of any one party or faction, but as Americans.”

The week was heavy on themes of patriotism and freedom, messaging terrain that Democrats typically ceded to Trump and Republicans. And rather than the largely esoteric arguments about the importance of democracy offered by Biden during his four years in office, Harris spoke plainly of protecting reproductive rights and extending economic and political opportunity.

“America, let us show each other and the world who we are and what we stand for. Freedom, opportunity, compassion, dignity, fairness and endless possibilities,” Harris said.

She also sharpened — and simplified — her argument against her Republican opponent.

“In many ways, Donald Trump is an unserious man,” Harris said. “But the consequences of putting Donald Trump back in the White House are extremely serious.”

Still, large chunks of the speech appeared dedicated to rebutting Republican criticisms that she was inexperienced. She leaned heavily on her past as a prosecutor, senator, and vice president to offer details about how she would approach foreign policy and legislating across the aisle.

Trump pushed back on Harris in an interview aired on Fox News immediately following her speech.

“The biggest reaction is, why didn’t she do the things she’s complaining about,” Trump said. “All of these things that she talked about, we’re going to do this, we’re going to do that. We’re going to do everything. But she didn’t do any of it.”

Party Rebrand

Each night of the convention — peppered with musical performances and celebrity cameos, including Oprah Winfrey’s appearance — built toward Harris’ big moment, while also serving as a microcosm of the rapid transformation of the Democratic Party in the new nominee’s image.

On Monday, a tearful Biden passed the torch. Tuesday, Barack and Michelle Obama hailed Harris as the inheritor of their groundbreaking political movement, thrilling the party faithful with a harsh indictment of Trump. Vice presidential nominee Tim Walz, Democrats’ happy warrior, capped the penultimate day with a football and freedom-soaked address targeted at the Rust Belt voters that will likely decide the election.

Harris herself appeared Tuesday at a rally at the same Milwaukee arena where Republicans held their own convention. That rally was partially livestreamed back to Chicago — a show of the enthusiasm around her bid.

Thursday’s list of speakers was designed to demonstrate the broad coalition Harris will need to stitch together to prevail on Election Day. She was introduced by Governor Roy Cooper of North Carolina, a Democrat who has cultivated a deep reservoir of support in his key battleground state and who heralded Harris as someone “who would never settle for less.”

“We got a lot of big fights ahead of us, and we’ve got one hell of a fighter ready to take them on,” he said.

Cooper’s placement in the evening emphasized the extent to which Harris has expanded Democrats’ path to electoral victory, rapidly regaining standing in Southern states.

The lineup also included Governor Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, who painted Harris as a steady hand, needling Trump as out-of-touch and disdainful toward her home state.

“One day when you’re just trying to get everyone out the door, a news alert goes off — something’s happened, something’s hit the fan,” she said. “You’ll ask, ‘Is my family going to be ok?’ Then you’ll ask, ‘Who the hell is in charge? What if it’s him?’”

Emotional Heft

Al Sharpton introduced members of the Central Park Five, a group wrongfully convicted as teenagers of a 1989 assault and rape. Trump subsequently purchased a full page advertisement calling for the death penalty to be imposed before their conviction, which critics have denounced as racist.

“Our youth was stolen from us every day as we walked into the courtroom — people scream at us, threaten us because of Donald Trump,” Korey Wise, one of the exonerated men, said.

Senator Mark Kelly, from battleground Arizona, and his wife, Gabby Giffords, provided emotional heft to the gathering, with the former congresswoman detailing her attempted assassination in a call for gun safety measures.

Musical performances by The Chicks and Pink earned cheers, particularly from the Gen X and older Millennial women at the heart of Harris’ base. But speculation had swirled around Chicago that a top-tier endorsement from an even bigger pop star might be unveiled — leaving some in the crowd at least temporarily disappointed.

Deep Bench

The week’s proceedings also showcased Democrats’ attempts to capitalize on a growing bench of rising stars across key battleground states, with prominent speaking slots given to a slew of elected officials thought to have presidential ambitions of their own — including Governors Wes Moore of Maryland, JB Pritzker of Illinois and Pennsylvania’s Josh Shapiro.

But their attendance also underscored an at-least temporary unity. Ideological rivals like New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear both appeared at the Democratic proceedings.

Still, divisions were apparent in Chicago. Outside the United Center, protesters staged multiple demonstrations over Israel’s war in Gaza. Inside the perimeter, some delegates bristled at the decision not to include a Palestinian American as part of the programming.

The parents of a hostage seized by Hamas addressed the convention, but otherwise the ongoing conflict in the Middle East received sparse mention throughout the proceedings. Harris acknowledged those divisions, even as most other speakers avoided the conflict entirely.

“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.”

--With assistance from Stephanie Lai and Hadriana Lowenkron.

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