TOPSHOT – US 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, Illinois, on August 22, 2024. Vice President Kamala Harris will formally accept the party’s nomination for president today at the DNC which ran from August 19-22 in Chicago. (Photo by CHARLY TRIBALLEAU / AFP) (Photo by CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP via Getty Images)
By JONATHAN J. COOPER, WILL WEISSERT and ZEKE MILLER Associated Press
CHICAGO (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris called on Americans to join her to “chart a new way forward” as she accepted the Democratic nomination on Thursday, arguing her personal story and prosecutorial background made her uniquely qualified to protect their interests and beat Republican Donald Trump.
Taking the stage to a thunderous standing ovation at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Harris sought to introduce herself to the American public and outline her vision for leading the nation for the next four years.
“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.”
US Vice President and 2024 Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris points as she arrives onstage to speak on the fourth and last day of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois, on August 22, 2024. Vice President Kamala Harris will formally accept the party’s nomination for president today at the DNC which ran from August 19-22 in Chicago. (Photo by KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI / AFP) (Photo by KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI/AFP via Getty Images)
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – AUGUST 22: North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper speaks onstage during the final day of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center on August 22, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois. Delegates, politicians, and Democratic Party supporters are gathering in Chicago, as current Vice President Kamala Harris is named her party’s presidential nominee. The DNC takes place from August 19-22. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – AUGUST 22: Actor Eva Longoria speaks onstage during the final day of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center on August 22, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois. Delegates, politicians, and Democratic Party supporters are gathering in Chicago, as current Vice President Kamala Harris is named her party’s presidential nominee. The DNC takes place from August 19-22. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – AUGUST 22: (L-R) Gus Walz, Democratic vice presidential candidate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Hope Walz attend the final day of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center on August 22, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois. Delegates, politicians, and Democratic Party supporters are gathering in Chicago, as current Vice President Kamala Harris is named her party’s presidential nominee. The DNC takes place from August 19-22. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
US Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff (C) applauds next to her daughter Ella on the fourth and last day of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois, on August 22, 2024. Vice President Kamala Harris will formally accept the party’s nomination for president today at the DNC which ran from August 19-22 in Chicago. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP) (Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – AUGUST 22: Rev. Al Sharpton speaks on stage during the final day of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center on August 22, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois. Delegates, politicians, and Democratic Party supporters are gathering in Chicago, as current Vice President Kamala Harris is named her party’s presidential nominee. The DNC takes place from August 19-22. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – AUGUST 22: Kerry Washington walks onstage during the final day of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center on August 22, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois. Delegates, politicians, and Democratic Party supporters are gathering in Chicago, as current Vice President Kamala Harris is named her party’s presidential nominee. The DNC takes place from August 19-22. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – AUGUST 22: Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and California Gov. Gavin Newsom attend the final day of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center on August 22, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois. Delegates, politicians, and Democratic Party supporters are gathering in Chicago, as current Vice President Kamala Harris is named her party’s presidential nominee. The DNC takes place from August 19-22. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – AUGUST 22: Maya Harris, sister of U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, speaks on stage during the final day of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center on August 22, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois. Delegates, politicians, and Democratic Party supporters are gathering in Chicago, as current Vice President Kamala Harris is named her party’s presidential nominee. The DNC takes place from August 19-22. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
Attendees wave Harris-Walz signs on the fourth and last day of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois, on August 22, 2024. Vice President Kamala Harris will formally accept the party’s nomination for president today at the DNC which ran from August 19-22 in Chicago. (Photo by CHARLY TRIBALLEAU / AFP) (Photo by CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP via Getty Images)
Former Republican US Representative from Illinois Adam Kinzinger speaks on the fourth and last day of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois, on August 22, 2024. Vice President Kamala Harris will formally accept the party’s nomination for president today at the DNC which ran from August 19-22 in Chicago. (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP) (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – AUGUST 22: An attendee looks on during the final day of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center on August 22, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois. Delegates, politicians, and Democratic Party supporters are gathering in Chicago, as current Vice President Kamala Harris is named her party’s presidential nominee. The DNC takes place from August 19-22. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – AUGUST 22: U.S. Rep. Pat Ryan (D-NY) speaks on stage during the final day of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center on August 22, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois. Delegates, politicians, and Democratic Party supporters are gathering in Chicago, as current Vice President Kamala Harris is named her party’s presidential nominee. The DNC takes place from August 19-22. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – AUGUST 22: U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) speaks on stage during the final day of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center on August 22, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois. Delegates, politicians, and Democratic Party supporters are gathering in Chicago, as current Vice President Kamala Harris is named her party’s presidential nominee. The DNC takes place from August 19-22. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
An attendee wears a decorated patriotic hat on the fourth and last day of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois, on August 22, 2024. Vice President Kamala Harris will formally accept the party’s nomination for president today at the DNC which ran from August 19-22 in Chicago. (Photo by Alex WROBLEWSKI / AFP) (Photo by ALEX WROBLEWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)
US director Spike Lee attends the fourth and last day of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois, on August 22, 2024. Vice President Kamala Harris will formally accept the party’s nomination for president today at the DNC which ran from August 19-22 in Chicago. (Photo by Kamil Krzaczynski / AFP) (Photo by KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI/AFP via Getty Images)
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – AUGUST 22: U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) departs after speaking on stage during the final day of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center on August 22, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois. Delegates, politicians, and Democratic Party supporters are gathering in Chicago, as current Vice President Kamala Harris is named her party’s presidential nominee. The DNC takes place from August 19-22. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – AUGUST 22: U.S. Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO) speaks about Project 2025 during the final day of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center on August 22, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois. Delegates, politicians, and Democratic Party supporters are gathering in Chicago, as current Vice President Kamala Harris is named her party’s presidential nominee. The DNC takes place from August 19-22. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
Mayor of Durham, North Carolina Leonardo Williams speaks on the fourth and last day of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois, on August 22, 2024. Vice President Kamala Harris will formally accept the party’s nomination for president today at the DNC which ran from August 19-22 in Chicago. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP) (Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – AUGUST 22: Pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrate blocks away from the Democratic National Convention on August 22, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois. Delegates and politicians of the Democratic party met on the final day of the Chicago for the Democratic National Convention, with Harris set to accept her party’s presidential nomination. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – AUGUST 22: Pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrate blocks away from the Democratic National Convention on August 22, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois. Delegates and politicians of the Democratic party met on the final day of the Chicago for the Democratic National Convention, with Harris set to accept her party’s presidential nomination. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – AUGUST 22: Pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrate blocks away from the Democratic National Convention on August 22, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois. Delegates and politicians of the Democratic party met on the final day of the Chicago for the Democratic National Convention, with Harris set to accept her party’s presidential nomination. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – AUGUST 22: Pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrate blocks away from the Democratic National Convention on August 22, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois. Delegates and politicians of the Democratic party met on the final day of the Chicago for the Democratic National Convention, with Harris set to accept her party’s presidential nomination. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – AUGUST 22: Democratic presidential candidate, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris arrives to speak on stage during the final day of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center on August 22, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois. Delegates, politicians, and Democratic Party supporters are gathering in Chicago, as current Vice President Kamala Harris is named her party’s presidential nominee. The DNC takes place from August 19-22. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Police in riot gear standby during a pro-Palestinian protest as the Democratic National Convention (DNC) takes place in Chicago, Illinois, on August 22, 2024. (Photo by CHRISTIAN MONTERROSA / AFP) (Photo by CHRISTIAN MONTERROSA/AFP via Getty Images)
1 of 25
US Vice President and 2024 Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris points as she arrives onstage to speak on the fourth and last day of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois, on August 22, 2024. Vice President Kamala Harris will formally accept the party’s nomination for president today at the DNC which ran from August 19-22 in Chicago. (Photo by KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI / AFP) (Photo by KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI/AFP via Getty Images)
Harris’ address in Chicago caps a whirlwind eight weeks in American politics and manifests the stunning reversal of Democratic fortunes just 75 days until Election Day. Party leaders who had publicly despaired over President Joe Biden’s candidacy after his disastrous debate against Trump, were jubilant both at the historic nature of Harris’ candidacy and their buoyed hopes for this November.
The daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants, Harris became the first Black woman and person of South Asian descent to accept a major party’s presidential nomination. If elected, she would become the first female U.S. president.
“America, the path that led me here in recent weeks was no doubt unexpected. But I’m no stranger to unlikely journeys,” she said.
Harris talked about being raised primarily by her mother after her parents divorced in a small apartment in San Francisco’s East Bay, and being raised as well by friends and caregivers who were “family by love.” She also detailed a key part of her political origin story, when Wanda, her best friend from high school, confided in her that she was being abused by her stepfather and came to live with Harris’ family.
“That is one of the reasons I became a prosecutor. To protect people like Wanda,” Harris said.
Outlining her career as a prosecutor, state attorney general, senator and now vice president, Harris said, “My entire career I’ve only had one client: the people.” Meanwhile, she said Trump has only ever acted in the interests of “the only client he has ever had: himself.”
As she took the stage, she saw a sea of female delegates and Democratic supporters wearing white — the color of women’s suffrage — the movement that culminated with American women securing the right to vote in 1920.
A festive mood filled the United Center all evening, with a packed audience including running mate Tim Walz dancing and singing along to a mix of pop and classic rock. Two of Harris’ young grandnieces were brought onstage by actress Kerry Washington to remind the convention how to correctly pronounce her first name. At the girls’ direction, one side of the arena shouted “comma” and the other “la.”
Harris made a direct appeal to anti-Trump Republicans to put aside party labels and to support her over Trump, who denied his loss to Biden in the 2020 election, which inspired the Jan. 6 2021 Capitol insurrection.
“I know there are people of various political views watching tonight, and I want you to know I promise to be a president for all Americans,” Harris said. “I promise to be a president for all Americans to hold sacred America’s constitutional principles, fundamental principles, from the rule of law and fair elections to the peaceful transfer of power.”
The prosecutor in Harris surfaced during the speech when, in referring to Donald Trump, she referred several times to “his explicit intent” to free those who assaulted law enforcement officers at the Capitol, jail political opponents, and use the military against American citizens.
“Consider what he intends to do if we give him power again,” she added.
Despite speculation about a potential surprise appearance by the music superstar Beyoncé at Thursday’s convention ahead of Harris’ speech, a source involved in the evening’s planning who was not authorized to discuss it publicly said she would not be in attendance.
Among others who spoke before Harris on Thursday were Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, Gabby Giffords, the Arizona Democrat who was nearly killed in a mass shooting in 2011, and civil rights leader Al Sharpton.
Sharpton highlighted the historic nature of Harris’ nomination, noting that 52 years ago, he was a youth director for former Rep. Shirley Chisholm’s 1972 Democratic primary bid for the White House. Chisholm, who was Black, died in 2005, but Sharpton drew cheers when he declared, “I know she’s watching us tonight as a Black woman stands up to accept the nomination for president of the United States.”
Sharpton also introduced the now-exonerated members of the Central Park Five — the Black teenagers who were wrongly convicted of rape in New York City in 1989. Trump took out full-page newspaper ads at the time calling for five to receive the death penalty — and even today sidesteps calls to apologize.
Republicans, meanwhile, have raced to define Harris, accusing her of being a “communist” and “dangerously liberal.” Trump has also targeted her race, while his running mate JD Vance describes her as a “chameleon.”
The convention granted a prime speaking slot to former Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, a Republican critic of Trump’s who said: “Whatever policies we disagree on pale in comparison with those fundamental matters of principle. Of decency. Of fidelity to this nation. To my fellow Republicans: If you still pledge allegiance to those principles, I suspect you belong here, too.”
Casting Harris as the better guarantor of the nation’s security, former Obama administration Defense Secretary Leon Panetta evoked Ronald Reagan and Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego of Arizona slammed Trump for targeting the late Republican Sen. John McCain, the GOP nominee for president in 2008.
“John McCain was an American hero,” Gallego said. “Show some respect.”
Harris’ team has emphasized her law enforcement background, including her time as San Francisco district attorney and California attorney general. She was later elected to the U.S. Senate and sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020.
Her campaign imploded that year before a single primary vote was cast, but Biden chose her as his running mate, catapulting her to the national stage.
Although Harris initially struggled as vice president, her reputation grew when she became the administration’s leading advocate for abortion rights after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Democrats harnessed anger over the decision to stem their losses in the last midterm elections.
When Biden stumbled in his debate with Trump in June, Harris defended him until he decided to drop out of the race. With the help of his endorsement, she swiftly unified the Democratic Party behind her candidacy, resetting a presidential race that Trump had appeared on track to win.
Associated Press writers Chris Megerian in Washington and JJ Cooper in Phoenix contributed.
