CHICAGO (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris closes the Democratic National Convention Thursday night, when she accepts her party’s historic presidential nomination and uses one of the few remaining opportunities to score points in front of an audience of millions.
Harris will lay out her vision for the country and pursue her case against the Republicans Donald Trumpcapping a tumultuous month that began when President Joe Biden abandoned his bid for re-election and endorsed her as his successor at the top of the Democratic ticket.
Harris has three goals for her speech, according to a campaign official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss preparations for her speech. She will talk about her background, coming from a middle-class family and protecting others as a prosecutor, contrast her “optimistic” vision with Trump’s “dark” agenda and evoke a sense of patriotism, the official said.
Harris spoke briefly to the party convention on Monday, where she thanked Biden and praised his achievements as president, and on Tuesday againas the start of her rally in Milwaukee was streamed to the convention hall after Democrats reaffirmed their nomination through a state-by-state vote.
Among those speaking to Harris on Thursday are Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper, civil rights activist Al Sharpton and Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers. Singer Pink will also perform.
Harris will be the first black woman and the first person of South Asian descent to accept the presidential nomination of a major party. She will speak a day after the Minnesota governor. Tim Walzher election as Vice President, thanked the packed arena in Chicago for “ that bring joy “ for election.
“We are all here tonight for one beautiful, simple reason: We love this country,” Walz said as thousands of delegates held vertical signs reading “Coach Walz” in red, white and blue.
Many Americans had never heard of Walz until Harris picked him as her vice presidential candidate, and the speech was a chance to introduce himself. He talked about his experiences as a football coach, his time in the National Guard and his family’s fertility problems – all parts of his biography that Republicans have questioned in the days since Harris nominated him.
While it’s unclear whether the speech will attract new voters, his background has further charmed Democratic supporters and helped balance Harris’s coastal roots as a cultural representative of the Midwestern states whose voters she needs this fall.
Gus Walz, the governor’s 17-year-old son, wept openly throughout the speech, wiping his eyes with tissues as he watched from the front row of the convention hall, directly in front of the governor.
Through tears he formed the words “This is my father.”
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Cooper reported from Chicago.
