AMNA NAWAZ: Welcome to the News Hour.
Kamala Harris is now the first black woman of South Asian descent to run as a major party’s presidential candidate.
GEOFF BENNETT: This historic event was written last night at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
Before an enthusiastic crowd, Harris officially accepted her party’s nomination and outlined her reasons for wanting to become the next President of the United States.
Lisa Desjardins has our report.
ANNOUNCER: Please welcome the Democratic presidential candidate and Vice President of the United States of America, Kamala Harris.
(Cheers) (Applause) LISA DESJARDINS: The opening applause lasted more than three minutes as Vice President Kamala Harris took the stage and made history.
KAMALA HARRIS, Vice President of the United States (D) and US presidential candidate: On behalf of all whose history could only be written in the greatest nation on earth, I accept your nomination for President of the United States of America.
(Cheers) LISA DESJARDINS: It was the grand finale of a party conference that exceeded all expectations after a massive turnaround in the election campaign just last month.
KAMALA HARRIS: This election offers our country a precious, fleeting opportunity to put the bitterness, cynicism and divisive struggles of the past behind us and forge a new path forward.
LISA DESJARDINS: Harris called on Americans to take a new political path, stressing that she grew up in a middle-class immigrant family.
KAMALA HARRIS: My mother was a brilliant, 5-foot-8, brown-skinned woman with an accent.
LISA DESJARDINS: Harris’ mother, who died in 2009, moved here from India when she was 19.
KAMALA HARRIS: She taught us never to complain about injustice, but to do something about it.
LISA DESJARDINS: That upbringing, Harris said, led her into public service.
KAMALA HARRIS: In my entire career, I have had only one customer: people.
LISA DESJARDINS: She added some politics and economics to her personal story.
KAMALA HARRIS: We will pass a middle-class tax cut that will benefit more than 100 million Americans.
(Cheers) (Applause) LISA DESJARDINS: Border security.
KAMALA HARRIS: As President, I will reintroduce and sign into law the bipartisan border security bill that he vetoed.
(Cheers) (Applause) LISA DESJARDINS: Foreign policy.
KAMALA HARRIS: I will stand firmly with Ukraine and our NATO allies.
(Cheers) (Applause) LISA DESJARDINS: Harris criticized her opponent and his party as being untrustworthy.
KAMALA HARRIS: Simply put, they are out of their minds.
LISA DESJARDINS: And she appealed to voters outside her party.
KAMALA HARRIS: I know there are people watching tonight with different political views.
And I want you to know: I promise to be a president for all Americans.
LISA DESJARDINS: Hundreds of thousands of balloons celebrated her big moment and the fact that she was the first woman of color to be nominated for president by a major party.
MARCIA FUDGE, former US Secretary of Housing and Urban Development: “First of all, I get goosebumps.”
LISA DESJARDINS: Former Housing Secretary Marcia Fudge, now co-chair of the Harris campaign, spoke to News Hour.
MARCIA FUDGE: I mean, it brings tears to my eyes.
This is really true when you think about this little black girl growing up in inner city Cleveland.
I never thought I would live to see this day.
MAYA HARRIS, sister of Kamala Harris: Hello, Chicago.
LISA DESJARDINS: Previously, Harris’ family, including her sister Maya Harris, had tried to amplify her message.
MAYA HARRIS: Where others want to drag us back into the past, my sister says, “Hold on now.”
We are not going back.
WOMAN: And what are you doing here?
GIRL: To teach you how to pronounce our aunt’s name.
LISA DESJARDINS: And unforgettable Harris’ great-nieces.
GIRL: First, you say comma like a comma in a sentence.
GIRL: Then you say la, like la-la-la-la.
WOMAN: Put it all together and it’s one, two, three, Kamala.
GIRL: Kamala.
LISA DESJARDINS: The evening also brought sobering moments.
KIMBERLY MATA-RUBIO, President, Life Robbed: It is 10:30 a.m. at Robb Elementary in Uvalde.
LISA DESJARDINS: Lexi Rubio’s mother described the day her daughter was killed in the 2022 shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.
KIMBERLY MATA-RUBIO: She’s wearing a St. Mary’s sweatshirt and has a smile that lights up the room.
Thirty minutes later, a gunman murders her, 18 classmates and two teachers.
LISA DESJARDINS: A campaign has been fully launched.
Someone else stepped on the brakes.
Independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced today that he is suspending his campaign.
ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR., former presidential candidate: “Our polls have consistently shown that if I stay on the ballot in the swing states, I would probably hand the election to the Democrats with whom I disagree on the most existential issues.”
LISA DESJARDINS: Kennedy said he wanted to help former President Trump.
And as for Trump… DONALD TRUMP, former President of the United States (R) and current U.S. presidential candidate: We just got a very nice endorsement.
LISA DESJARDINS: …with an afternoon event in Las Vegas, he was back in battlefield mode, emphasizing his plan to eliminate the tax on tips.
