CV NEWS FEED // Vice President Kamala Harris accepted the Democratic nomination for president in 2024 on Thursday evening.
“I accept your nomination for President of the United States of America,” Harris said. “With this election, our nation has a precious, fleeting opportunity to put the bitterness, cynicism and divisive struggles of the past behind us.”
“An opportunity to find a new way forward,” she added. “Not as members of a party or faction, but as Americans.”
Harris promised that if elected in November, she would be a “president for all Americans.”
President Joe Biden made the same promise verbatim after media networks predicted that he and his then-running candidate Harris had won the 2020 presidential election.
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The Vice President’s speech ended the four-day Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago.
Harris began her remarks by thanking President Joe Biden, who only a month ago decided to abandon his re-election campaign and support her.
“Your record is extraordinary, as history will show, and your character is inspiring,” she said to Biden, who spoke Monday during the first night of the DNC.
Harris continued: “The path that has led me here in the last few weeks was undoubtedly unexpected.”
When the president withdrew his candidacy, he had already been the Democratic Party’s likely presidential nominee for over four months, having won almost all of his party’s primaries by overwhelming margins.
Numerous critics from across the political spectrum have scrutinized the unusual nature of Harris’ last-minute nomination, with many denouncing it as “undemocratic.”
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Harris spoke for several minutes about her childhood and upbringing.
She stated that she decided to become a prosecutor in high school after learning that her best friend was being sexually abused by her stepfather.
“I believe that everyone has a right to safety, dignity and justice,” Harris said as she reflected on this moment in her life.
“When I had a case as a prosecutor, I did not bring charges in the name of the victim, but in the name of the people,” she added.
In recent years, Harris’ performance as district attorney of San Francisco and as attorney general of California has come under close scrutiny by observers on both the left and right.
As a specific example, many critics cited George Gage, an elderly black defendant whom Harris kept in prison despite evidence that he was presumed innocent.
“In my entire career, I’ve only had one client,” Harris said in her acceptance speech at the DNC. “The people.”
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“You can always count on me to put the country before my party and myself,” the Democratic candidate continued. “I will uphold America’s sacred principles. From the rule of law to free and fair elections to the peaceful transfer of power.”
Harris vowed to be “a president who unites us around our highest goals.”
“A president who leads and listens,” she added. “Who is realistic, practical and has common sense.”
She said that as California’s attorney general, she “fought against the cartels that smuggled guns, drugs and people. That threatened the security of our borders and our communities.”
Harris stressed that the election was a “fight for the future of America.”
“This election is not just the most important of our lifetime, it is one of the most important in the life of our nation,” she continued. “In many ways, (Republican candidate and former President) Donald Trump is an untrustworthy man.”
“But the consequences of Donald Trump returning to the White House are extremely serious,” Harris said.
The Democratic candidate continued to attack her general election opponent by spreading left-wing narratives about January 6, 2021 and Trump’s controversial conviction by a New York jury last May.
“Think about what (Trump) plans to do if we give him back power,” she said.
Harris claimed that Trump had the “express intent to jail journalists, political opponents and anyone he considers an enemy.” However, she did not give any examples of this.
“America, we are not going back,” Harris stressed. “And we are taking a new path forward.”
“I believe that America cannot be truly prosperous unless Americans are fully able to make their own decisions about their own lives, especially in matters of the heart and in matters of family,” she said.
“But today in America, too many women are unable to make those decisions,” she continued, referring to abortion:
And let’s be clear about how this happened. Donald Trump personally selected the members of the Supreme Court of the United States to curtail reproductive freedom. And now he’s bragging about it.
His own words: “I did it and I am proud of having done it.”
Harris said she would “proudly sign” legislation to “restore reproductive freedom.”
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“I know how important security and protection are, especially at our border,” she said later in her speech.
She continued to reiterate a popular Democratic Party position that the widely criticized border agreement from earlier this year was the “strongest border law in decades.”
In February, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson said the same bill Harris had praised “did not even come close to ending the border disaster created by the Biden-Harris administration.”
In her speech, Harris promised that if elected president, she would withdraw the controversial agreement and “enact it.”
“And America,” she added, “we must also remain steadfast in promoting our security and values abroad.”
Harris said she would ensure “that America, not China, wins the competition of the 21st century.”
She claimed that “dictators like Kim Jong Un” “support Trump.” She further claimed that Trump “will not hold autocrats accountable because he wants to be an autocrat himself.”
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“I see a nation that is ready to move forward,” Harris said toward the end of her speech.
The candidate said she envisions “an America where we care for each other and look out for each other.”
“None of us have to fail for all of us to succeed,” she said.
“America,” Harris continued, “let us show each other and the world who we are and what we stand for. Freedom, opportunity, compassion, dignity, fairness and endless possibilities.”
“Let’s go out there, let’s fight for it!” she exclaimed. “And let’s write together the next great chapter of the most extraordinary story of all time.”
