Harris warns about electing Trump again in historic acceptance speech

Kamala Harris summoned Americans on Thursday to reject political division and instead chart what she called a “new way forward,” as she accepted her party’s nomination while blending biography with warnings about electing Donald Trump again to the White House.

Taking the stage to a thunderous standing ovation as she closed out the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, the vice president argued that her personal story and background as a prosecutor made her uniquely qualified to protect Americans’ interests against a former president she cast as only having his own interests in mind.

“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 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 and she would become the first female president if elected. Harris did not explicitly reference the historic firsts she would set in her 40-minute speech, and she only mentioned the words “Democrat” or “Republican” in the context of discussing a bipartisan border bill that Trump helped scuttle earlier this year, which she promised to sign into law if elected.

Her address — and the Democratic convention at large — was intended to appeal to a broad swath of Americans, not just partisans already energized by Harris’ ascension after President Joe Biden ended his reelection bid. She made several implicit appeals to the large swath of voters who just weeks ago were disaffected with both of their options for the White House,