Key Points
- Kamala Harris said she’d create an “opportunity economy” where everyone can compete and succeed.
- She said the consequences of putting Donald Trump back in the White House were “extremely serious”.
- Harris said now is the time to secure a hostage deal and a ceasefire in Gaza.
“On behalf of everyone whose story could only be written in the greatest nation on Earth, I accept your nomination for president of the United States,” she said when delivering the closing speech at the four-day event.
US President Joe Biden urged voters to elect Kamala Harris as the country’s president in the upcoming election when speaking at the Democratic National Convention. Source: Getty / Andrew Harnik
Vice-president Harris, who was confirmed as the Democratic presidential nominee following , took aim at Republican candidate Donald Trump and spoke about charting a new way forward for the country.
She said: “Fellow Americans, this election is not only the most important of our lives, it is one of the most important in the life of our nation.”
Donald Trump with no guardrails
“When politicians in his own party begged him to call off the mob, and send help, he did the opposite, he fanned the flames and now, for an entirely different set of crimes, he was found guilty of fraud by a jury of everyday Americans, and separately found liable for committing sexual abuse.”
Kamala Harris mentioned the role Donald Trump played in the 6 January attack on the US Capitol while speaking at the Democratic National Conference. Source: Getty / Saul Loeb/AFP
Harris warned of “serious consequences” if Trump were to be elected president again.
On Trump’s plans to create a national anti-abortion coordinator and force states to report on women’s miscarriages and abortions, she said: “Simply put — they are out of their minds.”
A president for all Americans
“I stood up for women and children against predators who abused them, as attorney-general of California, I took on the big banks, delivered $20 billion for middle-class families who faced foreclosure and helped pass a Homeowner Bill of Rights.”
She committed to building the middle class if elected president by creating an “opportunity economy” in which “everyone has the chance to compete and a chance to succeed”.
‘Freedom’ for Palestinians
She acknowledged Israel’s right to defend itself and the “horror” caused by Hamas on October 7 and said “the scale of suffering is heartbreaking” in Gaza.
Kamala Harris reiterated her support for a ceasefire in Gaza, an issue she has been addressing with President Joe Biden and international counterparts as vice-president. Source: Getty / Anadolu/Anadolu
“President Biden and I are working to end this war, such that Israel is secure, the hostages are released, the suffering in Gaza ends, and the Palestinian people can realise their right to dignity, security, freedom, and self-determination,” she said.
Taught not to complain about injustice
She spoke about her upbringing in California, where she lived in the Berkeley flats with her mother and sister.
“She also taught us to never do anything half-arsed, and that is a direct quote.”