IT IS HARD to describe just how much anticipation there was in the room for Kamala Harris’s big speech last night, but let’s try.
All week, delegates at the Democratic National Convention here in Chicago had been cheering wildly at even the mention of her name.
“Is it Beyoncé?” a colleague asked hopefully when they heard loud cheers, which turned out to be Harris unexpectedly appearing in person early in the week to briefly pay tribute to Joe Biden.
She could be seen everywhere on hastily-made merch, from badges (“Aerobics instructors for Kamala!”) to t-shirts (“We <3 u Kamala”) to the woman who somehow got Harris’s face made into a full-length dress.
A video clip of her interrogating Supreme Court judge Brett Kavanaugh on abortion that was played on the giant screens in the stadium several times during the week got more cheers than some of the actual speakers.
So there was a lot at stake with last night’s speech. How could she meet this level of expectation? Especially since people are enthusiastic about her but still don’t know all that much about who she is?
By a coincidence, last night also marked ten years since Harris got married. She spent her wedding anniversary in front of millions of Americans to persuade them to give her one of the biggest jobs in the world – and to introduce herself to people who know her only as Biden’s low-key deputy.
In a punchy and ambitious 40 minutes, Harris made a laser-focused appeal to win over Middle America and undecided voters, positioning herself as a regular, everyday person – in sharp contrast to Donald Trump.
She set out a prosecutorial case against Donald Trump, particularly over his approach to abortion rights.
“He and his allies want to limit access to birth control, ban medical abortion, and enact a nationwide abortion ban,” she said. “And get this: he plans to create a national anti-abortion co-ordinator and for states to report on women’s miscarriages and abortions. Simply put, they are out of their minds.”
She described the upcoming election as “not only the most important of our lives, it is one of the most important in the life of our nation.”
“Imagine Donald Trump with no guardrails and how he would use the immense powers of the presidency of the United States not to improve your life, not to strengthen our national security, but to serve the only client he has ever had: himself.”
Harris became one of the few Democratic speakers, out of hundreds over the past four days, to mention Gaza.
She offered continued strong support to Israel, saying she would “always stand up for Israel’s right to defend itself” and that she would “always ensure Israel has the ability to defend itself” after the 7 October attacks.
“At the same time, what has happened in Gaza over the past 10 months is devastating,” she said, describing the scale of the suffering as ‘heartbreaking’.
To loud cheers, she said that she and Joe Biden “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 promised a meaty foreign policy that would ‘stand strong on Ukraine’.
“I will ensure that America always has the strongest, most lethal fighting force in the world,” she told the crowd, some of whom were waving miniature American flags.
Again and again, she spoke about what she would do for middle class people if she’s elected president in November.
Harris said she will create an ‘opportunity economy’, where everyone ‘has the chance to compete and a chance to succeed’.
“Building that middle class will be a defining goal of my presidency,” she said. “And I’ll tell you, this is personal for me. The middle class is where I come from. My mother kept a strict budget. We lived within our means yet we wanted for little.”
Throughout her speech, she threaded in stories of family and class – two themes that came up repeatedly throughout the four-day event, stealing a march from the Republicans.
It has also been a way for her to tell voters more about herself.
“The path that led me here in recent weeks was no doubt unexpected, but I’m no stranger to unlikely journeys,” she said, recounting how her mother had ‘crossed the world alone’ at the age of 19, travelling from India to California to work on breast cancer research.
Harris faced a more difficult task than her vice president pick, Tim Walz, who has introduced himself to the American public at a breakneck speed.
Walz is a very clear type, which has made it easier for him to connect with the public: Democrats see him as a neighbour, a teacher and a dad, and he has leaned into this.
In his speech to the convention last night, Walz spoke about how he and his wife went through fertility treatments for seven years before having their two children. His son Gus, who has a non-verbal learning disorder, sobbed as Walz spoke and mouthed ‘That’s my dad’.
Harris is more knotty. While she would make history as the first female president were she be to elected, and is both black and Asian, she has made clear that she never wants to discuss the groundbreaking nature of her potential presidency.
As one attendee told The Journal, “A lot of us don’t know who she is beyond the fact that she’s vice president and [has] her family, so we want her story. We want to know her, why she wants this job.”
Again and again, she has used her family to tell her story, from how she worked in McDonald’s for some time to how her single mother had to rely on a patchwork quilt of friends and relatives to look after her and her sister. The Journal lost track of how many members of Harris’s family spoke at the convention all week about her.
“She’s lived a life like ours,” popular Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer said shortly before Harris took to the stage.
The Democrats have bled some voters to Republicans, particularly since Donald Trumps victory – a fact that was noted by Senator Bernie Sanders in a meeting about trade unions at the convention on Tuesday.
“How come the majority of working class people are supporting [Trump]? What’s going on? What are the failings of the Democratic Party that has allowed that to happen?”
The Democrats spent more than 17 months and million of dollars in preparing the convention, and it shows: the slick production ran for 5 hours every night this week and has featured hundreds of speeches, interspersed with celebrities (Pink, Stevie Wonder, Oprah Winfrey) and personal stories, including the parents of one of the hostages still being held in Gaza and women who told their stories about not being able to access abortions in America.
Held in the biggest convention centre in America – which is also home to the Chicago Bulls, tiered seating reached from floor to ceiling, facing a huge stage and giant screens.
At times it felt like a Broadway musical crossed with The Late Late Show with an unlimited budget.
There is nothing like this in Europe. Probably anywhere in the world.
It’s hard not to think about how it could all have looked very different if Joe Biden had been the nominee.
One volunteer at the convention told The Journal that she had been told last month that less than half the number of volunteers needed had signed up, and asked if they could bring a friend along with them. In the end, all of the 12,000 spots were filled, she said.
While the stage show was impressive, it was the enthusiasm of the thousands of delegates from across America that proved propulsive.
They had come to have a good time. The 56-strong Kentucky delegation wore matching light-up cowboy hats every single day. The California delegation stood in front of the massive stage, always the first to dance at any music that was played. Delegates from Wisconsin – the dairy state – all wore hats that looked like big blocks of cheese on their head.
Others just settled for tshirts and badges. The merch stands at the convention centres did a roaring trade across the four days, although there were still a lot of Joe Biden 2024 items for sale.
The Democrats seem to have surprised themselves with the level of energy and confidence of the convention, with a number of breakout moments, including speeches by Michelle Obama and Tim Walz.
The election will take place in 75 days. With the polls close, can the Democrats sustain the momentum they’ve had for several weeks now to win in November?
Tom, a delegate from Washington, says he is confident.
“The reason people like me are here is not because we’re hopeful but because we’re determined to go work for it,” he said. “Knock doors, make phone calls, and get everybody out to the polls.”
“That’s how we win.”
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