Chicago – August 24, 2024
The vice president’s speech on Thursday capped an ebullient four-day convention in Chicago that showcased the party’s reinvigorated chances against Donald J. Trump in the wake of President Biden’s decision to step aside.
By the time Ms. Harris took the stage on Thursday, the convention hall had already been suffused with patriotic pageantry. Flags were waved. Veterans were cheered. USA signs were handed out.
“We are the heirs to the greatest democracy in the history of the world,” she said as she neared the dramatic finish of her speech. She was seeking to occupy some of the most frequently trod ground of winning American campaigns.
She repeatedly tried to find popular proposals. Protecting Social Security. Lowering health care costs. Cutting taxes. And, in a sign of how the politics of abortion have shifted since the overturning of Roe v. Wade, an extended riff on reproductive rights.
She also told stories of her own life that were at once new to the audience and yet familiar to millions of Americans. Of divorce and moving vans. Of living “in the flats” instead of the wealthier hills. Of her mother’s reliance on a “trusted circle” of friends to raise her and her sister.
She outlined a biting critique of Mr. Trump that Mr. Biden first floated but never successfully prosecuted.
“My entire career, I’ve only had one client: the people,” she said of her career of public service. It set up a searing contrast with Mr. Trump, who quickly called into Fox News to give his review of her speech when she was done. “The only client he has ever had,” she said of Mr. Trump. “Himself.”
Ms. Harris directly addressed a chief vulnerability — immigration — by vowing to sign border-security legislation that Mr. Trump had scuttled.
