Vice President Kamala Harris prepared to deliver the most important speech of her life Thursday in formally accepting the Democratic nomination for president to cap a quick and seemingly improbable turn of political events that propelled her into the spotlight.
Her acceptance speech comes just 56 days after 81-year-old President Joe Biden’s halting and stumbling performance in a debate against former Republican President Donald Trump, 78, forced the president into a defensive posture amid warnings from party leaders that both his reelection chances and those of Democrats’ down the ballot were in jeopardy.
And it was only 32 days ago when Biden announced his surprise decision to drop out of the race and endorse Harris as his successor for the nomination. Democrats moved with alacrity to embrace her as the new candidate as well as her choice for running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
Now, the former district attorney from San Francisco, attorney general of California and U.S. senator who joined Biden on the Democratic ticket four years ago is in a historic position as the first Black and South Asian American female to become a major political party’s nominee — offering voters a new and younger choice in a race that had been destined to become a contest between the two oldest men to ever seek the presidency.
As Democratic Party delegates awaited her convention closing night acceptance address, they and party activists also tackled how to transform an enthusiastic week of speeches, parties and pep rallies in Chicago into successful sales pitches for voters at home to win in November.
Vickie Vogel, 76, of Austin, Texas — a capital city referred to as the “blueberry in the apple pie” in reference to it being a Democratic enclave in a traditionally Republican state — said she knows the drill: knocking on doors and organizing phone banks as she has always done.