With the 2024 Democratic National Convention, we have witnessed the final stages of the remarkably improbable metamorphosis of aging candidate Joe Biden into youthful candidate Kamala Harris. And four weeks into the switch, rather than fade, the momentum has multiplied many times as the Democrats put on an almost flawless celebration of the newly revived grand Democratic coalition. Night after night, speaker after speaker, song and dance after dance and song, the highly skilled production team highlighted the impressive diversity of white, Black, brown, and in between, ages and genders galore, so many smiles, such uncontrolled joy, relief, and pride.
The previous months had been marked by mounting fears and impossible-to-deny discomfort, spurred by the almost apologetic acknowledgment that Biden’s powers were waning. He had become the hoped-for lesser of the two wanting choices of ageing and diminished white men, with Democrats scurrying to remind voters of his recent accomplishments and the terrifying reality that the other guy was a bully and a bigot—and, with the revelation of Project 2025, positively fascistic. But that often seemed insufficient and brought with it the mounting fear that Biden could lose.
Much respect to the political wordsmith, or with Kamala herself, for the inspired choice of “When We Fight, We Win.” Because, at once, the “When” described the crossroads at which the Democrats found themselves, yet also signaled the way forward. Joe Biden had spent his life legislating, crafting compromise in the Senate he loved. It seems a lifetime ago when he and Lindsay Graham and John McCain called themselves the Three Amigos and grew to appreciate and respect one another, while traveling the middle road to work across party lines.
But those days were done when John McCain died, bravely summoning courage one last time to thwart Trump and save the Affordable Care Act. Then Graham crumpled before MAGA. Ever so fortunately for us, Joe Biden was sufficiently appalled by “Jews Will Not Replace Us” and the Tiki torches and unrepentant Nazis of Charlottesville to reach deep within, and with the help of South Carolina’s Black community, to rally past Donald Trump. But, as I am discovering for myself these days, he grew tired, and Father Time took his toll. Increasingly, it seemed he was no longer up for battling and, most importantly, beating the insurrectionist, vicious version of the Republican Party.
The same people he had previously looked forward to negotiating with, even dining with, had become Good Germans. They were willing to stay silent, even bow down to a brute, a sexual abuser, a liar, a fraud, a man who had probably never read our Constitution, a man whose spoiled life had taught him that rules were made to stomp on. It is not hard to imagine how horrifying this was for a man who cherished the Senate, a man who, over the years, had mastered the rules and, even with a Republican Party that had capitulated to a cult, had somehow miraculously squeezed through some significant legislation. In climate. Increasing Pell Grants. Eliminating some student debt. Funding infrastructure. Reducing the cost of insulin. Supporting the families of veterans.
You could see the toll these last years had taken. the hesitation, word fluffs and flubs. Certainly, Donald Trump had thrown enough sand in his eyes, punched so many times below the belt—the “Where’s Hunter?” line Trump adored. Even though battered, Biden had mercifully made it to his corner. Still, Biden wanted/needed yet another round. Thank God, so many courageous Democrats intervened, and together they decided to throw in the Biden towel.
You can use whatever term you want—course correction, renaissance, rebirth, resurrection—but the Democrats have finally found their fighter. Now, they are mobilizing for the fight of the century, the fight for our country.
I could easily call this “KH and the Many Fs.” Yes, “allies” begins with an “a.” But “Friends,” another version, fits the bill. There is “Flag” and “Family.” There is “Fairness” and “Freedom,” mentioned again and again. Ending with “Fight.”
We learned from the Convention the conviction that comes from Kamala Harris’ personal history, from the example and path set out for her and her sister by her parents, most notably by her mother. And because so few of us truly knew that legacy, or the critical importance of those Fs, we were surprised when she picked the perfect running mate, Tim Walz, a man who has clearly made friends everywhere he has been. He is a man who knows his neighbors, a man who has been a soldier and has trained soldiers. He is a man who transitioned into a fight for his students—and if you have ever been a teacher, you appreciate how you have to fight all year long to win and maintain the interest and attention of those in your classroom—and then, bless his heart, to coach high school sports.
It doesn’t take long to see how much he loves his family. First, Gwen, the wife he once shared a classroom with, with whom he shared the struggle to build their family. The children they love. His repetition of “Mind your own damn business” offers a clear indication of their hard-earned embrace of personal freedom. Their choice of an IVF-like option; their ongoing gratitude for their first, Hope, their daughter; and their desire to affirm their love for their son who mind-bogglingly received MAGA mockery for his neurodivergent, spontaneous expression of pride and joy. We have seen again and again that if there is anyone in the Democratic Party best suited for the fight against the Yale-pompous, lazy, stupid bully that is J.D. Vance, it is Tim Walz.
Biden started it, reminding the convention: My dad used to have an expression for real. He’d say, ‘Joey, family’s the beginning, the middle, and the end.’ And I love you all.” Biden immediately transitioned to another F: “let me ask you, are we ready to vote for freedom … for democracy and for America?”
He recalled Charlottesville:
Extremists coming out of the woods, carrying torches. Their veins bulging from their necks, carrying Nazi swastikas and chanting the same exact anti-Semitic bile that was heard in German in the early ’30s. Neo-Nazis, white supremacists and the Ku Klux Klan, so emboldened by a president then in the White House that they saw as an ally, they didn’t even bother to wear their hoods. Hate was on the march in America. Old ghosts in new garments stirring up the oldest divisions, stoking the oldest fears, giving oxygen to the oldest forces that they long sought to tear apart America …
I just lost part of my soul. But I ran with a deep conviction in America … An America where everyone has a fair shot and hate has no safe harbor … And a broad coalition of Americans joined with me. 81 million voters voted for us, more than any time in all of history. Because of all of you in this room and others, we came together in 2020 to save democracy … And folks, you know we have a thousand billionaires in America. You know what their average tax rate they pay? 8.2%. If we just increased their taxes we proposed to 25%, which isn’t the highest tax rate even, it would raise 500 billion new dollars over 10 years and they’d still be very wealthy. Look, Kamala and Tim are going to make them pay their fair share.
But it all comes back to the newfound determination to take the fight to Trump; to autocracy; to an out-of-control Supreme Court; to those determined to take away voting rights, Social Security, the Affordable Care Act; to those determined to restrict the right to love strip away the ability of women to control their own healthcare.
A collection of labor leaders lent their voices and pledged their memberships: from the 2 million strong Service Employee’s International Union (SEIU) and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (I.B.E.W), who represent more than 800,000 in the electrical industry, from ASCFME, the union of public employees in healthcare and sanitation and corrections, then Liz Shuler of the AFL-CIO, with a combined membership of 12.5 million from 60 national and international unions. If anyone knows how to fight, it is labor: from organizing a union to the continuing need to win better working conditions and higher wages.
Shawn Fain, president of the United Auto Workers, invoked a slogan of the United Mine Workers of Harlan County, Ky., who when organized in 1931, faced the armed men and Sheriff J. H. Blair, all paid for by the coal company:
My daddy was a miner
And I’m a miner’s son
And I’ll stick with the union
‘Til every battle’s won
Don’t scab for the bosses
Don’t listen to their lies
Us poor folks haven’t got a chance
Unless we organize
Which side are you on?
Which side are you on?
Which side are you on?
Which side are you on?
Fain began:
Good evening America and good evening to the people that make this world move, the working class. On behalf of one million active and retired members of the UAW, I am honored to support Kamala Harris and Tim Walz to be our next president and vice president …
This election comes down to one question. Which side are you on? On one side, we have Kamala Harris and Tim Walz who have stood shoulder to shoulder with the working class. On the other side, we have Trump and Vance. Two lapdogs for the billionaire class who only serve themselves. For us in the labor movement, it’s real simple. Kamala Harris is one of us. She’s a fighter for the working class and Donald Trump is a scab … When Donald Trump was president, corporate America ran wild. Donald Trump did not bring back the auto industry. When Donald Trump was president, auto plants closed. Trump did nothing. Trump told workers in Lordstown, Ohio that he would be bringing all the auto jobs back and Trump did nothing.
In 2019, General Motors workers went on strike for 40 days for good jobs and a better life, and Trump did nothing. Talk is cheap. But in 2019, you know who was on the picket line standing shoulder to shoulder with auto workers? I’ll give you a clue. Her initials are Kamala Harris.
Maxine Waters reminded us of the pioneering efforts of Fannie Lou Hamer, Shirley Chisholm, Geraldine Ferraro, and Hillary Clinton:
I was just 22 years old when Fannie Lou Hamer made her presence known at another Democratic Convention. It was in 1964 in Atlantic City, and she arrived with a group of Black delegates from Mississippi and she simply asked that her delegates be seated in place of the state’s all white delegation. She told all the people in the room about the violence she suffered at the hands of the white police because she, a Black woman, had demanded her right to vote. When she finished, she asked the country a simple but profound question: ‘Is this America?’ She didn’t get the outcome she was hoping for in Atlantic City, but you can bet that when the Mississippi delegation was seated at the Convention four years later she was seating there. Now here we are sixty years later at another Democratic Convention with Kamala Harris.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D – New York 14th District) not only reinforced the emphasis on the renewed rainbow coalition but signaled support from the more progressive wing of the Democratic Party:
Six years ago I was taking omelet orders as a waitress in New York City. I didn’t have health insurance. My family was fighting off foreclosure, and we were struggling with bills after my dad passed away unexpectedly from cancer. Like millions of Americans, we were just looking for an honest shake and we were tired of a cynical politics that seem blind to the realities of working people. It was then only through the miracles of democracy and community that the good people of the Bronx and Queens chose someone like me to elect them in Congress …
In Kamala Harris have a chance to elect a president who is for the middle class because she is from the middle class. She understands the urgency of rent checks and groceries and prescriptions. She is as committed to our reproductive and civil rights as she is to taking on corporate greed. And she is working tirelessly to secure a ceasefire in Gaza and bringing hostages home … we know that Donald Trump would sell this country for a dollar if it meant lining his own pockets and greasing the palms of his Wall Street friends. And I, for one am tired about of hearing about how a two-bit union buster thinks of himself as more of a patriot than the woman who fights every single day to lift working people out from under the boots of greed trampling on our way of life … To love this country is to fight for its people, all people, working people, every day Americans like bartenders and factory workers, and fast food cashiers who punch a clock and are on their feet all day in some of the toughest jobs out there …
America, when we knock on our neighbor’s door, organize our communities and elect Kamala Harris to the presidency on November 5th, we will send a loud message that the people of this nation will not go back. We choose a new path and open the door to a new day, one that is for the people and by the people. Thank you. Thank you very much. God bless. God bless you all.
The Harris team not only made sure to strengthen their own internal consensus but made a major effort to reach out to the middle and offered influential Republicans the opportunity to address the convention. Former Lt. Governor of Georgia Geoff Duncan told viewers:
Let’s get the hard part out of the way. I am a Republican. But tonight I stand here as an American. An American that cares more about the future of the country than the future of Donald Trump. My journey started to this podium years ago when I realized that Donald Trump was going to lie, cheat, and steal to try to overturn the 2020 election. I realized Donald Trump was a direct threat to democracy and his action disqualified him from ever, ever, ever stepping foot in the Oval … I could spend my time revving up the crowd but I don’t think I have spent my time talking anybody out of voting for Donald Trump. So, I will talk to the independents who are at home—who are sick and tired of making excuses for Donald Trump. If Republicans are being intellectually honest with ourselves, our party is not civil or conservative. It is chaotic and crazy and the only thing left to do is Dump Trump.
Republican Olivia Troye reminded us of her days as Vice President Mike Pence’s Homeland Security and Counter Terrorism Advisor:
Four years ago I resigned from the Trump Administration. As a Republican who had dreamed of working in the White House it was a hard decision. But as an American it was the right one. I saw how Donald Trump undermined our intelligence community, our military leaders, and ultimately our democratic process. Now he is doing it again. Lying, laying the groundwork to undermine this election. It is his M.O. to sow doubt and division. To sow doubt and division. That is what Trump wants because it is the only way he wins and that is what our foreign adversaries want. Because it is the only way they win. As a national security expert and as a Latina – being inside the Trump White House was terrifying, But what keeps me up at night is what will happen if he gets back there. The guardrails are gone. The few adults in the room from the first time resigned or were fired. I grew up in the kind of working family that Trump pretends to care about. Conservatives – conservative, Catholic, Texan. July 4 was our most sacred holiday. Those values made me a Republican. And they are the same values that make me proud to support Kamala Harris … So, to my fellow Republicans, you are not voting for a Democrat. You are voting for democracy. You are not betraying our party. You are standing up for our country.
Having served on Trump’s campaign and Transition Team, as press secretary for First Lady Melania Trump, then becoming White House communications director and press secretary from July 2019 to April 2020, Stefanie Grisham had the closest view of the former president:
I was not just a Trump supporter. I was a true believer. One of his closest advisors. The Trump family became my family. I spent holidays with them. I saw him when the cameras were off. Trump mocks his supporters. He calls them basement dwellers. On a hospital visit when people were dying, he was mad that cameras were not watching him. He has no empathy. No morals. No fidelity to the truth. He used to tell me it doesn’t matter what you say. You say it enough and people will believe you. But it does matter. What you say matters and what you do not say matters. I once asked Melania Trump if we could tweet that while peaceful protest is the right of every American there is no place for violence. She replied with one word: No. I became the first staffer to resign that day. I could not be part of the insanity. When I was press secretary, I got skewered for never holding a press briefing. I never wanted to stand at that podium and lie. Now here I am. I love my country more than my party.
Former Congressman Adam Kinzinger has already experienced a tsunami of MAGA hate for his decision to become the second Republican member of the January 6 Committee:
I was just a kid when I was drawn to the party of Ronald Reagan, to his vision of a strong America, the shining city on a hill. I was Republican for 12 years in Congress and I still hold onto the label. I never thought I’d be here. But listen, you never thought you’d see me here, did you?
But I learned something about the Democratic Party and I want to let my fellow Republicans in on the secret. The Democrats are as patriotic as us. They love this country just as much as we do and they are as eager to defend American values at home and abroad as we Conservatives have ever been. I was relieved to discover that because I have learned something about my party as well. Something I could not ignore. The Republican Party is no longer conservative. It has switched its allegiance from the principles that gave it purpose, to a man whose only purpose is himself. Donald Trump is a weak man pretending to be strong. He is a small man pretending to be big. He is a faithless man pretending to be righteous. He is a perpetrator who cannot stop playing the victim. He puts on quite a show. But there is no real strength there. As a Conservative and a veteran, I believe true strength lies in defending the vulnerable. It’s in protecting your family. It’s in standing up for our Constitution and our democracy. That is the soul of the Conservative. It used to be the soul of being a Republican but Donald Trump has suffocated the soul of the Republican Party. His fundamental weakness has coursed through my party like an illness, sapping our strength, softening our spine, whipping us up into a fever that has untethered us from our values.
Our democracy was frayed by the events of January 6 as Donald Trump’s deceit and dishonor led to a seizure on the United State Capitol. That day I stood witness to a profound sorrow, the desecration of our sacred tradition, a peaceful transition of power tarnished by a man too fragile, too vain, too weak to accept defeat. How can a man claim to be patriotic if it idolizes a man who tried to overthrow free and fair elections? …
We must put country first. And tonight, as a Republican speaking before you I am putting our country first. Because the fact is I do belong here. I know Kamala Harris shares my allegiance to the rule of law, the Constitution, and democracy and she is dedicated to upholding all three … And whatever polices we disagree on pale in comparison to the fundamental matters of principle, of decency and fidelity to this nation. Listen, to my fellow Republicans, if you still pledge allegiance to those principles, I suspect you belong here too. Because democracy knows no party. It’s a living, breathing ideal that defines us as a nation. It’s the bedrock that separates us from tyranny. And when that foundation is fractured, we must all stand together, united to strengthen it. If you think those principles are worth defending, then I urge you, make the right choice. Vote for our bedrock values. And vote for Kamala Harris. God bless you.
I still call him Mayor Pete. He was my choice for president a while ago, and all these years later, Pete knows how to use wit and smarts to remind us that the wannabe-emperor Trump has no clothes. Meanwhile, he and his husband have managed to live a normal, decent life:
Donald Trump rants about law and order, as if he wasn’t a convicted criminal running against a prosecutor. As if we were going to forget that crime was higher on his watch. Talks about the forgotten man, hoping we’ll forget that the only economic promise that he actually kept was to cut taxes for the rich. And don’t even get me started on his new running mate. At least Mike Pence was polite.
J.D. Vance is one of those guys who thinks if you don’t live the life that he has in mind for you, then you don’t count. Someone who said that if you don’t have kids, you have, quote, ‘No physical commitment to the future of this country.’ You know, Senator, when I deployed to Afghanistan, I didn’t have kids then, many of the men and women who went outside the wire with me didn’t have kids either. But let me tell you, our commitment to the future of this country was pretty damn physical.
I believe America is ready for a better kind of politics … Right now, the other side is appealing to what is smallest within you. They’re telling you that greatness comes from going back to the past. They’re telling you that anyone different from you is a threat. They’re telling you that your neighbor or nephew or daughter, who disagrees with you politically, isn’t just wrong, but is now the enemy.
I believe in a better politics …that kind of politics also just feels better to be part of. There is joy in it, as well as power. And if all of that sounds naive, let me insist that I have come to this view, not by way of idealism, but by way of experience. Not just the experience of my unlikely career. Someone like me serving in Indiana, serving in Washington, serving in uniform.
I’m thinking of something much more basic. I’m thinking of dinner time at our house in Michigan, when the dog is barking and the air fryer is beeping and the mac and cheese is boiling over. And it feels like all the political negotiating experience in the world is not enough for me to get our three-year-old son and our three-year-old daughter to just wash their hands and sit at the table. It’s the part of our day when politics seems the most distant. And yet, the makeup of our kitchen table, the existence of my family, is just one example of something that was literally impossible as recently as 25 years ago, when an anxious teenager growing up in Indiana wondered if he would ever find belonging in this world.
This kind of life went from impossible to possible. From possible to real. From real to almost ordinary in less than half a lifetime. But that didn’t just happen, it was brought about through idealism and courage, through organizing and persuasion and storytelling, and yes, through politics. The right kind of politics. The kind of politics that can make an impossible dream into an everyday reality. I don’t presume to know what it’s like in your kitchen, but I know, as sure as I am standing here, that everything in it, the bills you pay at that table, the shape of the family that sits there, the fears and the dreams that you talk about late into the night there, all of it compels us to demand more from our politics than a rerun of some TV wrestling death match.
So this November, we get to choose. We get to choose our president. We get to choose our policies, but most of all, we will choose a better politics … That is what awaits us when America decides to end Trump’s politics of darkness once and for all. That is what we choose when we embrace the leaders who are out there building bridges and reject the ones who are out there banning books. This is what we will work for every day to November and beyond …
I was reminded of Dr. King when I heard Michelle Obama:
Something, something wonderfully magical is in the air, isn’t it? Yeah. You know, we’re feeling it here in this arena, but it’s spreading all across this country we love. A familiar feeling that’s been buried too deep for far too long. You know what I’m talking about. It’s the contagious power of hope, the anticipation, the energy, the exhilaration of once again being on the cusp of a brighter day. The chance to vanquish the demons of fear, division, and hate that have consumed us and continue pursuing the unfinished promise of this great nation. The dream that our parents and grandparents fought and died and sacrificed for. America, hope is making a comeback.
But, to be honest, I am realizing that until recently, I have mourned the dimming of that hope. And maybe you’ve experienced the same feelings — it’s that deep pit in my stomach, a palpable sense of dread about the future. And for me, that mourning has also been mixed with my own personal grief. The last time I was here in my hometown was to memorialize my mother, the woman who showed me the meaning of hard work and humility and decency. The woman who set my moral compass high and showed me the power of my own voice. Folks, I still feel her loss so profoundly …
You see, my mom in her steady quiet way, lived out that striving sense of hope every single day of her life. She believed that all children, all people have value. That anyone can succeed if given the opportunity. She and my father didn’t aspire to be wealthy—in fact, they were suspicious of folks who took more than they needed. They understood that it wasn’t enough for their kids to thrive if everyone else around us was drowning. So my mother volunteered at the local school. She always looked out for the other kids on the block. She was glad to do the thankless, unglamorous work that, for generations, has strengthened the fabric of this nation. The belief that if you do unto others, if you love thy neighbor, if you work and scrape and sacrifice, it will pay off—if not for you, then maybe for your children or your grandchildren.
You see, those values have been passed on through family farms and factory towns, through tree-lined streets and crowded tenements, through prayer groups and national guard units and social studies classrooms. Those were the values my mother poured into me until her very last breath. Kamala Harris and I built our lives on those same foundational values. Even though our mothers grew up an ocean apart, they shared the same belief in the promise of this country. That’s why her mother moved here from India at 19. It’s why she taught Kamala about justice, about the obligation to lift others up, about our responsibility to give more than we take. She’d often tell her daughter: ‘Don’t sit around and complain about things. Do something.’ …
My girl, Kamala Harris, is more than ready for this moment. She is one of the most qualified people ever to seek the office of the presidency. And she is one of the most dignified — a tribute to her mother, to my mother, and to your mother too. The embodiment of the stories we tell ourselves about this country. Her story is your story. It’s my story. It’s the story of the vast majority of Americans trying to build a better life …
Kamala has shown her allegiance to this nation, not by spewing anger and bitterness, but by living a life of service and always pushing the doors of opportunity open to others. She understands that most of us will never be afforded the grace of failing forward. We will never benefit from the affirmative action of generational wealth. If we bankrupt the business or choke in a crisis, we don’t get a second, third, or fourth chance. If things don’t go our way, we don’t have the luxury of whining or cheating others to get further ahead. No. We don’t get to change the rules, so we always win. If we see a mountain in front of us, we don’t expect there to be an escalator waiting to take us to the top. No. We put our heads down. We get to work. In America, we do something …
For years, Donald Trump did everything in his power to try to make people fear us. See, his limited, narrow view of the world made him feel threatened by the existence of two hardworking, highly educated, successful people who happen to be Black.
Wait, I want to know: Who’s going to tell him that the job he’s currently seeking might just be one of those ‘Black jobs’?
Look, it’s his same old con: doubling down on ugly, misogynistic, racist lies as a substitute for real ideas and solutions that will actually make people’s lives better … Going small is never the answer. Going small is the opposite of what we teach our kids. Going small is petty, it’s unhealthy, and quite frankly, it’s un-presidential …It only serves to further discourage good, big-hearted people from wanting to get involved at all. America, our parents taught us better than that, and we deserve so much better than that.
That’s why we must do everything in our power to elect two of those good, big-hearted people. There is no other choice than Kamala Harris and Tim Walz … But, remember there are still so many people who are desperate for a different outcome, who are ready to question and criticize every move Kamala makes, who are eager to spread those lies, who don’t want to vote for a woman, who will continue to prioritize building their wealth over ensuring that everyone has enough.
So no matter how good we feel tonight or tomorrow or the next day, this is going to be an uphill battle … It’s up to us to remember what Kamala’s mother told her: ‘Don’t just sit around and complain. Do something’ … If we start feeling tired, if we start feeling that dread creeping back in, we gotta pick ourselves up, throw water on our face, and what? … Because, y’all, this election is gonna be close. In some states, just a handful—listen to me—a handful of votes in every precinct could decide the winner. So we need to vote in numbers that erase any doubt. We need to overwhelm any effort to suppress us. Our fate is in our hands …We have the power to pay forward the love, sweat, and sacrifice of our mothers and fathers and all those who came before us.
We did it before, y’all, and we sure can do it again. Let us work like our lives depend on it, and let us keep moving our country forward and go higher—yes, always higher—than we’ve ever gone before, as we elect the next President and Vice President of the United States, Kamala Harris and Tim Walz …
I have been writing about MAGA and Trumpovia for too many years. Quite frankly, my mind has been boggled too many times. I have often wondered how many lies are too many lies for one measly mind to absorb. When is the damage permanent? I have yearned for the real and the genuine. I can’t tell how impressed I am with Tim Walz and his ability to practice politics without losing himself. It is so very rare for a politician to maintain his/her authenticity, and thankfully Kamala Harris, who has managed it all these years, found a running mate with the same qualities.
Senator Amy Klobuchar spoke about the qualities she has seen in Governor Tim Walz:
In Minnesota, we trust a coach who turned a team that was zero and 27 into state champions. In Minnesota, we trust a hunter who has stood in a deer stand in 10-degree weather. In Minnesota, we trust a candidate who has made a viral video on how to change a burnt-out headlight. And I know we aren’t alone. But in Minnesota, we love a dad in plaid.
So Tim and I go way back. He taught high school, right down the road from where my husband John grew up. My mother-in-law even brought him and Gwen, a parmesan chicken dinner when their son was born. That’s what we do in America. We look out for our neighbors. Tim has been doing that his whole life on the farm and in the factory with his students and his fellow service members. And the truth is that matters.
Who better to take on the price of gas than a guy who could pull over to help change your tire? Who better to serve our nation than a guy who has served in uniform? Who better to find common ground than a guy with Midwestern common sense? A former football coach knows how to level the playing field and a former public school teacher knows how to school the likes of JD Vance. What you’ve done with your life matters. And what you do with power matters too. Tim has delivered paid leave, school lunches and the biggest tax cut in Minnesota history …
America, there is so much that we share, so much that connects us way up north in Minnesota, out of Lake Itasca flows the Mississippi River. It starts small and it grows wider. It flows down to Wisconsin — and to Iowa. It goes down to Illinois — and to Missouri. It goes to Kentucky and Tennessee. It goes to Arkansas, and it goes way down to Mississippi, and then it goes all the way down to New Orleans, Louisiana, where the spirit of our nation’s resilience abounds. So, let us commit here and now to cross the river of our divides to get to a higher ground, and let us Join together to elect Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.
And then Coach Tim Walz:
Now, I grew up in Butte, Neb., a town of 400 people. I had 24 kids in my high school class, and none of them went to Yale. But I’ll tell you what, growing up in a small town like that, you’ll learn how to take care of each other. That family down the road, they may not think like you do, they may not pray like you do, they may not love like you do, but they’re your neighbors and you look out for them and they look out for you. Everybody belongs and everybody has a responsibility to contribute.
For me, it was serving in the Army National Guard. I joined up two days after my 17th birthday, and I proudly wore our nation’s uniform for 24 years. My dad, a Korean War era Army veteran, died of lung cancer. A couple years later, he left behind a mountain of medical debt. Thank God for social security survivor benefits. And thank God for the GI bill that allowed my dad and me to go to college and millions of other Americans eventually like the rest of my family, I fell in love with teaching … I wound up teaching social studies and coaching football at Mankato West High School. Go Scarlets. We ran a 4-4 defense. We played through to the whistle on every single play, and we even won a state championship. Never close the yearbook, people.
It was those players and my students who inspired me to run for Congress … So, there I was a 40-something high school teacher with little kids, zero political experience and no money running in a deep red district. But you know what? Never underestimate a public-school teacher. Never.
I represented my neighbors in Congress for 12 years and … I learned how to work across the aisle on issues like growing the rural economies and taking care of veterans. And I learned how to compromise without compromising my values. Then I came back to serve as governor and we got right to work, making a difference in our neighbor’s lives. We cut taxes for the middle class. We passed paid family and medical leave. We invested in fighting crime and affordable housing. We cut the cost of prescription drugs and helped people escape the kind of medical debt that nearly sank my family. And we made sure that every kid in our state gets breakfast and lunch every day. So, while other states were banning books from their schools, we were banishing hunger from ours.
We also protected reproductive freedom because, in Minnesota, we respect our neighbors and the personal choices they make. And even if we wouldn’t make those same choices for ourselves, we’ve got a golden rule: Mind your own damn business. And that includes IVF infertility treatments. And this is personal for Gwen and I. If you’ve never experienced the hell that is infertility, I guarantee you, you know somebody who has, and I can remember praying each night for a phone call, the pit in your stomach when the phone had ring, and the absolute agony when we heard the treatments hadn’t worked. It took Gwen and I years, but we had access to fertility treatments and when our daughter was born, we named her Hope. Hope, Gus and Gwen, you are my entire world and I love you.
I’m letting you in on how we started a family because this is a big part about what this election is about. Freedom. When Republicans use the word freedom, they mean that the government should be free to invade your doctor’s office. Corporations free to pollute your air and water, and banks free to take advantage of customers. But when we Democrats talk about freedom, we mean the freedom to make a better life for yourself and the people that you love. Freedom to make your own healthcare decisions and yeah, your kid’s freedom to go to school without worrying about being shot dead in the hall.
Look, I know guns. I’m a veteran. I’m a hunter, and I was a better shot than most Republicans in Congress and I got the trophies to prove it. But I’m also a dad. I believe in the Second Amendment. But I also believe our first responsibility is to keep our kids safe. That’s what this is all about. The responsibility we have to our kids, to each other and to the future that we’re building together in which everyone is free to build the kind of life they want.
But not everyone has that same sense of responsibility. Some folks just don’t understand what it takes to be a good neighbor. Take Donald Trump and JD Vance, their project 2025 will make things much, much harder for people who are just trying to live their lives. They spent a lot of time pretending they know nothing about this. But look, I coached high school football long enough to know and trust me on this, when somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re gonna use it …
Look, we’ve got 76 days. That’s nothing. There’ll be time to sleep when you’re dead. We’re going to leave it [all] on the field. That’s how we’ll keep moving forward. That’s how we’ll turn the page on Donald Trump. That’s how we’ll build a country where workers come first, health care and housing are human rights, and the government stays the hell out of your bedroom.
That’s how we make America a place where no child is left hungry. Where no community is left behind. Where nobody gets told they don’t belong. That’s how we’re going to fight.
And as the next president of the United States always says, when we fight, when we fight… [Attendees shout, ‘We win!’] … Thank you. God bless.
And last but not least, Kamala Harris:
So, America, the path that led me here in recent weeks was, no doubt, unexpected. But I’m no stranger to unlikely journeys. So, my mother, our mother, Shyamala Harris, had one of her own … my mother was 19 when she crossed the world alone, traveling from India to California with an unshakable dream to be the scientist who would cure breast cancer.
When she finished school, she was supposed to return home to a traditional arranged marriage. But as fate would have it, she met my father, Donald Harris, a student from Jamaica. They fell in love and got married, and that act of self-determination made my sister, Maya, and me.
Growing up, we moved a lot. I will always remember that big Mayflower truck, packed with all our belongings, ready to go — to Illinois, to Wisconsin, and wherever our parents’ jobs took us.
My early memories of our parents together are very joyful ones. A home filled with laughter and music: Aretha, Coltrane and Miles. At the park, my mother would say, ‘Stay close.’ But my father would say, as he smiled, ‘Run, Kamala, run. Don’t be afraid. Don’t let anything stop you.’ From my earliest years, he taught me to be fearless.
But the harmony between my parents did not last. When I was in elementary school, they split up, and it was mostly my mother who raised us. Before she could finally afford to buy a home, she rented a small apartment in the East Bay. In the Bay — in the Bay — you either live in the hills or the flatlands. We lived in the flats. A beautiful, working-class neighborhood of firefighters, nurses and construction workers. All who tended their lawns with pride.
My mother, she worked long hours. And like many working parents, she leaned on a trusted circle to help raise us. Mrs. Shelton, who ran the day care below us and became a second mother. Uncle Sherman, Aunt Mary, Uncle Freddie, Auntie Chris — none of them family by blood, and all of them family by love. Family who taught us how to make gumbo, how to play chess — and sometimes even let us win. Family who loved us, believed in us, and told us we could be anything and do anything.
They instilled in us the values they personified — community, faith and the importance of treating others as you would want to be treated. With kindness, respect and compassion. My mother was a brilliant, five-foot-tall brown woman with an accent. And as the eldest child — as the eldest child — I saw how the world would sometimes treat her. But my mother never lost her cool. She was tough, courageous, a trailblazer in the fight for women’s health, and she taught Maya and me a lesson that Michelle mentioned the other night. She taught us to never complain about injustice, but do something about it. Do something about it. That was my mother. And she taught us — and she always — she also taught us, and she also taught us — and never do anything half-assed. And that is a direct quote. A direct quote.
I grew up immersed in the ideals of the civil rights movement … I decided I wanted to do that work. I wanted to be a lawyer. And when it came time to choose the type of law I would pursue, I reflected on a pivotal moment in my life. You see, when I was in high school, I started to notice something about my best friend, Wanda. She was sad at school, and there were times she didn’t want to go home. So one day I asked if everything was all right, and she confided in me that she was being sexually abused by her stepfather. And I immediately told her she had to come stay with us, and she did.
This is one of the reasons I became a prosecutor: to protect people like Wanda, because I believe everyone has a right to safety, to dignity and to justice. As a prosecutor, when I had a case, I charged it not in the name of the victim, but in the name of the people, for a simple reason. In our system of justice, a harm against any one of us is a harm against all of us. And I would often explain this to console survivors of crime, to remind them: No one should be made to fight alone. We are all in this together. And every day, in the courtroom, I stood proudly before a judge and I said five words: Kamala Harris, for the people. And to be clear — and to be clear, my entire career, I’ve only had one client: the people.
And, so, on behalf of the people, on behalf of every American, regardless of party, race, gender or the language your grandmother speaks. On behalf of my mother, and everyone who has ever set out on their own unlikely journey. On behalf of Americans like the people I grew up with — people who work hard, chase their dreams and look out for one another. On behalf of everyone whose story could only be written in the greatest nation on Earth, I accept your nomination to be president of the United States of America …
And let me say, I know there are people of various political views watching tonight. And I want you to know, I promise to be a president for all Americans. You can always trust me to put country above party and self. To hold sacred America’s fundamental principles, from the rule of law, to free and fair elections, to the peaceful transfer of power … A president who leads and listens; who is realistic, practical and has common sense; and always fights for the American people. From the courthouse to the White House, that has been my life’s work.
As a young courtroom prosecutor in Oakland, Calif., 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, one of the first of its kind in the nation. I stood up for veterans and students being scammed by big, for-profit colleges. For workers who were being cheated out of their wages, the wages they were due. For seniors facing elder abuse. I fought against the cartels who traffic in guns and drugs and human beings. Who threaten the security of our border and the safety of our communities … we never gave up. Because the future is always worth fighting for. And that’s the fight we are in right now — a fight for America’s future.
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. In many ways, Donald Trump is an unserious man. But the consequences — but the consequences of putting Donald Trump back in the White House are extremely serious.
Consider — consider not only the chaos and calamity when he was in office, but also the gravity of what has happened since he lost the last election. Donald Trump tried to throw away your votes. When he failed, he sent an armed mob to the U.S. Capitol, where they assaulted law enforcement officers. 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 — and separately found liable for committing sexual abuse. And consider, consider what he intends to do if we give him power again. Consider his explicit intent to set free violent extremists who assaulted those law enforcement officers at the Capitol.
His explicit intent to jail journalists, political opponents and anyone he sees as the enemy. His explicit intent to deploy our active duty military against our own citizens. Consider, consider the power he will have, especially after the U.S. Supreme Court just ruled that he would be immune from criminal prosecution. Just imagine Donald Trump with no guardrails … But America, we are not going back. We are not going back. We are not going back. We are not going back to when Donald Trump tried to cut Social Security and Medicare. We are not going back to when he tried to get rid of the Affordable Care Act, when insurance companies could deny people with pre-existing conditions. We are not going to let him eliminate the Department of Education that funds our public schools.
We are not going to let him end programs like Head Start that provide preschool and child care for our children. America, we are not going back. And we are charting — and we are charting a new way forward. Forward to a future with a strong and growing middle class because we know a strong middle class has always been critical to America’s success, and building that middle class will be a defining goal of my presidency.
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 and she expected us to make the most of the opportunities that were available to us, and to be grateful for them. Because, as she taught us, opportunity is not available to everyone. That’s why we will create what I call an opportunity economy, an opportunity economy where everyone has the chance to compete and a chance to succeed. Whether you live in a rural area, small town, or big city. And as president, I will bring together labor and workers and small-business owners and entrepreneurs and American companies to create jobs, to grow our economy and to lower the cost of everyday needs like health care and housing and groceries …
Friends, I believe America cannot truly be prosperous unless Americans are fully able to make their own decisions about their own lives, especially on matters of heart and home.
But tonight, in America, too many women are not able to make those decisions. And let’s be clear about how we got here: Donald Trump handpicked members of the U.S. Supreme Court to take away reproductive freedom. And now, he brags about it. In his words, ‘I did it, and I’m proud to have done it.’ … And understand, he is not done. As a part of his agenda, he and his allies would limit access to birth control, ban medication abortion and enact a nationwide abortion ban, with or without Congress.
And get this. Get this. He plans to create a national anti-abortion coordinator, and force states to report on women’s miscarriages and abortions. Simply put, they are out of their minds. And one must ask — one must ask, why exactly is it that they don’t trust women? Well, we trust women. We trust women. And when Congress passes a bill to restore reproductive freedom, as president of the United States, I will proudly sign it into law.
In this election, many other fundamental freedoms are at stake. The freedom to live safe from gun violence in our schools, communities and places of worship. The freedom to love who you love openly and with pride …
And let me be clear — and let me be clear, after decades in law enforcement, I know the importance of safety and security, especially at our border. Last year, Joe and I brought together Democrats and conservative Republicans to write the strongest border bill in decades. The border patrol endorsed it. But Donald Trump believes a border deal would hurt his campaign, so he ordered his allies in Congress to kill the deal.
Well, I refuse to play politics with our security, and here is my pledge to you. As president, I will bring back the bipartisan border security bill that he killed, and I will sign it into law. I know — I know we can live up to our proud heritage as a nation of immigrants and reform our broken immigration system. We can create an earned pathway to citizenship and secure our border.
And America, we must also be steadfast in advancing our security and values abroad. As vice president, I have confronted threats to our security, negotiated with foreign leaders, strengthened our alliances and engaged with our brave troops overseas. As commander in chief, I will ensure America always has the strongest, most lethal fighting force in the world. And I will fulfill our sacred obligation to care for our troops and their families, and I will always honor and never disparage their service and their sacrifice …
And as president, I will stand strong with Ukraine and our NATO allies. With respect to the war in Gaza, President Biden and I are working around the clock, because now is the time to get a hostage deal and a cease-fire deal done. And let me be clear. And let me be clear. I will always stand up for Israel’s right to defend itself, and I will always ensure Israel has the ability to defend itself, because the people of Israel must never again face the horror that a terrorist organization called Hamas caused on Oct. 7, including unspeakable sexual violence and the massacre of young people at a music festival.
At the same time, what has happened in Gaza over the past 10 months is devastating. So many innocent lives lost. Desperate, hungry people fleeing for safety, over and over again. The scale of suffering is heartbreaking. 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 realize their right to dignity, security, freedom and self-determination …
So, fellow Americans. Fellow Americans. I — I love our country with all my heart. Everywhere I go — everywhere I go, in everyone I meet, I see a nation that is ready to move forward. Ready for the next step in the incredible journey that is America. I see an America where we hold fast to the fearless belief that built our nation and inspired the world. That here, in this country, anything is possible. That nothing is out of reach. An America where we care for one another, look out for one another and recognize that we have so much more in common than what separates us. That none of us — none of us has to fail for all of us to succeed.
And that in unity, there is strength. You know, our opponents in this race are out there every day denigrating America, talking about how terrible everything is. Well, my mother had another lesson she used to teach: Never let anyone tell you who you are. You show them who you are.
America, let us show each other and the world who we are and what we stand for: Freedom, opportunity, compassion, dignity, fairness and endless possibilities.
We are the heirs to the greatest democracy in the history of the world. And on behalf of our children and our grandchildren and all those who sacrificed so dearly for our freedom and liberty, we must be worthy of this moment.
It is now our turn to do what generations before us have done, guided by optimism and faith, to fight for this country we love, to fight for the ideals we cherish and to uphold the awesome responsibility that comes with the greatest privilege on Earth: the privilege and pride of being an American. So let’s get out there, let’s fight for it. Let’s get out there, let’s vote for it, and together, let us write the next great chapter in the most extraordinary story ever told.
Thank you. God bless you, and may God bless the United States of America. Thank you.
Kamala Harris emphasized what pretty much everyone testified to: When we fight, we win!
