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.
Kamala Harris has labelled the 2024 US election a "fight for America's future" at the Democratic National Conference in Chicago on Friday.
"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
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
Harris referred to Donald Trump as "an un-serious man."
"But the consequences of putting Donald Trump back in the White House are extremely serious", she said.
"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 United States 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 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
"Consider the power he will have, especially after the United States " she said.
"Just imagine Donald Trump with no guardrails.
"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."
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
Harris reflected on in which she has been a prosecutor, attorney-general and senator and promised to be 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."
"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," she said.
Harris said she was "underestimated at practically every turn, but we never gave up because the future is always worth fighting for".
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
Harris addressed and said: "Now is the time to get a hostage deal and a ceasefire deal done."
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
Taught not to complain about injustice
If successful in the election, Harris would become the first woman to be elected as US president.
She spoke about her upbringing in California, where she lived in the Berkeley flats with her mother and sister.
"My mother was a brilliant five-foot-tall brown woman with an accent," she said.
"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 ... to never complain about injustice, but do something about it.
"She also taught us to never do anything half-arsed, and that is a direct quote."
