Kamala Harris just gave Democrats something to fight for

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CHICAGO — The chant rose not only from the convention floor, but from the countless caucus meetings, panels, delegate breakfasts and events held all week in Chicago: When we fight, we win.

It’s been the mantra for the broad coalition of Democrats who have convened this week for the Democratic National Convention, a message that aims to connect Vice President Kamala Harris’  background and identity with the stakes of the election.

Harris took the stage Thursday night to accept the party’s presidential nomination to a sea of blue and white signs bearing her name as the crowd chanted “Kamala” and then, “USA,” their light-up wristbands flashing red, white and blue. She came prepared to describe how her background and upbringing gave her the passion for justice that fueled her path to politics.

“Our nation with this election has a precious, fleeting opportunity to move past the bitterness, cynicism and divisive battles of the past, a chance to chart a new way forward, not as members of any one party or faction, but as Americans,” Harris said. She promised to be a president for all Americans, saying the country could trust her to hold sacred the peaceful transfer of power.

“I will be a president who unites us around our highest aspirations, 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,” Harris said.

The convention programming itself has underscored the stakes of the election, focusing on former President Donald Trump’s role in overturning Roe v. Wade and upending the constitutional right to abortion, in sowing distrust in the electoral process and efforts to curtail voting rights, and in spurring the insurrection at the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

Democrats would have likely campaigned on those themes if President Joe Biden were still in the race and headlining the convention. With Harris as the nominee, though, Democrats have rallied around the idea of not just fighting against, but fighting for something.

“Elections are about the future,” Nancy Pelosi, the first woman to be speaker of the House, said  at a Thursday morning gathering of Democratic women. “So when Kamala goes out there and we go out there for her, we have to be talking about the difference she will make at that kitchen table.”

In her speech, Harris said she’d taken on many tough fights and hard-won elections.

“We were underestimated at practically every turn, but we never gave up, because the future is always worth fighting for. And that’s the fight we’re in right now — a fight for America’s future,” she said.

In conversations with Democratic leaders, one word routinely emerges: imagination. The very idea of a Harris administration has given them a sense of opportunity. They believe that should they win this fight, they will win — on their issues but also on the version of America they want to see, today and for future generations.

Angela Ferrell-Zabala, the executive director of Moms Demand Action, said before the night’s programming that the joy of the week has stood out — as has the dynamic that exists when joy is contextualized with a Black woman’s own service to her country.

“Women of color are oftentimes not seen as patriotic for many reasons, because it’s been hard for this country to always see our value or see us fully. But in this moment, we are being seen fully. We are wearing that patriotism,” she said. “The amount of red, white and blue gear I’ve seen is just really incredible, because it really means being able to see yourself in this moment.”

While Harris hasn’t heavily leaned into her gender and race, many Democratic women see Harris’ run as redemption for the heartbreak of Secretary Hillary Clinton’s loss in 2016. They’re also marking the historic nature of Harris’ campaign. Many women on stage have worn white for the suffragists; on Thursday, many in the audience were, too.

Harris called Trump “unserious” but also warned of what could come in a second Trump term, including future attacks on abortion, fertility treatment and contraception.

“Simply put, they are out of their minds,” Harris said. “Why exactly is it that they don’t trust women? We trust women.”

The women’s caucus meeting Thursday morning served as a tribute to the trailblazing women who paved the way for Harris, including Clinton and Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman to serve in Congress and seek a major party’s nomination.

Both Sen. Elizabeth Warren and the Rev. Al Sharpton made nods to Chisholm in their speeches Thursday night.

“I’ve been to every convention except one since 1972 and I can tell you, this is the one. This is the one that Shirley Chisholm always fought for,” Rep. Barbara Lee of California, who attended the 1972 convention as a Chisholm delegate and was an early backer of Harris’ first presidential run, said at the caucus meeting.

Harris’ nomination is particularly resonant to Black women, who have powered every successful Democratic presidential campaign and social movement in recent history.

“We have no more ceilings. Come November 5th, the sky will be open,” former Secretary of Housing Marcia Fudge said. “It is our time. We have done the work, we have held up everybody else. … It is our time.”

Former Rep. Val Demings of Florida attended the meeting, clad in a white suit with a “Votes for Women” sash.

“When we think about the promise of America and America being the land of opportunity, I think the fact that this qualified woman of color is receiving this nomination and will ascend to the presidency proves that America is still moving in the right direction,” she told The 19th.

Kelly Jacobs, a delegate from Mississippi, was wearing a Harris dress she made herself and toting a backup full of friendship bracelets and a cutout of Taylor Swift’s face. She said she’s made over 1,000 bracelets as a get-out-the-vote tool for other White women, especially young White women.

“I know I’m going to cry,” she said. “Tonight, I will be bawling my eyes out, because when you get a woman in charge, it’s so important. Women speak differently. They prioritize different issues and we want to know that we’re a part of everything.”

Ferrell-Zabala also pointed to the way that tonight is a reflection of the way a whole new generation is finding themselves invigorated by — and wanting to participate in — American politics.

“One of the things I didn’t know I would see coming into this convention is the diversity of excitement from very young folks,” she said. “I’m talking about people just able to vote — 18, 19, just into their 20s. They are really inspired. I keep saying that this is their Obama moment.”

Women throughout the United Center, gathering ahead of Harris’ big speech Thursday, brought their white outfits along with sparkles, “Cowboy Kamala” sashes and plenty of hope.

State Rep. Johanna López of Florida, charging her phone in a hallway of the United Center, said Harris was making the Democratic Party more inclusive and opening doors for others. She came wearing blue pants and red Converse, Harris’ preferred sneakers.

“I think there’s a lot of hope for me as a Floridian, as a Puerto Rican and as a woman,” she said.

State Sen. Merika Coleman, retired Lt. Colonel Carolyn Culpepper and Sherry McLain from Alabama came to the United Center in matching sparkly blue outfits and pearls, a nod to Harris’ preferred jewelry.

“We are so excited, we need some blood pressure medication,” Culpepper said.

“I’ve been telling everybody just one word: ‘electrifying,’” Coleman. “The decibel just has to be off the chain. And after the whole week of all the exciting speeches that we’ve heard and the call to action, this is the night that it’s all about.”

Hillary Holley is a Georgia native and the executive director of Care in Action, a nonpartisan nonprofit group for domestic workers. She’s seen people in the South activated to fight back against Trump since 2016 and now sees them ready to fight for Harris. Today feels like a kind of culmination of the kind of grassroots work that has been happening long before Harris became the nominee, and now reaching a new level because of what Harris’ candidacy represents.

“Seeing people so hopeful and so inspired about a new generation of leadership after some incredibly hard years — it makes me realize that all the work that we have been doing was worth it,” Holley said.

Today, she said, she is thinking about parents: Her dad, a Black man raised alongside eight siblings in a two-bedroom house in the Outer Banks of North Carolina during Jim Crow, with the KKK “literally burning crosses in the front yard”; her mom, a White woman who grew up in a trailer on a potato farm in rural Maine. “Over the years, every generation has the ability to not have to live paycheck to paycheck. Today I see possibility. After January 20, 2025, we have a real shot at doing something historic for all American families, and that’s what I’m fighting for.”

Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware, who served alongside Harris in Congress, is also poised to make history as the first Black woman elected to the U.S. Senate from Delaware.

“I’m just so proud of the way that she has stepped forward to really do this for our country. And I’m just elated that she’s forward-looking,” she said of Harris in a brief interview off the convention floor on Wednesday.

The chant frequently shouted at Harris’ rallies, “we’re not going back,” and how the campaign links reproductive freedom and democracy, resonates with her

“I was in that gallery on January 6, and I want to make sure we still have a country,” Blunt Rochester said.

Harris ended her speech with a call to “uphold the awesome responsibility that comes with the greatest privilege on Earth” of being an American.

“Let’s get out there and let’s fight for it, let’s get out there and let’s vote for it, and together let’s write the next chapter in the most extraordinary story ever told!”

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