Harris spent much of 2024 campaigning as President Joe Biden's running mate. But tonight, she'll address the party that swiftly rallied around her after he ended his reelection bid.
The vice president's speech comes after her own running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, delivered his acceptance address on Wednesday, telling his fellow party members "Thank you for bringing the joy to this fight."
Keep up with the USA TODAY Network's coverage of the Democratic convention in Chicago.
Fresh off his convention floor speech, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz joked with Minnesota Democrats that Thursday was an important day.
"Look, it's an important day. The eyes of the world are focused on this day because it's the day that the Minnesota State Fair opens up," Walz told delegates at the Fairmont Chicago.
Walz thanked his home-state delegates for supporting him and his wife Gwen in recent weeks.
"We're ready to take the Minnesota values that you all taught us," Walz said. "Everybody who I talk to across this country, when I talk to them, they want to be Minnesota."
Polls suggest millions of Americans are changing their presidential voting plans with Harris currently topping the Democratic ticket, signing up for who she is and what they feel she represents.
Many voters interviewed by USA TODAY find themselves surprised to be supporting the new Democratic candidate for president this year, swept up in the excitement and "vibes" of her campaign.
There are at least four distinct groups of Harris supporters: The Democrats who would have voted for whoever their party put at the top of the ticket; the Democrats who weren't sure they would have bothered to vote for Biden, but are enthusiastically behind Harris; the undecideds who have come down on the side of Harris; and the former Trump supporters who are excited about someone new.
The handoff at the Democratic convention, one of several Biden farewells, was a visceral example of how the country is changing, with the first Black and Asian American woman topping a presidential ballot.
Now, Harris has less than three months to convince the rest of America to entrust her with a four-year presidential term. She has raced to lay out an agenda that hits on Americans’ most pressing problems that excites the party’s base and is palatable to moderates.
After years of quiet inroads on issues she cares about without undermining the president’s agenda, the pressure is on for Harris to provide a detailed vision of her own coming out of the party’s four-day gathering in Chicago.
Donald Trump wouldn't say whether he has spoken with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., in recent days, but made clear he would welcome an endorsement from the independent candidate.
"If he endorsed me, I would be honored by it — I would be very honored by it," Trump said during an early morning interview on "Fox & Friends" otherwise devoted to attacking Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.
Trump praised Kennedy during the Fox interview, quite a change from earlier this year when he denounced the independent candidate as a "Radical Left Liberal" whose candidacy would hurt him and help the Democrats.
Jewish Democrats have had their party loyalties tested this election year as the left flank's support for the plight of the Palestinians has, at times, seemed to have taken on anti-Semitic undertones in the wake of the Oct. 7 attacks and the subsequent Gaza war that's led to an estimated 40,000 Palestinian deaths .
The split among Democrats and progressives over the war in Gaza is partly generational − with even some young Jewish Americans opposing Israel's war in Gaza. The right-wing government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has caused some younger Jewish Americans to push back at Israel.
A Pew Research Center poll in March found that 42% of American Jews between the ages of 18 years old and 34 believe the way Israel is carrying out its war against Hamas is "unacceptable." Only 27% of Jewish Americans ages 50 to 64 years old said it is "unacceptable."
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz , the vice-presidential running mate of Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris , has spoken openly and lovingly about his neurodivergent 17-year-old son Gus, who has ADHD , along with a non-verbal learning disorder and an anxiety disorder. Walz and his wife, Gwen, both former teachers, said recently in a statement to People magazine that they never considered Gus’ conditions an obstacle.
When Walz delivered his acceptance speech inside the packed United Center arena Wednesday night, Gus watched from the audience with his mother and sister, Hope, and sobbed.
“Hope, Gus and Gwen – you are my entire world, and I love you,” Walz said.
Gus Walz sprung from his seat, moved by his father's words.
He pointed his index finger, saying "I love you, dad."
Aug 21, 2024; Chicago, IL, USA; Vice Presidential nominee Tim Walz hugs son Gus Walz during the third day of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center. Hope Walz is at left, Gwen Walz at right. Mike De Sisti, Mike De Sisti-USA TODAY
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz played up his role as the everyman on the Democratic ticket on Wednesday night by talking about his time as a high school teacher and coach while accepting his party's nomination for vice president.
Taking the stage as the night's keynote speaker, Walz revved up the crowd by bragging about his policy record as governor. He talked up cutting prescription drug costs and establishing free school lunch for students while defending abortion rights and establishing firearm regulations. But the 60-year-old Democrat also underscored how the heart of his progressive values — and differences with the Republican ticket — are about respecting others.
'A dad in plaid' Walz speech: Democrats went into overdrive to convey that Walz is a regular small-town dude living down the road, with Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar introducing her home-state governor as a “dad in plaid.” They even brought out former students and football players on the stage sporting jerseys while playing up his military service (which has come under attack by the GOP). The message was clearly aimed at Midwest voters across the blue wall, particularly in rural white working-class areas where Democrats have struggled.
Hamas hostage's parents address DNC convention, spark response: A somber moment overtook the convention hall Wednesday when Rachel Goldberg talked about her son, Hersh, being kidnapped by Hamas when he attended the Nova Music Festival in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. But it didn't take long for that moment to be wrapped up into the larger, divisive debate. A group of uncommitted delegates held a sit-down protest outside the United Center, saying they had asked the Harris campaign and convention organizers to allow someone to talk about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza on stage, but were rebuffed.
Oprah makes surprise appearance for Harris: Oprah Winfrey, the billionaire media mogul, made a rare dive into national politics, delivering a forceful case for Harris. It was a surprise appearance, reported only a few hours before she made her introduction on the convention stage.
‘Thank you, Joe,’ Pelosi says amid rift with Biden: Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sought to end any bad blood between herself and President Joe Biden during a brief tribute to the outgoing president at the top of her convention address. Pelosi was instrumental in applying pressure on Biden to drop out of the election last month.
Bill Clinton's complicated legacy with modern Democrats: In the 1990s, William Jefferson Clinton was the boss of the Democratic Party, and considered one of the best political communicators of the age. the former president is still thought of fondly by a segments of the party who believe he could be an asset this cycle. Still showcasing the 42nd president could also backfire and aggravate younger generations of Democrats, who find it hard reconcile with Clinton's tenure scarred by an extramarital affair with an intern. That sort of misbehavior is looked at much differently among progressives, especially in the post-#MeToo era.
Never mind that Tim Walz has been governor of Minnesota for the past five years and a congressman for a dozen years before that. As he seeks a promotion to vice president, he chose a folksier introduction Wednesday to Americans who had no idea who he was until Kamala Harris picked him as her running mate two weeks ago.
Not a pol, not at heart. Instead, a husband and father, a deer hunter and a car guy, a social studies teacher and a basketball coach from the Gopher State who helped turn his high-school team from losers to state champions.
"I haven't given a lot of big speeches like this, but I have given a lot of pep talks, so let me finish with this," Walz declared to cheers as he accepted the vice-presidential nomination on the third night of the Democratic National Convention. "It's the fourth quarter. We're down a field goal, but we're on offense and we've got the ball."
The biggest name, of course, is Vice President Kamala Harris who will give her acceptance speech as the Democratic Party's presidential nominee.
Other speakers include a group of Tennessee lawmakers known as the Tennessee Three, who rose to national prominence last year after facing an expulsion vote from legislative Republicans in the Volunteer State.
The convention is in Chicago, just 90 miles south of Milwaukee, where the Republican National Convention was recently held.
The Democratic Party has held a national convention every four years since 1832 to nominate its chosen candidates, and Chicago has a storied history of hosting conventions on both sides of the political aisle dating back to 1860, with the nomination of Abraham Lincoln.
According to the Chicago Sun-Times , this will be the Windy City’s 26th political convention.
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