Harris’ DNC Speech Proves She Finally Knows Who She Needs to Be to Win

Harris’ acceptance speech capped an unprecedented rise from one of the least popular vice presidents in recent history to one that has firmly entrenched her as only the second woman in American history to be nominated for president by a major party.

Former President Donald Trump attempted to address a call for unity in his speech at a major convention just days after surviving an assassination attempt. After detailing his harrowing experience, Trump continued his usual campaign speech, which included allusions to his false claim that the 2020 election was stolen from him.

Like other Democrats this week, Harris said Trump was simply in the race to improve himself.

“Imagine Donald Trump without guardrails,” she said. “How he would use the immense powers of the presidency of the United States. Not to improve your lives, not to strengthen our national security, but to serve the only customer he’s ever had: himself.”

Harris emphasized a call for unity, which was accompanied by progressive policies, such as an ambitious plan to address the housing shortage.

“You know our adversaries are out there every day bashing America, saying how terrible everything is. Well, my mother had another lesson that she taught: Never let anyone tell you who you are; 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 infinite possibility. We are the heirs to the greatest democracy in the history of the world.”

Trump’s advisers appeared unimpressed by the spectacle.

“A candidacy based on nothing – a speech based on literally nothing,” wrote Chris LaCivita, one of Trump’s co-campaign managers, on X.

Kamala Harris will not return in 2020.

In her race for the nomination, Harris has abandoned many of the progressive policies that defined her 2020 primary campaign. Addressing one of her biggest potential weaknesses, Harris reiterated her support for the Senate’s bipartisan immigration plan, which is the most conservative immigration policy Democrats have supported in decades. Even some Republican senators have accused Trump of torpedoing the deal.

“I refuse to gamble with our security,” Harris said. “Here is my promise: As president, I will re-enact the bipartisan border security bill that he killed.”

Harris, on the other hand, was among a handful of candidates in the 2020 primaries who expressed support for decriminalizing the very act of illegally crossing a border.

His fellow Democrats applaud his reinvention, even as Republicans try to characterize it as an about-face.

“In my district, I say what works in Michigan works in San Francisco, what works in Francisco may not work in Michigan,” Pelosi told Politico in an interview on the sidelines of the conference. “And we have to win Michigan.”

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, whom Harris considered a potential running mate, praised the vice president for changing her mind in 2020 that fracking should be banned. Shapiro praised Harris’s shift on the issue as a “sign of strength.”

“It’s a sign that she’s listened to the importance of energy in Pennsylvania and is going to continue to help us be a net exporter of energy and put people to work,” Shapiro told Politico.

Trump and Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. J.D. Vance have called Harris a “chameleon.” Trump has mitigated that attack by suggesting that fundamental elements of Harris’ identity have also changed. He famously told a room of black reporters that Harris wasn’t really black.

Former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan delivered a fiery speech at the convention, urging his fellow Republicans to support Harris even if they don’t agree with her on every issue. On Thursday morning, Duncan seemed to suggest that it was much easier for him to make peace with Harris’ current trajectory.

“I mean, certainly, she’s been portrayed. And – and rightly so, as someone who was very left-wing in her policy positions in 2020. But she’s certainly backtracked on some of them,” Duncan said on CNN.

Harris’ second act could lead her to the presidency.

Harris’s early days in the Biden administration were marked by missteps. She angered Sen. Joe Manchin, then a Democrat from West Virginia, by speaking to reporters in his home state. Her response to Lester Holt about his refusal to travel to the U.S.-Mexico border overshadowed Harris’ efforts to reach out to Mexico and Guatemala. Worse, members of her team continued to neglect Harris as she navigated her historic vice presidency.

Harris rejuvenated her political image by leading the Biden administration’s response to the Supreme Court’s landmark decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. In doing so, she leaned into the edge that raised eyebrows as she questioned Trump administration officials on Capitol Hill. Few could have predicted how much her popularity would soar after President Joe Biden abruptly left the race.

As Politico explained, she had more donors in the first 10 days of her campaign than Biden had in 15 months. Harris has narrowed the race to the point where the presidency is once again considered undecided. Political prognosticators have ruled out most of Trump’s seven key states.