By Reagan Reese
Vice President Kamala Harris accepted the Democratic presidential nomination on Thursday despite failing to release a policy platform since launching her campaign.
Harris headlined the final night of the Democratic National Convention, accepting the nomination that the delegates had voted to give her weeks before in a virtual roll call. The vice president largely spoke about her personal background and attacked former President Donald Trump, while sprinkling in some vague policy positions and campaign themes.
“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,” Harris said early on in her speech.
Harris began the speech with her personal story, speaking about how a childhood friend being abused led her to become a prosecutor and her mother telling her never to do things “half-assed.” She transitioned to some basic policy outlines, pledging to pass bipartisan border legislation that failed in the Senate earlier this year and to pass national protections for abortion access.
She also promised to continue to support Israel’s right to defend itself after expressing sympathies to the plight of Palestinians and calling for a ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza.
The other dominant theme was attacks on Trump. Harris characterized her opponent as a threat to freedoms such as abortion access, and said he was found liable for sexual assault and only cares about his own interests.
“I will not cozy up to tyrants or dictators who are rooting for Trump. They know he is easy to manipulate. He will not hold autocrats accountable because he wants to be one himself,” she said.
For his part, Trump promised a live “play-by-play” of Harris’s speech on Truth Social earlier Thursday. He posted 37 times during her 41-minute speech.
The convention opened up on Monday with a day devoted to President Joe Biden and his decision to drop out of the race and endorse Harris. The DNC was running behind schedule and pushed Biden’s speech past primetime as he wrapped up after midnight. The president — to cheers of gratitude — encouraged the country to vote for Harris and Gov. Tim Walz.
“We need you to vote. We need you to keep the Senate and the House of Representatives. And above all, we need you to beat Donald Trump,” Biden said. The speech lasted nearly an hour.
Observers, including renowned pollster Nate Silver, remarked that Biden’s speech could’ve been delayed to decrease his visibility as the party shifts its focus to Harris.
“The media is very East Coast focused though, you’ve gotta be pretty naive to think the prolonged DNC tonight is for any reason other than diminishing Biden’s visibility,” Silver tweeted.
But despite the night for Biden, the DNC was entirely forward focused on Harris and her role in the party. Noticeably absent from Harris’s speech was much commentary on her record as vice president. Former President Barack Obama, former first lady Michelle Obama and second gentleman Doug Emhoff headlined night two.
“I am feeling hopeful because this convention has always been pretty good to kids with funny names who believe in a country where anything is possible; because we have a chance to elect someone who has spent her entire life trying to give people the same chances America gave her, someone who sees you and hears you and will get up every single day and fight for you, the next President of the United States of America, Kamala Harris,” Barack Obama said.
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Despite the buzz around Harris’ nomination, Trump and his campaign have been highlighting the vice president’s avoidance of the media and lack of platform. Since launching her campaign four weeks ago, Harris is yet to hold a press conference or do a sit-down interview. Though Harris told reporters she would do an interview by the end of August, Biden sat down for an interview with CBS News before her.
On the final day of the convention, Harris is yet to have a policy platform on her website. In response, the Trump campaign released its own webpage detailing Harris’ “dangerous policies.” The Democratic National Committee released its platform on the first day of the convention, though it made 19 references to a “President Biden’s second term” and 150 to Trump.