Vice President Kamala Harris officially accepted the Democratic party’s nomination for President of the United States on Aug. 22, the fourth and final night of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago.
Harris, a former California U.S. Senator and Attorney General, needed the votes of 1,976 Democratic delegates to secure the nomination but exceeded that mark with 4,567 nods.
If elected, Harris, an Oakland native, would become the first Black, first Asian, and first woman President.
“On behalf of the people, on behalf of every American regardless of party, race gender, or the language your grandmother speaks, on behalf of my mother and everyone who has ever set out on their own unlikely journey, on behalf of Americans like the people I grew with, people who work hard, chase their dreams and look out for one another, on behalf of everyone whose stories can only be written in the greatest nation on Earth, I accept your nominations to be President of the United States,” Harris told the DNC delegates, officials and guests gathered at the United Center in Chicago.
Among Democratic leaders on hand to witness Harris’s historic nomination were a number of California state officials, the Golden State’s DNC delegates, members of the California Legislative Black Caucus (CLBC) and Gov. Gavin Newsom, who officially delivered California’s 482 delegate votes for Harris on the floor of the convention.
“Kamala Harris has always done the right thing — a champion for voting rights, civil rights, LGBTQ rights, the rights for women and girls,” said Newsom, who was flanked by House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (D-CA-11) and Congressmember Maxine Waters (D-CA-43).
Pelosi, whose district includes San Francisco where Harris served as District Attorney, endorsed the Vice President and thanked President Biden for his leadership and “vision for a fairer America.”
During her address on the first night of the convention, Waters mentioned Fannie Lou Hamer, the revered civil rights, voting rights and women’s right’s activist who spoke at the DNC in 1964.
“When the dust settles in November, Americans of all stripes have elected her President of the United States, I know (Harris) will be thinking about Fannie Lou Hamer who I happen to know is one of Kamala’s heroes,” Waters said.
Congressmember Barbara Lee (D-CA-12), who served as official timekeeper of the convention, said she was humbled to have a front row seat to history “as we nominate my friend and a child of the East Bay.”
Other California state leaders at the convention were state constitutional officers Malia Cohen, Controller; Shirley Weber, Secretary of State; and Tony Thurmond, Secretary of Public Instruction.
Thurmond spoke to California Black Media on the floor of the convention after Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a former teacher and high school football coach, accepted the Democratic Party’s vice-presidential nomination on Aug. 21.
“If you want to get something done, you want a teacher, you want an educator,” Thurmond told CBM, referring to Walz.
“Teachers have to do everything, they have to pull things together, they have to find resources and he talked about running for congress being the underdog and finding ways to overcome those odds,” he added.
California U.S. Sen. Laphonza Butler also spoke to CBM.
“This is the leader built for this moment,” said Butler. “This is a leader who knows how to do hard things. She knows that if we build the kind of coalitions required, we can do hard things when we choose to do them together.”
Attorney General Rob Bonta contrasted Harris’s speech with Trump’s at the Republican National Convention last month in Milwaukee.
“You could really see the authenticity, the decency, goodness, the fairness, and we need a big dose of that, given the alternative,” said the Attorney General.
According to several polls, the economy and good-paying jobs are among the most important issues for voters this election year.
“In this election, one thing is clear: Workers are going to stand with candidates who have stood with us and will continue to stand with us,” said SIEU Local 221 President Crystal Irving, who is a Los Angeles native.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who spoke the first night of the convention, praised Harris for creating the California Bureau of Children’s Justice when she was Attorney General.
Lateefah Simon, who is currently running to succeed Lee in a U.S. Congressional district that includes Oakland, spoke on the third night of the convention.
“I saw Kamala Harris holding the hands of sexual assault survivors,” said Simon, who worked for Harris for four years when she was District Attorney. “I saw scores of mothers who lost their babies to gun violence lining up day after day at the courthouse waiting to talk to Kamala because they knew that she would hear them.”
After Harris’s acceptance speech, Congressmember Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-CA-37) said, “Tonight, my friend and mentor Kamala Harris made history. She will make history yet again when she wins in November.”
Two days after returning home to California, Assemblymember Tina McKinnor (D-Inglewood) said she was “inspired” by her experience serving as a delegate.
Praising Harris’s record, McKinnor posted on X, “Her work on transformative justice, particularly ensuring people have the resources they need after being released from prison, is crucial in our fight against recidivism in California.”
