Harris’ DNC speech proves she finally knows who she needs to be to win

Harris’ acceptance speech capped an unprecedented rise that began as one of the least popular vice presidents in recent memory. Now she is firmly established as only the second woman in American history to be nominated for the presidency of a major party.

Former President Donald Trump tried to respond to a call for unity in his keynote speech at the convention, delivered just days after surviving an assassination attempt. After detailing his harrowing experience, Trump broke into his usual speech, which included nods to his bogus claim that the 2020 election was stolen from him.

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

“Just imagine Donald Trump without the railings,” she said. “How would he use the immense powers of the presidency of the United States. Not to improve your life, not to strengthen our national security, but to serve the only client he ever had: himself.”

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

“You know our opponents are out there every day, denigrating America, talking about how terrible everything is. Well, my mother had another lesson she used to teach: never let anyone tell you that you are; show them who you are. America, come on. Show each other and the world who we are and what we stand for: freedom, opportunity, compassion, dignity, fairness and endless possibilities. We are the inheritors of the greatest democracy in the history of the world.”

Trump advisers appeared unimpressed by the performance.

“A candidacy built on nothing — gave a speech literally on nothing,” Chris LaCivita, one of Trump’s campaign managers, wrote on X.

Kamala Harris is not coming back in 2020.

Amid her sprint to 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 Senate Republicans blamed Trump for killing that deal.

“Well, I refuse to play politics with our security,” Harris said. “Here’s my commitment to you: As president, I will bring back the bipartisan border security bill that you killed.”

Instead, Harris was among several candidates during the 2020 primary season who expressed support for decriminalizing the very act of illegally crossing a border.

Other Democrats applaud her reinvention, even as Republicans try to call her a flip-flopper.

“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. “And we have to win Michigan.”

Pennslyvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, whom Harris considered a possible running mate, praised the vice president for reversing his 2020 opinion that fracking should be banned. Shapiro praised Harris’ progress on the issue as a “sign of strength.”

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

Trump and GOP vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance have labeled Harris a “chameleon.” Trump undermined the attack by suggesting that the basics of Harris’ identity had also changed — notably, he told a room of black journalists that Harris wasn’t really black.

Former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan gave a fiery convention speech that urged 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’s much easier for him to make peace with Harris’ current trajectory.

“I mean, she was definitely painted. And – and rightly so, as someone very left in her 2020 political positions. But he’s definitely come back from some of that,” Duncan said on CNN.

Harris’ second act could propel her to the presidency.

Missteps marked Harris’ early tenure in the Biden administration. She angered Sen. Joe Manchin, then a Democrat from West Virginia, speaking to reporters from his state. Her response to Lester Holt about not visiting the US-Mexico border overshadowed Harris’ relationship in Mexico and Guatemala. Worst of all, employees continued to desert Harris as she navigated her historic vice presidency.

Harris rejuvenated his political stature by leading the Biden administration’s response to the Supreme Court’s landmark decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. In doing so, she leaned on the edge that raised eyebrows when she grilled Trump administration officials on Capitol Hill. Few could have predicted how much it would skyrocket after President Joe Biden abruptly left the race.

As Politico detailed, she had more donors in the first 10 days of her campaign than Biden did in 15 months. Harris has narrowed the race to the point where the presidency is once again considered a disappointment. Political prognosticators have moved most of the seven swing states away from Trump.