The Daily - At the Democratic Convention, a Historic Nomination

Episode Date: August 23, 2024

Last night, at the Democratic National Convention, Vice President Kamala Harris accepted her party’s nomination, becoming the first woman of color in U.S. history to do so.Astead W. Herndon and Reid J. Epstein, who cover politics for The Times, discuss the story this convention told about Ms. Harris — and whether that story could be enough to win the presidential election.Guest: Astead W. Herndon, a national politics reporter and the host of the politics podcast “The Run-Up” for The New York Times.Reid J. Epstein, who covers politics for The New York Times.Background reading: Kamala Harris promised to chart a “new way forward” as she accepted the nomination.“The Run-Up”: It’s her party now. What’s different?For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

I'm standing in a sea of people coming out of this vast convention and people are holding signs, smiling. There's confetti everywhere. There are balloons, white, red, and blue. And there's a lot of excitement. From the New York Times, I'm Sabrina Taverneese. And this is The Daily from inside the Democratic National Convention Hall, where Kamala Harris has just accepted her party's nomination,

becoming the first woman of color in U.S. history to do so. Today, the story this convention told about Harris, and whether that story could be enough to win. It's Friday, August 23rd. The work and prayers of centuries have brought us to this day. What shall our legacy be? What will our children say? Let me know in my heart when my days are through,

America, America, I gave my best to you. A night one of the Democratic National Convention, the evening was really defined by this very emotional, quite bittersweet goodbye from President Biden. And there's nothing we cannot do when we do it together. God bless you all and may God protect our troops. It was the closing of one chapter so that another could begin. It was Kamala Harris's moment. So right now it's 740.

We are on the floor at the Democratic National Convention. It is a crazy party atmosphere, which is like a massive understanding. Day two kicked off with delegates gathering on the convention floor, casting their votes in a kind of symbolic way to make Harris the party's nominee. This giant festival of lights, people in cowboy hats, people with blinking bracelets, people with Christmas lights wrapped around their hats, heads, shoulders, people wearing donkey hats. It's very, very, very celebratory in here.

We need to see that we're moving on. We're turning a chapter in America. How do you feel right now? Awesome, excited, energized, ready to win this election. I love it, I love it, I love it. People are just excited, electrified, and they're just loving it and they're happy. This has been the most electrifying event I've ever attended in my life.

It's my first convention, but what a convention to come for, right? To make history right now as we charge forward to November 5th to elect the first female Black president. I'm excited. So with Harris now the nominee, a new campaign slogan appeared everywhere, and that was a new way forward. But in a campaign that's just four weeks old, it was really an open question what a new way forward actually meant. We're not going back! We're not going back! We're not going back!

And then, over the course of the week, as speaker after speaker took the stage, we started to get an answer. The story of forward would be told through the story of Kamala Harris herself. And the question hanging over the week was really whether that story could appeal to a broad majority of Americans, voters outside of the convention hall, who will ultimately decide the show. Thank you for having me. Again.

The second time in a week, and I am very excited for it. Me too. So Astaad, we had you on the show on Monday to answer a question for us that I think a lot of people have, which is, who is Kamala Harris? And you ended that conversation by saying that the Democratic Party also recognizes this reality that for a lot of people, she is still this sort of unknown quantity. And that the party had a big task here at the convention this week, which was to find a way to finally tell her story. Does seem like they've tried to do that.

So let's walk through the case that they're making for her and what you've seen here in your reporting for your show, The Run-Up. Yeah. I mean, I think that the Democrats have definitely laid out a case for her as a candidate, but also a story for her as a person. They have leaned into the different parts of her biography to really follow through on what I think is the best version of her campaign, which is a little bit for everybody. There is a story there about more moderate legislation, pieces of progressive history. There's different parts of her bio that speak to black communities, immigrant communities,

of course the historic nature of her gender and the roles like that. And I really think it has followed through on kind of what I expected for this week, which is that she seems to function politically as a mirror of some sorts, where the party wants to position her as someone who basically, no matter what you're looking for in your terms of a vessel to beat Donald Trump, you can find it in this candidate. So let's dig into that more. Where did the convention start that story? Hello, Democrats!

Yeah, I think it really starts in her personal biography. And I'm here tonight to tell you all about the Kamala Harris that I know. They have told a story that she often tells about her being a first-generation American. Her mother moved here from India at night. Being a daughter of an immigrant mother who really raised two daughters in the Bay Area from kind of working-class roots.

And that's been a real thing that they've tried to own. Kamala was not born into privilege. She had to work for what she's got. When she was young, she worked at McDonald's. They talk about her working at McDonald's in college. And she greeted every person with that thousand watt smile and said, how can I help you? I think it's overall about trying to present this as someone who pulled himself up by bootstraps, represents an American dream.

And I think for Democrats, it really returns them back to the place they want to be. Democrats like thinking of themselves as a party who appeals to the diversity of America, both in racial ways and gender ways, but also in class ways. In Kamala Harris, we have a chance to elect a president who is for the middle class because she is from the middle class. And I think they used other parts of her identity, specifically thinking about being the first black woman to accept a major party's nomination. We know folks are going to do everything they can to distort her truth.

And I think Michelle Obama's speech specifically spoke to the power and anxiety that sometimes that identity can bring. My husband and I sadly know a little something about this. For years Donald Trump did everything in his power to try to make people fear us. See his his limited narrow view of the world made him feel threatened by the existence of two hard-working highly educated successful people who happen to be black. And I would also say that it was an implicit response

to what Republicans and others have been trying to say, talking about Kamala Harris as a DEI hire, someone who was only in their position because of their identity. But the way that Michelle Obama framed it was that those identities have power. I want to know. I want to know. I want to know.

Who's going to tell him that the job he's currently seeking might just be one of those black jobs? Just because someone refers to be in a position does not mean that that is the only reason in the position. But it also doesn't make those identities meaningless. The fact that she is a black woman should be seen as a strength, not as a weakness. Is there a risk to that though? I mean, you know, by openly talking about race, is there a risk that goes too far and begins to alienate voters outside the convention out in the world who, you know, they need to win in November?

Um, I mean, there's always a risk, but I don't really think so. Democrats have had increasing trouble with black voters. There's been a downturn in black vote share all the way dating back to 2012. And Biden's now suspended candidacy. That was one of the things driving his polling weaknesses was kind of tepid reception from black voters. You know, a pitch to them is something that is a upside of the Kamala Harris campaign and the hope that they could consolidate that community is where any Democratic nominee needs to be as a baseline.

We both got our start as young lawyers helping children who were abused and neglected. One thing I noticed that came up a lot during the speeches was her background as a prosecutor. How did the party present that part of her biography? As a prosecutor, Kamala stood up for children who had been victims of sexual abuse. She put rapists, child molesters, and murderers behind bars. They talk about it in the way that I think fuels what they want to say is the reason she can take on Trump, that this is someone who has stood up to bullies before, who's not going to be intimidated easily. And's tough, and who doesn't shirk away from a challenge. I think all of that adds up to say you can trust this person to go up against Donald Trump.

You can trust this person to go up against the Republican Party because she's not someone who is scared. She never runs from a fight. A woman, a fierce woman, for the people. This woman for the people. But then of course we heard about another side of Kamala Harris, a more personal side. Yeah, and I think this is the part of Kamala Harris where I think was kind of most missing in the presidential run. Frankly, it's the part that she keeps most private. She is a warm family member and friend. Hello to my big, beautiful, blended family up there.

And I think what the speech from her husband did was really show and lay that out. I got married, became a dad to Cole and Ella. Unfortunately, I went through a divorce. But I eventually started worrying about how I would make it all work. And that's when something unexpected happened. I ended up with Kamala Harris' phone number.

He talks about the kind of awkwardness of their first interaction. I got Kamala's voicemail and I just started rambling. Hey, it's Doug. And I think you have a real kind of sense of their genuine connection to one another. By the way, Kamala saved that voicemail. And she makes me listen to it on every anniversary.

It's her anniversary. Like, yes, this is someone who is tough, who is taking on corporations and cartels and all of that stuff by day, but it's someone who also makes a point to cook Sunday dinner for family every week. And she makes a mean brisket for Passover. And makes sure to really go close to his kids, and is very close with her family.

That's Kamala. She's always been there for our children, and I know she'll always be there for yours too. You know, going back to the last time the Democratic Party nominated a woman, Hillary Clinton, she had presented herself in a very different way, right? She was like, kind of ran away from that stuff. She was saying, you know, I don't bake cookies. That's not what I do. I'm kind of out there with the men fighting. And this convention and this candidate, Harris, is very different. She's a newer generation and she can do her career and bake cookies.

Those things are not in conflict. This is like a different type of woman leader. You know, this week we talked to Senator Elizabeth Warren on the run-up, and one of the things that she mentioned was she feels that there's been a big change from 2016, even 2020, to now. Not just the amount of women in public office, but she said they don't have to choose between sides of themselves.

And I think that's what diversity means, right? Like, of course Kamala Harris can be a tough politician and also bake cookies. Hillary Clinton did that too. It was just that she was told that that was not the way that she had to present herself. What Kamala Harris is benefiting from is that there's a greater space and the ability to choose multiple things at once. And so particularly if others are going to talk more directly about gender or race or

other things, that kind of frees her from having the burden of doing that herself. And in fact Hillary Clinton herself did speak, of course, on day one. She talked about that glass ceiling in the history that has led to now, including her own experience in 2016. Yeah, I thought the Hillary Clinton speech was really powerful. I think a lot of the speakers put this moment in kind of historical context, both politically and personally. You know, my mother Dorothy was born right here in Chicago before women had the right to vote. That changed 104 years ago yesterday. And since that day, every generation has carried the torch forward.

In 1972, a fearless black congresswoman named Shirley Chisholm, she ran for president. In 1984, I brought my daughter to see Geraldine Ferraro, the first woman nominated for vice president. And then there was 2016 when it was the honor of my life to accept our party's nomination for president. The last time I was here in my hometown was to memorialize my mother. The woman who showed me the power of my own voice. My mother volunteered at the local school.

I'm the proud granddaughter of a housekeeper, Sarah Daisy, who raised her three children in a one bedroom apartment. It was her dream to work in government to help people. My grandmother, the woman who helped raise me as a child, a little old white lady born in a tiny town called Peru, Kansas. I want to talk now about somebody who's not with us tonight. Tessie Prevost Williams was born in New Orleans not long after the Supreme Court ruled that segregated public schools were unconstitutional. That was in 1954, same year I was born. Parents pulled their kids out of the school.

There was a way that I think the candidacy and the person was placed in a long legacy, both about gender identity and racial identity, that kind of teed up this Thursday as a culminating moment, both politically and I think in a broader historical context. Together we put a lot of cracks in the highest, hardest glass ceiling. And you know what?

On the other side of that glass ceiling is Kamala Harris raising her hand and taking the oath of office as our 47th President of the United States. I wish my mother and Kamala's mother could see us. They would say, keep going. Shirley and Jerry would say, keep going. I think you can do a lot to set up a candidate to be in a good position. All of this stuff adds up to some part of the puzzle, but the biggest piece is the candidate themself. At the end of the day, they have to close the deal. And I think this moment is her chance to tell her own story in a way that sometimes she has not decided to. And that's still what this whole

convention, success and failure, will ride on. So we're going to watch tonight. We're going to watch with our colleague, Reed Epstein, and you are going to have a great episode of The Run-Up on Friday. We will all be tuning in. Thank you. I appreciate you doing this, Sabrina. Really. Thanks a lot, Ested. Are you a delegate? Oh, yes.

Sorry, we caught you mid-French fry eating. What's your feeling about Kamala and kind of what her story has been? Are you getting to know her this week? Are there things you've learned about her this week? Yeah, I'm learning more and more as we go along. The more and more I learn about her, the more I'm impressed with her. I mean, she worked at McDonald's when she was going to college to try to pay her way through.

Her very small beginnings, not a trust fund baby type of thing, I relate to that. Like I was on food stamps this year, you know? So it's like, if she can do it with that background, it gives everybody hope. Hillary was my girl. When Hillary ran, I championed her as well,

but I didn't feel this way as I feel about Harris. I'm like do I want to run for office if she can do it I can she looks just like me right she represents it she worked at McDonald's she paid for every it's relatable and that's what everybody means. We're gonna break that glass ceiling and getting te'm getting teary and teary in my eyes. And it just means so much to be inclusive. What does it mean to you that Kamala Harris is a woman? What does it mean to you that she's a black woman? Oh, to have a black woman become the president of the United States and for her to turn the

world upside down in 30 days to know that I'm in the midst of this miraculous history is phenomenal. One delegate who really stood out to us was Beverly Hatcher, a 76-year-old black woman from Texas. I was raised by a wonderful Baptist mama. I just lost her. But I am who I am because of my mother. We were always pushed to do whatever we wanted to do. I'll never forget I wanted to be a majorette.

I taught myself because we had no money for what is it called lessons. And a majorette is like the baton twirler Yes. Yeah. And when I did finally try out in my 11th grade, I won right off. And my classmates, who were predominantly white, as years have gone by, have told me at class reunions and stuff, barely. The sleepy town of Wellington woke up, oh my God, we got a black girl getting ready to be the head majorette. But it happened because I had the drive and the will.

My mother and my family stood behind me and didn't miss a parade or a football game or a basketball game. And you see that in Harris? Yeah. Beverly, what would your mom say if she saw this? My sisters have been telling me every day how proud my mom is. And I'm just happy to make her happy. Yeah, we women who have had mothers like Kamala, like Michelle.

I remember Hillary's mother. We women value their strength and their wisdom and we're just glad that they gave us a legacy to pass it on. We'll be right back. Reed, hello. Hello. Okay.

Kamala Harris just wrapped up her acceptance speech. Before we talk about what she said in the case she presented, tell us how her campaign was thinking about the stakes of this moment. You know, Sabrina, this evening was one of two opportunities, along with a debate next month, for her to speak to tens of millions of people at once. And so for that, the stakes were really high.

Her goal was to present herself as a serious person and a serious candidate who was not the candidate who flamed out in 2019 or the unsteady vice president from the beginning of her term. She had to show that she has the gravitas to be the commander in chief, the political aptitude to reach out to the middle, and also to the progressives in her party

all at the same time. So a very tall order. Tell us how she went about doing that. Good evening, everyone. Good evening. Well, she started talking around 9.30 Chicago time to a packed United Center with 14 or 15,000 people, many, many wearing all white,

the color of the suffragettes, a color that makes a statement just by wearing it. And when Harris took to stage, they erupted in a cheer that forced her for a couple minutes to wait before she could start talking. Thank you. Okay, let's get to business. Let's get to business. All right. And what did she finally say once she started talking?

You know, she told the story of her life. The path that led me here in recent weeks was no doubt unexpected, but I'm no stranger to unlikely journeys. So my mother, our mother, Shamela Harris, had one of her own. And I miss her every day, and especially right now. She talked about the influence of her mother, who raised her and her sister. And she also taught us, and never do anything half-assed.

And that is a direct quote. She spoke about her family's humble beginnings in Oakland. Before she could finally afford to buy a home, she rented a small apartment in the East Bay. Then she started talking about her career as a prosecutor. In the courtroom, I stood proudly before a judge, and I said five words. She brought back one of the lines that she used in proudly before a judge and I said five words.

She brought back one of the lines that she used in her 2020 campaign about how when she stood up in a courtroom she began with the same words. Kamala Harris for the people. And she said she would bring that same philosophy to the White House that she was not working for specific individuals but for the people at large. And so on behalf of the people, eventually she did a big windup to formally accepting the nomination on behalf of every American, regardless of party, race, gender, or the language your grandmother speaks. And listed the people on whose behalf she did so.

On behalf of everyone whose story could only be written in the greatest nation on earth. It was really kind of a feat of speech writing to build up to this big emotional moment. I accept your nomination to be president of the United States of America. And what did you make of that, how she was doing it? You know, it was building up this speech to be a serious political document and present her as a serious figure in this moment.

And so she still has to prove to people that she is capable of being the commander in chief and running the country. And how does she try to prove that she's capable of that, of being a commander in chief? You know, what she did was try to draw the distinction between herself and Donald Trump. In many ways, Donald Trump is an unserious man. But the consequences, but the consequences of putting Donald Trump back in the White House are extremely serious. And she warns that Trump would not have guardrails on him if he were elected to a second term. Just imagine Donald Trump with no guardrails and how he would 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 has ever had, himself. The speech was very clear-eyed about the stakes of the election. They know Trump won't hold autocrats accountable because he wants to be an autocrat himself. There was a whole section in the middle of the speech where she ticked through, you know, one by one, a whole series of warnings about things that Trump would do to the country if he were back in the White House. Get this, he plans to create a national anti-abortion coordinator and force states to report

on women's miscarriages and abortions. Ooh! Simply put, they are out of their minds. Yeah! What else stuck out to you? You know, it was remarkable, the section of the speech where she talked about Gaza. President Biden and I are working around the clock because now is the time to get a hostage

deal and a ceasefire deal done. She did not veer too far to the left. I will always stand up for Israel's right to defend itself. She managed to say things that would be appealing to both sides. President Biden and I are working to end this war such that Israel is secure, the hostages are released, the suffering in Gaza ends, and the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, security, freedom, and self-determination.

It was a remarkable moment to hear the arena erupt at the end of that section, to hear her support for both the Israelis and the Palestinians reveal that kind of enthusiasm, you know, after the party has been really ripped apart for months about how to handle the situation. Fellow Americans, I love our country with all my heart. You know, she ended the speech with a pay-on to patriotism. We are the heirs to the greatest democracy in the history of the world.

She dove headlong into the American exceptionalism argument that is native to Republicans and to older generations of politicians like Joe Biden. It is now our turn to do what generations before us have done, guided by optimism and faith to fight for this country we love. But is not something you always hear from younger Democrats who are a little less comfortable with some of the flag waving. Let's vote for it and together let us write the next great chapter in the most extraordinary story ever told. Thank you. God bless you and may God bless the United States of America. Thank you all.

She seemed to really be taking aim at this criticism of her, which is that she's, you know, this radical California liberal and she can't be trusted with the keys to the country. I mean, that was one of the tasks that she had tonight was to make the argument, particularly to voters in the middle, the suburban voters that used to vote for Republicans, but have been repelled by Trump and driven to Democrats in the last several years, that they can vote for her without worrying that she's some kind of sort of Bernie Sanders acolyte.

You know, and some of that is based on the way she ran her last presidential campaign. Some of it, frankly, is because she's a black woman from California, and that the voters who will determine this election are, you know, voters in less diverse states for the most part. So, Reid, stepping back here, you know, it feels worth remembering just where we were

at the end of the Republican National Convention that was, you know, just over a month ago, things couldn't have felt more different. The GOP was on top of the world, while the Democrats were in disarray over Biden's refusal to leave the race. And now here we are. And it feels like things couldn't be better for the Democrats. At least that's the feeling I'm having coming out of this convention. I mean, the whole race has turned upside down

from where it was when we left Milwaukee. And Democrats are upbeat. They are confident. It is a party that is remarkably united behind their candidate. But you have to remember, this election will be very close. It is indeed a game of inches in the key battleground states.

And what she was trying to do was to present herself as someone who can be trusted as commander-in-chief to win over the tiny slices of the electorate that will determine the winner in places like Wisconsin and Michigan and Pennsylvania, Georgia and Arizona. And those are the states that will determine the election. And they have made a calculated decision that those voters needed to see her as a commander-in-chief, something they had not seen from her before. And we will see in the coming days and weeks whether she's accomplished that in a way that brings enough of those people on board for her to win a term as president.

Reed thank you. Thank you Sabrina. We'll be right back. Here's what else you should know today. On Thursday, the Supreme Court allowed Arizona Republicans, for now, to impose tougher voting requirements, including a new rule that people registering to vote there before the coming election must show proof of citizenship. As a result, Arizonans newly registering to vote for this year's presidential election

must provide copies of one of several documents, such as a birth certificate or a passport, in order to prove that they are U.S. citizens. Democrats have denounced the new rule as an attempt to prevent legal immigrants from voting. And U.S. health officials have approved the latest slate of annual COVID vaccines, clearing the way for Americans six months and older to receive updated shots in the coming days. The approvals come amid a prolonged surge of COVID infections, which have risen all

summer. Remember to catch a new episode of The Interview right here tomorrow. This week, Lulu Garcia Navarro talks with Jenna Ortega, the star of the Netflix series Wednesday, and the new Beetlejuice sequel, about her head-spinning success over the past few years. One day, I just, I woke up in somebody else's shoes. I felt like I had entered somebody else's life and like I didn't know how to get back to mine.

Today's episode was produced by Lindsay Garrison, Rob Zipko, Jessica Chung, Astha Chaturvedi and Shannon Lin. It was edited by Rachel Cuester, contains original music by Rowan Niemesto, Dan Powell, Diane Wong, and Marian Lozano, and was engineered by Chris Wood. Our theme music is by Jim Brunberg and Ben Landsvark of Wonderland. That's it for the Daily. I'm Sabrina Tavernisi. See you on Monday.