Former President Barack Obama addressed supporters on Day 3 of the Democratic National Convention Wednesday, where Senator Kamala Harris accepted the party’s nomination for vice president — making official her place in history as the first Black woman and first person of Indian descent to be nominated for national office by a major political party.

Under Democrats’ theme of “A More Perfect Union,” Harris delivered remarks from the Chase Center in Wilmington, Delaware, the same venue former Vice President Joe Biden is slated to use for his acceptance speech on Thursday, effectively kicking off their fall campaign.

In her acceptance speech, Senator Harris noticed this week marks the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment.

“It is truly an honor to be speaking with you,” she said. “That I am here tonight is a testament to the dedication of generations before me. Women and men who believed so fiercely in the promise of equality, liberty, and justice for all.”

“I accept your nomination for Vice President of the United States of America,” she said.

The third night of the Democratic National Convention, though, was really about the urgency of the present moment — and not letting the party’s feelings now fade. It was an acknowledgment that, for all the self-congratulatory tributes and gauzy messaging a convention makes possible, Democrats’ visions of the future matter almost not at all if they don’t defeat President Donald Trump.

From the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia, Obama focused on what he said are the stakes in this election.

Citing statistics from the coronavirus pandemic — 170,000 dead and millions of jobs lost — Obama said President Trump “badly diminished” the nation’s reputation and threatened democratic institutions “like never before.”

By Megan Stone
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