Category Archives: Kamala Harris

Harris urges America to choose ‘freedom and fairness’ over Trump extremism – as it happened

Posted on by

This blog is closing now, thanks for following along. You can find all of our US elections coverage here.

Now comes Pat Ryan, who represents a New York battleground district in the House of Representatives.

He hit out at Donald Trump for his reported insults towards military veterans, then obliquely referenced the newfound optimism Democrats are feeling since Joe Biden ended his bid for a second term:

These last few weeks have felt like a new day in America, when we are waking up, rising up, patriots, to demand a president who does not just treat our veterans with respect, but everyone with respect.

We do not retreat, we are the United States of America, we lead!

Continue reading...

Harris makes forceful speech – and skewers the menace from Mar-a-Lago

Posted on by

Her acceptance address was short on policy and poetry, but the Democratic nominee took the fight to Donald Trump

It was not a political address for the ages. It was not even the best of the convention (no one can compete with the Obamas). But Kamala Harris did enough in her speech accepting the Democratic presidential nomination on Thursday to put an exclamation mark on one of the most dramatic turnarounds in modern political history.

And she made you reflect that you would not want to be Donald Trump facing her in next month’s televised debate. A speech that was short on policy and poetry was nevertheless devastating in skewering the menace from Mar-a-Lago. Trump can expect the same kind of interrogation when the two go head to head that would make most mortals tremble.

Continue reading...

Kamala Harris pledges to ‘chart a new way forward’ as she accepts nomination

Posted on by

Democratic nominee makes sweeping convention speech and promises to prosecute case against Donald Trump

Kamala Harris accepted the Democratic presidential nomination Thursday with a sweeping, pointed speech in which she vowed to prosecute the case against Donald Trump and carry the country to a brighter and fairer future.

In an address that balanced optimism with scathing criticism of her opponent, Harris acknowledged her “unlikely” path to the nomination and extended her hand to voters of all political ideologies who believe in America’s promise. Harris would make history if elected – as the first woman, first Black woman and first Asian American woman to serve as president – but she instead focused on the history that the country could change in November.

Continue reading...

From buzz to fizzle as rumours of Beyoncé performance at DNC fly, then fade

Posted on by

Multiple news sites reported the star would be a special guest at the closing night of the Democratic National Convention – but it was not to be

As Kamala Harris prepared to deliver the biggest speech of her career, one of the year’s biggest rumours snowballed online and in the media about a potential surprise guest.

In an election campaign in which anything has seemed possible, a Democratic National Convention appearance by Beyoncé, whose song Freedom is the Harris campaign’s official song, seemed for a brief moment like it could be on the cards.

Continue reading...

Kamala Harris’s big moment, and a message of hope: key takeaways from the Democratic convention’s final night

Posted on by

The vice-president rebuked Trump and urged ‘optimism and faith’ – but Beyoncé did not make an appearance

The Democratic national convention has ended in Chicago, with vice-president Kamala Harris formally accepting the nomination and making her pitch to voters. Here are some key takeaways from the fourth night:

Democratic convention highlights:

Tim Walz’s acceptance speech channeled grit and empathy

Democrats issue warning over Project 2025

What to know about Kamala Harris and Tim Walz

Continue reading...

Harris prepares for convention keynote as Trump and Vance focus on immigration message – live

Posted on by

Harris will formally accept her party’s historic presidential nomination while Trump and Vance will hold separate battleground state events

Democratic vice-presidential nominee Tim Walz is dropping by the Minnesota delegation’s breakfast meeting in Chicago this morning, according to reports.

Walz and his wife, Gwen, are expected to thank delegates at the breakfast for their support of the Harris-Walz ticket.

Continue reading...

Democratic convention schedule: Oprah reported to be among speakers on night three

Posted on by

Tim Walz and Bill Clinton headline the third night amid reports Oprah Winfrey will also appear. Here’s a look at other noteworthy speakers on the schedule

The Democratic national convention is under way, with primetime addresses scheduled for tonight from Bill Clinton; Tim Walz, Kamala Harris’s running mate; and many more.

CNN reported that Oprah Winfrey, the talkshow host and longtime Democrat, is set to appear on the main stage. In previous elections, Winfrey lent her star power to Joe Biden, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

Chris Murphy, US senator, Connecticut

Olivia Troye, former Trump administration national security official

Bennie G Thompson, member of the US House of Representatives, Mississippi

Andy Kim, member of the US House of Representatives, New Jersey

Stevie Wonder, singer-songwriter and musician (performance)

Kenan Thompson, comedian, and guests (remarks on Project 2025)

Mindy Kaling (host introduction)

Hakeem Jeffries, US House of Representatives Democratic leader

Bill Clinton, former US president

Nancy Pelosi, former US House speaker

Josh Shapiro, governor of Pennsylvania

Catherine Cortez Masto, US senator, Nevada

Amanda Gorman, national youth poet laureate, whose performance of The Hill We Climb at Joe Biden’s 2021 inauguration wowed the audience

Wes Moore, governor of Maryland

Pete Buttigieg, US transportation secretary

John Legend and Sheila E, musicians (performance)

Amy Klobuchar, US senator, Minnesota

Tim Walz, governor of Minnesota and Kamala Harris’s running mate (keynote address)

Democratic national convention 2024 live updates

Monday: For the People

Tuesday: A Bold Vision for America’s Future

Wednesday: A Fight for Our Freedoms

Thursday: For Our Future

Continue reading...

Bill Clinton says ‘Trump creates chaos’ and mocks crowd-size obsession in star-studded night at DNC – live

Posted on by

Former president addresses delegates amid reports Oprah Winfrey is expected to make an appearance

Kamala Harris’s campaign raised four times as much money last month than Donald Trump’s campaign, Reuters is reporting, citing federal disclosures filed late on Tuesday.

The Harris campaign told the Federal Election Commission it raised $204m in July, compared to $48m reported by Trump’s main fundraising group.

Continue reading...

All eyes on America’s ‘blue wall’ as Harris scrambles to woo key voters

Posted on by

Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin hold the election key – can the Democrats see off the challenge from Trump?

Away from the deafening roar of the party faithful that nightly fills the Democratic national convention in Chicago an urgent question is being asked behind the scenes: how can the party convert the energy that has exploded around Kamala Harris’s belated candidacy into actual votes on election day?

All eyes are on the “blue wall” states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, where the identity of the 47th US president is likely to be settled. The outsized significance of the three states in the race is evident in the scramble of the presidential candidates to woo them.

Continue reading...

Barack Obama calls on Americans to elect Kamala Harris – as it happened

Posted on by

This blog is closed

Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s former lawyer, has turned up at the Democratic national convention, for reasons unknown.

Cohen fell out with Trump years ago, and was a witness for the prosecution in the former president’s hush-money trial in New York, which ended with him being found guilty of 34 felonies related to falsifying business documents.

Continue reading...

Trump attacks Kamala Harris and ‘Marxist left’ in speech to police

Posted on by

Ex-president falsely claims US is in grip of violent crime wave, and vows to shield officers from legal accountability

Donald Trump has pledged to shield police officers from legal accountability if he is re-elected as president after falsely claiming the US is in the grip of a wave of violent crime that he blamed on the Black Lives Matter movement and migrants crossing the Mexican border.

Speaking to police officers in Michigan on Tuesday, the former president sought to pin responsibility for the imagined crisis on his Democratic opponent, Kamala Harris, who he characterised as among “Marxist district attorneys” with a record of being anti-police and pro-criminal during her term as the DA in San Francisco in the 2000s.

Continue reading...

Obama to bring message of hope 20 years after famous convention speech

Posted on by

Ex-president headlining in Chicago on Tuesday brings memories of 2004 appeal for unity that inspired Democrats

From “skinny kid with a funny name” to elder statesman: Barack Obama, the former US president, will be the headline speaker at the Democratic national convention in Chicago on Tuesday – 20 years after he first burst on to the national political scene.

Obama, a state legislator from Illinois, was days from his 43rd birthday and months from being elected to the Senate when he was given a slot at the party’s 2004 convention in Boston. “Rising star to woo voters with upbeat keynote speech,” was the Guardian headline on 27 July 2004.

Continue reading...

Obama to deliver ‘forceful affirmation’ for Kamala Harris – as it happened

Posted on by

This live blog is now closed. Please join us for all the latest developments from day two of the DNC in Chicago in our dedicated live blog:

Joe Biden described selecting Kamala Harris as his vice-president as “the best decision I made my whole career”, and he drew a sharp contrast between her and Donald Trump. Mocking Trump over his recent conviction on 34 felony counts, Biden said:

Violent crime has dropped to the lowest level of more than 50 years, and crime will keep coming down when we put a prosecutor in the Oval Office instead of a convicted felon.

When he talks about America being a failing nation, he says, we’re losing. He’s the loser. He’s dead wrong.

Guess who cast the tie-breaking vote? Vice-president, soon-to-be-president, Kamala Harris.

With a grateful heart, I stand before you now on this August night to report that democracy has prevailed. Democracy has delivered, and now democracy must be preserved.

Continue reading...

Barack and Michelle Obama to speak on second day of Democratic national convention

Posted on by

Theme set for Tuesday of Kamala Harris’s ‘bold vision’ will contrast with Trump’s dystopian vision of the US

The Democratic National Convention enters its second day in Chicago on Tuesday with Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign seeking to lay out what it calls a “bold vision for America” as it seeks to move forward from Joe Biden’s emotional valedictory speech.

Carrying the flame on the second night of primetime speeches will be the Obamas, with Michelle Obama addressing the convention shortly before her husband Barack takes the stage. The couple’s endorsement of Harris in July was seminal in securing the Democratic presidential nomination for the current US vice-president, helping to bypass a potentially ugly internal fight.

What is the DNC?

Joe Biden speaks at DNC night one following surprise appearance by Kamala Harris

Pro-Palestinian protesters march before DNC

Here are the rising stars and politicians to watch this week

What to know about Kamala Harris and Tim Walz

Continue reading...

Biden at the Democratic convention was unrecognisable from his disastrous debate

Posted on by

Biden’s voice was strong and clear, and the crowd was far warmer to him as an outgoing president

Joe Biden took the stage and held his daughter, Ashley, in a long embrace, whispered some tender words and wiped tears from his eyes. She smiled and kissed the hand of her ageing dad. The pair seemed to be at the quiet centre of a storm.

Around them more than 20,000 stood, applauded, roared and chanted, “We love Joe.” They held tall narrow signs that said, “We ♥️ Joe”. The US president walked to the lectern, smiling, pointing, looked pensive, smiled again and dabbed his nose with a handkerchief.

What is the DNC?

Joe Biden speaks at DNC night one following surprise appearance by Kamala Harris

Pro-Palestinian protesters march before DNC

Here are the rising stars and politicians to watch this week

What to know about Kamala Harris and Tim Walz

Continue reading...

Biden says he gave ‘heart and soul to our nation’ as he passes torch – as it happened

Posted on by

This blog is now closed. You can read our full report on Biden’s speech here.

Democrats aren’t shying away from discussing the Covid-19 pandemic, with Minnesota’s lieutenant governor Peggy Flanagan taking the stage to talk about the tragedy the virus brought upon her family, and how Donald Trump was to blame.

“My brother Ron was the second person to die of Covid in the state of Tennessee. We couldn’t see him. We couldn’t have a memorial. And millions of American families went through the same thing. Our communities were suffering, our economy was struggling, and Donald Trump was playing games. Our country was brought to the brink by his failure to respond, but the Biden-Harris administration stepped in with quick and decisive action,” Flanagan said.

Continue reading...

Biden urges voters to elect Harris in order to ‘preserve democracy’ in hopeful speech

Posted on by

US president delivers reflective and optimistic address on first night of the Democratic national convention

Just one month after making the historic choice to withdraw from the presidential race, Joe Biden took the stage at the Democratic national convention on Monday to deliver a reflective and optimistic address, urging the nation to elect Kamala Harris to protect American democracy.

Looking back on his one and only presidential term, Biden reminded Americans that he took office just two weeks after the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, when the country was still in the early grips of the coronavirus pandemic.

Continue reading...

Democratic convention live: Demonstrators begin filling Chicago’s Union Park; national guard ‘on standby’, says Illinois governor

Posted on by

JB Pritzker says 250 national guard members on standby; tens of thousands expected to protest in Chicago to demand US ends aid to Israel

The Harris-Walz campaign has launched a WhatsApp channel targeting Latino voters in what it described as a “first-of-its-kind in a presidential election”.

The channel aims to reach voters with “tailored, culturally competent content” to “create an organic avenue to reach Latino families from the abuelos to tías and tíos and primos”, it said in a statement on Monday.

While Donald Trump vilifies our community at every turn and uses us as a political punching bag, Vice President Harris and Governor Walz know the power of our community and are fighting everyday on the issues that matter to Latino voters.

Continue reading...

When is Biden’s Democratic convention speech? How to watch and what to know

Posted on by

The president will speak at the Democratic national convention in Chicago on Monday night

The Democratic national convention is under way, with a primetime address scheduled tonight from Joe Biden.

The president’s speech in Chicago opens a convention that, until 21 July, was meant to serve as his coronation as the Democratic nominee in a re-election bid. Having dropped out, Biden will now use his convention speech as a chance to highlight the accomplishments of his administration, and support the Harris-Walz ticket.

Continue reading...

Federal Reserve ‘poised to begin cutting rates as early as September’

Posted on by

Bank officials signal readiness to start interest rate-cutting cycle to ease pressure on households and businesses

Kamala Harris’s hopes of victory in the looming US presidential election have been given a boost by mounting expectations that the US Federal Reserve will cut interest rates from as early as September.

As Democrats gather for the party’s national convention in Chicago starting on Monday, economists on Wall Street said the world’s most powerful central bank was poised to begin a cycle of interest rate cuts before the end of the year.

Continue reading...