The Democratic Party kicked off a national convention in Chicago, Illinois, on Monday to celebrate Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as its presidential and vice presidential nominees for the Nov. 5 general election.

The four-day Democratic National Convention caps intense weeks of Harris’ whirlwind campaign to rally once-dispirited Democrats behind her, reinvigorate the party’s support base, build her war chest and clinch the party’s nomination following President Joe Biden’s unprecedented exit from the 2024 race last month.

While Harris already secured the nomination through a virtual roll call vote earlier this month, this week’s convention is seen as a symbolic and ceremonial crowning of Harris, who is expected to make her impassioned case against Republican nominee and former President Donald Trump.

Briefly appearing on the convention stage Monday, Harris reiterated a resonant rallying cry: “When we fight, we win.”

“This November, we will come together and dec
lare with one voice as one people (that) we are moving forward with optimism, hope and faith so guided by our love of country, knowing we all have so much more in common than what separates us,” she told a cheering crowd of Democrats.

“Let us fight for the ideals we hold dear, and let us always remember when we fight, we win,” she added.

She also extended her appreciation for Biden’s lifelong service to the nation.

As is a tradition, Harris plans to deliver an official nomination acceptance speech on Thursday, the final day of the convention. She is expected to further elucidate her policy stances on economic, social, security and other issues.

With the nomination, Harris, a daughter of Jamaican- and Indian-born parents, has become the first woman of color to secure a major party’s presidential ticket. If elected in November, Harris would become the nation’s first female president.

Walz, a former six-term lawmaker, social studies teacher and football coach, is scheduled to make his speech on Wednesday as
he has been striving to court swing voters and broaden the Democratic ticket’s appeal.

The opening of the convention was a star-studded event featuring prominent attendees, including Biden and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Clinton characterized Harris as a leader that “has the character, experience and vision to lead us forward” while reminding the audience of Trump’s conviction in a hush-money trial earlier this year.

“As a prosecutor, Kamala locked up murderers and drug traffickers. She will never rest in defense of our freedom and safety,” she said. “Donald Trump fell asleep at his own trial, and when he woke up, he made his own kind of history — the first person to run for president with 34 felony convictions.”

The former top diplomat also voiced confidence about Kamala’s potential role as America’s commander-in-chief.

“She reveres our Medal of Honor recipients. She won’t be sending love letters to dictators,” Clinton said in a reference to Trump’s oft-repeated boast of his exchange of
“love letters” with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

“She will defend democracy and our constitution, and will protect America from enemies, foreign and domestic.”

The convention is to proceed in four separate themes that highlight Harris’ campaign’s lines of criticism against Trump.

It opened with the theme, “For the People,” on Monday — a slogan that would reiterate Harris’ commitment to fighting on behalf of “everyday Americans,” her campaign said. The second-day event will feature the theme of “A Bold Vision for America’s Future” — a phrase that would double down on Harris’ argument that Trump’s policy agenda would “take us backwards.”

The themes for the third and last day are “A Fight for Our Freedoms” and “For Our Future,” respectively, as Harris has been stressing that freedom is at stake in this election.

The convention features a raft of big-name figures, including former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, as well as former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

The convention was expected to bri
ng together some 50,000 visitors, including about 5,000 delegates and alternates and roughly 15,000 members of the press, according to the convention organizers.

Recent polls have shown that Harris and Trump are in a tight race with the vice president ahead in some swing states.

During a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, a key battleground state, Trump doubled down on his attack against Harris.

“Every policy (of) Kamala Harris is (a) radical liberal playbook, sends jobs and wealth to other countries. Every policy and the Trump agenda is designed to bring the jobs and wealth back home to America where it belongs and where it’s going to stay,” he said. “Kamala puts America last. I put America first.”

Outside the convention venue, protesters staged rallies to highlight their stance on the ongoing war between Israel and the Hamas militant group.

Harris was sworn in as vice president in January 2021, making history as the first woman, the first Black American, and the first South Asian American to fill that pos
t. She was inaugurated as a senator of California in 2017 and previously served as the attorney general of California and district attorney of San Francisco.

Source: Yonhap News Agency