Live updates: Harris calls for unity, addresses war in Gaza in DNC speech

The former president rejected Fox News anchor Martha MacCallum when she pointed out that Harris is gaining in the polls and has made inroads with key voting groups.

“No, she’s not having success,” Trump said. “I’m having success. I’m doing great with the Hispanic voters. I’m doing great with Black men. I’m doing great with women, because women want safety.”

“No, it’s only in your eyes that they have that Martha,” he added. “We’re doing very well in the polls.”

— Brett Samuels

The former president called into Fox News to offer his fast reactions to Harris’s speech after it concluded.

“The biggest reaction is why didn’t she do the things that she’s complaining about?” Trump said. “All of these things that she talked about…but she didn’t do any of it.”

“It was a lot of complaining,” he added.

— Brett Samuels

Vice President Harris has wrapped up her speech, ending the last and final speaker at this year’s Democratic National Convention. She was met on stage by her husband, second gentleman Doug Emhoff, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and his wife, Gwen.

— Caroline Vakil

Harris devoted a significant passage in her remarks to the war in Gaza, one of the most contentious and divisive issues for the Democratic Party.

“What has happened in Gaza over the past 10 months is devastating. So many innocent lives lost. Desperate, hungry people fleeing for safety over and over again. The scale of suffering is heartbreaking,” she said.

“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,” she added, drawing applause from the crowd and bringing people to their feet.

— Brett Samuels

Vice President Harris’ speech prompted the crowd at the Democratic National Convention to chant “we’re not going back!” as she delivered her keynote address.

“We know what a second Trump term would look like. It’s all laid out in Project 2025, written by his closest advisors, and its sum total is to pull our country back to the past,” Harris said, referring to a conservative policy wishlist spearheaded by the Heritage Foundation whose contributors include former Trump White House officials.

“But America, we are not going back. We are not going back,” she said. The crowd later chanted the phrase.

— Caroline Vakil

Former President Trump issued a slew of responses as Harris spoke, posting on Truth Social directly about the content of her speech.

In separate posts, Trump reacted to Harris’s criticisms of his actions on Jan. 6 and his myriad legal problems, as well as the policy proposals put forward in Project 2025.

“IS SHE TALKING ABOUT ME?” Trump posted.

— Brett Samuels

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D) lauded Vice President Harris, calling her “one hell of a fighter” in the speech leading up to Harris’ keynote remarks.

“For families who need better health care or a safer place to live, Kamala will fight for you. For parents who want better schools for their kids, for workers worried about a secure retirement for themselves, Kamala will fight for you,” Cooper said.

“For any one of our allies anywhere in the world, wondering if America still has your back. Remember this: Kamala will fight for you, and when she fights, we win,” he added.

Cooper’s remarks are notable given he was on the shortlist to be Harris’ running mate. He later withdrew from the process amid concerns over the controversial Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson (R).

— Caroline Vakil

Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) hammered Donald Trump on Thursday night, accusing the former president of threatening American democracy and destroying the Republican Party as he knew it.

In a primetime speech delivered shortly before Vice President Harris is taking the stage, Kinzinger denounced Trump’s role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and accused his supporters in the GOP of abandoning the basic tenets of conservatism that had guided the party for decades before Trump’s arrival.

“The Republican Party is no longer conservative,” Kinzinger said. “It has switched its allegiance from the principles that gave it purpose to a man who’s only purpose is himself.”

— Mike Lillis

Vice President Harris takes the stage as the final speaker of day four of the DNC.

— Caroline Vakil

Harris’s younger sister, Maya Harris, gave a glowing endorsement of the vice president and shared that she knows about being underestimated.

“She has created so much electricity, so much optimism, so much joy throughout the nation,” Maya Harris said.

She opened her remarks talking about their mother, Shyamala Harris, saying that she “raised us to believe that we could be and do anything, and we believed her.” She was teary-eyed, saying she wished their mother could be there tonight.

She never mentioned Trump by name, but noted others see darkness and want to drag us back to the past.

“We may all have different histories, different struggles or different perspectives but what binds us together is the fervent desire to be free,” she said. “Like so many Americans, Kamala knows what it’s like to be underestimated and be counted out.”

— Alex Gangitano

Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) rallied around Vice President Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) at the Democrats’ convention — a notable move, given he’s engaged in a competitive Senate bid in Arizona against Republican Kari Lake.

“Kamala Harris has delivered more benefits to more veterans than ever before, and has achieved the lowest veterans unemployment rate in history. Vice President Harris has stood up for us and our families, always,” Gallego said, noting Walz’s service in the Army National Guard.

Veterans joined Gallego on the stage.

“But politicians like Donald Trump, they don’t stand with us. They call patriots like Sen. [John] McCain losers,” he said. “John McCain was an American hero. Show some respect!”

— Caroline Vakil

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) criticized Trump and asked voters to ask themselves who they want in charge in times of crisis.

“What if it’s him. What if it’s that man from Mar-a-Lago,” she said.

“Donald Trump called me ‘that woman from Michigan’ as an insult. Being a woman from Michigan is a badge of honor,” she added. “Like women across America, we just GSD — get stuff done.”

She also called out Trump for having a chauffeur and questioned if he’s ever been to a grocery store.

“Kamala Harris she gets us, she sees us, she is us,” Whitmer said.

— Alex Gangitano

Three prominent Arizona speakers got prime speaking slots on the last day of the Democrats’ convention.

Former Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-Ariz.) and her husband Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) in addition to Rep, Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), who is running for Senate, addressed the crowd in Chicago.

Gallego’s appearance in particular is notable given that he’s running in a competitive Senate race against Republican Kari Lake for outgoing Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s (I-Ariz.) seat. Several Senate Democrats have avoided the DNC given the competitiveness of their reelection bid. An aggregate of Arizona surveys compiled by Decision Desk HQ shows Gallego leading Lake 48 percent to 42 percent.

– Caroline Vakil

Former Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-Ariz.) thanked President Biden and praised Vice President Harris while speaking at the Democratic National Convention on Thursday.

“Thank you, Joe Biden. Thank you for everything. Joe is a great president,” Giffords said, flanked by her husband Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.).

She noted that Biden checked in on her after a shooting that took place in 2011 in Tucson, Ariz., where she and a dozen others were injured while a half a dozen more were killed.

“My friend Kamala will be a great president. She is tough. She has grit. Kamala beats the gun lobby. She can fight gun trafficking,” she said.

“Kamala stood up to Wall Street and the drug companies. She will protect abortion access. She will defend our freedoms.”

“Join me in voting for Kamala Harris!”

— Caroline Vakil

Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) laid into Trump during his remarks, arguing that the world laughed at the U.S. under the former president.

“The world laughs at Trump, literally. But folks, that is not funny. When he was president, that meant the world was laughing at us,” he said.

Kelly said that Putin is testing America’s strength and said that Trump thinks Russia can do whatever it wants in Ukraine. He also said Trump sucks up to dictators and dreams of becoming one himself.

Kelly was under consideration to serve as Harris’s VP before she picked Walz.

— Alex Gangitano

Gun control advocates, who lost loved ones to gun violence, struck a somber tone at the DNC and called for gun reform.

Rep. Lucy McBath (D-Ga.), who lost her son to gun violence; Sandy Hook School shooting survivor Abbey Clements; Kim Rubio, who lost her daughter in the Uvalde, Texas, school shooting, and gun violence survivors Melody McFadden and Edgar Vilchez appeared on stage together in an emotional show of unity.

Each speaker shared their story and why they were advocating for gun reform.

“Our losses do not weaken us. They strengthen our resolve,” McBath said, urging gun control advocates to run for office.

— Julia Manchester

Pop singer Pink performed her song “What About Us?” at the DNC on Thursday night.

Her daughter Willow joined her in singing the song, which was first released in 2017 as a political anthem in the wake of former President Trump’s election.

— Brandon Conradis

Comedian D.L. Hughley played off Trump’s skepticism on Harris’s race, quipping that she has “been Black a lot longer than [Donald] Trump’s been a Republican” while taking the stage at the DNC.

Trump questioned Harris’s racial identity and ethnicity during a Q&A at the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) Convention last month.

Hughley also nodded to the fact that Trump was once a Democrat.

“And if he keeps sliding in the polls the way he is, the only way to keep Kamala out of the White House is if he buys it and refuses to rent it to her,” Hughley said.

— Caroline Vakil

“Scandal” stars Kerry Washington and Tony Goldwyn reunited on stage at the DNC and took a selfie video for social media.

Washington took to the stage first, touting her support for Harris and revved up Democrats in the audience.

“I am standing on this stage, but I am not the lead character in this story,” Washington said, calling Democrats and Harris supporters “the superheroes in this story.”

“You are the fixers, dare I say it, you are the Olivia Pope’s,” she said, referencing her character who is a political fixer.

Washington then asked for someone to bring her phone over when Goldwyn appeared with her phone, prompting the crowd to erupt in cheers.

The two then chanted with the crowd, “when we fight, we win.”

— Julia Manchester

Three young women in Harris’s life took the stage to talk about her personal side and share their love for her.

Meena Harris, the vice president’s niece, said her “auntie” “showed her the meaning of service,” adding that she guided her throughout her life.

Ella Emhoff, second gentleman Doug Emhoff’s daughter, talked about how stepmom Harris came into her life when she was 14. Harris and Emhoff have been married for 10 years— their anniversary is today.

“She was patient, caring and always took me seriously. She never stopped listening to me and will never stop listening to all of us,” Emhoff said.

Harris’s goddaughter Helena Hudlin added, “let’s keep up the fight and let’s keep up the joy.”

— Alex Gangitano

President Biden said he and first lady Jill Biden spoke with Vice President Harris ahead of her acceptance speech at the DNC Thursday night.

“[We] can’t wait to watch her accept this historic nomination,” Biden tweeted, along with a photo of him and Jill watching the convention on TV in California, where they flew for vacation after the president’s speech on Monday night.

“Kamala and Tim will inspire a generation and lead us into the future,” Biden said.

Biden spoke at the DNC on Monday night and then traveled to California.

— Brandon Conradis

The iconic country trio The Chicks took the stage on Thursday to sing “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the DNC.

– Caroline Vakil

Craig Sicknick, the brother of Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick – who died following the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot – made an appearance and offered brief remarks at the Democrats’ convention on Thursday.

The Capitol riots became a focal point during several of the speeches on the third night of the DNC on Wednesday.

“We need a real leader, not an autocrat who was stuck in the past,” Sicknick said before addressing his late brother. “Brian, we miss you every day.”

— Caroline Vakil

NBA star Steph Curry endorsed Harris with a video message played at the DNC.

Curry, wearing his USA basketball team shirt and gold medal, said that he supports Harris and encouraged Democrats to vote in November.

“The Oval Office suits her well. So in the words of Michelle Obama, do something! Go vote. We have to,” Curry said.

Curry plays for the Golden State Warriors. The team’s coach, Steve Kerr, endorsed Harris at the convention in remarks on Monday night.

— Alex Gangitano

Florida Rep. Maxwell Frost, who is the first Gen Z member of Congress, highlighted the threat of climate change in a fiery speech.

Frost called out Trump and Vance, saying they “think they can divide us by saying the climate crisis is some hoax.”

“Fighting the climate crisis is patriotic,” he said to massive cheers on the convention floor. “And unlike Trump, our patriotism is more than some slogan on a hat. It’s about giving a damn about the people who live in this country — because when you love someone, you want them to have clean air. When you love someone, you want them to have safe drinking water. And when you love someone, you want them to have a dignified job.”

— Julia Manchester

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland hailed Harris’s climate record in her remarks Thursday night.

Haaland took aim at former Trump’s history of falsely describing climate change as a “hoax,” blasting him as having “never learned [the] lesson” of human responsibility for climate change. She contrasted Trump’s record with Harris’ as vice president as well as her tenure as a senator and attorney general of California.

“She held polluters accountable for spilling oil into the San Francisco Bay, she defended President Obama’s Clean Power Plan in court, and as vice president, she cast the tie-breaking vote for the most ambitious climate action plan in our nation’s history,” Haaland said, referencing the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act.

— Zack Budryk

Harris will bash Trump, her political rival this cycle, by highlighting the conservative Project 2025 agenda in her convention speech on Thursday.

“We know what a second Trump term would look like. It’s all laid out in ‘Project 2025.’ … In many ways, Donald Trump is an unserious man,” Harris is expected to say.

“But the consequences of putting Donald Trump back in the White House are extremely serious… Consider the power he will have —especially after the United States Supreme Court just ruled he would be immune from criminal prosecution,” Harris will add.

— Alex Gangitano

Harris will honor her late mother, Shyamala Harris, in her convention speech on Thursday.

“My mother Shyamala Harris had one of her own. I miss her every day — especially now. And I know she’s looking down tonight, and smiling,” Harris is expected to say in her acceptance speech.

She will add, “My mother was 19 when she crossed the world alone, traveling from India to California with an unshakeable dream to be the scientist who would cure breast cancer.”

And, she will talk about how it was her mother who raised her and her sister, highlighting that they rented a small apartment in the East Bay.

— Alex Gangitano

Members of the Central Park Five, who were wrongly convicted of rape and assault, spoke to a rapt convention hall, taking aim at former President Trump, who had called for their execution.

“45 wanted us unalive. He wanted us dead,” Yusef Salaam told the convention.“He has never changed, and he never will. That man thinks that hate is the animating force in America. It is not,” he added.

Korey Wise, who was also part of the group, spoke as well.

— Brett Samuels

The Rev. Al Sharpton lauded Vice President Harris’s presidential bid as a pathway to realizing the dream of Shirley Chisholm, the first African American woman to seek the Democratic nomination for president.

“Tonight we are going to realize Shirley Chisholm’s dream. Fifty-two years ago, I was one of the youth directors in her campaign for president. And 52 years after she was told to sit down, I know she’s watching us tonight as a Black woman stands up to accept the nomination for president of the United States,” Sharpton said to raucous applause.

“We have fought too hard for women to be told to get out of the kitchen. We are now on our way to the Oval Office. We won’t go back.”

Harris has already made history as the first woman to hold the vice presidential post, and would be the first female president if elected this fall. She is the second woman to be nominated for the presidency by a major party, after former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton won the Democratic nod in 2016.

— Julia Mueller