CHICAGO: Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris made a surprise appearance at the party's national convention on Monday night, drawing cheers from the crowd as she vowed to defeat Republican rival Donald Trump in the November election.
“Let us fight for the ideals we hold dear and always remember that when we fight, we win!” said Harris, the US vice president, in brief remarks that drew roars from the crowd.
He was expected to appear later with President Joe Biden, Monday's keynote speaker, the first night of a four-day event in Chicago.
Biden's appearance at the start of the four-day event caps a dramatic handover to his No. 2 after party leaders pressured him to drop out of the race last month, concerned the 81-year-old incumbent was too old to win or serve another four years.
After serving as vice president to America's first black president, Barack Obama, Biden dropped out of the race to allow his own second-in-command to try to make history as the first woman, black woman and first Asian American to hold the nation's highest office.
Hillary Clinton, who became the first woman to win a major U.S. party's presidential nomination, was scheduled to address the rally later Monday.
Clinton has twice fallen short, losing the party's nomination to Obama in 2008 and the election to Trump in 2016, a bitter disappointment for the trailblazing but polarizing political figure.
During a tour of the convention center Monday afternoon, Biden was asked if it was a bittersweet moment.
“It's a memorable moment,” he told reporters.
Biden, who will speak at 10:50 p.m. Eastern time (02:50 GMT Tuesday), will portray the former Republican president as a threat to American democracy while touting the achievements of the Biden-Harris administration.
A note of uncertainty
As Democrats gathered for their national convention, thousands of people gathered at a nearby park to protest the party's military support for Israel's offensive in Gaza.
Pro-Palestinian protesters were fewer than the tens of thousands organizers had predicted, but a splinter group left the main march and breached a security perimeter near the convention center, drawing riot police who detained four people.
The protests injected a note of uncertainty into what is likely to be a week of celebration, with some on the party’s left flank angry at the Biden administration’s support for Israel’s actions in Gaza.
Hala Hijazi, a business executive from San Francisco, broke down in tears while speaking at a panel on the war in Gaza attended by 300 people.
“I'm here because more than 100 members of my family have been killed in Gaza, two of them last week,” Hijazi said. “I'm here in their honor. I'm here because they can't speak anymore, because it's the least I can do as an American, as a person of faith and as a Democrat.”
The protesters did not appear likely to pressure Democrats to change. The party voted Monday to approve a 92-page policy platform that does not call for an arms embargo against Israel, a demand of pro-Palestinian groups. The United States on Tuesday approved an additional $20 billion in arms sales to Israel.
Harris arrives at the convention in a historic whirlwind: her campaign has broken fundraising records, filled stadiums with supporters and tilted opinion polls in some battleground states in favor of Democrats.
Harris' vice presidential running mate, popular Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, was greeted with chants of “We're not going back” on Monday as he met with groups of delegates.
But one prominent supporter warned fellow Democrats not to be too optimistic. “Our numbers are much less optimistic than what you see in the public,” said Chauncey McLean, who heads Future Forward, a committee that has raised hundreds of millions of dollars to help elect Harris.
Biden abandoned his re-election bid after his disastrous debate against Trump on June 27 prompted longtime allies, major donors and other party supporters to demand that he step aside.
Polls a month ago showed Trump with a clear lead over Biden, but Harris has closed the gap both nationally and in many of the highly competitive states, including Pennsylvania, that will play a decisive role in the election.
“Democrats are furious,” Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers told reporters. “We have a Republican candidate sitting there talking nonsense.”
Harris will call this week to raise the U.S. corporate tax rate from 21% to 28%, her campaign said, partially undoing one of Trump's signature achievements during his 2017-2021 White House tenure.
Trump on 'Comrade Kamala'
Meanwhile, Trump plans to campaign this week in key states that will likely determine the outcome of the election.
Some major allies and donors have been urging Trump to avoid racial and gender-based slurs against Harris and instead focus his attacks on her political record.
At a small business in southern Pennsylvania, he repeatedly referred to Harris as “Comrade Kamala” in an effort to portray her as a communist at an event to discuss economic policies.
