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Kamala Harris<\/strong> promised to chart a \u201cnew way forward\u201d for the nation as she accepted the Democratic nomination for president Thursday, the final night of a star-studded and amped-up convention in Chicago. \u201cWith this election, our nation has a precious, fleeting opportunity to move past the bitterness, cynicism, and divisive battles of the past,\u201d the vice president told an arena crowd packed with enthusiastic supporters. \u201cI will be a president who unites us around our highest aspirations. A president who leads and listens. Who is realistic, practical, and has common sense. And always fights for the American people.\u201d<\/p>\n The standing-room-only crowd erupted when Harris took the United Center stage. Even those who spilled out into the concourse cheered wildly, with supporters waving KAMALA signs as they squeezed together around small televisions to watch the vice president deliver the biggest, most consequential speech of her career. \u201cThe future is always worth fighting for,\u201d she said. \u201cWe are not going back.\u201d<\/p>\n Harris\u2014who became the first Black and South Asian woman to lead a major party ticket\u2014touted her record as a prosecutor, U.S. senator, and vice president to Joe Biden<\/strong>, who dropped his candidacy only a month ago. She laid out a policy agenda centered around \u201cfreedom\u201d and \u201ccommon sense.\u201d And she laced into Donald Trump<\/strong>, the former president who is running to return to power on an even more extreme policy program. \u201cThey are out of their minds,\u201d she said of her Republican challengers.<\/p>\n It was a commanding, sweeping speech, ranging from domestic issues like abortion protections to the Israel-Hamas war that has weighed on her party. Harris notably drew a roar of applause when she vowed to ensure the \u201csuffering in Gaza ends,\u201d even as she emphasized Israel\u2019s right to defend itself.<\/p>\n The DNC was, in part, a celebration of its past, with rousing speeches by the Obamas<\/a>, the Clintons<\/a>, and of course Biden<\/a>, whose address on the convention\u2019s opening night was something of a swan song for a presidency and a decades-long career in public office. But it also marked the beginning of a new chapter for the Democratic party: \u201cI see a nation ready to move forward,\u201d Harris said in her speech, \u201cready for the next step in the incredible journey that is America.\u201d<\/p>\n Of course, the baton was not only being passed to Harris\u2014it was, in many ways, being handed off to a new generation of Democratic talent, from rising stars like Representative Jasmine Crockett<\/strong> to those whose moment seemed to arrive this week in primetime speeches, including Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez<\/strong>, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg<\/strong>, and Maryland Governor Wes Moore<\/strong>. \u201cI think for too long, you\u2019ve seen the same people talking about the same issues,\u201d Wisconsin Secretary of State Sarah Godlewski<\/strong> told me Thursday afternoon, before the vice president\u2019s speech. \u201cWhat we are seeing today is a diverse group of Democratic leaders who are actually talking about American values.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI have to explain to my colleagues what \u2018coconut pilling\u2019 is, and that \u2018brat\u2019 is a good thing,\u201d California Congresswoman Sara Jacobs<\/strong>, the youngest member of Democratic leadership in the House, joked over coffee one morning here. \u201cBut I think that people are really excited to focus on the future and to think about the future,\u201d she told me, \u201cand to really turn the page on this dark chapter of American history where Donald Trump<\/strong> has been so ever-present.\u201d<\/p>\n Indeed, the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee last month showcased a GOP unified behind Trump, but one still preoccupied with the \u201cAmerican carnage\u201d of his 2016 run and the petty grievances he\u2019s been grousing about since 2020. Democrats\u2014after Biden stepped down\u2014turned their focus on the future, putting the spotlight on young figures: \u201cWe have to remember that we are powerful,\u201d State Representative Justin Pearson<\/strong>, one of the \u201cTennessee Three<\/a>,\u201d told a crowd at a youth voter engagement event at the Epiphany Center for the Arts on Chicago\u2019s west side. \u201cYou don\u2019t have to have fancy suits and fancy titles. All you have to do is use your voice, use your vote, use your time,\u201d he added, noting that younger voters are now poised to exert extraordinary influence this cycle. \u201cOur issues matter, what we say matters, and what we want to see happen in this country matters.\u201d (To say the students in attendance gave the 29-year-old a standing ovation is an understatement; they jumped up to applaud as if they were ejected out of their seats.)<\/p>\n You could feel the generational shift beyond the official programming. At a \u201cHotties for Harris\u201d party Tuesday night, young Democrats gabbed in front of a HALL OF HOTTIES (Harris, Biden, Walz, Stacey Abrams<\/strong>, Steve Kerr<\/strong>) and a HALL OF WEIRDOS (Trump, JD Vance<\/strong>, Vivek Ramaswamy<\/strong>) and danced in front of strobing coconut trees. It was like a being inside of a meme. \u201cPolitics should be accessible,\u201d Jack Lobel<\/strong>, the 20-year-old national press secretary of Voters for Tomorrow, a youth advocacy organization, told me as the party dispersed. The work they\u2019re doing is \u201cserious,\u201d the Columbia University undergrad told me, but it should also be \u201cuplifting.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis is about love and unity,\u201d Lobel told me.<\/p>\n Unity had been hard to come by for Democrats just a month ago, as Biden resisted calls from within his party to drop his nomination. His decision to ultimately do so\u2014just days after the RNC\u2014upended the race in Democrats\u2019 favor, and has, for now, got the party suddenly pulling in the same direction. But can they keep it going?<\/p>\n It certainly looked like it inside the convention hall. But one of the biggest issues dividing Democrats\u2014and alienating younger voters in particular\u2014was looming right outside. Not far from the United Center, thousands of protesters demanded a ceasefire in Gaza\u2014and, as Ta-Nehisi Coates<\/strong> reported<\/a> here, uncommitted delegates pressed Harris and the Democrats to allow a Palestinian American to speak on stage at the convention. Ultimately, they wouldn\u2019t get one.<\/p>\n One thing is certain: The November election, as Arizona Senator Mark Kelly<\/strong> warned on the convention stage Thursday, will be close. And the stakes\u2014for the rights that will be threatened by Project 2025 to the democratic system Trump has sought to erode\u2014are extraordinarily high.<\/p>\n \u201cDonald Trump is an unserious man,\u201d Harris said in her keynote Thursday. \u201cBut the consequences of putting Donald Trump back in the White House are extremely serious.\u201d<\/p>\n Democrats may only have 70-odd days to keep that from happening, but they wrapped their convention with all the momentum behind them. \u201cWe are the heirs to the greatest democracy in the history of our world,\u201d Harris said. \u201cIt is now our turn to do what generations before us have done: Guided by optimism and faith, to fight for this country that we love.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n