Harris vows ‘new way forward’ for America

CHICAGO: Kamala Harris accepted the Democratic presidential nomination in Chicago on Friday before a rapturous crowd, pledging a “new way forward” and warning that Donald Trump will take America backward if he wins November´s blockbuster election.

The 59-year-old sought to strike a presidential tone as she delivered a message of unity and patriotism for Americans after one of the most extraordinary turnarounds in US political history.

“With this election, our nation has a precious, fleeting opportunity to move past the bitterness, cynicism, and divisive battles of the past -- a chance to chart a new way forward,” Harris said to huge cheers from tens of thousands of pumped-up supporters.

“And I want you to know: I promise to be a president for all Americans.”

The convention became a giant party to celebrate Harris´s astonishing ascent from something of a political afterthought to Democratic standard bearer upon President Joe Biden´s surprise decision to end his reelection bid.

A sea of waving Stars and Stripes flags and chants of “USA” filled the arena as jubilant Democrats anointed Harris.

She was later joined on stage by her running mate Tim Walz and their families, as they held their arms aloft while 100,000 red, white and blue balloons tumbled from the ceiling.

Country act The Chicks sang a version of “The Star-Spangled Banner” while pop star Pink also performed as the Democrats rolled out a list of celebrity backers.

But it was Harris´s time to shine on the biggest night of her political life, after becoming the first Black woman to be nominated by a major US party. She reached out to voters across America´s bitter political divide, promising to bring economic opportunity and protect their personal freedoms on key issues like abortion.

“I will be a president who unites us around our highest aspirations,” she vowed.

Harris then launched a broadside at 78-year-old Trump, whose campaign has been upended by having to face a woman two decades younger, rather than the increasingly frail Biden, 81.

“We know what a second Trump term would look like,” she said, saying he wanted to “pull our country back to the past.” She laid out her personal story as a child of a single working mother, and her career as a prosecutor, saying she has the background and experience to serve the country in contrast to Trump who she said only works for himself and “his billionaire friends.”

Turning to foreign policy, she accused Trump of trying to “cozy up” to foreign autocrats like Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Harris pledged instead to “stand strong” with Ukraine as it fights Russia´s invasion and support NATO allies -- again all in stark contrast to Trump´s isolationist stance.

On the hugely divisive issue of Israel´s war in Gaza, Harris went further than the rhetoric of her boss Biden by calling the scale of suffering in the Palestinian enclave “heartbreaking”.She took aim at Trump´s domestic agenda, saying he does not fight for the middle class or everyday Americans. “Instead, he fights for himself and his billionaire friends, and he will give them another round of tax breaks.”

Harris also warned of the hard-right “Project 2025,” a radical governing blueprint drawn up by a think tank. “Its sum total is to pull our country back to the past,” she said.

Meanwhile, Robert F. Kennedy Jr, scion of America´s storied political clan, suspended his long shot presidential bid on Friday and endorsed Donald Trump, injecting a new dose of uncertainty into the White House race.

“I no longer believe that I have a realistic path of electoral victory,” Kennedy, an anti-vaccine activist and conspiracy theorist who was polling in the low single digits, said at a press conference in swing state Arizona.

Kennedy, 70, condemned the selection of Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic standard-bearer without a primary contest and cited a long list of grievances against his former party that he said had led him to now “throw my support to president Trump.”

Kennedy´s independent candidacy featured a number of bizarre stories -- including about suffering from a parasitic brain worm and depositing a dead bear cub in Central Park -- and drew the opposition of most of his famous family, who threw their weight behind the Democratic ticket.