But for all the celebrity glamour and DJ tunes, the message was clear: The next two and a half months will be full of the unglamorous work of fighting through what is still a close election result.
As she often does in her speeches, Harris used her mother’s example to support her argument.
“She taught Maya and me a lesson that Michelle mentioned the other day: She taught us never to complain about injustice, but to do something about it,” Harris said as the crowd chanted “Do something.”
“She also taught us, ‘And never do anything half-heartedly,’ and that was a direct quote,” Harris added.
In her speech, Harris recounted her personal story as a child of immigrants – mostly raised by a single mother – which brought home to her the dangers of a second term for Donald Trump, bringing the crowd to a deafening volume.
Harris cited her experience as a prosecutor and California Attorney General in the fight against drug, gun and human cartels.
“And I tell you, the battles were not easy, and neither were the elections that put me in these offices,” Harris said. “But we never gave up, because the future is always worth fighting for. And that is the fight we are fighting right now, a fight for the future of America.”
The delegates and their guests seem to have taken this message to heart. McKenzie Parkins, from Georgia, received an invitation to participate two weeks ago from a friend who is a member of the state delegation and immediately accepted. Finally, her colleague Kamala Harris from the Alpha Kappa Alpha fraternity was the nominee.
She said that after participating this week, she is ready to spread the message in her community, such as by registering as many voters as possible.
“I’m so glad I was able to come because when I get home I think about what am I doing? What am I not doing? Who have I talked to? Who have I not talked to?” Parkins said. “I absolutely have to do more than what I’m doing and find a way to get everyone I know to do more than what we’re doing. Now is the time, this is the choice.”
The mood was exuberant all week, with overtones more suited to a major concert tour than a party convention. One speaker after another spoke of a “joyful” election campaign.
Representative Ayanna Pressley, the first woman of color elected to Congress for Massachusetts, called the moment of being nominated as the first woman of color as a major party’s presidential candidate an “exhilarating” experience.
“It’s overwhelming,” Pressley said shortly after helping the delegation cast its 116 votes for Harris on Tuesday night. “I would say it’s surreal, but I think that would be a disservice, because it doesn’t feel surreal. It feels very real, and that’s the great thing about it.”
But the celebrations also brought with them a reality check.
California Rep. Nanette Barragán said she had already had people come to her asking for tickets to the inauguration and that she had to remind them not to act too hastily.
“This energy, the excitement is great, it feels good. But we have to get to work,” Barragán said. “Because remember years ago when Hillary Clinton was all saying she was going to win and we had it in the bag. And I don’t want people to have that feeling in this election and take nothing for granted.”
Barragán has already started with her sister Veronica Barragán, a flight attendant who said she was never particularly interested in politics. But she, too, was moved by the week. As she spoke, Veronica Barragán wiped tears from her eyes and said the week had been eye-opening.
“This week has been so moving that it has really changed the way I look at things,” she said. “The friends back home who are maybe crucial – they make me go home and say, ‘Wake the fuck up, because this is really happening.'”
Harris herself has made it clear that she sees herself as an “outsider” in this race, even though polls show that she is quickly catching up with Trump since she replaced President Biden on the ballot.
She ran a vigorous election campaign in the swing states, simultaneously chose a vice presidential candidate, planned a party convention, and slowly and at an accelerated pace implemented her political priorities.
Harris even took the remarkable step of holding a rally during her own convention, flying less than 100 miles north to the crucial swing state of Wisconsin to fill an arena in Milwaukee, from where she was shown on the convention’s big screen, and vice versa. It was a flexible move to show how her campaign was filling two venues to the brim at once, the DNC in Chicago and the same arena in Milwaukee. where the Republican National Convention was held in July. But it was also a reflection of Harris’ challenge to introduce herself to voters and win them over before early voting begins, which in some cases does not begin until next month.
Campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon said at an event hosted by Politico this week that she does not expect an obvious path to victory.
“We don’t have it,” O’Malley Dillon said, according to Politico. “We are a polarized nation in a difficult time, and despite all the things that are happening in this country, Donald Trump still has more support than ever before. … Every single vote is going to matter.”
Charlotte Gullap-Moore, a California delegate from Santa Barbara who is also a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha, said Seeing Harris win the nomination was “overwhelming,” but was quick to note that there is a tough road ahead.
“I’m getting goosebumps right now. This is just something that’s been long overdue,” Gullap-Moore said. “But we still have a big fight ahead of us. We can’t let up. This momentum is a movement, not a moment, and we have to go full throttle, full throttle, to help it succeed.”
Tal Kopan can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her @talkopan.
