CHICAGO — The 2024 DNC in Chicago comes to a crescendo Thursday night as Kamala Harris will take the stage to make her case to the country that she is the right person to be the next president of the United States.
Harris will step onto the biggest stage of her political career and give the most important speech of her life.
The theme of the final night is “For Our Future.”
She’s expected talk about a middle-class upbringing with a working mother. She will continue to stress the themes we’ve heard from speakers throughout the convention: optimism and patriotism — the “politics of joy” — drawing a contrast, her campaign says, with the “dark” vision of Donald Trump.
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While Harris’ candidacy has unleashed a high level of enthusiasm and determination among Democrats, she is still defining her policy priorities and the ideological direction she will take the party. Last Friday, she unveiled her first major goal when she announced a raft of economic policies meant to lower the cost of living for working- and middle-class Americans.
She made a brief appearance on stage during the opening night of the convention as well, and beamed in with running mate Tim Walz from a Wisconsin rally when she ceremonially became the nominee during Tuesday’s roll call, but that was just preparation for tonight’s keynote speech.
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“I think we’re going to be getting a sense of her idea of where we’re going next. What’s important from all of this is, for the past four days, we’ve been hearing about the values that we all share as Americans and celebrating this country,” said Highland Park, Ill. Mayor Nancy Rotering.
What time does Kamala Harris speak tonight and the rest of the DNC Night 4 speaker schedule
The DNC has run late every night so far, but if previous night programming is a guide, the hope will be for Harris to take the stage in the latter half of the 9 p.m. hour, CT.
The full program for the final night of the Democratic Convention has not yet been released, but Harris-Walz spokesman Michael Tyler did confirm the following speakers for Thursday night:
- Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland
- Former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Marcia Fudge
- California Senator Alex Padilla
- Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey
- Wisconsin Senator Tammy Baldwin
- Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren
- Arizona Senator Mark Kelly
- Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey
- Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer
- Massachusetts U.S. Rep. Katherine Clark
- Illinois Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger
- Georgia U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath
- Colorado U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse
- Florida U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost
- Michigan U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin
- Texas U.S. Rep. Colin Allred
- Arizona U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego
- “The Tennessee Three:” State Reps. Gloria Johnson, Justin Jones, Justin Pearson
- Arizona U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords
- Gun violence survivors and gun safety advocates
A performance by Pink is also confirmed, and she was seen rehearsing at the United Center Thursday afternoon.
And a number of performance mic checks and Oprah Winfrey’s surprise appearance Wednesday night have fueled speculation about whether there may be another surprise guest tonight. Could it be Taylor Swift? Beyoncé? No one is telling, so we’ll just have to find out.
Harris introduces herself, her policies to America
Despite Harris’ prominence as vice president, she’s spent four years in Biden’s shadow, leaving some Americans unclear on her personal history and her political vision for the country.
Harris’ team has emphasized her law enforcement background, including her time as San Francisco district attorney and California attorney general. She was later elected to the U.S. Senate and sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020.
Her campaign imploded that year before a single primary vote was cast, but Biden chose her as his running mate, catapulting her to the national stage.
Although Harris initially struggled as vice president, her reputation grew when she became the administration’s leading advocate for abortion rights after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Democrats harnessed anger over the decision to stem their losses in the last midterm elections.
Harris, the daughter of immigrants from Jamaica and India, will be the first Black woman and the first person of South Asian descent to accept a major party’s presidential nomination. If elected, she would be the first female U.S. president.
Buzz after Gov. Tim Walz’s speech carries into 2nd day
Wednesday night, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, her choice for running mate, thanked the packed Chicago arena for ” bringing the joy ” to the election.
“We’re all here tonight for one beautiful, simple, reason: We love this country,” Walz said as thousands of delegates hoisted vertical placards reading “Coach Walz” in red, white and blue.
“He’s relatable, and he’s down to earth, so I think he’s going to win over a number of people because he really cares. He’s the right person for this position at this time,” said Illinois State Senator Adriane Johnson.
Senator Dick Durbin was struck by Walz’s personal story of his family’s struggle with having children, and the reaction that followed.
“They flashed to his kids. You might have taken a look at it, and there was one moment couldn’t last in more than two seconds, when his son, Gus and stood up and pointed at him and said, ‘That’s my dad’,” he said.
Party leaders are excited about the Harris-Walz ticket, but know with the election predicted to be close, the expected DNC bump can only be the kickoff to November.
“We need to turn out here at home and we need to work with our neighbors in Michigan and Wisconsin to deliver those swing states, because winning takes more than voting,” said Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle.
“I mean, we need to keep this energy up. We need to make sure we’re keeping it up all the way through November. You can tell there’s been a new jolt in the party. You can see it. There’s a sense of joy, the sense of happiness,” said State Sen. Robert Peters (D-Chicago).
And joy is expected to be part of the message from Kamala Harris tonight as she shares her story, her heart and her vision for the country in a primetime speech.
ABC News and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
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