Highlights and analysis of Kamala Harris’ speech on the final day of the 2024 DNC

Jacob Soboroff speaking on MSNBC moments ago:

This felt like a convention about neighbors, friends and family, whereas — and this is no secret, I’ve said it many times before — the Republican Convention was straight-up deeply disturbing. 

There was one moment at that convention that made that crystal clear and that was thousands of people holding up signs that said "mass deportations now."

The Republican Party’s platform literally consists of removing over 10 million people from the United States of America, many of whom are our neighbors, our friends and our families. 

Both conventions talked about neighbors, friends and family. The Republicans said we want to remove millions of them from this country in a deportation effort with a magnitude bigger than the 1954 operation run by Dwight D. Eisenhower, with the name so racist and so offensive I don’t think it’s appropriate to say on television. The Republicans were proud of that.

At the end of that convention, I remember standing in front of the stage with balloons bouncing off my head and it just felt bizarre, like we were in a bizarro world where they were having a party while we talked about kicking out people who are the fabric of the United States of America. 

Here you looked at the stage and that looked like a family. That’s the fabric of the United States of America.

These comments have been slightly edited for length and clarity.

Jen Psaki speaking on MSNBC moments ago:

This was joyful. It was full of love. People watching were like, where has that amazing person been for the last couple of years? That's a lot of what I’m getting in text messages from right now.

But it's also the biggest moment to remind the American public that this is ultimately still an election where Kamala Harris is running against Donald Trump. 

That’s part of why there's this big coalition of current Republicans, former Republicans, sheriffs, people who don’t normally come to these things because this election is not the norm.

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One line that stands out in re-reading the speech captures a key difference between Harris’ vision of America and Trump’s.

Telling the story of how her single mother relied on neighbors and friends to help raise her and her sister, Harris said these aunts and uncles were “none of them, family by blood, and all of them, family by love.”

Trump has also referenced “blood,” notably saying in December that undocumented immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country,” a line that uncomfortably echoed the “blood and soil” rhetoric of white supremacists.

Harris has also represented her vision through her own family, which includes two stepchildren, and her calls for the protection of the rights of of LGBTQ families.

Symone Sanders-Townsend speaking on MSNBC moments ago:

For this current Republican party apparatus, the culture wars are not just a distraction: they are the playbook. Donald Trump and JD Vance would love nothing more than for Vice President Harris to stand on that stage and say, elect me because you will make history. 

She’s not saying that. She’s saying elect me for all of these other reasons. Elect me because I’m decent, because I’ll fight for you, because I know what needs to be done and because I respect America.

She’s essentially saying, elect me because I am a patriot and the other guy is not.

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Ari Melber speaking on MSNBC moments ago:

For years, we’ve known her as the vice president but tonight, America got to meet Harris for the role she’s played most of her career: representing the people. 

It was a home run of a speech. What we heard was her give the opening statement: here’s who I am, here’s where I come from and these are my values.

Then she made the case against Donald Trump and she made it more directly and more bluntly than we’ve heard throughout this inclusive and joyous convention. She needed to do that because that’s what candidates do. 

So for all the joy, she hit him hard legally — she spoke about Jan. 6, democracy and fraud. She also made a point to say something that’s legally true, that Trump has been found liable for sexual abuse. That is something that fewer people have said from the main stage — that, again, is the Kamala Harris we know from being the tough prosecutor.

Then third, we got the closing argument, broadening back out to the message: we can do this together, I'm proud to be American, we’re not going back.

In each of those chapters, we got what you would get from her in the courtroom — and she’s good at it.

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Harris demonstrated some elite storytelling ability tonight. It felt like the nation was becoming more acquainted with her as she told stories of her parents’ background and her upbringing. And when it comes to the sheer politics, she showed she’s very skilled at weaving her personal background into discussions about voter issues.

Whether she was discussing her mom’s experience as a health professional, how her parents’ reverence for the civil rights movement prepped her for a legal career, or the pride her family and their neighbors had in homeownership, she told a relatable story about the positive role that the government has played in her family and the good things it can do for others.

It’s a markedly different approach than Trump and the GOP are taking — and with much better delivery, too.

The one thing that stuck out to me was the dissonance between the joyousness at the convention and the Democratic Party’s treatment of its pro-Palestinian factions. Party leaders snubbed the Uncommitted movement and the delegates who spoke up about their demand for an arms embargo against Israel were booted from the floor. How the party dealt with their own this week spoke volumes, and it certainly won’t go unnoticed among undecided voters for whom Gaza is a major issue.

Stephanie Ruhle speaking on MSNBC moments ago:

Just to draw a contrast, tonight, what was Donald Trump doing? He was posting on media things like “where’s Hunter?” and “no, Tim Walz wasn’t coach, he was assistant coach.”

And that’s funny, but it’s also not. It’s actually pretty devastating.

So people will of course ask, was Harris' speech perfect? But look at what she’s running against. It's darkness and fear vs. optimism and light. And that’s what she offered tonight, not just optimism and light but real policy and a vision for the country.

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Alex Wagner speaking on MSNBC moments ago:

We’ve talked a lot over the course last couple of days about how Democrats are trying to reclaim patriotism. I feel like it culminated in this night. 

There are these gigantic flags. There’s The Chicks singing the Star Spangled Banner.  There’s the thesis that came into full flower tonight with Kamala Harris making the argument that the true strength, the true integrity, the true patriotism, lies in the Democratic Party.

They have opened the flaps of the tent to encompass Republicans, to encompass doubters, to encompass people who felt culturally divorced from the party for decades and here we have one of the broadest, deepest, most diverse coalitions I have ever seen. All of them marching under the stars and stripes. It’s really something else.

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Joy Reid speaking on MSNBC moments ago:

Women were so present in this convention, in a way they were absent in the Republican National Convention because they were trying to avoid the whole abortion conversation. 

But it isn’t just on reproductive rights, it was the idea of mom, of mommy, of motherliness that's been woven throughout this convention. Whether it was Michelle Obama talking about losing her mom or the many women talking about having the choice on how to create families.

The way they’ve described family and mothers has been very unique and interesting. As well as the way they’ve defined manhood and masculinity. I still can’t get over Tim Walz's son, I think that is still sticking with so many people. It’s a really modern sort of conception of the family. 

Between that moment and this night of hearing Kamala Harris and her sister Maya talk about their mom, I definitely feel like this was an embrace of motherhood by choice, whether it's a stepmom or a blended family.

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Trump ran a one-man live blog tonight, firing off more than 40 posts (yes, I counted) on Truth Social, starting from the moment she walked onstage. He criticized her on immigration, on reproductive rights — “I TRUST WOMEN, ALSO, AND I WILL KEEP WOMEN SAFE!“ — on the economy, and much more.

“IS SHE TALKING ABOUT ME?” he asked at one point.

Well, yes.

After the balloon drop, the convention ended with a benediction from two speakers who hit on the Harris campaign theme of freedom.

Rabbi Lauren Holtzblatt of Washington D.C.’s Adas Israel Congregation, began with a reference to the book of Exodus, saying “God brought us out of the narrow place of oppression to freedom.”

Lawrence O'Donnell speaking on MSNBC moments ago:

My experience listening to Kamala Harris began when tonight’s host of the convention, Kerry Washington, asked me “Would you like to meet the female Obama?” This was in 2009, in the first months of the Obama presidency. And so we went along with Reggie Hudlin, who coincidentally produced some of the films in this convention, to listen to the San Francisco district attorney.

And it’s one of those moments that’s clearly once in a lifetime. I was sitting there realizing I am seeing the first Black woman president, no question about it.

"Star power" is a Hollywood phrase, but it’s a real thing. Every once in a while there is someone who yes, has all the resume stuff, but then there’s this other thing. And it’s that star power.

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Harris’ speech wrapped up after about 40 minutes, less than half the amount of time it took Trump to deliver his speech, which lasted more than 92 minutes and made for the longest convention acceptance speech in history.

It may seem trivial, but I continue to believe that this difference between Trump — who has been known to deliver some exhaustingly long speeches — and Harris speaks to a respect that the Democrat has for her audience that Republican seems to lack. She delivers speeches that are fairly short and to the point, as if she and her supporters have places to be. Trump drones on with speeches — sometimes for hours at a time — like he knows his fans have an endless amount of time to give him, or like nobody has anything else better to do.

Nicolle Wallace speaking on MSNBC moments ago:

I think there was some incorrect analysis out there that Harris somehow had to pass the commander-in-chief test. But what she did tonight was disqualify Donald Trump from ever being the country’s commander-in-chief.

She said, “Fellow Americans, this election is not only the most important election in our lives, it’s the most important in the life of our nation.”

You take her speech and you take some of these lines from former Secretary of Defense, Leon Panetta, who said that every president since World War II, Republican and Democrat, shared the belief that America must protect democracy in the world. Every president has honored our veterans and their sacrifices. Every president but one.

You add Adam Kinzinger and Congressman Ruben Gallego and their indictments of Trump’s disrespect and disregard for members of the military, especially those who have been injured or died in service to the country, they were scathing.

Those indictments were elevated on the biggest stage in American politics and I think they closed the door in the minds of anyone watching on Donald Trump ever passing the commander-in-chief test again.

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Voters who had hoped that Harris would strike a different tone on Gaza likely came away disappointed tonight. The vice president said she and Biden are “working around the clock” for a hostage deal and a ceasefire. She affirmed her support for Israel’s right to defend itself and said she will always ensure its ability to do so. She condemned Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks and the “unspeakable sexual violence and the massacre of young people” at the Nova music festival.

But on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, Harris adopted more passive language. “What has happened in Gaza over the past 10 months is devastating,” she said, declining to specifically call out Israel’s role in the suffering and death. “So many innocent lives lost. Desperate, hungry people fleeing for safety, over and over again.” 

This portion of this speech will also not placate the “Uncommitted” movement, which had slammed Harris and the DNC more broadly for failing to feature any Palestinian American speakers this week. Harris’ failure to draw a meaningful distinction between her and Biden’s view on the issue tonight will certainly be noted.

As you may have noticed, there was not a special appearance from Mrs. Beyonce Knowles-Carter tonight. Dozens of attendees who wore “Cowboy Kamala” fits tonight for nothing are likely devastated at the lack of an appearance from the superstar. This despite TMZ promising us that she would be performing, as did several dozen random people on social media who insisted that she was there in Chicago.

Look, I don’t know who started this rumor. Maybe it was a bored convention staffer whose deadpan is a little too dry to have their sarcasm register. Maybe it was James Taylor in revenge for having his number cut on Night 1 of the DNC. Maybe it was some evil genius on the Harris team who figured out a way to get people to tune in who might not otherwise watch and stay until the balloons have dropped. 

In the end, we are all the more deceived for tonight’s ruse. But, if you really think about it, what is a recording of Beyonce’s “Freedom,” the campaign’s anthem that played at the close of Harris’ speech, if not a “performance?”

Given her accelerated campaign launch, Harris has not released as many detailed proposals on what she would do as president as normal.

She also has benefited both from Trump’s similarly thin agenda and the conservative Project 2025 proposal, which goes into excessive detail on a number of proposals that poll terribly.

So I listened intently to her acceptance speech for hints of what she might do as president. Here are the specific promises:

• Pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act

• Pass the Freedom to Vote Act

• Pass the bipartisan border security bill that was scuttled earlier this year

• Pass a middle-class tax cut that would help more than 100 million Americans

• Work for a cease-fire and hostage deal in Gaza

Others were more like broad goals than proposals, including lowering the cost of “everyday needs”; providing access to capital for small-business owners; building a strong middle class; ending the housing shortage; stopping cuts to Social Security and Medicare; ensuring that America leads in space and artificial intelligence; and creating an “earned pathway to citizenship” for undocumented immigrants.

While everyone wonders how in the world this Beyoncé performance rumor took hold so deeply, why not read these fun balloon drop facts?

• 100,000 balloons in this balloon drop
• The balloon drop takes months to prepare for, using a specialized inflation system developed in 1988 to handle large quantities of balloons.
• 75 volunteers and 30 skilled staff members, as well as a dozen or so stagehands, all had a hand in the balloon drop's success.

“With this election, we finally have the opportunity to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and the Freedom to Vote Act,” Harris said.

Well, that’s true but it’s going to take another Democratic trifecta in Washington next year to do it. Moreover, it’s going to take her fully supporting the Senate reforming (or, better yet, killing) the filibuster to do so.

Harris and other Democrats have hit Trump hard the last few nights over his decision to kill a bipartisan immigration bill that the Senate negotiated. “Here is my pledge to you: As president, I will bring back the bipartisan border security bill that he killed. And I will sign it into law,” Harris said. “We can create an earned pathway to citizenship —  and secure our border.”

Yeah, I’m sorry but … the immigration bill is bad. Like, I get that there was, and is, a real desire to stem the flow of migrants seeking asylum across the border. But the bill that was negotiated focused entirely on the “border security” side of the equation and dropped the citizenship side entirely. In doing so, it didn’t just continue the failed immigration politics of the last 20 years, it made them worse.

Harris just went on an extended riff on one of her favorite campaign themes: freedom.

Borrowing a bit of rhetoric long used by Republicans (remember “freedom fries”?), Harris has sought to recast Democratic priorities as issues of freedom, including gun control, LGBTQ rights, climate change and voting rights. In her speech, she said:

I’ve written more about her use of “freedom” — including the Beyoncé campaign song — here.

Harris drew a distinct contrast between Democrats and Republicans — read: Trump — on reproductive rights. She also vowed to sign legislation to restore reproductive freedom at the federal level.  

“Donald Trump handpicked members of the U.S. Supreme Court to take away reproductive freedom and now he brags about it,” she said. “And one must ask: Why exactly is it that they don’t trust women? Well, we trust women.”

The entire week has built to this moment. We have heard from so many people who have known Harris throughout her life, and their words and anecdotes have contextualized and added depth and humanity to her profile. However, nothing is more important than the vice president telling her own story in her own words.

This is the largest audience Harris may have this election, and it was critical to start tonight talking about her family, where she is from and what shaped her. She did that. But she did more than that. The VP’s story has pieces that everyone can identify with — moving around a lot as a child, watching her parents split up when she and her sister were young, growing up in a middle class community, living as the daughter of immigrants. Lots of people can literally see themselves in the journey of her life. When she accepted the nomination on behalf of all of those various communities and individuals, she elevated the conversation. The start of her speech made something big very clear: tonight is about all of America.

Biden would often refuse to give Trump the dignity of using his name when referring to him in speeches. “The other guy” or “the former guy” littered his speeches. Harris on the other hand is leaning into calling out Trump directly. She also called out the threat he would entail should he return to power, without taking the dark tone that her boss has used when making similar warnings.

I loved that line Harris delivered connecting her parents’ reverence for civil rights figures with her choice to become a lawyer.

"My parents had met at a civil rights gathering, and they made sure that we learned about civil rights leaders, including the lawyers like Thurgood Marshall and Constance Baker-Motley — those who battled in the courtroom to make real the promise of America.”

Over on The ReidOut Blog, I’ve written over the past couple years about Donald Trump and the conservative movement’s attacks on Black lawyers — like Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, New York Attorney General Letitia James, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. Harris is on that list as well. And her reference to the esteemed Black lawyers who came before her is a reminder of the conservative movement’s assault on Black civic and civil participation. 

It’s been nearly a decade since Trump rode his golden escalator into American political life, and Harris is betting that people are ready to move on.

Even though she’s served in the current administration for the last four years, the first thing that Harris said after accepting the nomination was that she was ready to turn the page.

“Our nation with this election 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,” she said. “Not as members of any one party or faction, but as Americans.”

That’s the kind of line that you give at the end of a two-term presidency from the opposing party, not from a sitting vice president. But Trump has never really left, and Harris thinks Americans are ready to be done with him.

I wrote earlier tonight about how this DNC has been a celebration of being a Democrat. The convention then proceeded to give prime speaking slots to a Republican, a cop and former military officials who could tout Harris as the next commander-in-chief.

I saw plenty of complaints about this online, but it does make sense to me when you consider who the audience has been over the course of the last week. It’s been the diehard nerds like me and you fine folks reading this live blog who’ve been watching since the first night. Contrast that with the people who are less tuned in, likely more moderate, and are considering whether to vote for Harris and only taking a look tonight.

If the idea is to invite those who are still considering voting for Trump, or might stay home if Harris is too liberal for them, to back Harris, then I get why they wanted to load up tonight with the most moderate to conservative elements backing her. Do I agree with this strategy? It’s hard to say. I get the logic, but I think there’s something to be said for pushing hard on the ways that Democrats are the party that will help them out the most on the night that the most eyeballs are watching live.

This race is going to come down to turnout, getting people to show up to the polls or fill out their mail ballots. Trump has given up on that concept in favor of warning about nonexistent mass electoral fraud. Democrats are banking on convincing some of those who consider themselves independents, who are honestly more likely conservative, who are disillusioned with Trump to come out and support Harris instead. I’d prefer, though, if that didn’t come with frustrating those who spent the last several nights feeling a sense of pride in being a Democrat that had been lacking not just a few months ago, but over the last few decades.

The bio section of the speech more than checked the box. It was a skillful effort of telling her own individual story while also making it about others and allowing people to connect with her personally.

Harris stood in front of thousands and thousands of Democrats and delivered the lines they had all been waiting for this week: “On behalf of every American, regardless of party, race, gender, or the language your grandmother speaks, on behalf of my mother and everyone who has ever set out on their own unlikely journey on behalf of Americans like the people I grew up with, people who work hard, chase their dreams and look out for one another, on behalf of everyone whose story could only be written in the greatest nation on Earth, I accept your nomination to be President of The United States of America.”

Harris told the story of her friend Wanda Kagan, who confided in Harris that she was being sexually abused by her stepfather in high school.

“And I immediately told her she had to come stay with us. And she did,” Harris said. “That is one of the reasons I became a prosecutor — to protect people like Wanda.”

A Montreal native, Kagan met Harris when the vice president lived in Canada during her teenage years. Kagan told Fox 5 recently about how Harris and her mother helped her when she was going through an abusive situation at home. The two lost touch after high school, but Kagan said she reached out after seeing Harris on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" years later, and they “picked up like time stood still.”

“I know she impacted my life, that I may not be where I am today had it not been for her intervention back then, but to hear that I impacted her life too, was really, really special,” Kagan added.

Harris began her speech by taking the torch from Biden, who did, in the end, pass it, but not without some drama along the way.

“To our president, Joe Biden, when I think about the path that we have traveled together, Joe, I am filled with gratitude,” she said. “Your record is extraordinary as history will show, and your character is inspiring and Doug and I love you and Jill and are forever thankful to you both.”

The shoutout only highlighted the fact that Biden, who spoke on Monday, was not at the convention Thursday. Earlier in the evening, Biden tweeted a photo of him and Jill watching the convention on TV.

Harris walked out on stage to loud cheers that went on for what felt like a while — so much so that after several minutes and multiple “thank yous,” Harris tried to quiet the applause by saying: “Let’s get to business.”

Harris thanked her husband, second gentleman Doug Emhoff, at the top of her speech. It's a special day not only because she's making history as the first Black woman and first Asian American to be nominated for president but also because it's her 10th wedding anniversary.

She wished a teary "Dougie" a happy anniversary and he blew her a kiss back as his daughter, Ella, pat his shoulder.

It is prime time on the final night of the DNC and one of the main speakers is … a Republican. Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., has stood alongside Democrats against Trump since the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and served as one of two Republicans on the House committee investigating the attack. He spent his speech calling out his own party for abandoning conservatism in favor of Trumpism. And he invited fellow Republicans to vote for Harris for the values that they share with her over those they don’t with Trump:

Actor and Democratic National Convention stalwart Eva Longoria used English, Spanish and Spanglish to tout Harris in her speech tonight.

As with other convention speakers who know Spanish, Longoria threw in some Spanish as she was speaking, noting at one point that Americans are one big family, adding “somos familia” afterward.

But then she went further and used Spanglish, that cringey American amalgam of both languages familiar from high-school Spanish classes, chain Mexican restaurant advertisements and awkward conversations.

“In the Latino community, in our community, we have a saying ‘si se puede,’ which means ‘yes, we can,’” she said, citing the Obama-era slogan. “But tonight, I’m hear to tell you, ‘Yes, she can,’ so we’re going to say ‘she, se puede.’”

That was a pretty powerful moment from Rep. Ruben Gallego, a Marine veteran, who capped off a series of Arizona-based speakers with a speech focused on the valor of military service and the importance of providing aid for veterans. 

Gallego invited veterans onstage who have gone into politics — people he said come from city halls and state capitols, as well as the U.S House and Senate. Democrats like Rep. Ted Lieu of California, Sen. Tammy Baldwin of Illinois and Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona all joined Gallego as he denounced Trump for disrespecting veterans.

I have been to a lot of conventions, including the 2008 Obama convention in Denver (and that one was pretty great). But this one feels the most joyful, the most authentic, and the most connected to the big, diverse country we all live in. Part of it is removing some of the formality, bringing in more fun, changing up the programming, and making sure there are surprises.

“Big Gretch” was the jolt that this night needed after a few low energy segments. The Michigan governor was charming, effusive, and hit Trump hard again and again in her speech.

When it became clear that Biden might actually have to drop out of the race earlier this summer, Whitmer’s name was one of those floated to replace him as the nominee. She ultimately declined to challenge Harris once he stepped aside. But if this speech is any indication, Whitmer is going to be a strong potential contender eight years from now.

Leon Panetta is a guy who has done pretty much every job in Washington. He took the stage to bolster Harris’ foreign policy cred as a former Defense secretary and CIA director. (He was also a congressman from California and chief of staff to Bill Clinton.) 

Harris “understands what our military is for. The role of our military is to defend us from foreign enemies. It is not to threaten Americans, and as sure as hell, isn’t to put immigrants in camps.” This is in reference to Trump’s plans to use the military on American soil to conduct his promised “largest deportation program in history” and break up peaceful protests.

Rep. Lucy McBath of Georgia took the stage alongside shooting survivors and victims’ family members as each of them spoke about how gun violence has affected them: Abbey Clements, a teacher who survived the Sandy Hook shooting; Kimberly Mata-Rubio, a mother whose daughter was killed in the Uvalde school shooting; Melody McFadden, who as a child witnessed her mother’s fatal shooting by an abusive partner and whose niece was killed by a stray bullet on Myrtle Beach in 2014; and Edgar Vilchez, a college sophomore who saw his classmate get killed in a drive-by shooting in 2022. 

Former Rep. Gabby Giffords, a gun control activist, also gave a spirited speech. Giffords resigned from Congress in 2012 after being shot in the head during a mass shooting and assassination attempt. “I learned to walk again one step at a time. I learned to talk again one word at a time,” she said.

“My friend Kamala will be a great president. She is tough. She has grit,” Giffords added. “Kamala can beat the gun lobby. She can fight gun trafficking.”

Democrats wondering whether Harris made the right choice in her running mate had a good chance to check out one of the top contenders on Thursday.

Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly was the Washington insiders’ pick for most likely running mate due to his compelling personal biography and status as a swing-state senator.

But his speech Thursday was workmanlike at best. He had a nice line about having to follow his wife, former Rep. Gabby Giffords, and singer Pink, but he didn’t sell it particularly well.

The rest of the speech wasn’t particularly exciting. He spoke about the importance of teamwork and cited his experience as a U.S. Navy combat pilot and an astronaut. 

If anyone was wondering if Harris should have picked Kelly instead, he didn’t give them any new reason in this speech.

Alecia Beth Hart Moore, better known as the modern icon Pink (or, P!nk), has been recording bangers for the last quarter decade. Yes, that is not a typo. But Pink’s longevity is only one part of her impressive legacy. More than the tens of millions of albums sold and world tours completed, it’s Pink’s pioneering brand of popp-y, punk-y empowerment that has always made her stand out. Years before it was common, or cool, Pink was penning anthems that reassured young women and girls everywhere that they mattered; that they were enough. 

She pushed back, hard, on unrealistic beauty standards, George W. Bush and misogyny. She refused to apologize for her sexuality, her politics, her hair or her attitude. She spawned a generation of fans — myself included — who revered her authenticity, her passion and her talent. And that’s to say nothing of her live performances. Find me another pop star in her 30s who performs a Cirque du Soleil show while belting. I’ll wait.

Tonight, she performed her rallying cry single “What About Us” with her daughter Willow Sage. And it was pretty “f----- perfect.”

I’ll admit, even though my family still lives in Flint, Michigan, I hadn’t heard about Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson until tonight. He recounted the time in 2020 when, at the height of the George Floyd protests, he had his officers put down their riot gear to march with protesters in Flint Township. (Flint Township, I’ll note for accuracy’s sake, is a suburb of Flint itself.)

It’s good to see that Swanson has kept that same energy four years later, as he compared that act with Trump’s actions on Jan. 6. He further added that Harris “has served America by keeping us safer, and I can testify firsthand that where I come from, crime is down.” Those are the kind of stats that Trump didn’t bother mentioning when he was in Michigan earlier this week, an hour away in Howell, to lie about crime.

Comedian D.L. Hughley just took the stage and torched Trump as only a comedian could. The key headline from Hughley’s speech was his apology for having previously spread falsehoods about Harris’s prosecutorial record. But first he made sure to get a few shots in. 

“If [Trump] keeps sliding in the polls the way he is, the only way he can keep Kamala out of the White House is if he buys it and refuses to rent it to her,” Hughley said, referencing Trump’s history with discriminatory housing accuations. Hughley also got in a dig about the “Republicans for Kamala” group. “I guess Donald Trump will finally know what it’s like when you get left for a younger woman,” he said.

Earlier this week, I wrote about how Democrats made the second night of the DNC feel like “Def Comedy Jam” with all of the biting Trump jokes. In Hughley, Dems platformed an actual star from the hit series.

The president is rooting Harris on from 2,000 miles away in California.

Harris’ niece Meena Harris took the stage along with the vice president’s stepdaughter, Ella Emhoff, and her goddaughter Helena Hudlin. Emhoff (whose dress, by the way, was phenomenal) said that when Harris came into her life at the age of 14, “she was patient, caring and always took me seriously.” Hudlin told the crowd that Harris’ “advice means everything, whether it’s pursuing my passions, making an impact, or finding hope when the world doesn’t feel so hopeful.”

It was a major contrast with the character witnesses that Trump brought to the stage last month at the RNC, that’s for sure. Unlike then, none of the speakers tonight are Harris’ employees.

In what may be one of the cuter moments ever staged at a political convention, Harris’ great-nieces Amara and Leela Ajagu joined actress Kerry Washington on stage to teach the audience “how to say our auntie’s’ name.”

“First you say ‘comma’ like a comma in a sentence,” said Amara. 

“Then you say ‘la,’ like la-la-la-la-la,” added Leela.

The girls then led the crowd in saying “comma” and “la.”

The moment was cute, but there was a serious subtext. Trump and GOP allies such as Rep. Nancy Mace have repeatedly mispronounced Harris’ first name. While possibly understandable a few years ago, this sign of disrespect is pretty obviously intentional today.

Country trio The Chicks just took the stage to sing the national anthem. The country music industry has been in the spotlight throughout the week, with performances from Mickey Guyton and Maren Morris, as well. I can’t help but think of The Chicks invitation as a bit of a thumb in Republicans’ eyes. After all, The Chicks are true victims of the “cancel culture” conservative types often complain about. The group faced backlash and was effectively blackballed by many in the country music industry in 2003 after they publicly denounced George Bush for launching the Iraq War.

Democrats have been having a hell of a party this week. A big question that one important group watching Harris tonight wants to know is whether they can feel welcome joining the fun.

There is a bloc of voters that lean right but can’t get down with Donald Trump, and they will be looking for some assurance that Harris is running to represent all Americans, not just the progressive left. No one is expecting her to promote conservative ideas, but a speech that speaks to the mainstream, projects a strong America on the world stage, and promises basic competence in governance could go a long way to broaden her coalition.

Newly minted Olympic gold medalist Steph Curry just made an appearance to endorse Harris via video. Curry said his experience winning gold with the USA men’s basketball team in France helped inspire him to back Harris. 

“That unity on and off the court reminded us all that together we can do all things and continue to inspire the world," Curry said. "That’s why I believe that Kamala as president could bring that unity back and continue to move our country forward. This is about preserving hope and belief in our country, and making sure families can be taken care of during their most precious times.”

Curry’s coach Steve Kerr endorsed Harris on the first night of the DNC and performed Curry’s “night night” three-point celebration to mock Trump.

Jen Psaki speaking on MSNBC moments ago:

It’s important to remember to step back. A month ago, Harris was writing an entirely different speech. Normally, you work on these speeches for months. You have polling, you have focus groups, and you have meetings with senior advisors. This is a shorter runway.

This is also about tomorrow. It’s not just about tonight. What she needs to do is not a policy speech but an inspiring speech — a vision. Tonight, she needs to ask people to go out there and get active.

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We just finished a stretch of speakers focused on climate change and Democrats’ efforts to mitigate its effects. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland struck out at Trump’s claim that climate change is a hoax and how he “made it easier for big companies to poison our air and water.” Content creator John Russell took the stage after a video he produced highlighted Trump’s faux support for labor and the clean energy jobs created by the Inflation Reduction Act. And Rep. Maxwell Frost, D-Fla., the first Gen Z member of Congress, reminded the crowd that “the climate crisis isn’t some far-off threat — it is here.”

What a difference this is from DNCs past. “Climate was not a campaign issue eight or 12 years ago,” Manish Bapna, president of the NRDC Action Fund, told NPR ahead of the convention. “It was extremely difficult to get climate into one of the major debates, it was seen as a peripheral and not a central issue.”

Fast-forward to today, and it’s a crucial part of the case that Democrats are making for Harris.

There’s been a parade of prosecutors, current and former, onstage tonight to speak to Harris’ background. That includes Amy Resner, who worked alongside Harris in California early in her career, and Tristan Snell, who prosecuted the case against Trump University.

“I can’t wait to see her prosecute the case against Donald Trump on the debate stage in September,” Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey, a fellow former state attorney general, told the crowd. “We face a stark choice in this election, a felon and con man, or a dedicated prosecutor.”

The moment highlighting Harris’s prosecutorial accomplishments featured Nathan Horns, a student victimized by Corinthian Schools’ predatory lending practices and false assurances to students. As attorney general, Harris filed a lawsuit that ultimately helped secure billions of dollars in student loan forgiveness for students who borrowed to attend Corinthian. Naturally, this provided an opening to discuss Trump’s infamous, multimillion-dollar settlement with defrauded students enrolled in the now-defunct Trump University. 

Tristan Snell, a lawyer who prosecuted Trump University before the settlement, said, “Donald Trump ripped off his biggest fans and made $5 million in profit.” He adds, “Kamala Harris fought scammers like him” and will fight for the people as president.

Trump’s rally in Arizona tomorrow will include a special guest, his campaign says.

The rally will take place just hours after Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is running in the presidential race as an independent candidate, holds a news conference in Phoenix (a 30-minute drive from Glendale), during which he is reportedly expected to announce an end to his presidential bid and endorse Trump.

New York City Councilman Yusuf Salaam, one of the exonerated “Central Park Five,” said it plainly: “He wanted us dead.” 

The brutal rape and attempted murder of a female jogger in Central Park in the spring of 1989 represented the apotheosis of fears over crime in 1980s New York City. But before due process could run its course, a Manhattan real estate developer named Donald Trump infamously paid for a full-page ad in The New York Times calling for the execution of the teenagers accused of the crime.

The teens were convicted and served prison time, but they were exonerated. They didn’t do it. And Trump has never acknowledged his error. In fact, he’s expressed support for extrajudicial killings in other countries as a crime-preventive measure. 

Watching Salaam and his fellow exonerees speak to the nation three-and-a-half decades removed from their wrongful arrests and convictions is a striking moment — and also a prescient warning of what Trump would do on his retribution tour if we were to win another term.

As Paul Waldman wrote for MSNBC Daily today, Walz's speech delivered a "communal patriotism" that was in "striking contrast" to Donald Trump. But it the vice presidential nominee's personal story about his family infertility struggles — and his children's reaction to it — that stole the show.

"You are my entire world and I love you," Walz said to his daughter, Hope, and his son, Gus.

Hope made a heart symbol with her hands as her brother stood up beside her, teared up and shouted, "That's my dad!"

The Rev. Al Sharpton leaned into his background at the pulpit with his speech, riffing hard on Harris’ unofficial campaign slogan “We won’t go back” to get the crowd on their feet. And he brought it home hard while paraphrasing the Bible:

Rachel Maddow speaking on MSNBC moments ago:

As Kamala Harris gets ready to accept the Democratic Party’s nomination for president of the United States, it has been 152 years since Victoria Woodhull became the first woman to ever run for president in this country — long before women even had the right to vote. It has been 52 years since Shirley Chisholm became the first Black candidate for president. It has been eight years since Hillary Clinton became the first woman nominated for president by a major party. 

Tonight, Kamala Harris will accept the nomination of her party as the culminating event of what has been a supercharged, energetic, profoundly enthusiastic convention. Television ratings, to the extent that they matter in the world, so far show the Democrats have pretty widely outpaced the Republican convention in terms of how many Americans have been watching this thing each night thus far.

But it’s really only the beginning. Tonight’s finale from the Democratic Convention in Chicago will start a 75-day sprint to election night.

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Taking back the idea of “patriotism” from Republicans has been a major theme this week, and Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., was a great choice to continue that trend. Slotkin, who is running for the U.S. Senate, denounced Trump’s desire to withdraw from the world, and she told listeners to “proudly claim your patriotism. You are here because you love your country. Do not give an inch to pretenders who wrap themselves in the flag but spit in the face of freedom. It represents you.”

Joy Reid speaking on MSNBC moments ago:

I can just tell you that when Senator Warren was announced and started to walk on that stage, this entire arena erupted. That sustained applause was on a similar level to the way that Tim Walz was received. It was on a similar level to the way Bill Clinton was received. It was loud, it was sustained and you could see her get emotional. 

I think it’s poignant because it really speaks to where the Democratic Party has moved. This is a party that is unashamed of being progressive and unashamed of its progressive values. 

Warren used to be a Republican back in the day. She then shifted and became a Democrat. She's sort of defined and maligned on the right as some socialist but she’s not. She’s just an academic who became a politician to try to stop rich people and corporations from cheating people.

That’s a basic value. It's now a mainstream Democratic Party progressive value. I think that’s why she’s feeling that love.

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Near the end of her speech, Sen. Elizabeth Warren cracked that she wouldn’t trust Donald Trump and JD Vance to move her couch. Get it? Of course you do. The ubiquitous joke built on an obviously fake premise drove Republicans batty for weeks. It was effective at highlighting their hypocrisy of abiding by nine years of defamatory falsehoods by Trump. 

But it’s over. The joke is beat. Remember when the first "Borat" movie came out and it was the funniest thing in years and everyone was doing Sacha Baron Cohen’s ridiculous accent? Remember how annoying it was six months later? 

That’s where the couch joke is now. And if Warren’s crack wasn’t contrived enough, the next speaker, Rep. Jason Crow, took another jab with a reference to a “couch commando.”

Dems, it’s over. There’s comedy to be mined out there. Find another joke.

Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey echoed Harris’ attacks on price gouging, arguing that Americans are being “ripped off” by big corporations.

He started by citing the price of diapers, which has skyrocketed recently. This increase isn’t due to inflation, Casey argued. “The corporations say your prices are up only because their costs are up,” he said. “They’re selling you a lie.”

As with Harris, Casey said that while most companies are playing by the rules, diaper prices were up because of “food conglomerates” who are “extorting” consumers, comparing them to people who hoarded toilet paper during the pandemic.

The Biden administration has struggled to find a response to inflation, but Harris took a new line on the issue earlier this month when she began talking about targeting price-gouging.

Rep. Jason Crow of Colorado took the baton from "SNL" cast member Kenan Thompson to lead tonight’s Project 2025 takedown. As I mentioned earlier, quick, plain-spoken and easily digestible segments like these speak to Democrats’ focus on social media-friendly content at this year’s convention — content that can be shared long after the DNC ends.

A standing ovation for Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., as she takes the podium. The crowd cheered for so long that the senator began to tear up, and tried to get the crowd to settle down. It’s worth remembering how popular she was among the base during her own run for president in 2020.

Harris will officially accept the Democratic nomination tonight, but she also celebrated her 10th wedding anniversary with second gentleman Doug Emhoff today. They both posted tributes to each other on social media, with Harris calling Emhoff “the best partner I could ask for.”

The convention voted earlier this week to approve the official Democratic platform. Funnily enough, the text itself was approved by the committee that drafted it before Biden dropped out, leaving references to his re-election scattered throughout. Harris’ name is mentioned only as a part of the Biden-Harris administration and when talking about some of the initiatives she has spearheaded as vice president.

As such, it stands to reason that there may be parts of the platform that she doesn’t fully agree with. For example, we don’t know if she is OK that this year’s plank deleted any reference to abolishing the death penalty. We also don’t know whether any of her own policy proposals might contradict those within the platform. It’s not binding on anyone running — but it would be nice to get some clarity about what she might do that would be different from a second Biden term.

I, for one, would not have guessed ahead of this week that the DNC would have its own in-house hypeman: DJ Metro, on the ones and twos. He’s been pumping out jams since the convention gaveled in tonight and the people in the audience are loving it. So do the camera operators who have been loving snagging footage of the attendees dancing.

I’m not trying to harsh anyone’s buzz, but I can’t help but think it’s going to be very funny to look back on these moments 30 years from now. As evidence, I submit to you this video from the 1996 DNC of attendees dancing to “The Macarena” without any further comment:

After Republicans invited folks like Hulk Hogan and Kid Rock to give their convention a celebrity presence, Democrats raised the bar with a convention featuring celebs like Oprah, John Legend and Mindy Kaling. But some of the star power has had more of an impact behind the scenes.

The biopic that is set to play before Harris’ speech tonight was directed by Reginald Hudlin, the famed director and producer behind classic films like “Boomerang” and “House Party.” Some more recent Hudlin films that have garnered critical acclaim include “Marshall,” which starred Chadwick Boseman, and “The Black Godfather,” a star-studded Netflix documentary about music executive Clarence Avant.

Hudlin met Harris years ago through his wife, Chrisette, and the Hudlins’ son Alexander is the VP’s godson. Alexander spoke alongside Harris’ niece and nephew at the DNC last night.

Jacob Soboroff speaking on MSNBC moments ago:

The RNC kicked off in the wake of the horrific assassination attempt of Trump. And there was a lot of conversation about how it was going to feature a unifying message — which turned out to be anything but.

Instead there was a deeply divisive message, obviously. And remember what was happening on those convention signs? They said “mass deportation now.” It was literally a message of kicking millions of people out of the country, many of whom, especially from a place like California, are our neighbors, are our colleagues, and people we know very well.

Obviously that’s not the tone or the tenor of the DNC at all. And it’s so easy to feel the difference standing down on the floor. Those folks at the Republican convention, they were enthusiastic, and they were happy to be there. But this is an entirely different thing. 

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Affordable housing is deeply lacking across the country, a crisis that the federal government has only just begun to address. It makes sense then that several of the early speakers tonight have chosen to focus on it. Former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge told the audience that Harris “knows housing is a human right and a pathway to the middle class.” Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., told the audience about her work as California attorney general to deal with predatory loans during the Great Recession and her dedication to affordable housing.

Accordingly, one of the first policy proposals that Harris has put forward since ascending to the top of the ticket is to provide $25,000 in aid to first-time homebuyers for a down payment. Interestingly enough, neither Fudge nor Lieu directly mentioned Harris’ proposal in their speeches.

Sen. Alex Padilla, who succeeded Harris as a U.S. senator from California when she became vice president, noted in his brief remarks that she’s good with his kids.

“Whenever she sees Roman, Alejandro and Diego, she greets them with kindness and respect,” he said. “Literally meeting them on their level to speak to them and to listen.”

Padilla’s remarks serve as a major contrast with Trump, who once flubbed a simple Christmas Eve call with a 7-year-old.

Rep. Ted Lieu of California kicked off his speech with a jab at Trump for his ridiculous claim that the Harris campaign was using artificial intelligence to fabricate crowds in photos. 

“As a computer science major, I am so impressed with how large this AI-generated crowd looks tonight," Lieu said.

Lieu has never missed an opportunity to make a mockery of Trump.

Michael Steele speaking on MSNBC moments ago:

There are three pieces that will go into Harris’ speech tonight: the bio, the acknowledgment of the work she’s done with Joe Biden and then, of course, where she wants to go. What does President Harris look like and sound like? We should hopefully get a first taste of that this evening.

There are a bunch of gnarly issues out there that are waiting for her that will have to be addressed almost immediately upon taking the oath of office. I think the American people would like to get some sense of what that feels like and looks like for them. It’s not just the economy, it’s global affairs, it’s reproductive health, it’s educating their children or it’s starting their small business. 

I remember well from when I was in school that teachers are adept at tagging-teaming. So it was with Rebecca Pringle, head of the National Education Association, Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers.

Walz’s background as a former public school teacher has been featured heavily this week, so it seems fitting that Pringle leaned into it in her speech. She also took on the job of being the cheerleader for Coach Walz and Harris, while Weingarten hit harder at Trump and Vance in her speech

Democrats have a well-deserved reputation for snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. And yet they have been almost aggressively “in array” for the past month.

There’s no secret sauce to reveal. A historically unpopular incumbent president — already facing slim odds at re-election — gave a debate performance so catastrophic it will make historians forget about Richard Nixon’s flop-sweat in 1960 and George H.W. Bush impatiently looking at his watch in 1992. But Joe Biden then dropped out of the race. His replacement, Kamala Harris, benefits from a surge of non-negativity left in the wake of his exit.

After his retirement party on opening night, Biden has been an afterthought at this convention. But try to imagine tonight as the capper of a weeklong hype party to re-elect Biden.

To get there, Biden would have withstood a seven-week-long rebellion by the leadership of his party, top donors and activist groups. He’d have to continue to insist the polls were wrong, that Donald Trump and the right’s relentless attacks on his cognitive decline weren’t leaving a mark on his approval ratings, and that his choice to stay in the race was actually a selfless act and destined to succeed. He’d have had to make the case to the American people that he’s the present and the future of the party.

It’s hard to imagine Nancy Pelosi in the crowd chanting “We love Joe!” in that scenario, although she’d probably still have dutifully shown up. But that’s another universe entirely.

Harris has been a top voice in the Biden administration in condemning the rising death toll in Gaza and the deep suffering of Palestinian civilians in the enclave. Since she launched her presidential bid in July, her campaign has also held meetings with the Uncommitted movement, which aims to push the party on a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and an arms embargo on Israel.

But whether or not she would make a significant policy shift on the issue if she’s elected is a big unknown. In her speech tonight, Harris may denounce the killings of civilians in Gaza — as she has in the past — which is an arguably safe position to take, politically speaking. But the vice president, who still has not released detailed policy plans so far and has been described as risk-averse, is unlikely to even subtly criticize Israel’s military conduct in Gaza.

Never one to cede the spotlight, Trump attempted a little counterprogramming by visiting the U.S.-Mexico border today.

Standing at a podium in Cochise County, Arizona, the former president read short but graphic descriptions of sexual assaults, robberies and murders committed by immigrants.

“With your vote, we will seal the border, stop the invasion and launch the largest deportation effort in American history,” he said.

The campaign stop was meant to highlight the issue of immigration, but Trump’s grim and graphic remarks also provided a stark contrast with the optimistic tone of the Democratic National Convention all week.

On Friday, Trump and his running mate, JD Vance, will hold a rally in Glendale outside Phoenix.

Ari Melber, speaking on MSNBC moments ago:

I’m reminded of the song Public Service Announcement by Jay-Z where he says, “Allow me to reintroduce myself.” That’s something that people do even when they’re well known. Tonight is Vice President Kamala Harris’ reintroduction on the grand stage.

In that song, Jay-Z says, “My homie Strict told me, ‘Dude finish your breakfast’...Let me tell you dudes what I do to protect this. Shoot at you actors like movie directors.” That’s not only a double entendre, he’s calling out his opponents, his foes as actors, as inauthentic, while he’s the real deal. 

I’m looking for Harris to build on what Gov. Tim Walz did last night. She’s at the top of the ticket. I’m expecting her to speak on these actors, these phonies, these fakes. That’s not just Donald Trump but the part of the MAGA movement that has tried to steal and fake what they represent — “real America” or family values or football or freedom. 

All three days have been leading up to this moment.

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Following in the grand tradition of the Oscars and other televised events, this year’s DNC has consistently run behind schedule. But that may be a calculated risk. 

While it’s true that running late pushes some of the big speeches out of prime time, that isn’t really the disaster that it might have been a few years ago.

Most viewers who willingly tune into four nights of convention programming are probably already on board with the Harris campaign. With so many streaming platforms, cable TV channels, and video games out there to fill your night, less plugged-in voters are not forced to watch conventions anymore.

But they’ll still run across them, when they turn to social media, where the highlight reels of the big speeches will be playing on repeat in the coming days.

Democratic leaders have refused to grant a speaking slot to a Palestinian American on the main stage, the Uncommitted movement said Wednesday. Members of the movement, which hopes to pressure Harris on an arms embargo to Israel and on a permanent cease-fire in Gaza, have been holding a sit-in outside the United Center since Wednesday evening. The group’s leader, Abbas Alawieh, has said that Harris’ campaign made an offer of a private meeting instead, which the group rejected.

Now, party leaders are now facing increasing pressure from uncommitted delegates, Democratic lawmakers and outside groups, such as United Auto Workers and the Sunrise Movement, to allow a Palestinian American to address the convention on its final night. Earlier today, Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota said in an interview with Zeteo: “If we are to say that we’re a party that is inclusive, that unity is our strength, we have to make room. There’s still time.”

As Harris takes the stage for the biggest speech of her political career, she may be leaning on some old lessons for public speaking.

As a senator in 2019, she shared some of that advice with a young woman. The moment, which was caught on tape, was then posted on Harris’ social media channels.

“I never miss a chance to speak with our future leaders, especially young women,” Harris wrote on Facebook. “One recently asked me how to become a better public speaker. My answer: ‘Remember, people need to know what you know!’”

In the video, Harris tells the girl to imagine that she’s the only person on the Titanic who knows that the ship is going to sink and needs to tell everyone.

“If you are on the Titanic and you know the ship is about to sink, and you’re the only one who knows, are you going to worry about how you look and how you sound? No, because the thing that’s most important is that everyone knows what you know.”

The Harris campaign has received a lot of praise for its social media strategy. I’ve been following along with this week’s DNC programming with that in mind, while picking out portions of the convention that have seem tailor-made for social media.

When the campaign announced that it would offer an online stream of the event that could play in vertical format, as well as invite popular influencers to attend in person, it showed they were prioritizing viewers who might be watching the convention online and accustomed to getting their information there. And this week, various segments in-between speakers have been produced in a style or written in the same punchy tone as political content you’ve likely seen go viral. That includes the “two lies and a lie” segment that aired on Monday, the Vox-style explainer video narrated by Harris about Trump’s tariffs plan that aired Tuesday, and the brief Project 2025 interludes we’ve seen throughout the week — in particular, the one starring “SNL” cast member Kenan Thompson.

It has all felt like Democratic Party officials recognize that the Harris campaign has developed a lot of momentum on social media — and want to keep feeding the audience they’ve established there with familiar content.

Alex Wagner speaking on MSNBC moments ago:

There are two colors you see a lot in the audience. One is blue, unsurprisingly, but overwhelmingly, the color is white. And the symbolism is not lost on me and it’s not lost on a lot of people.

This is a moment women in this country have been waiting a long time for, which is the elevation of a woman to the top of the Democratic Party and I would say there’s even more than maybe there was in 2016 or renewed optimism in the wake of Donald Trump years and the defeat that Hillary Clinton suffered.

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The DNC just released some additional speakers for tonight.

• Becky Pringle, president of the National Education Association 
• Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers
• Rep. Ted Lieu of California

As someone who lived through the Clinton and Obama years, this DNC feels like a major shift has occurred. Gone is the almost apologetic tone that Democrats adopted in the aftermath of blowout losses in 1980, when “Reagan Democrats” voted for the Republican nominee, and the “shellacking” of the 2010 midterms. Instead, what we’ve seen in speech after speech is a party that knows what it stands for and what it stands against.

Within the past 15 years, the Democrats have gone from a party with a sizable conservative wing (either fiscally like the Blue Dogs, socially on abortion and gay rights, or both) to one that loudly champions workers over corporate greed, protections for LGBTQ Americans, and abortion rights for all. There’s still a lot of room for improvement on a number of issues, but the difference between then and now shouldn’t be taken for granted.

Social media and media pundits are abuzz with speculation about whether music icons Beyoncé and Taylor Swift — arguably THE biggest names in music right now — will appear tonight at the DNC to support Harris.

Pop singer Pink and country trio The Chicks (formerly known as the Dixie Chicks) are already slated to perform tonight. But fans can't help but wonder if Queen Bey and T-Swift will also show up.

With Beyoncé's permission, Harris is using her song "Freedom" as her campaign anthem. It's been featured heavily during the convention, on the campaign trail, and in a new campaign ad. Some speculated that White House political director Emmy Ruiz's tweet this afternoon hinted at a Beyoncé performance (she tweeted a bee emoji, a possible reference to "Bey." She also tweeted after that "my 6 year old took my phone." Hmm.

To this Taylor Swift fan, it seems improbable that she would make an appearance tonight for a couple of reasons: 1.) When she endorsed Joe Biden in 2020, it wasn't until a few weeks before the election, and 2.) In an Instagram post yesterday, she said the foiled terror plot that canceled Eras Tour shows in Vienna filled her with "a new sense of fear." It wouldn't seem surprising if she wanted to avoid making any political statements in light of that.

But hey, we'll just have to wait and see.

It’s kind of weird: Listen to just about any high-profile Democrat talk about Trump and the GOP presidential ticket these days, and odds are it won’t be long before you hear the word “weird.”

As Ja’han Jones recently noted for The ReidOut Blog, “weird” might be far too mild for the likes of Trump, but there’s little doubt that the descriptor has rattled him — the former president insisted at a campaign event Monday that he and his running mate, JD Vance, are “extremely normal people.” 

Ja’han also explained that the rhetorical strategy has etymological roots in California slang:

“In Harris’ home state of California, for example, “weird” — for many young nonwhite people — doesn’t just mean quirky or unique, it’s used as an insult. That’s why there’s a genre of TikToks featuring young Californians talking about how being called “weird” — or its variant, “a weirdo” — is an offense that basically amounts to fighting words.”

Read Ja’han’s full piece below.

Check out these highlight reels from the first three nights of the convention to get caught up.

In many ways, Harris’ speech tonight will be more like a campaign launch than a typical acceptance speech.

Because of the truncated way in which she kicked off her run this year, the vice president did not have a big kickoff rally to introduce her big themes and set the stage for the campaign. Instead, she visited the already-running Biden campaign headquarters and then jumped into routine campaigning, with one big policy speech on economics. 

That makes tonight the moment for Harris to lay out her vision for the presidency, make the case for her policy agenda, which remains a work in progress, and tell her personal story.

It probably won’t be too different from the kickoff speech she had for her ill-fated 2020 run for the Democratic presidential nomination, in which she talked about how her parents met and how she viewed the role of prosecutor as helping fight for fairness.

Harris, of course, is the keynote speaker tonight. Don't expect her to address the convention before 11 p.m. ET.

Here's who is expected to speak before Harris tonight (in no particular order):