Three prominent Arizonans took center stage before Vice President Kamala Harris formally accepted the Democratic presidential nomination Thursday night.
Thefinal nightof the2024 Democratic National Convention featured several speakers who have stories related to gun violence, including former U.S. Rep.Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona.
Giffords was shot in the head at an event outside Tucson in January 2011. Six others were killed and 12 others wounded.
Those who also took the stage: U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., Giffords' husband and a finalist for Harris' vice presidential nomination, and U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., who is running against Republican Kari Lake for a U.S. Senate seat in Arizona.
'New path forward' with strong middle class
Harris told convention attendees that her campaign is all about charting a “new path forward to a future with a strong and growing middle class.”
“We know a strong middle class has always been critical to America's success, and building that middle class will be a defining goal of my presidency,” she said.
Harris said that, if elected, she would pass a middle class tax cut that will benefit more than 100 million Americans. She said her term would also also allow Americans to “fully make their own decisions about their own lives, especially on matters of heart and home,” she said, referring to reproductive rights and other matters.
−Sudiksha Kochi, USA TODAY
Harris vows to bring back bipartisan border dealTrump bashed
Harris said that after decades in law enforcement, she knows the “importance of safety and security, especially at our border.”
“Last year, Joe and I brought together Democrats and conservative Republicans to write the strongest border bill in decades,” she said. The billwas killed by SenateRepublicans in February after pressure from Trump.
“Donald Trump believes a border deal would hurt his campaign, so he ordered his allies in Congress to kill the deal,” she alleged. “Well, I refuse to play politics with our security. And 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.”
− Sudiksha Kochi, USA TODAY
Reproductive rights get center-stage moment in Harris’ speech
Bashing her opponent and the GOP’s record, Harris highlighted reproductive rights as a key issue in the first presidential election since Roe v. Wade was overturned.
“Simply put, they are out of their minds,” Harris said of Trump and Republicans. “And one must ask, why exactly is it that they don’t trust women?”
“Well, we trust women,” she continued, adding that as president she would “proudly sign” legislation to enshrine abortion access.
As vice president, Harris has been the leading voice in the current Biden administration on reproductive rights and abortion access – a winning issue for many Democrats since 2022.
− Savannah Kuchar, USA TODAY
Harris accepts presidential nomination
Kamala Harris formally accepted her party’s presidential nomination, as the Democratic convention came to a close Thursday.
“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 ... I accept your nomination,” Harris told the crowd.
Democrats had officially nominated Harris in avirtual voteearlier this month and affirmed the decision at the convention Tuesday in an enthusiasticcelebratory roll call.
− Savannah Kuchar, USA TODAY
U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego invokes John McCain in honoring service
U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego said Vice President Kamala Harris offers the chance for an America that honors its veterans, not ridicule them.
In a five-minute speech to the Democratic National Convention on Thursday, Gallego said the U.S. government failed to help his fellow Marine veterans adjust to life after they survived combat in the Iraq War.
Harris, he said, has helped deliver veteran benefits, and she and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, are committed to continuing that practice.
With about two dozen Democrats who served in the military on stage next to him, Gallego extended his attack on former President Donald Trump.
Gallego said the late U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., was part of a class Trump called “losers.”
“Politicians like Donald Trump, they don’t stand with us. They called patriots like Sen. McCain ‘losers.’ John McCain was an American hero. Show some respect!”
Gallego didn’t mention his Republican U.S. Senate opponent Kari Lake during his remarks, but by invoking McCain, he brought up a subject that has continued to trail Lake, after she memorably assailed McCain Republicans during her 2022 gubernatorial run.
Lake reignited a feud with Meghan McCain earlier this year, when Lake tried to suggest her comments about John McCain were in jest.
— Ronald J. Hansen
U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly says world 'laughs' at Trump
U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly said former President Donald Trump was an international joke at a time when global hot spots require more serious leadership.
During his five-minute speech, Kelly noted that his combat service in Operation Desert Storm in 1991 was a test of American resolve similar to what Russian President Vladimir Putin was facing with the ongoing war after his invasion of Ukraine.
“Today, Vladimir Putin is testing whether we’re still that strong. Iran, North Korea and especially China watch closely. What’s Trump’s answer? He invited Russia to do, and these are his words, not mine, ‘whatever the hell they want.’
Vice President Kamala Harris is a reliable NATO supporter and supports free and fair elections around the world, Kelly said. Trump sucks up to dictators, Kelly said.
“The world laughs at Trump — literally,” Kelly said.
Kelly followed his wife, former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., who spoke minutes earlier.
— Ronald J. Hansen
Gabrielle Giffords supports Harris on gun safety, abortion rights
Former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords predicted that Democrat Kamala Harris can “beat the gun lobby” and will protect access to abortion services in a stirring appearance Thursday at the Democratic National Convention.
Greeted with chants of “Gabby! Gabby!” Giffords walked on stage in Chicago for a three-minute speech that noted her Arizona roots, her work in Congress and how her life was upended by a would-be assassin.
Giffords thanked President Joe Biden.
It was Giffords’ third convention speech since she was shot in the head in 2011 at a constituent event near Tucson and is part of her more visible presence in America’s politics this year.
Giffords is one of three prominent Arizonans speaking to the convention on Thursday. Her husband, U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., was scheduled to speak, along with U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz.
— Ronald J. Hansen
The Chicks perform the National Anthem
The Chicks, the award-winning country band, performed an a cappella version of “The Star Spangled Banner” to a packed convention hall.
Members Martie Maguire, Natalie Maines and Emily Strayer stood onstage at a single mic as they sang the anthem.
After they finished, the crowd began chanting, “USA. USA.”
−Stephen Gruber-Miller, USA TODAY
When is Gabby Giffords speaking? What about Kelly, Gallego?
The Arizona speakers were scheduled to appear between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. Arizona time, in the hour immediately before Vice President Kamala Harris takes the stage.
Former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was to appear immediately after a panel on gun violence featuring families affected by it. The panelists represent Newtown, Connecticut; Uvalde, Texas; Charleston, South Carolina; and Chicago.
Her husband, Sen. Mark Kelly, was scheduled to follow Giffords onstage. One speaker after Kelly, U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego was to take the stage.
— Rafael Carranza
Mitt Romney says he's not tonight's surprise guest: 'So disappointing, I know!'
Mitt Romney will not be joining Democrats in Chicago.
"Contrary to fake news posts, I am not the surprise guest at the DNC tonight," Romney wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Romney was one of several names floated as a possible "surprise guest" appearing on the final night of the Democratic convention.The Utah senator said instead, "My guess is that it will be Beyoncé or Taylor Swift."
"So disappointing, I know!"
− Savannah Kuchar, USA TODAY
Elizabeth Warren on Donald Trump and Kamala Harris: ‘The difference between a criminal and a prosecutor’
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warrenattacked former President Donald Trump’s criminal record in her speech to Democratic delegates, contrasting it with Harris’ experience as a prosecutor.
Warren, whoran for the presidency in 2020,teared up as she was warmly greeted by the crowd Thursday night. She praised Harris’ work as California attorney general after the 2008 housing crash.
“Kamala Harris stepped up,” Warren said. “She enforced the law, she fought the giant banks and she delivered billions of dollars of help for families. And that is the difference between a criminal and a prosecutor.”
Warren said Harris will work to make life more affordable for working families.
“Donald Trump, the felon, has no plans to lower costs for families,” Warren said. “He doesn’t know how. And basically, he doesn’t really care. When did he ever fill up a gas tank or worry about a grocery bill? The only bills he worries about are from his criminal defense lawyers. But Kamala, she cares deep down. And she will take on the giant corporations that are squeezing American families.”
— Stephen Gruber-Miller, USA TODAY
Harris shares wedding anniversary date with eldest senator
Vice President Harris and husband Doug Emhoff celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary Thursday, on the final night of the Democratic convention.
Also celebrating today: Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and his wife, Barbara Grassley, who are marking 70 years of marriage.
The 90-year-old senator posted on X, formerly Twitter, a photo of the pair at a restaurant in Waterloo, Iowa.
“Barbara & I went to the Hickory House in Waterloo when we were 1st dating,” Grassley wrote, “2nite we celebrate our 70th wedding anniversary where it all started.”
− Savannah Kuchar
Taylor Swift? Beyoncé? What to know about those DNC surprise speaker rumors
Rumors swirled on Thursday about asurprise speakermaking an appearance on the last night of the Democratic convention.
USA TODAY has not confirmed the speculation, but it hasn't stopped political observers from wondering ifmega-stars like Beyoncé or Taylor Swift, who have both previously waded into politics, will show up in Chicago.
– Marina Pitofsky, USA TODAY
Muslim Women for Harris-Walz disbands after speaker on Palestinians denied DNC slot
The group Muslim Women for Harris-Walz announced it is disbanding after the campaign refused a request from the uncommitted movement to give a Palestinian American a speaking slot at the Democratic National Convention.
“We cannot in good conscience continue Muslim Women for Harris-Walz, in light of this new information from the uncommitted movement, that VP Harris’ team declined their request to have a Palestinian American speaker take the stage at the DNC,” the group said in a statement following Wednesday night's convention program.
The uncommitted movement has for months pushed Democratic leaders to implement an arms embargo to Israel and work toward a permanent cease-fire in Gaza. The group formed during the Democratic primaries earlier this year urging progressives to vote “uncommitted” to deny then-Democratic candidate President Joe Biden their support.
The mounting pressure from protesters and renewed tensions among party officials come as the Democratic Party has for days sought to convey a message of unity and hope at its conventions. And they could serve as a warning for the Harris campaign about what's to come if it does not appease the party's left flank.
― Karissa Waddick and Todd Spangler, USA TODAY
What her mother's legacy means to Kamala Harris
In the story of Kamala Harris’ life, her mother steals the show.
The vice president would have it no other way.
“Mommy, you are the star of this book because you are the reason for everything,” Harris wrote in her 2019 memoir “The Truths We Hold.” “There is no title or honor on earth I’ll treasure more than to say I am Shyamala Gopalan Harris’ daughter.”
Gopalan, a breast cancer researcher who died in 2009 at age 70 of colon cancer, won't see her daughter accept the Democratic Party’s nomination for president on Thursday, but she will be a strong presence.
“I think of her all the time,” Harris wrote. “Sometimes I look up and talk to her.”
― Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy, USA TODAY
2024 DNC Day 4 speaker schedule lineup for Thursday
Here's who is expected to take the stage Thursday night, according to reports from USA TODAY and other media outlets includingNBC NewsandScripps News:
- Vice President Kamala Harris
- Massachusetts Gov.Maura Healey
- Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly
- U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego
- Michigan Gov.Gretchen Whitmer
- North Carolina Gov.Roy Cooper
- FormerIllinois Republican U.S. Rep.Adam Kinzinger
- Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin
- California Sen. Alex Padilla
- Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren
- Former Secretary of Defense & former CIA Director Leon Panetta, along with a number of veterans
- Former Rep. Gabby Giffords
- Georgia U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath
- Tennessee State Reps. Gloria Johnson, Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, known as the "Tennessee Three"
- Massachusetts U.S. Rep. Katherine Clark
- Colorado U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse
- Florida U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost
- Secretary Deb Haaland
- Secretary Marcia L. Fudge
- Michigan U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin
- Texas U.S. Rep. Colin Allred
- California U.S. Rep. and Democratic Caucus Vice Chair Ted Lieu
Kamala Harris will give an acceptance speech as the Day headliner. She is expected to be joined by will be the climax of the four-day convention, which closes tonight. Other Democrats speaking include Massachusetts Gov.Maura Healy, Michigan Gov.Gretchen Whitmerand North Carolina Gov.Roy Cooper. FormerIllinois Republican U.S. Rep.Adam Kinzingeris also slated for the stage.
― Republic staff
What time does the DNC start tonight? How long is the Democratic convention?
The convention willair live on its website, from the United Center in Chicago between 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Arizona time (7 p.m. to 11 p.m. ET) through Thursday.
USA TODAY will provide livestream coverage on YouTubeeach night of the DNC, Monday through Thursday.
― Gabe Hauari, USA TODAY
