Here, in full, are the remarks delivered by Kamala Harris and Joe Biden, accepting their nominations for VP and President of the United States at the Democratic National Convention.
Kamala Harris.
Greetings America. It is truly an honor to be speaking with you tonight, that I am here tonight as a Testament to the dedication of generations before me. Women and men who believed so fiercely in the promise of equality, liberty, and justice for all.
This week marks the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment, and we celebrate the women who fought for that right, yet so many of the black women who helped secure that victory were still prohibited from voting long after its ratification, but they were undeterred without fanfare or recognition they organized and testified and rallied and marched and fought, not just for their vote but for a seat at the table.
These women and the generations that followed worked to make democracy and opportunity real in the lives of all of us who followed. They paved the way for the trail blazing leadership of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. And these women inspired us to pick up the torch and fight on women like Mary Church Terrell, Mary McLeod Bethune, Fannie Lou Hamer, and Diane Nash, Constance Baker Motley, and the great Shirley Chisholm. We’re not often taught their stories but as Americans, we all stand on their shoulders.
And there’s another woman whose name isn’t known, whose story isn’t shared. Another woman whose shoulders I stand on, and that’s my mother Shyamala Gopalan Harris. She came here from India at age 19 to pursue her dream of curing cancer. At the University of California, Berkeley she met my father, Donald Harris, who had come from Jamaica to study economics.
They fell in love in that most American way while marching together for justice in the civil rights movement of the 1960s. In the streets of Oakland and Berkeley, I got a strollers eye view of people getting into what the great John Lewis called good trouble. When I was five, my parents split and my mother raised us mostly on her own. Like so many mothers, she worked around the clock to make it work packing lunches before we woke up and paying bills after we went to bed, helping us with homework at the kitchen table and shuttling us to church for choir practice.
She made it look easy though it never was. My mother instilled in my sister Maya and me, the values that we chart, the course of our lives. She raised us to be proud strong black women, and she raised us to know and be proud of our Indian heritage. She taught us to put family first, the family you’re born into and the family you choose.
Family is my husband Doug, who I met on a blind date set up by my best friend. Family is our beautiful children, Cole and Ella who call me Mamala. Family is my sister. Family is my best friend, my nieces and my godchildren. Family is my uncles, my aunts, and my kitties. Family is Mrs. Shelton, my second mother who lived two doors down and helped raise me. Family is my beloved Alpha Kappa Alpha, our Divine 9, and my HBCU brothers and sisters. Family is the friends I turn to when my mother, the most important person in my life passed away from cancer. And even as she taught us to keep our family at the center of our world, she also pushed us to see a world beyond ourselves, she taught us to be conscious and compassionate about the struggles of all people, to believe public service is a noble cause and the fight for justice is a shared responsibility.
That led me to become a lawyer, a district attorney, attorney general, and a United States Senator. And at every step of the way I’ve been guided by the words I spoke from the first time I stood in a courtroom. Kamala Harris for the people. I have fought for children and survivors of sexual assault, I fought against transnational criminal organizations. I took on the biggest banks and help take down one of the biggest for-profit colleges. I know a predator when I see one. My mother taught me that service to others gives life purpose and meaning, and oh, how I wish she were here tonight but I know she’s looking down on me from above. I keep thinking about that 25-year-old Indian woman, all of five feet tall who gave birth to me at Kaiser Hospital in Oakland, California. On that day, she probably could have never imagined that I would be standing before you now and speaking these words.
I accept your nomination for vice president of the United States of America. I do so committed to the values she taught me, to the word that teaches me to walk by faith and not by sight, and to a vision passed on through generations of Americans one that Joe Biden shares. A vision of our nation as a beloved community, where all are welcome, no matter what we look like, no matter where we come from or who we love. A country where we may not agree on every detail, but we are United by the fundamental belief that every human being is of infinite worth, deserving of compassion, dignity, and respect.
A country where we look out for one another, where we rise and fall as one, where we face our challenges and celebrate our triumphs together. Today, that country feels distant, Donald Trump’s failure of leadership has cost lives and livelihoods. If you’re a parent struggling with your child’s remote learning, or you’re a teacher struggling on the other side of that screen, you know what we’re doing right now is not working.
And we are a nation that is grieving, grieving the loss of life, the loss of jobs, the loss of opportunities, the loss of normalcy, and yes, the loss of certainty. And while this virus touches us all, we got to be honest, it is not an equal opportunity offender, black, Latino, and indigenous people are suffering and dying disproportionately.
And this is not a coincidence, it is the effect of structural racism of inequities in education and technology, healthcare and housing, job security and transportation, the injustice in reproductive and maternal health care, in the excessive use of force by police and in our broader criminal justice system. This virus, it has no eyes and yet it knows exactly how we see each other and how we treat each other.
And let’s be clear, there is no vaccine for racism. We have got to do the work for George Floyd, for Brianna Taylor, for the lives of too many others to name, for our children and for all of us. We’ve got to do the work to fulfill that promise of equal justice under law. Because here’s the thing, none of us are free until all of us are free.
So we’re at an inflection point, the constant chaos leaves us a drift. The incompetence makes us feel afraid. The callousness makes us feel alone. It’s a lot. And here’s the thing, we can do better and deserve so much more. We must elect a president who will bring something different, something better, and do the important work.
A president who will bring all of us together, black, white, Latino, Asian, indigenous to achieve the future we collectively want. We must elect Joe Biden. And I will tell you, I knew Joe as vice president, I knew Joe on the campaign trail, and I first got to know Joe as the father of my friend. So Joe’s son Beau and I served as attorneys general of our states Delaware and California. During the great recession, he and I spoke on the phone nearly every day, working together to win back billions of dollars for homeowners from the big banks that foreclosed on people’s homes.
And Beau and I, we would talk about his family. How as a single father, Joe would spend four hours every day riding the train back and forth from Wilmington to Washington. Beau and Hunter got to have breakfast every morning with their dad, they went to sleep every night with the sound of his voice, reading bedtime stories. And while they endured and unspeakable loss, those two little boys always knew that they were deeply unconditionally loved.
And what also moved me about Joe is the work that he did as he was going back and forth. This is the leader who wrote the Violence Against Women Act, and enacted the Assault Weapons Ban. Who as vice president implemented the Recovery Act, which brought our country back from the great recessions. He championed the Affordable Care Act protecting millions of Americans with preexisting conditions, who spent decades promoting American values and interests around the world.
Joe, he believes we stand with our allies and stand up to our adversaries. Right now, we have a president who turns our tragedies into political weapons. Joe will be a president who turns our challenges into purpose. Joe will bring us together to build an economy that doesn’t leave anyone behind, where a good paying job is the floor, not the ceiling.
Joe will bring us together to end this pandemic and make sure that we are prepared for the next one. Joe will bring us together to squarely face and dismantle racial injustice, furthering the work of generations. Joe and I believe that we can build that beloved community. One that is strong and decent, just and kind, one in which we can all see ourselves. That’s the vision that our parents and grandparents fought for.
The vision that made my own life possible. The vision that makes the American promise for all its complexities and imperfections, a promise worth fighting for. So make no mistake. The road ahead is not easy, we may stumble, we may fall short. But I pledge to you that we will act boldly and deal with our challenges honestly.
We will speak truths and we will act with the same faith in you that we ask you to place in us. We believe that our country, all of us will stand together for a better future. And we already are, we see it in the doctors, the nurses, the home healthcare workers and front-line workers who are risking their lives to save people they’ve never met.
We see it in the teachers and truck drivers, the factory workers and farmers, the postal workers and poll workers, all putting their own safety on the line to help us get through this pandemic. And we see it in so many of you who are working, not just to get us through our current crisis but to somewhere better.
There’s something happening all across our country, it’s not about Joe or me, it’s about you and it’s about us, people of all ages and colors and creeds who are yes, taken to the streets and also persuading our family members, rallying our friends, organizing our neighbors and getting out the vote.
And we have shown that when we vote, we expand access to healthcare and expand access to the ballot box, and ensure that more working families can make a decent living. And I’m so inspired by a new generation, you, you are pushing us to realize the ideals of our nation, pushing us to live the values we share decency and fairness, justice, and love.
You are Patriots who remind us that to love our country is to fight for the ideals of our country. In this election, we have a chance to change the course of history, we’re all in this fight, you, me and Joe together. What an awesome responsibility, what an awesome privilege. So let’s fight with conviction, let’s fight with hope, let’s fight with confidence in ourselves and a commitment to each other.
To the America we know is possible, the America we love. And years from now, this moment will have passed and our children, and our grandchildren will look in our eyes and they’re going to ask us, ” Where were you when the stakes were so high?” They will ask us, “What was it like?” And we will tell them, we will tell them not just how we felt, we will tell them what we did. Thank you. God bless you. And God bless the United States of America.And, Papa Joe Biden.
Good evening. Ella Baker, a giant of the civil rights movement, left us with this wisdom: Give people light and they will find a way. "Give people light."
Those are words for our time.The current president has cloaked America in darkness for much too long. Too much anger. Too much fear. Too much division.
Here and now, I give you my word: If you entrust me with the presidency, I will draw on the best of us, not the worst. I will be an ally of the light, not the darkness.
It's time for us, for We the People, to come together. For make no mistake: United we can, and will, overcome this season of darkness in America. We'll choose hope over fear, facts over fiction, fairness over privilege.
I am a proud Democrat and I'll be proud to carry the banner of our party into the general election. So, it's with great honor and humility that I accept this nomination for President of the United States of America.
But while I will be a Democratic candidate, I will be an American president. I'll work for those who didn't support me, as hard for them as I will for those who did vote for me. That's the job of a president, to represent all of us, not just our base or our party.
This is not a partisan moment. This must be an American moment. It's a moment that calls for hope and light and love. Hope for our futures, light to see our way forward, and love for one another.
America isn't just a collection of clashing interests of Red States or Blue States. We're so much bigger than that. We're so much better than that. You know, nearly a century ago, Franklin Roosevelt pledged a New Deal in times of uncertainty and fear. Stricken by disease, stricken by a virus, FDR insisted that he would recover and prevail, and he believed America could as well.
And he did. And so can we. This campaign isn't just about winning votes. It's about winning the heart, and yes, the soul of America. Winning it for the generous among us, not the selfish. Winning it for the workers who keep this country going, not just the privileged few at the top. Winning it for those communities who have known the injustice of the "knee on the neck." For all the young people who have known only an America of rising inequity and shrinking opportunity. They deserve to experience of America's promise. They deserve to experience it in full.
You know, no generation ever knows what history will ask of it. All we can ever know is whether we're ready when that moment arrives.
And now history has delivered us to one of the most difficult moments America has ever faced. Four, four historic crises. All at the same time. A perfect storm. The worst pandemic in over 100 years. The worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, the most compelling call for racial justice since the 60's and the undeniable realities and accelerating threats of climate change.
So, the question for us is simple: Are we ready? I believe we are. We must be.
You know, all elections are important. But we know in our bones this one is more consequential. As many have said, America is at an inflection point. A time of real peril, but of extraordinary possibilities.
We can choose the path of becoming angrier, less hopeful, and more divided. A path of shadow and suspicion. Or we can choose a different path, and together, take this chance to heal, to be reborn, to unite, a path of hope and light.
This is a life-changing election that will determine America's future for a long, long time.Character is on the ballot. Compassion is on the ballot. Decency, science, democracy.
They are all on the ballot.
Who we are as a nation, what we stand for. And, most importantly, who we want to be.
That's all on the ballot. And the choice could not be clearer. No rhetoric is needed.
Just judge this president on the facts. 5 million Americans infected with COVID-19. More than 170,000 Americans have died. By far the worst performance of any nation on Earth. More than 50 million people have filed for unemployment this year. More than 10 million people are going to lose their health insurance this year.
Nearly one in 6 small businesses have closed this year. And this president, if he's re-elected, you know what will happen. Cases and deaths will remain far too high. More mom and pop businesses will close their doors, and this time, for good.
Working families will struggle to get by, and the wealthiest one percent will get tens of billions of dollars in new tax breaks. And the assault on the Affordable Care Act will continue until its destroyed, taking insurance away from more than 20 million people, including more than 15 million people on Medicaid, and getting rid of the protections that President Obama and I worked so hard to get passed for people who have, 100 million more people who have pre-existing conditions.
And speaking of President Obama, a man I was honored to serve alongside for 8 years as Vice President. Let me take this moment to say something we don't say nearly enough. Thank you, Mr. President. You were a great president. A president our children could -- and did -- look up to.
No one will say that about the current occupant of the White House. What we know about this president is if he's given four more years, he'll be what he's been the last four years. A president who takes no responsibility, refuses to lead, blames others, cozies up to dictators, and fans the flames of hate and division. He will wake up every day believing the job is all about him. Never about you.
Is that the America you want for you, your family, your children? I see a different America. One that is generous and strong. Selfless and humble. It's an America we can rebuild together. As president, the first step I will take will be to get control of the virus that's ruined so many lives. Because I understand something this president hasn't from the beginning. We will never get our economy back on track, we will never get our kids safely back to school, we will never have our lives back, until we deal with this virus.
The tragedy of where we are today is it didn't have to be this bad. Just look around. It's not this bad in Canada. Or Europe. Or Japan. Or almost anywhere else in the world.
And the president keeps telling us the virus is going to disappear. He keeps waiting for a miracle. Well, I have news for him, no miracle is coming. We lead the world in confirmed cases. We lead the world in deaths. Our economy is in tatters, with Black, Latino, Asian American, and Native American communities bearing the brunt of it. And after all this time, the president still does not have a plan. Well, I do.
If I'm president on day one we'll implement the national strategy I've been laying out since March. We'll develop and deploy rapid tests with results available immediately. We'll make the medical supplies and protective equipment our country needs. And we'll make them here in America. So we will never again be at the mercy of China and other foreign countries in order to protect our own people.
We'll make sure our schools have the resources they need to be open, safe, and effective. We'll put the politics aside and take the muzzle off our experts so the public gets the information they need and deserve. Honest, unvarnished truth. They can deal with that.
We'll have a national mandate to wear a mask, not as a burden, but to protect each other. It's a patriotic duty. In short, I will do what we should have done from the very beginning. Our current president has failed in his most basic duty to this nation. He failed to protect us. He failed to protect America. And, my fellow Americans, that is unforgivable.
As president, I will make you this promise: I will protect America. I will defend us from every attack, seen and unseen, always, without exception, every time.
Look, I understand. I understand how hard it is to have hope right now. On this summer night, let me take a moment to speak to those of you who have lost the most.
I know how it feels to lose someone you love. I know that deep black hole that opens up in your chest and you feel like you're being sucked into it. I know how mean and cruel and unfair life can be sometimes.
But I've learned two things. First, your loved ones may have left this Earth but they never leave your heart. They'll always be with you. You'll always hear them. And second, I found the best way through pain and loss and grief is to find purpose.
As God's children each of us have a purpose in our lives. And we have a great purpose as a nation: To open the doors of opportunity to all Americans. To save our democracy. To be a light to the world once again.
And finally, to live up to and make real the words written in the sacred documents that founded this nation that all men and women are created equal. Endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights. Among them life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
You know, my Dad was an honorable, decent man.He got knocked down a few times pretty hard, but always got back up. He worked hard and built a great middle-class life for our family.
He used to say, "Joey, I don't expect the government to solve my problems, but I sure in hell expect them to understand them." And then he'd say: "Joey, a job is about a lot more than a paycheck. It's about your dignity. It's about respect. It's about your place in the community. It's about being able to look your kid in the eye and say, "honey, it's going to be okay," and mean it.
I've never forgotten those lessons. That's why my economic plan is all about jobs, dignity, respect, and community. Together, we can and will rebuild our economy. And when we do, we'll not only build back, we'll build back better. With modern roads, bridges, highways, broadband, ports and airports as a new foundation for economic growth. With pipes that transport clean water to every community. With 5 million new manufacturing and technology jobs so the future is made in America.
With a health care system that lowers premiums, deductibles, and drug prices by building on the Affordable Care Act he's trying to rip away.
With an education system that trains our people for the best jobs of the 21st century. There's not a single thing American workers can't do. Where cost doesn't prevent young people from going to college, and student debt doesn't crush them when they get out.
With child care and elder care that make it possible for parents to go to work and for the elderly to stay in their homes with dignity.
With an immigration system that powers our economy and reflects our values. And newly empowered labor unions. They're the ones that build the middle class. With equal pay for women. With rising wages you can raise a family on. Yes, we're going to do more than praise our essential workers. We're finally going to pay them. Pay them.
We can, and we will, deal with climate change. It's not only a crisis, it's an enormous opportunity. An opportunity for America to lead the world in clean energy and create millions of new good-paying jobs in the process.
And we can pay for these investments by ending loopholes and the president's $1.3 trillion tax giveaway to the wealthiest 1 percent and the biggest, most profitable corporations, some of which pay no tax at all. Because we don't need a tax code that rewards wealth more than it rewards work. I'm not looking to punish anyone. Far from it. But it's long past time the wealthiest people and the biggest corporations in this country paid their fair share.
For our seniors, Social Security is a sacred obligation, a sacred promise made they paid for.The current president is threatening to break that promise. He's proposing to eliminate the tax that pays for almost half of Social Security without any way of making up for that lost revenue, resulting in cuts.
I will not let it happen. If I'm your president, we're going to protect Social Security and Medicare. You have my word.
One of the most powerful voices we hear in the country today is from our young people. They're speaking to the inequity and injustice that has grown up in America. Economic injustice. Racial injustice. Environmental injustice. I hear their voices and if you listen, you can hear them too. And whether it's the existential threat posed by climate change, the daily fear of being gunned down in school, or the inability to get started in their first job — it will be the work of the next president to restore the promise of America to everyone.
I won't have to do it alone. Because I'll have a great Vice President at my side. Senator Kamala Harris. She is a powerful voice for this nation. Her story is the American story. She knows about all the obstacles thrown in the way of so many in our country. Women, Black women, Black Americans, South Asian Americans, immigrants, the left-out and left-behind.
But she's overcome every obstacle she's ever faced. No one's been tougher on the big banks or the gun lobby. No one's been tougher in calling out this current administration for its extremism, its failure to follow the law and to tell the truth.
Kamala and I both draw strength from our families. For Kamala, it's Doug and their families. For me, it's Jill and ours. I've said many times before,No man deserves one great love in his life, let alone two. But I've known two. After losing my first wife in a car accident, Jill came into my life and put our family back together. She's an educator. A mom. A military Mom. And an unstoppable force. If she puts her mind to it, just get out of the way. Because she's going to get it done. She was a great Second Lady and I know she'll make a great First Lady for this nation, because she loves this country so much.
And I'll always have the strength that can only come from family. Hunter, Ashley and all our grandchildren, my brothers, my sister. They give me courage and lift me up. And while he is no longer with us, Beau inspires me every day. Beau served our nation in uniform. A decorated Iraq war veteran.
So I take very personally the profound responsibility of serving as Commander in Chief. I'll be a president who will stand with our allies and friends and make it clear to our adversaries the days of cozying up to dictators are over. Under President Biden, America will not turn a blind eye to Russian bounties on the heads of American soldiers. Nor will I put up with foreign interference in our most sacred democratic exercise -- voting.
And I'll always stand up for our values of human rights and dignity. And I will work in common purpose for a more secure, peaceful, and prosperous world.
History - history has thrust one more urgent task on us. Will we be the generation that finally wipes the stain of racism from our national character? I believe we're up to it. I believe we're ready.
Just a week ago yesterday was the third anniversary of the events in Charlottesville. Close your eyes, remember what saw on television, and remember seeing those neo-Nazis and Klansmen and white supremacists coming out of the fields with lighted torches, veins bulging, spewing the same anti-Semitic bile heard across Europe in the '30s? Remember the violent clash that ensued between those spreading hate and those with the courage to stand against it.
Remember what the president said, when asked, he said there were quote, "very fine people on both sides."
It was a wake-up call for us as a country. And for me, a call to action. At that moment, I knew I'd have to run. My father taught us that silence was complicity. And I could not remain silent or complicit.
At the time, I said we were in a battle for the soul of this nation. And we are.
You know, one of the most important conversations I've had this entire campaign is with someone who is too young to vote. I met with six-year old Gianna Floyd, a day before her Daddy George Floyd was laid to rest. She is incredibly brave. I'll never forget. When I leaned down to speak with her, she looked into my eyes and said "Daddy, changed the world. Daddy changed the world."
Her words burrowed deep into my heart. Maybe George Floyd's murder was the breaking point. Maybe John Lewis's passing the inspiration, but however it has come to be, however it happened, America is ready, in John's words, to lay down "the heavy burdens of hate at last" and then the hard work of rooting out our systemic racism.
You know, America's history tells us that it's been in our darkest moments that we've made our greatest progress. That we've found the light.
In this dark moment, I believe we are poised to make great progress again; that we can find the light once more. You know, many people have heard me say this, but I've always believed you can define America in one word: Possibilities. The defining feature of America - everything is possible.
That in America, everyone, and I mean everyone, should be given the opportunity to go as far as their dreams and God-given ability will take them. We can never lose that.
In times as challenging as these, I believe there is only one way forward, as united America. A united America. United in our pursuit of a more perfect Union. United in our dreams of a better future for us and for our children. United in our determination to make the coming years bright.
Are we ready? I believe we are. This is a great nation. And we are a good and decent people. For Lord's sake, this is the United States of America. There's never been anything we've been unable to accomplish when we've done it together.
The Irish poet Seamus Heaney once wrote: "History says don't hope on this side of the grave, but then, once in a lifetime the longed-for tidal wave of justice can rise up, and hope and history rhyme.
This is our moment to make hope and history rhyme, with passion and purpose. Let us begin. You and I together. One nation, under God. United in our love for America. United in our love for each other.
For love is more powerful than hate. Hope is more powerful than fear. And light is more powerful than dark. This is our moment. This is our mission. May history be able to say that the end of this chapter of American darkness began here, tonight, as love and hope and light joined in the battle for the soul of the nation.
And this is a battle that will win, and we will do it together. I promise you. Thank you. And may God bless you. And may God protect our troops.TGIF, everyone.
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