Harris makes history in accepting VP nomination after Obama, Lujan Grisham tout Biden & rip Trump

MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin -- Kamala Harris made history Wednesday night as the first Black woman to accept a spot on a major party’s presidential ticket.

In her highly anticipated address capping the third night of the virtual Democratic National Convention, Harris mixed her polish as a former prosecutor with deeply personal tales of her upbringing to argue that she and Joe Biden can rejuvenate a country ravaged by a pandemic and deeply divided by partisan bitterness.

Harris evoked the lessons of her late mother, Shyamala Gopalan, a biologist and Indian immigrant, saying that she instilled in her a vision of “our nation as a beloved community -- where all are welcome, no matter what we look like, where we come from, or who we love.”

“There is no vaccine for racism,” Harris said. “We have got to do the work.”

Just before Harris spoke, former President Barack Obama warned that American democracy may not survive if President Donald Trump is reelected.

Obama delivered his speech to the nation live from the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia, a location intended to underscore "our very democracy is at stake" in this election.

His convention comments amounted to a damning assessment of his successor, intended to jolt Democrats into rallying around Biden and doing whatever it takes to vote.

“This administration has shown that it will tear our democracy down if that’s what it takes to win,” Obama said, urging voters to “leave no doubt about what this country that we love stands for.”

His address was also a call to action to a weary and anxious nation, particularly younger Americans frustrated with a government that may often appear out of touch with their own interests.

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New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham also spoke, virtually, on the same night as Obama and Harris.

As the governor of a major state for energy production, she praised Biden for his approach to combating climate change and supporting the clean energy sector.

Lujan Grisham stood amid an array of solar panels in New Mexico to assure voters that Biden would renew U.S. participation on cooperative international efforts to combat global warming if elected.

“We have the chance this November to end two existential crises: The Trump presidency and the environmental annihilation he represents,” said Lujan Grisham, the first Democratic Latina governor elected in the U.S. and one of the women who was on Biden's running mate shortlist.