Vice President Kamala Harris formally became the first woman of colour to run for US president, accepting the Democrats’ nomination with a vow to chart a “new way forward” from the divisions and bitterness of the “unserious” Donald Trump.
Addressing thousands of jubilant supporters at the close of her party’s convention in Chicago, Ms Harris introduced her life story to voters, mixing a message of forward-looking hope with warnings of what a second Trump term could bring.
In one of the speech’s strongest passages, she zeroed in on the burning election faultline of abortion rights, saying of Trump and his rightward-lurching Republicans: "They are out of their minds.”
Ms Harris nodded at the dramatic circumstances that propelled her atop the Democratic ticket to take on Trump in November’s election, after the elderly President Joe Biden bowed out.
"America, the path that led me here in recent weeks was no doubt unexpected,” she said.
“But I'm no stranger to unlikely journeys,” added the candidate, who is of Indian and Jamaican heritage and is bidding to become America’s first female commander-in-chief.
Ms Harris did not dwell on the history-making nature of her campaign. But many in the crowd wore white, the colour of women's suffrage. The convention heard this week from Hillary Clinton, who failed in her bid to break the “toughest glass ceiling” when she narrowly lost to Trump in 2016.
Candidates’ convention speeches are not typically occasions to discuss policy, more a chance to look and sound presidential.
Ms Harris overcame that hurdle, despite Trump’s attempts to portray her as a Far-left radical in a steady stream of angry social media posts as she spoke, and in a call to Fox News afterwards.
"Why didn't she do the things that she's complaining about?" he said, attacking her notably over illegal immigration across the border with Mexico.
Ms Harris took that issue on, noting that Trump had ordered his supporters in Congress to block new border security legislation to deny the Democrats an election-year success.
She nodded at Democratic tensions over the war in Gaza as she vowed both to defend Israel but also to protect Palestinians’ “dignity” and the right to self-determination.
And she vowed no slackening in US support of Ukraine, with Trump threatening to deny further aid to the beleaguered government in Kyiv, and cautioned that tyrants such as North Korea's Kim Jong Un "are rooting for Trump".
Above all the speech was a study in contrasts, in both content and tone. At 40 minutes, it was tightly focussed in a way that Trump failed to achieve with his meandering speech at the Republicans’ own convention.
There, he first pledged national unity after he was attacked by a sniper at an open-air rally in Pennsylvania, but quickly reverted to type by going off-script with a litany of complaints and jibes at his opponents.
Ms Harris drew the sharpest contrast in promising to defend the rule of law including the “peaceful transfer of power” against an opponent who appears to know no bounds, with his threats of violence and refusal to accept that he might lose fairly.
“In many ways Donald Trump is an unserious man,” the vice president said. "But the consequences of putting Donald Trump back in the White House are extremely serious.
"This election is not only the most important of our lives. It is one of the most important in the life of our nation,” she said.
"Just imagine Donald Trump with no guard rails. And how he would use the immense powers of the presidency of the United States, not to improve your life, not to strengthen our national security, but to serve the only client he has ever had - himself," the former prosecutor added.
The election on November 5 represents a "precious, fleeting opportunity to move past the bitterness, cynicism and divisive battles of the past”, the Democratic standard-bearer said, “a chance to chart a new way forward".
Among others speaking on the final night of the convention Adam Kinzinger, a Republican who called Mr Trump "too weak to accept defeat".
He said he was speaking at the Democratic National Convention because "we must put country first" and called on other Republicans to vote for Ms Harris.
"Harris shares my allegiance to the rule of law, the constitution, and democracy," he said.
"To my fellow Republicans: If you still pledge allegiance to those principles, I suspect you belong here, too."
Speculation about an appearance by Beyonce or Taylor Swift proved unfounded, but celebrity performances came from Pink with a version of the US national anthem by The Chicks, while actress Eva Longoria kicked off the final part of the evening.
Ms Harris closed by urging Democrats to fight hard between now and November, before 100,000 red, white and blue balloons dropped from the cavernous ceiling of Chicago’s United Center.
