Harris Speech Showed a Prosecutor Ready For Her Rival

This article is part of The D.C. Brief, TIME’s politics newsletter. Sign up here to get stories like this sent to your inbox.

Kamala Harris understood the assignment. 

At once a biography and a promise, Harris’ speech on Thursday accepting her Democratic Party’s nomination was a measured blend of aspiration and assurance, a guide for the next 10 weeks of what is certainly going to be a grueling grind toward Election Day. While her head-to-head fight against former President Donald Trump is expected to be brutal and petty, it is clear the incumbent Vice President is ready and clear-eyed about the uphill path ahead. And judging from her pointed speech that cast herself as a responsible alternative and a serious contender for the toughest job on the planet, she clearly plans to lean on her skills as a savvy prosecutor.

“As Vice President, I have confronted threats to our security, negotiated with foreign leaders, strengthened our alliances and engaged with our brave troops overseas,” Harris said to a raucous arena in Chicago. ”As Commander in Chief, I will ensure America will always have the strongest, most lethal fighting force in the world. And I will fulfill our sacred obligation to care for our troops and their families.”

Harris’ remarks were the single biggest self-scripted moment she is expected to enjoy before Election Day. The well-paced telling of her personal story melted easily into her pitch to Americans about their future. From her middle-class childhood to her career as a line prosecutor, Harris used her time on stage to make the case for a candidacy that until five weeks ago seemed a fanciful alternative history.

After President Joe Biden decided to step aside in favor of Harris’ potentially stronger candidacy, Democrats coalesced with a speed unseen before. Buoyed by unexpected enthusiasm and deep pockets, a Harris presidency seems more plausible by the day as Trump has struggled to keep the spotlight. The expected sugar-high of Harris’ ascent has yet to crash, leaving Republicans increasingly nervous. All the while, Harris has been unrelenting in taking the fight to Trump and his allies. 

“He doesn’t actually fight for the middle class. Instead, he fights for himself and his billionaire friends,” Harris said, adding that dictators were also cheering for his return to power. “Trump won’t hold autocrats accountable because he wants to be an autocrat himself.”

It was a capstone to four days of a national reintroduction of Harris, cast in unflinchingly positive anecdotes and memories. With remarkably more energy than the Republicans’ iteration last month, Democrats seemed more unified than at any point in recent memory. Part of that owed to the fall of Roe, which has helped boost Democratic support in election over election over the last two years. But part of that is also due to the prospect of Democrats losing the White House is so abhorrent. Disagreements over party priorities seem pushed aside in pursuit of a shared block of Trump.

“Simply put, they are out of their minds,” Harris said of Trump and his allies. “One must ask: why exactly is it that they don’t trust women?”

Harris and Democrats have used much of this week in Chicago to paint Trump and his ilk as out-of-touch with Americans’ goals. With pitches aimed at reproductive health, environmental justice, and economic opportunity, Harris’ outline for her administration offered little to feed the GOP fear machine of a radical taking the reins. If Republicans were counting on Harris handing them fodder to brand her a San Francisco liberal, they made a very poor calculation.

“In many ways, Donald Trump is an unserious man. But the consequences of putting Donald Trump back in the White House are extremely serious,” Harris said. “None of us has to fail for all of us to succeed. In unity, there is strength.”

In contrast, Trump was cast as a divider and foe of democracy itself.

“Donald Trump tried to throw away your votes,” Harris said of the Jan. 6, 2021, failed insurrection. “When he failed, he sent an armed mob to the United States Capitol where they assaulted law enforcement officers. When politicians in his own party begged him to call off the mob and send help, he did the opposite. He fanned the flames.”

On its own, Harris’ speech was unlikely to change the race in a major way. In fact, it was a degree safer than many of the other remarks from the same podium this week. But the script did cement just how Democrats see the theory of the case against a second Trump term—and they just happen to have a former top prosecutor of California to argue it.

Make sense of what matters in Washington. Sign up for the D.C. Brief newsletter.