Kamala Harris delivers historic remarks in accepting Vice President nomination

Kamala Harris, the first woman, the first Black woman, and the first woman of Indian heritage to be elected vice president, said Saturday that “a new day for America” had arrived and thanked Americans for making their voices heard in a brief speech on Saturday night, hours after she and Joseph R. Biden Jr. had been declared the winners of the 2020 presidential election. In her historic remarks, Ms. Harris recalled her mother, an immigrant who came to California as a teenager.

“She maybe didn’t imagine quite this moment,” Ms. Harris said of her mother, Shyamala Gopalan Harris. “But she believed so deeply in America where a moment like this is possible, and so I am thinking about her and about the generations of women, Black women, Asian, white, Latina, Native American women — who throughout our nation’s history have paved the way for this moment — women who fought and sacrificed so much for equality and liberty and justice for all.”

Ms. Harris acknowledged “all the women who have worked to secure and protect the right to vote for over a century.

“But while I may be the first woman in this office, I won’t be the last. Because every little girl watching tonight sees that this is a country of possibilities. And to the children of our country, regardless of your gender, our country has sent you a clear message:Dream with ambition, lead with conviction, and see yourself in a way that others might not see you, simply because they’ve never seen it before. And we will applaud you every step of the way.

To the American people:

No matter who you voted for, I will strive to be the vice president that Joe was to President Obama — loyal, honest, and prepared, waking up every day thinking of you and your families. Because now is when the real work begins.