On an evening that interspersed the personal stories of her loved ones with statements of support from celebrities, Kamala Harris officially accepted the nomination to challenge Donald Trump as the Democratic nominee.

The final day of the convention in Chicago was marked by breathless anticipation as rumors spread through the arena that Beyoncé would perform.

Every time a speaker left the stage and the master of ceremonies announced the next guest, a hush fell in the audience.

In the end, Bey’s appearance turned out to be just a rumor.

But the star of the evening was still Harris, who had only a few weeks to prepare her proposal to the American people to vote for her as their first female president.

In a wide-ranging speech that touched on sensitive foreign policy issues such as the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, access to abortion and climate change, Harris sought to distinguish herself from her opponent.

These were the key moments from the final day of the Democratic National Convention.

America doesn’t know Harris well. She tried to change that

Kamala Harris had to walk quite a tightrope during her speech to accept the Democratic Party nomination.

Just a month ago, she was President Joe Biden’s running mate, but her disastrous performance in the debate against Trump in June suddenly catapulted her to the top of the list.

Most presidential candidates have months, if not years, to write, practice, and perfect their congressional speech.

Harris only had a few weeks.

She used this meeting to introduce herself to the American people, who may know her as Biden’s vice president, but don’t know much else.

Her young nieces took the stage to teach the audience how to properly pronounce her name, and her sister Maya provided insight into their growing up as the daughters of immigrants living in California in the 1960s.

Finally, it was Harris’ turn to address the delegates.

She wished her husband Doug a happy anniversary, paid tribute to her late mother and took a moment to reflect on the historic nature of her candidacy.

She is the first black woman and the first South Asian American to be a major party’s presidential nominee.

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“So on behalf of the people, on behalf of every American, regardless of party affiliation, race, gender, or the language your grandmother speaks… I accept your nomination for President of the United States of America,” she said.

Harris warns of a ‘Donald Trump without borders’

In her attack on Trump, Harris avoided the “weird” line of attack that Democrats have been using since her running mate, Tim Walz, began using it in media interviews.

Instead, she reverted to the party’s old policies and portrayed him as a threat to democracy.

She discussed his efforts to overturn Biden’s election victory, his plans to pardon the January 6 rioters, and the civil judgments against him for fraud and sexual assault.

The threat he posed, she said, had been heightened by the recent Supreme Court ruling that granted ex-presidents some immunity from criminal prosecution.

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“Imagine Donald Trump, without any restrictions, and how he would use the immense power of the presidency of the United States,” Harris said.

“Not to improve your life, not to enhance our national security, but to serve the only client he’s ever had: himself.”

Harris has slammed Trump on both domestic and foreign policy.

She insisted that Trump “and his allies” would implement a nationwide ban on abortion, despite Trump’s insistence that he would leave it up to the states to decide

Trump has changed his public stance on abortion over time, but has recently indicated that he wants to leave it up to individual states.

And she said that dictators like North Korea’s Kim Jong-un “support Trump.”

“Donald Trump is a man who doesn’t take it seriously, but the consequences of putting Donald Trump back in the White House are extremely serious.”

A rumor about Beyoncé is causing a stir among the crowd

There had been speculation all week as to whether or not Beyoncé would make it to the final night.

Her hit Freedom, with Beyoncé’s approval, has become Harris’ campaign anthem, with an a capella version of the song playing over the stadium’s speakers on the first night.

Speculation reached a fever pitch when White House political director Emmy Ruiz posted a bee emoji on X, formerly known as Twitter.

For those who don’t know, Beyoncé’s fans call themselves the “Bey-hive.”

Twitter users were not convinced when Ruiz subsequently posted the following message: “Sorry guys, my 6 year old took my phone.”

Whether it was a rumor that got out of hand or a story designed to draw more Americans to the final night of the convention, the arena was disappointed.

However, there were also other stars who lent their support to Kamala’s cause.

P!ink teamed up with her daughter Willow to perform an acoustic version of What About Us, a ballad she calls a political protest song.

The Chicks also came back. In 2003, when they were still known as The Dixie Chicks, they were canceled by the country music industry for speaking out against the Iraq War and criticizing George W. Bush.

In 2020, they sang the national anthem during the Democratic Party’s virtual convention and tonight they repeated their performance for the public.

The war in Gaza continues to split the Democratic Party

In the weeks leading up to the convention, the DNC was under pressure to make room for a pro-Palestinian voice on stage.

The group of non-binding delegates, representing hundreds of thousands of protest votes in their states, had been asking for weeks for a Palestinian American to speak.

“The DNC kept telling us they would get back to us, and they were working on it, and we had to be patient,” Asma Mohammed, a non-binding delegate from Minnesota, told the ABC.

“And finally, yesterday at 8 p.m., they told us the answer was no.”

Some delegates responded by protesting for 24 hours just outside the convention center, sleeping on the concrete all night.

Palestinian-American Democratic Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib joined them to show support. Her colleague, “Squad” Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, also FaceTimed the group, calling on the DNC to change its mind.

The DNC did not comment on its decision, but party leader Nancy Pelosi said AOC could have spoken about the issue in her speech, adding, “We don’t have everyone from our country speaking at a convention.”

Finally, the first Muslim member of the Georgia state legislature, Ruwa Romman, delivered her speech at a press conference outside.

She spoke about her family’s Palestinian roots and their grief over the events in Gaza, but did not criticize the Biden administration.

She concluded her speech by saying, “To those who doubt us, to the cynics and the skeptics, I say, ‘Yes, we can.’”

“Yes, we can be a Democratic Party that prioritizes funding our schools and hospitals, not endless wars. That fights for an America that belongs to all of us.

“Black, brown and white, Jews and Palestinians, all, as my grandfather taught me, together.”

During her speech, Harris addressed the war in Gaza.

“On the war in Gaza, President Biden and I are working day and night, because now is the time to get a hostage deal and a ceasefire,” she said.

She spoke out strongly against Hamas and the October 7 terrorist attack on Israel.

“At the same time, what has happened in Gaza over the past 10 months is devastating. So many innocent lives lost, desperate, hungry people fleeing for safety again and again, the scale of the suffering is heartbreaking,” she said, earning one of the loudest cheers of the evening from the crowd.

Trump heads to the border as we race toward Election Day

While Democrats celebrated in Chicago, Trump flew to the Arizona-Mexico border to talk immigration.

Polls show voters overwhelmingly favor border security over Trump.

A poll this year found that Americans preferred his position on immigration over Biden’s by more than 30 points.

The decision to replace Biden with Harris has improved Democrats’ standing among voters on immigration.

But it’s clear that Trump thinks he has an advantage in this area.

In Arizona, he threatened high tariffs on countries that do not accept deported migrants.

“The countries will accept them again. If they don’t, we will stop doing business with those countries and we will charge high tariffs,” he said.

Now that the Democratic Convention is behind us, we are in full swing towards Election Day on November 5.

Most polls show that the decision to replace Biden with Harris has given Democrats a better chance against Trump. If the election were held today, that would be an uncertain factor.

The next important date to keep an eye on is September 10th.

Then Harris and Trump will face off for the first time in their televised presidential debate.