reported speech the day before yesterday

When turning direct speech into indirect speech, we need to pay attention to the following points:

• changing the pronouns Example: He said, “ I saw a famous TV presenter.” He said (that) he had seen a famous TV presenter.
• changing the information about time and place (see the table at the end of this page) Example: He said, “I saw a famous TV presenter here yesterday .” He said (that) he had seen a famous TV presenter there the day before .
• changing the tense (backshift) Example: He said, “She was eating an ice-cream at the table where you are sitting .” He said (that) she had been eating an ice-cream at the table where I was sitting .

If the introductory clause is in the simple past (e.g. He said ), the tense has to be set back by one degree (see the table). The term for this in English is backshift .

The verbs could, should, would, might, must, needn’t, ought to, used to normally do not change.

If the introductory clause is in the simple present , however (e.g. He says ), then the tense remains unchanged, because the introductory clause already indicates that the statement is being immediately repeated (and not at a later point in time).

In some cases, however, we have to change the verb form.

When turning questions into indirect speech, we have to pay attention to the following points:

• As in a declarative sentence, we have to change the pronouns, the time and place information, and set the tense back ( backshift ).
• Instead of that , we use a question word. If there is no question word, we use whether / if instead. Example: She asked him, “ How often do you work?” → She asked him how often he worked. He asked me, “Do you know any famous people?” → He asked me if/whether I knew any famous people.
• We put the subject before the verb in question sentences. (The subject goes after the auxiliary verb in normal questions.) Example: I asked him, “ Have you met any famous people before?” → I asked him if/whether he had met any famous people before.
• We don’t use the auxiliary verb do for questions in indirect speech. Therefore, we sometimes have to conjugate the main verb (for third person singular or in the simple past ). Example: I asked him, “What do you want to tell me?” → I asked him what he wanted to tell me.
• We put the verb directly after who or what in subject questions. Example: I asked him, “ Who is sitting here?” → I asked him who was sitting there.

We don’t just use indirect questions to report what another person has asked. We also use them to ask questions in a very polite manner.

When turning demands and requests into indirect speech, we only need to change the pronouns and the time and place information. We don’t have to pay attention to the tenses – we simply use an infinitive .

If it is a negative demand, then in indirect speech we use not + infinitive .

To express what someone should or can do in reported speech, we leave out the subject and the modal verb and instead we use the construction who/what/where/how + infinitive.

Say or Tell?

The words say and tell are not interchangeable. say = say something tell = say something to someone

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Reported Speech with Examples and Test (PDF)

Reported speech is used when we want to convey what someone else has said to us or to another person. It involves paraphrasing or summarising what has been said , often changing verb tenses , pronouns and other elements to suit the context of the report.

*doesn’t change

Formula of Reported Speech

The formula for reported speech involves transforming direct speech into an indirect form while maintaining the meaning of the original statement. In general, the formula includes:

• Choosing an appropriate reporting verb (e.g., say, tell, mention, explain).
• Changing pronouns and time expressions if necessary.
• Shifting the tense of the verb back if the reporting verb is in the past tense.
• Using reporting clauses like “that” or appropriate conjunctions.
• Adjusting word order and punctuation to fit the structure of the reported speech.

Here’s a simplified formula:

Reporting Verb + Indirect Object + Conjunction + Reported Clause

For example:

• She said (reporting verb) to me (indirect object) that (conjunction) she liked ice cream (reported clause).

Here’s how we use reported speech:

Reporting Verbs: We use verbs like ‘say’ or ‘tell’ to introduce reported speech. If the reporting verb is in the present tense, the tense of the reported speech generally remains the same.

If the reporting verb is in the past tense , the tense of the reported speech often shifts back in time.

Tense Changes: Tense changes are common in reported speech. For example, present simple may change to past simple, present continuous to past continuous, etc. However, some verbs like ‘would’, ‘could’, ‘should’, ‘might’, ‘must’, and ‘ought to’ generally don’t change.

Reported Questions: When reporting questions, we often change them into statements while preserving the meaning. Question words are retained, and the tense of the verbs may change.

Reported Requests and Orders: Requests and orders are reported similarly to statements. Reported requests often use ‘asked me to’ + infinitive, while reported orders use ‘told me to’ + infinitive.

Time Expressions: Time expressions may need to change depending on when the reported speech occurred in relation to the reporting moment. For instance, ‘today’ may become ‘that day’ or ‘yesterday’, ‘yesterday’ might become ‘the day before’, and so forth.

Reported Speech with Examples PDF

  Reported Speech PDF – download

Reported Speech Test

  Reported Speech A2 – B1 Test – download

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Reported speech: indirect speech

Indirect speech focuses more on the content of what someone said rather than their exact words. In indirect speech , the structure of the reported clause depends on whether the speaker is reporting a statement, a question or a command.

Indirect speech: reporting statements

Indirect reports of statements consist of a reporting clause and a that -clause. We often omit that , especially in informal situations:

The pilot commented that the weather had been extremely bad as the plane came in to land. (The pilot’s words were: ‘The weather was extremely bad as the plane came in to land.’ )

I told my wife I didn’t want a party on my 50th birthday. ( that -clause without that ) (or I told my wife that I didn’t want a party on my 50th birthday .)

Indirect speech: reporting questions

Reporting yes-no questions and alternative questions.

Indirect reports of yes-no questions and questions with or consist of a reporting clause and a reported clause introduced by if or whether . If is more common than whether . The reported clause is in statement form (subject + verb), not question form:

She asked if [S] [V] I was Scottish. (original yes-no question: ‘Are you Scottish?’ )

The waiter asked whether [S] we [V] wanted a table near the window. (original yes-no question: ‘Do you want a table near the window? )

He asked me if [S] [V] I had come by train or by bus. (original alternative question: ‘Did you come by train or by bus?’ )

Questions: yes-no questions ( Are you feeling cold? )

Reporting wh -questions

Indirect reports of wh -questions consist of a reporting clause, and a reported clause beginning with a wh -word ( who, what, when, where, why, how ). We don’t use a question mark:

He asked me what I wanted.

Not: He asked me what I wanted?

The reported clause is in statement form (subject + verb), not question form:

She wanted to know who [S] we [V] had invited to the party.

Not: … who had we invited …

Who , whom and what

In indirect questions with who, whom and what , the wh- word may be the subject or the object of the reported clause:

I asked them who came to meet them at the airport. ( who is the subject of came ; original question: ‘Who came to meet you at the airport?’ )

He wondered what the repairs would cost. ( what is the object of cost ; original question: ‘What will the repairs cost?’ )

She asked us what [S] we [V] were doing . (original question: ‘What are you doing?’ )

Not: She asked us what were we doing?

When , where , why and how

We also use statement word order (subject + verb) with when , where, why and how :

I asked her when [S] it [V] had happened (original question: ‘When did it happen?’ ).

Not: I asked her when had it happened?

I asked her where [S] the bus station [V] was . (original question: ‘Where is the bus station?’ )

Not: I asked her where was the bus station?

The teacher asked them how [S] they [V] wanted to do the activity . (original question: ‘How do you want to do the activity?’ )

Not: The teacher asked them how did they want to do the activity?

Questions: wh- questions

Indirect speech: reporting commands

Indirect reports of commands consist of a reporting clause, and a reported clause beginning with a to -infinitive:

The General ordered the troops to advance . (original command: ‘Advance!’ )

The chairperson told him to sit down and to stop interrupting . (original command: ‘Sit down and stop interrupting!’ )

We also use a to -infinitive clause in indirect reports with other verbs that mean wanting or getting people to do something, for example, advise, encourage, warn :

They advised me to wait till the following day. (original statement: ‘You should wait till the following day.’ )

The guard warned us not to enter the area. (original statement: ‘You must not enter the area.’ )

Verbs followed by a to -infinitive

Indirect speech: present simple reporting verb

We can use the reporting verb in the present simple in indirect speech if the original words are still true or relevant at the time of reporting, or if the report is of something someone often says or repeats:

Sheila says they’re closing the motorway tomorrow for repairs.

Henry tells me he’s thinking of getting married next year.

Rupert says dogs shouldn’t be allowed on the beach. (Rupert probably often repeats this statement.)

Newspaper headlines

We often use the present simple in newspaper headlines. It makes the reported speech more dramatic:

JUDGE TELLS REPORTER TO LEAVE COURTROOM

PRIME MINISTER SAYS FAMILIES ARE TOP PRIORITY IN TAX REFORM

Present simple ( I work )

Reported speech

Reported speech: direct speech

Indirect speech: past continuous reporting verb

In indirect speech, we can use the past continuous form of the reporting verb (usually say or tell ). This happens mostly in conversation, when the speaker wants to focus on the content of the report, usually because it is interesting news or important information, or because it is a new topic in the conversation:

Rory was telling me the big cinema in James Street is going to close down. Is that true?

Alex was saying that book sales have gone up a lot this year thanks to the Internet.

‘Backshift’ refers to the changes we make to the original verbs in indirect speech because time has passed between the moment of speaking and the time of the report.

In these examples, the present ( am ) has become the past ( was ), the future ( will ) has become the future-in-the-past ( would ) and the past ( happened ) has become the past perfect ( had happened ). The tenses have ‘shifted’ or ‘moved back’ in time.

The past perfect does not shift back; it stays the same:

Modal verbs

Some, but not all, modal verbs ‘shift back’ in time and change in indirect speech.

We can use a perfect form with have + - ed form after modal verbs, especially where the report looks back to a hypothetical event in the past:

He said the noise might have been the postman delivering letters. (original statement: ‘The noise might be the postman delivering letters.’ )

He said he would have helped us if we’d needed a volunteer. (original statement: ‘I’ll help you if you need a volunteer’ or ‘I’d help you if you needed a volunteer.’ )

Used to and ought to do not change in indirect speech:

She said she used to live in Oxford. (original statement: ‘I used to live in Oxford.’ )

The guard warned us that we ought to leave immediately. (original statement: ‘You ought to leave immediately.’ )

No backshift

We don’t need to change the tense in indirect speech if what a person said is still true or relevant or has not happened yet. This often happens when someone talks about the future, or when someone uses the present simple, present continuous or present perfect in their original words:

He told me his brother works for an Italian company. (It is still true that his brother works for an Italian company.)

She said she ’s getting married next year. (For the speakers, the time at the moment of speaking is ‘this year’.)

He said he ’s finished painting the door. (He probably said it just a short time ago.)

She promised she ’ll help us. (The promise applies to the future.)

Indirect speech: changes to pronouns

Changes to personal pronouns in indirect reports depend on whether the person reporting the speech and the person(s) who said the original words are the same or different.

Indirect speech: changes to adverbs and demonstratives

We often change demonstratives ( this, that ) and adverbs of time and place ( now, here, today , etc.) because indirect speech happens at a later time than the original speech, and perhaps in a different place.

Typical changes to demonstratives, adverbs and adverbial expressions

Indirect speech: typical errors

The word order in indirect reports of wh- questions is the same as statement word order (subject + verb), not question word order:

She always asks me where [S] [V] I am going .

Not: She always asks me where am I going .

We don’t use a question mark when reporting wh- questions:

I asked him what he was doing.

Not: I asked him what he was doing?

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100 Reported Speech Examples: How To Change Direct Speech Into Indirect Speech

Reported speech, also known as indirect speech, is a way of communicating what someone else has said without quoting their exact words. For example, if your friend said, “ I am going to the store ,” in reported speech, you might convey this as, “ My friend said he was going to the store. ” Reported speech is common in both spoken and written language, especially in storytelling, news reporting, and everyday conversations.

Reported speech can be quite challenging for English language learners because in order to change direct speech into reported speech, one must change the perspective and tense of what was said by the original speaker or writer. In this guide, we will explain in detail how to change direct speech into indirect speech and provide lots of examples of reported speech to help you understand. Here are the key aspects of converting direct speech into reported speech.

Reported Speech: Changing Pronouns

Pronouns are usually changed to match the perspective of the person reporting the speech. For example, “I” in direct speech may become “he” or “she” in reported speech, depending on the context. Here are some example sentences:

Reported Speech: Reporting Verbs

Reported speech: tense shifts.

When converting direct speech into reported speech, the verb tense is often shifted back one step in time. This is known as the “backshift” of tenses. It’s essential to adjust the tense to reflect the time elapsed between the original speech and the reporting. Here are some examples to illustrate how different tenses in direct speech are transformed in reported speech:

Reported Speech: Changing Time and Place References

Reported speech: question format.

When converting questions from direct speech into reported speech, the format changes significantly. Unlike statements, questions require rephrasing into a statement format and often involve the use of introductory verbs like ‘asked’ or ‘inquired’. Here are some examples to demonstrate how questions in direct speech are converted into statements in reported speech:

Reported Speech: Omitting Quotation Marks

Reported speech quiz.

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Sentence Synthesis: Direct and Indirect Speech – Reporting a Statement

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Sentence synthesis is about putting the original information together but in a different way. For different types of questions, there are different things to look out for when stringing the information together. Today, we will look at one of the hot favourites in examinations, transforming of direct speech to indirect (or reported) speech.

For this purpose, I am thrilled to introduce to you a new friend in this journey of English, Synthesis-on-a-stick.

Age : 9 + 10 + 11 + 12 (There are 4 of them on that stick!)

Hobbies : Constantly rearranging themselves in different combinations on the stick, eating kebabs.

Talent : Have a record of answering 78 correct sentence synthesis in a row.

Let SOS start telling you more about direct and indirect speech now!

What is direct and indirect (reported) speech?

I like to tell my children to remember that when converting a direct speech to indirect speech, what they are essentially doing is reporting what has been said . This makes it easier for them to understand the need for the changes to be made.

Basic Rules of the Thumb

There are 4 basic things to look out for when reporting what has been said.

Children can use the acronym TPTP. (Some children will remember it as Toilet Paper Toilet Paper or Ten Pigs Tried Pizza. It is up to your child to make up something fun to remember it by.)

A change in tenses takes place ONLY when the direct speech has already occurred in past tense . A backshift occurs during the change in tenses where each tense shifts one step to the past. Look at the table and backshift timeline below.

Exceptions – A fact

The only exception to a change in tenses for direct speech that occurred in the past tense is when what was said is a fact e.g. “The Earth is round.”, “An elephant has a trunk.”.

The teacher said, “An elephant has a trunk.”

The teacher said that an elephant has a trunk.

Common Errors

1. Changing simple present tense from singular to plural (jumps –> jump) 2. Forgetting to change the modal verbs e.g. will, can, shall etc. 3. Not knowing how to change the modal verb “must”.

2. Pronouns

Pronouns refer to words like “she”, “I”, “us” and “them”. Depending on who has spoken and to whom, the pronouns will be changed accordingly.

1. Forgetting to change “we” to “they” and “us” to “them”. 2. Changing “you” to a singular pronoun e.g. “her” when it should be plural, “them”. (Refer to example above)

Remember, when we report a speech, what was happening will be over by the time we are doing it. Hence, what was “now” would be “then”, “yesterday” would be the “previous day” (and not yesterday from the point you are speaking.).

1. Using “the day before/after” for “yesterday” and “tomorrow”. 2. Forgetting to change “the next day” to “the following day”. 3. Forgetting how to change “ago” to “before”.

A change in place also refers to a change in position . By the time you report what was said, the thing or person would no longer be at that place or position and would be considered distant. Hence, what was “here” would be “there” by the time the speech was reported. Here are a few others:

Common Error

1. Forgetting to change from “these” to “those”.

I hope today’s post has provided a clear overview of the changes to be made for each component for questions on reported speech and you have benefitted from the examples given as well! Knowing clearly the things to look out for while doing such questions will definitely help to ensure higher accuracy in transforming the sentences. Do remember that it is a good practice to write the changes for reported speech on top of the direct speech (like what is seen in the examples sentences above with coloured bubbles) before transferring the answer so that you will not miss out on the words to be changed when you are writing quickly.

Authentic English Tip : For children who are just learning about direct and indirect speech conversion or those who are still confused, try role-playing with them by telling them a sentence and have them retell it to someone else. You may tell them, “I am hungry.” and their task will be to tell another person, “Mother(or if you are their teacher, your name) said that she was hungry.” When they become more confident, you can increase the complexity of the sentence. This practice can also be carried out after a lesson on this

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RFK Jr. suspends his presidential bid and backs Donald Trump before appearing with him at his rally

Robert F. Kennedy said Friday he is suspending his independent presidential bid and is backing Donald Trump. Kennedy said his internal polls had showed that his presence in the race would hurt Trump and help Democratic nominee Kamala Harris.

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▶ Follow the AP’s live coverage and analysis from the 2024 Democratic National Convention.

PHOENIX (AP) — Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suspended his independent campaign for the White House and endorsed Donald Trump on Friday, a late-stage shakeup of the race that could give the former president a modest boost from Kennedy’s supporters.

Hours later, Kennedy joined Trump onstage at an Arizona rally, where the crowd burst into “Bobby!” cheers.

Kennedy said his internal polls had shown that his presence in the race would hurt Trump and help Democratic nominee Kamala Harris, though recent public polls don’t provide a clear indication that he is having an outsize impact on support for either major-party candidate.

Kennedy cited free speech, the war in Ukraine and “a war on our children” as among the reasons he would try to remove his name from the ballot in battleground states.

“These are the principal causes that persuaded me to leave the Democratic Party and run as an independent, and now to throw my support to President Trump,” Kennedy said at his event in Phoenix.

However, he made clear that he wasn’t formally ending his bid and said his supporters could continue to back him in the majority of states where they are unlikely to sway the outcome. Kennedy took steps to withdraw his candidacy in at least two states late this week, Arizona and Pennsylvania, but election officials in the battlegrounds of Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin said it would be too late for him to take his name off the ballot even if he wants to do so.

Kennedy said his actions followed conversations with Trump over the past few weeks. He cast their alliance as “a unity party,” an arrangement that would “allow us to disagree publicly and privately and seriously.” Kennedy suggested Trump offered him a job if he returns to the White House, but neither he nor Trump offered details.

Kennedy’s running mate, Nicole Shanahan, this week entertained the idea that Kennedy could join Trump’s administration as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.

The announcement ended days of speculation and landed with heaps of confusion and contradictions from Kennedy’s aides and allies, an emblematic cap for a quixotic campaign.

Shortly before his speech in Phoenix, his campaign had said in a Pennsylvania court filing that he would be endorsing Trump for president. However, a spokesperson for Kennedy said the court filing had been made in error and the lawyer who wrote it said he’d correct it. Kennedy took the stage moments later, aired his grievances with the Democratic Party, the news media and political institutions, and extolled Trump. He spoke for nearly 20 minutes before he said explicitly that he was endorsing Trump.

Kennedy later joined Trump onstage at a rally co-hosted by Turning Point Action in Glendale, where Trump’s campaign had teased he would be joined by “a special guest.”

Kennedy was greeted by thundering applause as he took the stage to the Foo Fighters and a pyrotechnics display after being introduced by Trump as “a man who has been an incredible champion for so many of these values that we all share.”

“We are both in this to do what’s right for the country,” Trump said, later commending Kennedy for having “raised critical issues that have been too long ignored in this country.”

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With Kennedy standing nearby, Trump invoked his slain uncle and father, John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy, saying he knows “that they are looking down right now and they are very, very proud.”

He said that, if he wins this fall, he will establish a new independent presidential commission on assassination attempts that will release all remaining documents related to John F. Kennedy’s assassination.

And he repeated his pledge to establish a panel — “working with Bobby” — to investigate the increase in chronic health conditions and childhood diseases, including autoimmune disorders, autism, obesity and infertility.

A year ago, some would have thought it inconceivable that a member of arguably the most storied family in Democratic politics would work with Trump to keep a Democrat out of the White House. Even in recent months, Kennedy has accused Trump of betraying his followers, while Trump has criticized Kennedy as “the most radical left candidate in the race.”

Five of Kennedy’s family members issued a statement Friday calling his support for Trump “a sad ending to a sad story” and reiterating their support for Harris.

“Our brother Bobby’s decision to endorse Trump today is a betrayal of the values that our father and our family hold most dear,” read the statement, which his sister Kerry Kennedy posted on X .

Kennedy Jr. acknowledged his decision to endorse Trump had caused tension with his family. He is married to actor Cheryl Hines, who wrote on X that she deeply respects her husband’s decision to drop out but did not address the Trump endorsement.

“This decision is agonizing for me because of the difficulties it causes my wife and my children and my friends,” Kennedy said. “But I have the certainty that this is what I’m meant to do. And that certainty gives me internal peace, even in storms.”

In a statement, Harris campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon reached out to Kennedy’s supporters who are “tired of Donald Trump and looking for a new way forward” and said that Harris wanted to earn their backing.

At Kennedy’s Phoenix event, 38-year-old Casey Westerman said she trusted Kennedy’s judgment and had planned to vote for him, but would support Trump if Kennedy endorsed him.

“My decision would really be based on who he thinks is best suited to run this country,” said Westerman, who wore a “Kennedy 2024” trucker hat and voted for Trump in the last two presidential elections.

Kennedy first entered the 2024 presidential race as a Democrat but left the party last fall to run as an independent. He built an unusually strong base for a third-party bid, fueled in part by anti-establishment voters and vaccine skeptics who have followed his anti-vaccine work since the COVID-19 pandemic. But he has since faced strained campaign finances and mounting legal challenges.

At Trump’s event in Las Vegas, Alida Roberts, 49, said Kennedy’s endorsement of Trump spoke volumes about the current state of the Democratic Party.

“It says that he doesn’t trust what’s going on, that it’s not the party he grew up in,” Roberts said.

Roberts, who voted twice for Trump, said she was relieved and excited by the endorsement because she’d been “teeter-tottering” between the two candidates.

Recent polls put Kennedy’s support in the mid-single digits, and it’s unclear if he’d get even that in a general election.

There’s some evidence that Kennedy’s staying in the race would hurt Trump more than Harris. According to a July AP-NORC poll, Republicans were significantly more likely than Democrats to have a favorable view of Kennedy. And those with a positive impression of Kennedy were significantly more likely to also have a favorable view of Trump (52%) than Harris (37%).

Associated Press writers Jill Colvin and Ali Swenson in New York, Rio Yamat in Las Vegas, Marc Levy in Harrisburg, Pa., Meg Kinnard in Chicago and Linley Sanders in Washington contributed to this report.

___ The Associated Press receives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about AP’s democracy initiative here . The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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Biden gets hero’s welcome. And, protesters pull down fencing to get into the DNC

Brittney Melton

Democratic National Convention Day One, DNC Protests, Gaza Ceasefire Negotiations

Good morning. You're reading the Up First newsletter.  Subscribe  here to get it delivered to your inbox, and  listen  to the Up First podcast for all the news you need to start your day.

Today's top stories

President Biden got a hero’s welcome on the first night of the Democratic National Convention as he passed the torch to Vice President Harris. “I made a lot of mistakes in my career, but I gave my best to you for 50 years,” Biden told the cheering Chicago crowd that gave him a five-minute standing ovation. At the beginning, his attempts to speak were repeatedly drowned out by cheers and chants of “thank you, Joe.” Harris also made a surprise early appearance to praise Biden, whose speech was largely a reflection on his legislative accomplishments since taking office.

U.S. President Joe Biden speaks onstage during the first day of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center on August 19, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images hide caption

• 🎧 NPR’s Stephen Fowler tells Up First that night one of the DNC sent the message that it’s a new Democratic Party with Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz leading the way. Fowler says the president’s decision to step aside and endorse Harris to run against Trump could be historic. Among those who spoke, New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who hasn’t always seen eye-to-eye with the party establishment, took the stage. She thanked Harris and Walz for their vision, and Biden for his leadership.
• ➡️ Catch up with the DNC's night one key speeches here .
• ➡️ Former President Donald Trump is currently doing a series of events in swing states covering issues such as national security and immigration.

Thousands of protestors marched in Chicago against Israel’s war in Gaza as the DNC kicked off yesterday. Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling said the department had a respectful working relationship with protest leaders, and looked forward to supporting the marchers’ right of free speech without a problem.

• 🎧 Things were calm until a group of masked protestors tried to enter the DNC’s security perimeter. Protestors took down several sections of a fence and then called other protestors to follow them through, NPR’s Martin Kaste says. Police closed in on them from opposite ends and arrested a handful of people. Kaste found a long line of delegates and talked with some, but none of them had seen or heard any of the protests. More demonstrations are planned for the remaining three days of the DNC.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken says Israel has agreed to a ceasefire proposal for the war in Gaza. That announcement came after he met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyhu for three hours Monday in Jerusalem. After announcing Israel’s backing of the deal, Blinken called on Hamas to do the same. Netanyahu has not directly said he’s endorsing the new proposal presented last week in Doha.

• 🎧 NPR’s Kat Lonsdorf says we’ve seen this before – just because the U.S. says it has an agreement from Israel, it doesn’t mean Israel is actually committed . Netanyahu’s office did release a statement last night that didn’t mention agreeing to the proposal and instead focused on getting as many hostages out of Gaza alive as possible. Hamas put out a statement responding pretty negatively to the proposal, saying it caters to Netanyahu’s demands too much on several key sticking points, and they blame him fully for obstructing the deal. Egypt is expected to host the renewed cease-fire talks later this week. Qatar is where some Hamas officials are based, so it’s likely that Blinken will be there pushing for Hamas to sign off.

There are more than 4,600 hospitals in the U.S., and 49% of them are nonprofit and therefore tax-exempt. The CEOs of these nonprofit health systems now earn, on average, $1.3 million a year. Getty Images/E+ hide caption

Nearly half of U.S. hospitals are tax-exempt nonprofits, tasked with providing medical care to their communities. But despite their community-focused missions, the CEOs in charge of these nonprofits command annual paychecks that now top $1 million on average. Researchers found that the CEOs with the largest paychecks work at hospital systems with the biggest financial returns. The question this raises is whether the nonprofit medical systems achieving these profit margins are doing so at the expense of their mission , subverting the intended purpose of their tax-exempt status.

• 🏥 CEO compensation is set by the hospital’s board members. Many of the members work in for-profit sectors, meaning their professional experiences and perspectives are separate from the mission of nonprofit medicine.
• 🏥 Positive profit operating margins are what allows nonprofits to keep up with inflation , retain the best medical talent and balance treating insured patients with those who are underinsured or uninsured.
• 🏥 Tax breaks afforded to these nonprofits have allowed them to become hyper-competitive and this has led to a wave of mergers and acquisitions in the health care sector, said Ge Bai, a professor of health policy and management at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
• 🏥 Bai predicts that unless policymakers intervene , the consolidation will continue, driving down competition and leaving patients with fewer options and higher prices.

Today's listen

The “Los Angeles League of Musicians” wants you to dance. LA LOM, as the band is known, released its debut album earlier this month. The trio of drums, bass and guitar plays a nostalgic, romanticized musical portrait of Los Angeles. Its tunes are like a time capsule that takes you back to the ‘50s and ‘60s.

• 🎧 Listen to music from the band’s album and hear about what inspires them, like the streets and neighborhoods where they’ve played.

3 things to know before you go

Emmy award-winning talk show host Phil Donahue. Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images hide caption

• Phil Donahue, the TV host hailed as the father of the modern audience-participation daytime talk show , died on Sunday . Donahue’s show, which was on air for about 26 years, tackled hot-button issues like racism and abortion. He was 88.
• Former Rep. George Santos pleaded guilty to wire fraud and identity theft charges in a Long Island federal courtroom yesterday. He is expected to face sentencing on Feb. 7 for a minimum of two years and a maximum of 22 years in prison. (via Gothamist )
• In 1989, Julia Weber was walking to a bus stop in downtown San Francisco when the sidewalk began to shake. Fear overtook her and she locked eyes with another commuter. They stepped toward each other, embraced and held on until the earthquake ended. Now, 35 years later, Weber still thinks of her unsung hero and her kindness in a frightening moment.

This newsletter was edited by Obed Manuel.

Column: Kamala Harris faced a high bar for her DNC acceptance speech. She soared past it

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On the final night of the Democratic National Convention, expectations were high and rumors were rampant.

Speculation of a surprise guest — Taylor Swift? Beyoncé? — turned out to be nothing but wishful thinking.

Kamala Harris crushed it.

The vice president was always the main attraction of the four-day event and her Thursday night acceptance speech was always intended as its grand finale.

From the moment she strode out flashing her high-wattage smile, Harris commanded the stage with a purpose and passion that eluded her the last time she ran, aimlessly and unsuccessfully, for the White House.

Photos: DNC underway in Chicago with an energized Harris-Walz ticket

Los Angeles Times photojournalists Robert Gauthier and Myung J. Chun are on the ground in Chicago to capture behind-the-scenes visuals and candid moments.

Aug. 22, 2024

In just over 37 minutes, Harris capped what’s been a remarkable monthlong run of luck and political success with a powerful address that strongly positions her for the last stretch of this fiercely fought presidential campaign.

Our columnists Mark Z. Barabak and Anita Chabria — who, combined, have attended precisely zero Swift or Beyoncé concerts — overcame their disappointment at the no-show and collected themselves to share these thoughts.

Barabak : Previewing this convention, I’d made fun of the breathless most-important-speech-of-her-career hype that anticipated Harris’ Thursday night closer. Not because it wasn’t true, but because it was so predictable and trite.

That said, it was a hugely consequential political moment, and Harris delivered flawlessly. I’ve followed her career going back to her days as San Francisco district attorney and never saw her give a better speech.

She was tough. She was authoritative. She was substantive. And, yes, she was joyful.

Your thoughts?

Chabria : There was little to criticize with this speech. To put it simply, she looked presidential — which was the whole point.

Throughout the week, we’ve seen dozens of loud, yelling speeches — the kind that are a staple of rallies and meant to inspire with their energy. But on this arena stage, with its made-for-television sound system, many of those have seemed over-the-top theatrical and just plain loud to at-home viewers.

Harris took a different approach. This was a speech meant to inspire with content as much as delivery. She was confident. She was cool — and most of all, she was in control. This was her moment to sell herself to undecided voters, and she gave a flawless pitch.

Barabak : The Democrats’ indulgent and sloppy scheduling pushed other speakers way past TV’s prime time when, crucially, the most people are watching.

That wasn’t a problem Thursday night.

Harris, a former courtroom prosecutor, knows how to hone an argument. She had much ground to cover — she is that odd combination of famous and largely unknown — and she did so crisply and with forensic precision.

She offered her life story, starting as a little girl, outlined her career as politician and prosecutor — leaning heavily into her role as California attorney general, fighting crime and protecting consumers — and outlined a vision of what a Harris presidency would look like.

Buttressing and broadening the middle class would be, Harris vowed, “the defining goal of my presidency.”

She promised a middle-class tax cut, to fight to restore a nationwide right to abortion, to “end America’s housing shortage” — the presidency comes with no magic wand, so good luck with that one — and to fix the nation’s broken immigration system by signing bipartisan legislation that Donald Trump tanked for political purposes.

Chabria: But she also didn’t shy away from the tough stuff. Gaza and the U.S. response to the Israel-Palestine conflict has been a subtext of this convention. While the huge, disruptive protests that many either feared or expected didn’t materialize, there were protests. And there was a hard but unsuccessful push to include a Palestinian speaker on the agenda.

Harris hit the issue head-on, with clear position statements.

“I will always stand up for Israel’s right to defend itself, and I will always ensure Israel has the ability to defend itself. Because the people of Israel must never again face the horror that the terrorist organization Hamas caused on Oct. 7,” she said.

Then she turned to Gaza.

“At the same time, what has happened in Gaza over the past 10 months is devastating,” Harris said. “President Biden and I are working to end this war such that Israel is secure, the hostages are released, the suffering in Gaza ends and the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, security, freedom and self-determination.”

This part of the speech garnered some of the loudest and longest applause. One speech doesn’t make this issue go away for her, of course, and it shouldn’t — Biden and Harris both need to deliver on those promises.

But hitting it directly and with clarity shows the kind of accountability we look for in leaders.

She also went directly after Trump. What did you think of that part of her remarks, Mark?

Barabak: She lacerated Trump, citing his role inciting the Jan. 6 riot, his felony conviction for election interference and a jury’s finding he was liable for sexual abuse.

“Just imagine Donald Trump with no guardrails,” she said, citing the get-out-of-jail-free card handed him by a pliant Supreme Court.

But Harris didn’t leave it to the imagination, outlining a litany of barbarities that await should Trump slink back into the Oval Office: Journalists and his political opponents jailed. Jan. 6 insurrectionists turned loose. The military sicced on the country’s citizens to clamp down on dissent.

Strong stuff.

Chabria : She certainly gave us a sense of what she must have been like in a courtroom. And it drove Trump nuts. He was over on his Truth Social platform posting like a madman . What struck me was how stale Trump’s comebacks were — labeling her a communist, blaming her for the border — compared with what Harris was saying on stage.

For those all-important undecided voters, she really is offering something fresh, something that wasn’t on the ticket with Biden. Undecided voters are always a mystery because you don’t know if they are just not paying attention, have already made up their minds and don’t want to say or are just working off their own idiosyncratic criteria. But if there are voters out there searching for a candidate with a new feel, she’s it.

Beyond Harris, the convention did a good job last night with the speakers who led up to her. Her grand-nieces did a cute bit on how to pronounce her name (which even Bill Clinton flubbed). Comma-la. Not hard.

Four of the Central Park Five, now known as the Exonerated Five , also gave a powerful speech — reminding us how Trump continues to believe in their guilt decades after DNA and identifying the real rapist cleared them. I was struck by how much of Trump’s language around that case, and those Black teens, now mirrors his language around immigrants.

But the one that got me was sexual abuse survivor and advocate Courtney Baldwin , a Californian who was “bought and sold” via the website Backpage.com while she was a teen, she said.

It was the attorney general’s office under Harris (and Assistant Atty. Gen. Maggy Krell, who is now running for California Assembly ) that shut down that site with a novel legal strategy and a lot of relentlessness.

Harris is a champion of sexual abuse victims, and it’s a part of her background that she’s mentioned but is still little understood — for all the trafficking panic on the right, Harris has actually put a lot of pimps behind bars.

“She protected people like me her whole life,” Baldwin said. “I know she will fight for us all as president.”

Was there anything else that stood out to you, Mark?

Barabak: Let’s be real. As a woman, Harris faces doubts about her toughness, especially when it comes to defense and foreign policy. But Trump, with his weird suck-up approach to authoritarianism, made it easy for the vice president to draw a pointed contrast.

She vowed never to be a pushover to flattery, like a certain vain ex-president, and said she would always make sure America has “the strongest, most lethal fighting force in the world.”

Take that, Putin!

One of the most interesting things to watch in recent years has been the political role reversal under Trump’s Russia-loving, isolationist Republican Party. Now it’s Democrats who are the Cold Warriors.

Look at all the American flags filling the convention hall and hear those recurrent chants of “USA!” “USA!” and you’d have thought you were at one of Ronald Reagan’s GOP conventions.

Chabria: Republicans love to demonize women, individually and collectively. Remember how they treated Hillary? They literally accused her of staying artificially young by sacrificing children in a secret lair beneath a pizza parlor .

No doubt, Harris will see the pressure to label her as something beyond just a bad politician — something evil — increase.

But that kind of individual attack can’t be separated from the collective attack anymore. Women in general now feel under assault with the abortion issue, and that makes aggression toward Harris’ gender feel different than with Clinton.

As Harris put it, “One must ask why exactly is it that they don’t trust women. Well, we trust women. We trust women.”

Any final thoughts, Mark?

Barabak: Harris has always prepared herself to within an inch of her life. So her boffo performance — it is, after all, a performance — was not surprising.

The vice president’s forte is the big set piece — a major speech, a congressional hearing — where the climate is controlled.

When she leaves Chicago, it’s back to the messy and unpredictable campaign trail and at least one debate with the feral, unpredictable Trump.

Who knows what crisis may present itself in the next 70–odd days or what gaffes Harris might commit. Can her luck continue?

The path from here to November is unclear. But she’s certainly stepping off from the convention on the right foot.

And in a brief programming note, that’s it from Chicago. Thanks for joining us and we hope you’ll stick around for more to come.

More to Read

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Aug. 24, 2024

DNC ratings thump Trump as 29 million TV viewers watch Harris’ acceptance speech

Aug. 23, 2024

Hollywood showed up in force for Kamala Harris at DNC, even if Beyoncé and Taylor were absent

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Mark Z. Barabak is a political columnist for the Los Angeles Times, focusing on California and the West. He has covered campaigns and elections in 49 of the 50 states, including a dozen presidential contests and scores of mayoral, legislative, gubernatorial and congressional races. He also reported from the White House and Capitol Hill during the George H.W. Bush and Clinton administrations.

Anita Chabria is a California columnist for the Los Angeles Times, based in Sacramento. Before joining The Times, she worked for the Sacramento Bee as a member of its statewide investigative team and previously covered criminal justice and City Hall.

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Fact-Checking Harris’s Speech and More: Day 4 of the D.N.C.

We followed the developments and fact-checked the speakers, providing context and explanation.

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Vice President Kamala Harris accepted her party’s nomination for president on the last night of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Thursday.

Ms. Harris outlined her biography and warned that her opponent, former President Donald J. Trump, was an “unserious man” who was seeking to return to power and bring the United States back to the past. Like the speakers who preceded her on Thursday night and earlier this week, Ms. Harris focused largely on aspirations and ideals and generally did not stray far from the facts.

Here’s an assessment of a few claims made by Ms. Harris and other speakers.

“Donald Trump was asked what he would do about Social Security and Medicare, and he said, and I quote, ‘There is a lot you can do in terms of cutting.’”

— Senator Tammy Baldwin, Democrat of Wisconsin

This needs context.

Ms. Baldwin referred accurately to comments Mr. Trump made in a March interview with CNBC , in which he said, “There is a lot you can do in terms of entitlements, in terms of cutting and in terms of also the theft and the bad management of entitlements.” But Mr. Trump and his campaign clarified that he would not seek to cut the programs, and that he was speaking about “waste.” In rallies and other interviews during this campaign season, he has said that if he is elected president again he will not make cuts to either program.

A few days after the CNBC interview, he told the right-wing website Breitbart that he would “never do anything that will jeopardize or hurt Social Security or Medicare.” In a campaign event on Thursday , he vowed to “not touch Social Security.”

Still, Mr. Trump has not outlined a clear plan for keeping the programs solvent. And during his time in office, Mr. Trump did propose some cuts to Medicare — though experts said the cost reductions would not have significantly affected benefits — and to Social Security’s programs for people with disabilities.

“A serial liar, cheater, thief who looked soldiers in the eye, then turned around and called fallen heroes suckers and losers.”

— Representative Pat Ryan, Democrat of New York

The claim that Donald J. Trump, as president, called veterans “suckers” and “losers” stems from a 2020 article in The Atlantic about his relationship to the military.

Mr. Trump has emphatically denied making the remarks since the article was published. While it relied on anonymous sources, many of the accounts it contained have been corroborated by other outlets, including The New York Times, and by John F. Kelly, a retired four-star Marine general who served as Mr. Trump’s White House chief of staff. Here’s a breakdown .

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“He invited Russia to do — and these are his words, not mine — ‘whatever the hell they want.’”

— Senator Mark Kelly, Democrat of Arizona

Mr. Kelly omitted a caveat in quoting Donald J. Trump, who, as president, said he told a NATO member nation that Russia could do “whatever the hell they want” to any country that did not meet the alliance’s military spending targets. But the remark was not a blanket invitation for Russia to act with abandon.

Mr. Trump, at a campaign rally in February , repeated his misleading claim that some members of NATO “owed” money to the alliance, referring to informal commitments made by member nations to spend 2 percent of their gross domestic products on their own militaries. In Mr. Trump’s telling, after he had delivered a speech urging members to “pay out,” the president of “one of the big countries” asked if the United States would come to its defense if President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia invaded, but it had failed to meet that 2 percent target. “I said, ‘You didn’t pay. You’re delinquent?’ He said, ‘Yes, let’s say that happened.’ ‘No, I would not protect you. In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want,’” Mr. Trump said.

When criticized for his remarks, Mr. Trump repeated his stance later that month at another rally: “Look, if they’re not going to pay, we’re not going to protect.”

More than 20 member nations currently meet the 2 percent target, the secretary general of the alliance recently announced.

Kamala Harris “has achieved the lowest veteran unemployment rate in history.”

— Representative Ruben Gallego, Democrat of Arizona

The unemployment rate for veterans reached 2.2 percent in April 2023, under the Biden-Harris administration. That is indeed the lowest rate recorded since 2003, the earliest year for which the Bureau of Labor Statistics has available data. The rate has since increased; it was 3 percent in July.

Andrew Duehren

“He doesn’t actually fight for the middle class. Instead, he fights for himself and his billionaire friends. And he will give them another round of tax breaks that will add up to $5 trillion to the national debt.”

— Vice President Kamala Harris

This is misleading.

Former President Donald J. Trump has called for a number of tax cuts during his presidential campaign, including extending the cuts in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that will expire next year. Continuing those tax cuts beyond 2025 would cost about $4.6 trillion in lower tax revenue and greater interest costs over 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office .

But those tax cuts — including a larger standard deduction — benefit middle-income Americans, not just billionaires. Mr. Trump has also called for other costly tax cuts on the campaign trail, including cutting the corporate tax rate to 15 percent, exempting tips from taxes and not taxing Social Security benefits. Those tax cuts would not exclusively benefit billionaires and would not cost $5 trillion.

“He intends to enact what is, in effect, a national sales tax — call it a Trump tax — that would raise prices on middle-class families by almost $4,000 a year.”

Ms. Harris was referring to Mr. Trump’s proposals to place a 10 to 20 percent tariff on most imports, and a 60 percent tariff on Chinese goods. She accurately cited one estimate of the cost. Other estimates are lower, while some are higher.

An analysis by the Center for American Progress Action Fund, a liberal think tank, found that tariffs at those levels would cost the average family $3,900 annually.

The Peterson Institute for International Economics estimated that the proposals would cost the average middle-class household $2,600 annually under a 20 percent tariff and $1,700 annually under a 10 percent tariff. The Tax Policy Center estimated $320 more annually for the lowest-income households and $1,350 more for middle class households under a 10 percent tariff. And the right-leaning American Action Forum put the cost of the broad tariff at $1,700 to $2,350 annually, and the China-specific one at $1,950.

Mr. Trump has also suggested that he would replace income taxes with tariffs to minimize their impact, though tax policy experts say this is impossible as tariff levels would have to be implausibly high to replace the revenue from income taxes.

DNC Night 1 Highlights: Joe Biden Urges ‘Beat Donald Trump’ in Nearly 50-Minute Speech; Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Fires Up Crowd

Joe Biden took the stage as the final speaker at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Monday night, with more than three minutes of applause and frequent chants of “We love Joe” from the audience. The 49-minute speech ran long during a night that was already behind schedule.

During the speech, audience members unfurled a banner reading “Stop arming Israel,” several attendees reported, and other people tried to rip the banner away. The disruption didn’t cause much of a ripple due to the vast size of the arena.

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He then took up the subject of reproductive rights. “Donald Trump is going to find out the power of women in 2024,” Biden said, flubbing his statement “women are not without electoral power” as “electrical power” instead.

“America, I gave my best to you,” he concluded. “We just have to remember who we are.”

Hillary Clinton

Hillary Clinton, who fell short of becoming the first woman president, told Democrats she believes America is on the verge of breaking through and electing Kamala Harris .

In her speech at the Democratic convention in Chicago, Clinton drew on the legacy of women on the national stage, from Shirley Chisholm to Geraldine Ferraro, and said that Harris will make history.

“I want my children and grandchildren to know I was here at this moment,” she said. “We were here. We were with Kamala Harris every step of the way. This is when we break through. The future is here. Let’s go win it.”

Kamala Harris

Harris kicked off the convention with a brief appearance, sending a jolt of excitement through the delegates on hand. The Night 1 crowd at the United Center was jubilant about the historic prospect of electing the first female president. The sense of history moving on was buttressed later in the night — as the program ran very long — when attendees started clearing out well before President Joe Biden’s address.

“This is going to be a great week!” Harris said during her brief appearance Monday. She gave a heartfelt thank-you to Biden. “We are forever grateful to you.”

Tony Goldwyn

The vice president then gave way to emcee Tony Goldwyn, the actor who played the president on the ABC show “Scandal.” Goldwyn was among a handful of entertainers on stage, following Jason Isbell, who sang “Something More Than Free,” and Mickey Guyton, who performed “Ain’t We All American?”

Goldwyn promised that the week would offer an introduction to Harris and a clear contrast between Donald Trump’s agenda and her vision for the future.

“It is a message that’s joyful, not mean spirited,” Goldwyn said. “Public service — not self service, optimism and opportunity, not chaos and division. It’s a message that has woken us up to who we are.”

The Democratic speakers offered tributes to Biden and Harris, but also sought to prosecute the case against Trump. Many attendees were overheard buzzing in corridors about the most recent Trump outrage — falsely claiming to have been endorsed by Taylor Swift.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the New York Democrat who has become one of the youthful faces of the party, was one of most anticipated speakers on the schedule and she was effective in firing up the crowd. Earlier in the day, Donald Trump’s campaign sought to link Harris to Ocasio-Cortez’s positions on issues like defunding the police and the Green New Deal.

When it was her turn at the podium, Ocasio-Cortez didn’t waste time attacking Trump as a plutocrat. AOC demonstrated her muscle as one of the most prominent young Democratic stars to come along in years. Her speech was drowned out in multiple instances by screaming and applause — especially when she took aim at Trump.

“I for one am tired of hearing about how a two-bit union buster thinks of himself as more of a patriot than the woman who fights every single day to lift working people out from under the boots of greed trampling on our way of life,” she said. “The truth is, Don, you cannot love this country if you only fight for the wealthy and big business. To love this country is to fight for all people, working people, everyday Americans.” Ocasio-Cortez also reminded the crowd how important support for House and Senate races are. “We can’t send Kamala Harris and Tim Walz to Washington alone,” she said.

Hitting Back at Trump

Clinton also didn’t hold back against Trump, saying he “fell asleep at his own trial,” and woke up to find himself convicted on 34 felony counts. In a twist of history, the crowd chanted “Lock him up!” — an echo of chants at Trump rallies eight years ago calling for Clinton to be jailed.

Clinton also drew parallels between Trump’s attacks on her and those on Harris.

“He’s mocking her name and her laugh – sounds familiar,” Clinton said. “But we have him on the run now.” Clinton may have lost the 2016 race against Trump but she remains a rock star with hardcore Democrats.

The convention scene

Spotted in the basement of the United Center were Marisa Tomei, J.J. Abrams and producer Bruce Cohen. They said they had “high hopes” for the campaign. Abrams and his wife, Katie McGrath, have given more than $3 million to Democratic committees this cycle. Cohen is also a prolific donor.

With the convention speeches running late, James Taylor was cut from his scheduled performance before Biden’s speech.

As Democrats got ready for opening night, downtown Chicago was humming Monday with flags, bunting, bootleg t-shirt vendors and all the usual trappings of a political circus come to town.

Delegates from all over the country took time out before the major speechifying at the United Center this evening to look around the city. A rally in support of Palestinians in Gaza drew about 15,000 people, organizers with the Coalition to March on the DNC told ABC News Chicago .

Another hub of activity was on the east side of town at the sprawling McCormick Place center that the hosted DemPalooza showcase featuring a range of left-leaning organizations and causes. There were stages for discussions and Q&As but they were sparsely attended. The five-mile distance between McCormick Place and the United Center has obvious advantages for security and crowd control. But it also makes attendees heavily dependent on the DNC shuttles operating among the hotels and the two venues. The security perimeter around United Center is so large that ride share drivers and even public transit can’t get too close.

Elections are often defined in slogans and there was plenty of sloganeering displayed on the lapels, polo shirts and blouses of delegates, from “Remember Jan. 6” to “Keep Kamala and Carry On,” “Another Cat Lady for Kamala” and “Make Lying Wrong Again.”

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Harris weaves her life story into a vision for America as she accepts Democratic nomination

CHICAGO — Amid a cacophony of cheering Democrats and a canopy of red, white and blue balloons, Vice President Kamala Harris made history.

The first woman elected vice president of the United States officially became the first Black and South Asian woman named a major-party presidential nominee, lifting Democrats’ hopes of defeating former President Donald Trump and keeping the White House for another four years. 

After three days of buildup about her work as a prosecutor and her promise as a leader, Harris emerged onstage to deafening roars from a packed arena, which cheered over her attempts to begin her speech before she told attendees they had to “get to some business.” 

“We are charting a new way forward, forward to a future with a strong and growing middle class,” Harris said in her speech.

“Because we know a strong middle class has always been critical to America’s success, and building that middle class will be a defining goal of my presidency,” she continued, calling it a “personal” thing because “the middle class is where I come from.”

“That’s why we will create what I call an opportunity economy, an opportunity economy where everyone has the chance to compete and a chance to succeed, whether you live in a rural area, small town or big city,” Harris said.

At that, thousands of Democrats inside the arena leaped to their feet, offering a thunderous reception. 

In the lead-up to Harris’ appearance, the electricity running through the party was palpable inside the United Center, where Michael Jordan famously led the Chicago Bulls to three of their six championships. All night, the arena was transformed into a rollicking party, with a sea of bodies, many of them wearing white, bouncing, dancing and singing as celebratory music blared. 

Harris spent the beginning of her speech laying out her biography, from her family’s story to the early steps of her career. Speaking about her immigrant parents, she said she’s “no stranger to unlikely journeys,” describing her upbringing in the San Francisco Bay Area and her start as a prosecutor.

“Every day in the courtroom, I stood proudly before a judge and I said five words: ‘Kamala Harris for the people.’ My entire career, I only had one client: the people,” Harris said.

Harris then wove that story into the traditional applause line accepting her party’s nomination.

“And so, on behalf of the people; on behalf of every American, regardless of party, race, gender or the language your grandmother speaks; on behalf of my mother and everyone who has ever set out on their own unlikely journey; on behalf of Americans like the people I grew up with, people who work hard, chase their dreams and look out for one another; on behalf of everyone whose story could only be written in the greatest nation on Earth, I accept your nomination to be president of the United States of America,” Harris said.

In the month since President Joe Biden stepped aside from the campaign, Harris has transformed the race, invigorating a stagnant, lackluster campaign weighed down by questions over his age and sharpness. Now, the campaign is awash with money, having raised nearly $500 million since Harris moved to the top of the ticket and later chose Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to be her running mate.

In her remarks, Harris spoke in broad outlines about her own agenda, saying she would restore reproductive freedoms, offer a tax cut to the middle class, end America’s housing shortage and protect Social Security and Medicare. 

“They are out of their minds,” she said of Republicans and what she called their attack on women’s reproductive rights. “We trust women,” she said. 

She repeatedly hammered away at Trump, calling him a threat to working Americans, saying he would cut taxes for only the wealthy. She also cited Project 2025, a conservative blueprint by the Heritage Foundation meant to be a road map for another Trump term. Trump rejected the document after the blowback around it. 

After a program that included The Chicks singing the national anthem and a performance by Pink, pop queen Beyoncé's song “Freedom” also played ahead of the vice president's acceptance speech, reinforcing a theme Harris has leaned on to advocate for everything from voting rights to housing affordability to reproductive rights. 

“I believe America cannot truly be prosperous unless Americans are fully able to make their own decisions about their own lives, especially on matters of heart and home. But tonight, in America, too many women are not able to make those decisions, and let’s be clear about how we got here,” Harris said, pointing to Trump’s Supreme Court appointees who voted to overturn Roe v. Wade.

Harris also spoke about strengthening border security and national security, slamming Trump’s opposition to a bipartisan border deal that was proposed in Congress this year, as well as his past comments about American allies. She reaffirmed her commitment to NATO and Ukraine in its war against Russia.

And Harris spoke at length about Israel and its military action against Hamas in Gaza, an issue that has divided Democrats over the last year.

“Let me be clear, I will always stand up for Israel’s right to defend itself,” Harris said, speaking about the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas. “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 over and over again.”

Trump, who posted on social media throughout Harris' speech, wrote on his platform Truth Socia l: "She’s done nothing for three and a half years but talk, and that’s what she’s doing tonight, she’s complaining about everything but doing nothing."

Democrats react

The conclusion of the convention capped a tumultuous period for the Democratic Party, with weeks of infighting among its leaders before Biden announced he would step aside. Biden immediately endorsed Harris, and she quickly locked down support across his delegates, avoiding what some had feared could become a messy open convention. 

But the prospect of Harris’ landing in the White House had Black leaders beaming all day. 

“There is no glass ceiling in this for us. Hillary cracked it. We’re gonna break through it,” said Daniele Monroe-Moreno, the first Black woman to chair the Nevada Democratic Party. 

She said Harris’ accomplishment sends a clear message in 2024.

“Every little girl — I don’t care what race, religious belief you are — there is nothing you cannot do,” Monroe-Moreno said. “And that’s what this means. Women. We’re here. We’re the new force in this Democratic Party.”

When Harris launched her first presidential campaign in 2019, she became the third Black woman to seek a major party’s nomination, following Rep. Shirley Chisholm, D-N.Y., in 1972 and former Sen. Carol Moseley Braun, D-Ill., in 2004.

Now, little more than half a century after Chisholm’s campaign, which challenged stereotypes and collected a handful of delegates, her party has nominated a Black woman for the most powerful post in the world.

The Rev. Al Sharpton, a civil rights leader and MSNBC host, was youth director for Chisholm’s campaign. On Thursday, he put Harris’ nomination in the context of Chisholm and a change in American attitudes on race and gender that she helped foment.

“To see this fulfilled is a long time coming,” Sharpton said. “It shows a growth in the country and in the Democratic Party, not only for Black, but for a woman — it’s a victory over misogyny, institutional misogyny and racism.”

Feelings of pride and patriotism swelled within many of the Black women at Thursday’s session of the convention.

Cathleen Trigg, founder and CEO of iWomanTV , said she had come to Chicago from New York to do everything in her power to help Harris win.

“I can’t really describe the feeling of being at this place in life where we do have our potentially first female, first Black female, first — so many firsts — that could be leading our country, the greatest country in the world,” said Trigg, 56. “It’s a miracle. It’s a blessing. It is an opportunity for change that is much needed in our country.”

Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., who was the highest-ranking Black lawmaker when he was the Democratic whip in the House, referred to the preamble of the Constitution in explaining the importance of Harris’ nomination.

“It means that we have taken another step toward a more perfect union,” Clyburn said. “It means that a significant, and I hope a majority, segment of this country wishes to continue moving forward, not interested in going backwards, not interested in reliving the past, but charting out a new way forward for our children and grandchildren.”

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., said: “From President Biden, you had this [message of] ‘Oh, my gosh. Democracy is at stake! We can’t let this happen! Kamala Harris brought the joy back into this.”

Speaking from Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, before the convention began, Warner said that “every politician is passing through and people are almost giddy!”

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said in an interview: “Americans like an upbeat, optimistic, joy-filled personality, which is what she’s conveyed.”

Ann-Marie Herod, a Black woman who lives in Chicago and is originally from Mississippi, said it was difficult to put the significance of the night into words.  

“When Obama ran, I was a young girl. Now, I’m actually able to go out and be active within this process: canvassing, doing these different things,” said Herod, who was watching Harris’ acceptance from Soldier Field. “I have parents, I have friends, who never could have imagined a Black woman could be in the White House. It is amazing.”

Natasha Korecki is a senior national political reporter for NBC News.

Jonathan Allen is a senior national politics reporter for NBC News.