Kamala Harris: here’s what we’ve found out so far about the presidential nominee

Kamala X J T. by Thomas Gift, UCL Who is Kamala Harris? That’s the question the Democratic nominee for president tried to answer in her highly anticipated acceptance speech at the party’s national convention in Chicago. Although she has been vice-president for three and a half years, recent polling showed that around one-third of Americans knew little about what Harris stood for heading into the speech. This result is in part because she earned the nomination without winning a single primary vote after President Joe Biden was pressured out of the race. The keynote was Harris’s primetime introduction to the country, and undoubtedly the defining moment of her campaign – and political career – to date. Penned by Barack Obama’s former speechwriter Adam Frankel, part of a fresh team of Harris insiders that also includes Obama’s former campaign manager David Plouffe, the address was a call to arms, urging moderates and progressives alike to cast aside their differences and rally behind the Democratic ticket. In the days leading up to Thursday night, Harris secluded herself in a nearby hotel, where she honed and practised her speech. Known more for her prosecutorial skills than soaring oratory, Harris nonetheless commanded the stage...