US Presidential elections: Kamala Harris accepts VP nomination, hails Indian connection

Kamala Harris accepted the Democratic nomination for vice president Wednesday night, cementing her status as a leader in a party staking its future on building a diverse coalition of voters as the first Black woman on a major party ticket. Kamala Harris addressed the Democratic National Convention's third night after former President Barack Obama warned that American democracy itself was at risk if President Donald Trump wins reelection this fall.

Harris, a 55-year-old California senator, issued an urgent plea for voters of all colours to rally behind Joe Biden and find a way to vote despite concerns about the pandemic and postal slowdowns.

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"Donald Trump's failure of leadership has cost lives and livelihoods," Kamala Harris, the daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants, said in remarks from a largely empty arena near Biden's Delaware home. She said she shares his vision of America, "where all are welcome, no matter what we look like, where we come from, or who we love."

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Kamala Harris closed a night in which some of the most prominent Democrats outlined in remarkably frank terms their views of the consequences of a Trump reelection. Obama, speaking from Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia, warned that American democracy was at risk of faltering. Hillary Clinton, the party's 2016 nominee, said lives are at stake in an election being conduct against the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic.

Harris called on supporters to have a specific "voting plan" to overcome obstacles raised by the pandemic and a postal slowdown Democrats and some Republicans blame on Trump. "When we vote things change, when we vote things get better, when we vote we address the need for all people to be treated with dignity and respect," Harris said.

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