WATCH: DNC Crowd Goes Nuts as Kamala Harris Appears on Stage for Brief Surprise Speech
Vice President Kamala Harris got a thundering standing ovation when she made a brief appearance on the stage at the Democratic National Convention Monday, a scene that a CNN panel remarked reflected the change in tone for Democrats since she took over the top of the ticket.
Harris was expected to be at the United Center in Chicago Monday — President Joe Biden is scheduled to give a speech later to pass the torch to her — but the official DNC schedule did not include any speaking appearance for her.
Before Harris walked out on stage, a video featuring Beyoncé’s song “Freedom” played on the jumbotron screens, showing a montage of scenes with her and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. As the video wrapped, Harris emerged from the side of the stage.
The convention crowd burst into cheers and applause as a grinning and waving Harris crossed the stage to speak.
“Good evening, everyone!” she began. “It is so good to be with everyone this evening in this hall and everyone at home. This is going to be a great week!”
“I want to kick us off by celebrating our incredible president,” she said .”President Joe Biden will be speaking later tonight. Joe. Thank you for your historic leadership, for your lifetime of service to our nation, and for all you will continue to do. We are forever grateful to you. Thank you, Joe!”
In November, Harris said, “we will come together and declare with one voice, as one people: we are moving forward, with optimism, hope, and faith. So, guided by our love of country, knowing we all have so much more in common than what separates us, let us fight for the ideals we hold dear, and let us always remember: when we fight, we win!”
The crowd joined Harris, shouting the last few words, as she wrapped her speech — “God bless you, God bless the United States of America!” and exited the stage.
CNN anchor Jake Tapper described Harris as “jubilant” as she made “something of a surprise speech.”
“The crowd is just ecstatic here,” Tapper added, with “tens of thousands” of delegates and activists “on their feet, holding up signs from the top of the rafters down to the floor.”
“This is a different Democratic party — definitely a different mood than just four weeks and two days ago,” he said. “The crowd is really excited here.”
“It’s electric,” Dana Bash agreed, “and not to mix metaphors, but it does feel like something just got uncorked. Like, you know, there’s just a lot of pressure and all of a sudden, everybody feels free to express their joy. And there’s no question that this is a feeling that Democrats wanted to feel. They were searching for this kind of energy and this kind of enthusiasm, particularly, well just in general, but particularly given the Republican that they’re running against.”
Abby Phillip had a similar assessment, commenting that Democrats’ excitement now was “heightened by the fact that they went through a period of weeks of just absolute despair,” but now were “people who have a sense of hope again, about the trajectory of this race.”
The crowd’s reaction to seeing Harris on stage, said Phillip, was the Democrats”expressing what she means to the party right now, which is giving them a shot in this race.”
Watch the clip above via CNN.
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