CHICAGO — The Texas delegation cast its 273 votes to ceremonially nominate Kamala Harris as the Democratic presidential candidate on Tuesday night.
Harris accepted it through a live stream from a rally in Milwaukee.
The ceremonial roll call is one of the rare moments at these splashy political productions when attention shifts from the stage to the floor.
Cecile Richards, former director of Planned Parenthood and daughter of the late Texas Gov. Ann Richards, stood next to Kate Cox, the Texas woman who had to leave the state to get an abortion after a difficult pregnancy, as the convention’s eyes turned to the Texas delegation for its vote.
Cox also shared that she is pregnant again.
“Today, because I found a way to access abortion care, I am pregnant again,” she said, “and my baby is due in January, just in time to see Kamala Harris sworn in as president.”
Barack Obama was the keynote speaker on Tuesday night. Bill Clinton is scheduled to speak tomorrow.
“Think about this,” said state Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, “two former presidents that are going to be on that stage endorsing Kamala Harris. How many did you have at the Republican convention? Zero. Why? Because they dislike Donald Trump.”
Kamala Harris is rising in the polls and raising millions, but political observers say Harris’ political high cannot last forever.
“Oh, but it can,” said Sylvester Turner, former Houston Mayor, who is now the Democratic nominee replacing the late Sheila Jackson Lee on the November ballot. “It can and I believe that it will. Look, they’re talking about issues that matter to the moms and dads – the people who are raising their families. They’re speaking directly to them.”
That’s what this week in Chicago is about – for Democrats to contrast their vision for the next four years against what Donald Trump proposed in Milwaukee last month.
“The debate on September 10th is going to be very important where Trump has been personalizing this, calling her names, and what did she say? Say it to my face. You gotta make sure you understand, she said it very diplomatically, but you’ve gotta make sure you understand the intent behind it. Say it to my face. And it’s going to be interesting whether he’s going to be able to say it to her face – all the stuff he’s been saying,” Sen. West added.
That next political milestone, three weeks away, could be decisive in who wins the November election.