Chicago, 23 August 2024 (dpa/MIA) — US Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris has vowed to be a president for all Americans as she formally accepted her party's nomination on Thursday.

"I will be a president who unites us around our highest aspirations. A president who leads and listens. Who is realistic. Practical. And has common sense. And always fights for the American people," she said on the final night of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

"With this election, our nation has a precious, fleeting opportunity to move past the bitterness, cynicism, and divisive battles of the past. A chance to chart a new way forward," Harris said.

"I love our country with all my heart. Everywhere I go, in everyone I meet, I see a nation ready to move forward. Ready for the next step, in the incredible journey that is America," she said.

"I see an America where we hold fast to the fearless belief that built our nation. That inspired the world. That here, in this country, anything is possible. Nothing is out of reach."

Harris only entered the race a month ago after President Joe Biden dropped his bid.

"When I think about the path we have travelled together, Joe, I am filled with gratitude," Harris said.

"Your record is inspiring, as history will show," she said, adding she and husband Doug Emhoff would forever be thankful to Biden and his wife Jill.

Harris has made health care - and especially reproductive rights - a central issue of her campaign, saying that a second term for Republican candidate Donald Trump would lead to cuts in access to abortion and birth control.

"In many ways, Donald Trump is an unserious man. But the consequences of putting Donald Trump back in the White House are extremely serious," Harris said.

"Consider the power he will have, especially after the United States Supreme Court just ruled he would be immune from criminal prosecution."

Harris ended her speech with an appeal ahead of the November 5 election.

"Let us show each other and the world who we are and what we stand for: Freedom, opportunity, compassion, dignity, fairness and endless possibilities," she said.

"We are the heirs to the greatest democracy in the history of the world," she added.

"Let's fight for it. Let's get out there. Let's vote for it, and together, let us write the next great chapter in the most extraordinary story ever told."

Despite speculation US megastar Beyoncé would make an appearance, after allowing the Democratic candidate to use her song "Freedom" in the campaign, the singer did not appear in Chicago.

Country music group The Chicks and singer Pink both performed on Thursday night.

Harris' vice presidential running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, gave Wednesday's keynote address. He praised Harris as "tough" and said she would "fight for your freedom to live the life you want to lead."

Shapiro and Trump trade barbs

Josh Shapiro, the Pennsylvania governor who competed against Walz to be Harris' pick for vice president, spoke at the convention on Wednesday.

On Thursday, Trump went after Shapiro on the ex-president's own social media platform, Truth Social, calling the Pennsylvania chief executive a "highly overrated Jewish governor" who "has done nothing for Israel, and never will."

The former president, who lost in 2020 to Biden, instead praised himself.

"I am the best friend that Israel, and the Jewish people, ever had. I have done more for Israel than any President, and frankly, I have done more for Israel than any person, and it’s not even close."

Trump also repeated calls he's made on the campaign trail calling Harris "Comrade Kamala Harris, the Radical Left Marxist who stole the nomination from Crooked Joe" in reference to Biden.

The Pennsylvania governor quickly answered Trump's charge.

"Donald Trump is obsessed with me and obsessed with continuing to skew hate and division in our politics. He's someone who's routinely pedaled anti-Semitic tropes like this," Shapiro said in a press statement.

The White House, in a statement, did not directly name Trump but said "it is anti-Semitic, dangerous, and hurtful to attack a fellow American by calling out their Jewish faith in a derogatory way."

Trump has repeatedly made similar comments about Jews in the past. At a campaign event this spring, the former president, who lost to Biden in 2020, said Jews who vote for Biden or for Democrats should have their heads examined.

Democratic change and the Republican response

Trump, who many US observers have said appears to be having a tough time figuring out how to combat the Harris-Walz candidacy, was leading in the opinion polls, but that has evaporated.

This week on the campaign trail, the former president has labelled Harris a "radical left lunatic" and a "failed vice president" and attacked her positions on immigration and the economy.

Trump has also lobbed a barrage of insults at Harris, calling her a "bum" and falsely suggesting that she had previously downplayed her black heritage.

Harris, the daughter of an Indian-born mother and Jamaican-born father, would be the first female US president if elected.