On a night that mixed personal stories from her loved ones with endorsem*nts from celebrities, Kamala Harris has officially accepted the nomination to be the Democratic presidential challenger to run against Donald Trump.
The final day of the convention in Chicago was marked by breathless anticipation as rumours ripped through the arena that Beyoncé would perform.
Every time a speaker walked off the stage and the MC prepared to announce the next guest, a hush fell over the crowd.
In the end, Bey's appearance never eventuated.
But the star of the night was still Harris, who had just weeks to prepare to make her pitch to the American people to vote for her as their first female president.
In a wide-ranging speech that touched on thorny foreign policy issues like wars in Ukraine and Gaza, abortion access and climate change, Harris sought to distinguish herself from her opponent.
These were the biggest moments from the last day of the Democratic National Convention.
America doesn't know Harris well. She tried to change that
Kamala Harris had to walk a startlingly high tightrope in her address to accept the nomination to be the Democratic nominee.
Only a month ago, she was President Joe Biden's running mate, but his disastrous debate performance against Trump in June saw her rocketed to the top of the ticket.
Most presidential contenders have months, if not years, to write, practice and perfect their convention speech.
Harris had just a couple of weeks.
She used this convention to introduce herself to the American people, who might know her as Biden's VP, but don't know much else.
Her young nieces came on stage to teach the crowd how to correctly say her name, and her sister Maya gave insights into their childhood as the daughters of immigrants living in California in the 1960s.
Finally, it was Harris's turn to speak to the delegates.
She wished her husband Doug a happy anniversary, paid tribute to her late mother, and took a moment to honour the historic nature of her candidacy.
She is the first Black woman and the first South Asian American to be the presidential nominee of a major party.
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"So, on behalf of the people, on behalf of every American, regardless of party, race, gender or the language your grandmother speaks … I accept your nomination for president of the United States of America," she said.
Harris warns of a 'Donald Trump with no guardrails'
In attacking Trump, Harris steered clear of the "weird" attack line that Democrats have favoured since her running mate, Tim Walz, started trotting it out in media interviews.
Instead, she reverted to the party's longstanding tack, painting him as a danger to democracy.
She talked about his efforts to reverse Biden's election win, his plans to pardon January 6 rioters, and the civil fraud and sexual abuse rulings against him.
The threat he posed, she said, had been heightened by the recent Supreme Court decision granting ex-presidents some immunity from criminal prosecution.
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"Just imagine Donald Trump with no guardrails and how he would use the immense powers of the presidency of the United States," Harris said.
"Not to improve your life, not to strengthen our national security, but to serve the only client he has ever had: himself."
Harris tore into Trump on both domestic and foreign policy.
She insisted Trump "and his allies" would enact a nationwide abortion ban, despite Trump's insistence he would leave it to states to decide
Trump has changed his public position on abortion over time, but recently has been saying he would leave it up to individual states.
And she said dictators like North Korea's Kim Jong-un were "rooting for Trump".
"Donald Trump is an unserious man, but the consequences of putting Donald Trump back in the White House are extremely serious."
A Beyoncé rumour whips the crowd into a frenzy
The will-she-won't-she speculation about a final-night Beyoncé cameo had been building all week.
Her hit Freedom has become the Harris campaign anthem, with Beyoncé's blessing, and an a capella version of the song blasted through the stadium speakers on night one.
Speculation reached a fever pitch when White House political director Emmy Ruiz posted a bee emoji on X, formerly known as Twitter.
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For the uninitiated, Beyoncé's fans call themselves the "Bey-hive".
Twitter users were unconvinced when Ruiz then posted, "Sorry guys my 6-year-old took my phone".
Whether it was an out-of-control rumour or a story planted to get more Americans to tune in on the final night of the convention, the arena was disappointed.
Some other stars lent their power to the Kamala cause though.
P!ink did an acoustic version of What About Us, a ballad that she has called a political protest song, with her daughter Willow.
The Chicks returned as well. In 2003, back when they were known as The Dixie Chicks, they were cancelled by the country music industry for speaking out against the Iraq war and criticising George W Bush.
In 2020, they performed the national anthem at the Democrats' virtual convention, and reprised their performance for the crowd tonight.
The Gaza war remains a schism in the Democratic party
In the weeks leading up to the convention, the DNC had been under pressure to make space onstage for a pro-Palestinian voice.
The collective of uncommitted delegates, representing hundreds of thousands of protest votes in their states, had for weeks been requesting a speaking slot for a Palestinian American.
"The DNC kept telling us that they would get back to us, and they were working on it, and to be patient," Asma Mohammed, an uncommitted Minnesota delegate, told the ABC.
"And finally, yesterday, at 8pm they told us the answer was no."
Some of the delegates responded by staging a 24-hour sit-in protest just outside the main convention arena, sleeping on the concrete overnight.
Palestinian American Democratic congresswoman Rashida Tlaib came to see them and offer support, and fellow 'Squad' Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez FaceTimed the group and called on the DNC to change its mind.
The DNC didn't comment on its decision, but party elder Nancy Pelosi said AOC could have spoken about the issue in her speech, and added: "We don't have every nationality in our country speak at a convention."
In the end, the first Muslim member of the Georgia state legislature, Ruwa Romman, gave her speech at a press conference outside.
She spoke of her family's Palestinian roots and their pain over what was happening in Gaza, but didn't criticise the Biden administration.
She ended it by saying: "To those who doubt us, to the cynics and the naysayers, I say, 'Yes, we can'."
"Yes we can be a Democratic Party that prioritises funding our schools and hospitals, not for endless wars. That fights for an America that belongs to all of us.
"Black, brown and white, Jews and Palestinians, all of us, like my grandfather taught me, together."
During her speech, Harris addressed the war in Gaza.
“With respect to the war in Gaza, President Biden and I are working around the clock, because now is the time to get a hostage deal and a ceasefire deal done,” she said.
She spoke forcefully against Hamas and the terrorist attack on Israel on October 7.
"At the same time, what has happened in Gaza over the past 10 months is devastating. So many innocent lives lost, desperate, hungry people fleeing for safety, over and over again, the scale of suffering is heartbreaking," she said, earning her one of the loudest cheers of the night from the crowd.
Trump heads to the border as we hurtle towards election day
While Democrats partied in Chicago, Trump flew south to Arizona's border with Mexico to talk about immigration.
Polls show that border security is one area where voters overwhelmingly prefer Trump.
One poll this year showed Americans preferred his immigration stance over Biden's by more than 30 points.
The decision to switch out Biden for Harris has improved Democrats' standing with voters on immigration.
But it's clearly one area where Trump thinks he has an advantage.
In Arizona, he threatened large tariffs on countries that don't accept deported migrants.
"The countries will accept them back, and if they don't accept them back, we do no trade with those countries and we charge them big tariffs," he said.
With the Democratic Convention now done, we are full steam ahead towards election day on November 5.
Most polls show the decision to dispense with Biden in favour of Harris has given Democrats a better chance against Trump, with the election a toss-up if it were held today.
The next key date to look out for is September 10.
That's when Harris and Trump will face off in their first televised presidential debate.
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