Speakers at the Democratic National Convention this week spent many hours denouncing Donald Trump, praising the “joy” of politics and calling for the restoration of women’s right to self-determination. But they have not yet presented a complete portrait of their presidential candidate.

“I think many Americans outside of California don’t know who Kamala Harris is,” says Joe Garofoli, senior political editor of the San Francisco Chronicle, who has covered Harris for more than 20 years, since her first days in elected office as her hometown district attorney.

When Harris’s running mate, Tim Walz, accepted the vice presidential nomination on Wednesday night, a host of high-profile politicians – Bill and Hillary Clinton, Barack and Michelle Obama – vouched for the incumbent vice president; a number of celebrities and entertainers – Oprah Winfrey, Mindy Kaling, Kenan Thompson – declared their values; and a number of musicians – Stevie Wonder, John Legend, Maren Morris – performed on her behalf. Her sister, husband, nephews and niece offered glimpses into her personality away from the political spotlight.

But it will be up to Harris herself to fill in the considerable remaining gaps about her personality, character and life experience for voters when she delivers her nomination acceptance speech on Thursday evening.

“I think she needs to introduce herself,” said Garofoli, who was a guest on Chicago-based Newsmakers on Wednesday. “And as strange as that sounds, for someone who has been in the public eye for 20 years, most of that time has been away from the national spotlight. So I want to see who she is and what makes her tick.”

Walz delights the audience. Harris’s choice of Minnesota Governor Walz as her running mate was her first and perhaps most consequential decision as a Democratic candidate and provides Americans with a modicum of information about her political judgment, strategic judgement and preferences regarding the temperament of a wingman.

Walz introduced himself to the tens of millions of convention viewers Wednesday night as an energetic everyman – after a blurred-focus biographical video and an appearance by a dozen now-potbellied members of the high school football team he led to the state championship. He channeled his background and experience as a teacher, coach, National Guardsman, congressman and governor into a fast-paced, loud and nimble-armed political address that ticked all the boxes a vice president must meet.

“Never underestimate a public school teacher,” he thundered, before launching into a vociferous defense of abortion rights and portraying Trump and fellow vice president JD Vance as “weird” authoritarians seeking to control the lives of those who oppose them.

“In Minnesota, we respect our neighbors and the choices they make,” he said. “Even if we don’t make the same choices, we have one golden rule: Mind your own damn business!”

With a smile and a twinkle under his bald white head, he attacked Trump and his running mate, Vance (“some people just don’t understand what it means to be a good neighbor… I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to break up with those guys”), celebrated his new boss (Harris works hard with “energy, passion and joy” to “stand up for your freedom to live the life you want to live”), and listed a series of social and recovery programs that the Democrats would bring to the country (tax cuts for the middle class, lower drug prices, financial aid for first-time home buyers).

Like many other speakers, Walz sharply criticized “Project 2025,” the controversial 900-page work presented by the right-wing Heritage Foundation as a strategic plan for a second Trump administration.

“This is an agenda that no one asked for,” he said. “It’s an agenda that does nothing for our neighbors in need. Is that strange? Absolutely, absolutely. But it’s also wrong. And it’s dangerous.”

He then passionately urged delegates to “stick with every play until the final whistle” to organize and support Harris’ election.

“It’s the fourth quarter, we’re down a field goal, but we’re on offense and we’re storming down the field,” he shouted. “When you’re dead, you still have time to sleep!”

In a moving moment, his teenage son Gus stood up from his seat, clapped his hands, sobbed openly and shouted: “That’s my father!”

Oprah and the big dog. In addition to Walz, Oprah Winfrey’s appearance was the rhetorical highlight of the evening. She made an emotional appeal directly into the camera to “independents and undecideds” to support the Democrats and “vote for common sense instead of nonsense!”

The other speaker on the podium was former President Bill Clinton. Clinton, 78, had a hoarse voice and his hands were shaking, but he showed he can still deliver.

“In 2024, we face a clear choice: ‘We the people’ versus ‘I, myself and I,'” he said.

“He talks mostly about himself,” Clinton said of Trump. “So next time you hear him, don’t count the lies. Count the I’s. Count the me’s. His vendettas, his vengeances, his grievances, his conspiracies. He’s like one of those tenors who opens up before they go on stage … by singing me, me, me, me, me, me. When Kamala Harris is president, every day will start with you, you, you, you.”

Roots in San Francisco. In Newsmakers’ conversation with Joe Garofoli, he gave an overview of Harris’ two-decade political career. Among other things, he said:

• Repeated some of his Report body about Harris and some behind-the-scenes insights into the methods he used;
• Discussed how Trump is trying to use San Francisco’s “Devil’s Loop” as a metaphor for his attack on Harris – and reported on the Efforts by city officials push back;
• Told some hilarious stories about Willie Browna former lover of Harris, and the former Mayor’s outrage about Trump’s recent absurd – and completely false – account that Brown allegedly whispered secrets about Harris to the former president while the two men were flying in a helicopter that had suffered engine failure;
• Recalling a recent interview with Nancy Pelosi from San Francisco and her advice to Harris, “Govern from the center.”
• Explained some of the complex political cross-currents that San Francisco’s tech and crypto titans, and how they position themselves on the different sides of the election.