On July 18, Donald Trump took the stage at the Republican National Convention, where the former president was expected to deliver one of the most important speeches of his political career. He failed spectacularly: The GOP candidate spoke for more than an hour and a half, reminding voters of all the things they don’t like about him and failing to take advantage of a unique opportunity.

Trump meandered aimlessly. He ad-libbed unnecessarily. He lied excessively. He was in equal measures divisive, bitter, juvenile, conspiratorial and alienating. The Republican nominee effectively presented a case study in how not to deliver an acceptance speech at a major party convention.

Exactly six weeks later, Vice President Kamala Harris took the stage at the Democratic National Convention. Her remarks were not just a triumph on their own terms, they also succeeded where her Republican rival failed. NBC News reported:

After three days of buildup about her work as a prosecutor and her promise as a leader, Harris emerged onstage to deafening roars from a packed arena, which cheered over her attempts to begin her speech before she told attendees they had to “get to some business.” … “We are charting a new way forward, forward to a future with a strong and growing middle class,” Harris said in her speech.

Why did her convention speech work?

Harris presented herself as the change candidate: That’s not an easy thing for an incumbent vice president to pull off, but the Democrat’s “new way forward” rhetoric resonated in part because she’s running against a failed GOP candidate who’s led his party’s ticket in every election since 2016. Worse, Trump is explicitly running on a platform of taking the nation backwards, while Harris repeatedly used the word “forward” in her remarks.

Harris reached out to a broad electorate: Six weeks after Trump’s needlessly divisive remarks, the Democratic nominee declared, “I know there are people of various political views watching tonight. And I want you to know, I promise to be a president for all Americans. You can always trust me to put country above party and self.”

In the same remarks, she added, “Our nation, with this election, 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 — not as members of any one party or faction, but as Americans.”

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Harris was optimistic and patriotic: “[O]ur opponents in this race are out there every day denigrating America, talking about how terrible everything is,” the vice president said. “Well, my mother had another lesson she used to teach: Never let anyone tell you who you are. You show them who you are. America, let us show each other and the world who we are and what we stand for: Freedom, opportunity, compassion, dignity, fairness and endless possibilities. We are the heirs to the greatest democracy in the history of the world.”

Harris sounded like a normal human being: While Trump raged on his social media platform, the Democratic nominee assured voters, “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.”

Harris was disciplined — and didn’t go on and on: Trump’s 90-minute rant in Milwaukee sent some of his loyalists heading for the exits before it was over. The vice president’s remarks, in contrast, were half as long. The former abandoned his script to share strange thoughts that popped into his mind; the latter recognized the importance of being a disciplined candidate for the nation’s highest office.

I won’t pretend to know what’s going to happen on Election Day 2024, but as the dust settles in Chicago, Harris has reason to feel good about her chances.