“All Americans can be proud that we have more women in the work force than ever before,” Mr. Trump went on, adding, “Don’t sit yet. You’re going to like this.”

And then he delivered his biggest applause line: “Exactly one century after Congress passed the constitutional amendment giving women the right to vote, we also have more women serving in Congress than at any time before.”

It was a striking moment for a president who has been routinely accused of misogyny, who paid hush money to a pornographic film actress and a Playboy model and who spoke in vulgar terms as he admitted on videotape that he had sexually assaulted women.

The Democratic response: race and voting rights.

Stacey Abrams, the former minority leader of the Georgia legislature, narrowly lost her bid to be the first African-American female governor in the South, but it was the way she lost — amid charges of voter suppression and vote rigging — that really rankled.

In choosing Ms. Abrams to give the Democratic response, her party’s leaders were tapping a crusader for voting rights, and that is what she delivered.

“While I acknowledged the results of the 2018 election here in Georgia, I did not and we cannot accept efforts to undermine our right to vote,” Ms. Abrams said. “This is the next battle for our democracy, one where all eligible citizens can have their say about the vision we want for our country. We must reject the cynicism that says allowing every eligible vote to be cast and counted is a ‘power grab.’ Americans understand that these are the values our brave men and women in uniform and our veterans risk their lives to defend.”