WASHINGTON (KYW Newsradio, AP) — Democrat Kamala Harris urged unity in a concession speech at Howard University on Wednesday following her defeat to Republican Donald Trump. She committed to a peaceful transition of power while vowing to continue to fight for freedom, opportunity, fairness and dignity for all people.
"While I concede this election, I do not concede the fight that fueled this campaign,” she said.
Harris had planned to address an audience like this at Howard, her alma mater, on election night and had hoped she would have a more upbeat message to deliver. Instead, when Harris took the stage at her alma mater, she looked out at a sea of American flags and notably forlorn faces.
After thanking her team and family for the work on her 107-day campaign, the vice president had a very uplifting message. She specifically said: Don't despair. She asked everyone to treat each other with kindness and respect.
“The outcome of this election is not what we wanted, not what we fought for, not what we voted for. But hear me when I say, the light of America’s promise will always burn bright, as long as we never give up and as long as we keep fighting,” Harris said.
“This is not a time to throw up our hands. This is a time to roll up our sleeves.”
Then, just as she had when she walked out to greet her supporters, Harris made her exit to the strains of Beyoncé’s “Freedom,” filing off the stage with her family.
Former president, now President-Elect Donald Trump, will reclaim the White House with decisive victories in several key swing states, including Pennsylvania.
She said some of the people she was addressing may feel that the nation is about to enter a dark period. She said she hopes not, but she called on the old adage: “Only when it is dark enough can you see the stars.”
Democrats spent billions of dollars warning American voters that Trump posed an imminent threat to democracy, that his economic policies would benefit only his wealthy friends, that he was literally a fascist.
In the end, voters didn’t care — or if they did, it didn’t matter.
And now, after Kamala Harris’ decisive loss, Democrats enter a second Trump presidency with no clear leader, no clear plan and no agreement on what caused them to be so wrong about the 2024 election.
Harris already called Trump on Wednesday to concede the election and congratulate him on his victory, as has President Joe Biden, according to a senior adviser to the vice president.
Biden will address the nation Thursday about the election results, the White House said. He spoke with Harris and Trump on Wednesday, and he invited the president-elect to meet with him soon.
‘We dug out of a deep hole but not enough’
Harris, once viewed as a potential savior for the Democratic Party after Joe Biden 's reelection campaign stalled, is reckoning with a profound rejection by American voters in this year's presidential election.
She trailed in every battleground state to Trump, a man she described as an existential danger to the country's foundational institutions. And Trump appeared on track to win the popular vote for the first time in his three campaigns for the White House — even after two impeachments, felony convictions and his attempt to overturn his previous election loss.
David Plouffe, a top Harris adviser, said campaign staffers "left it all on the field for their country."
"We dug out of a deep hole but not enough," he said. "A devastating loss.”
In a bitter footnote for Harris, as the sitting vice president, she is expected to oversee Congress' ceremonial certification of the election.
It's the same role that Mike Pence played four years ago, when Trump directed his supporters to march on the U.S. Capitol. Although critics said the violent insurrection crystallized Trump's threat to American democracy, that ultimately did not dissuade voters from electing him again.
Harris became the Democratic candidate after Biden, who was already struggling to convince voters that he could serve as president until he was 86 years old, stumbled badly in his June 27 debate with Trump.
He dropped out of the race on July 21 and endorsed his vice president, who swiftly unified the Democratic Party around her candidacy.
It was a remarkable twist of fate for Harris. Four years earlier, her own presidential campaign flamed out and revealed the political limitations of someone once dubbed "the female Barack Obama." Even though Biden chose Harris as his running mate, she languished in the role after taking office as the first woman, Black person or person of South Asian descent to serve as vice president.
Some Democrats started writing her off when they pondered the party's future after Biden. But Harris found fresh purpose after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, and she became the White House's leading advocate for abortion rights.
Harris also made a more concerted effort to network with local politicians, business leaders and cultural figures, forging connections that could serve her down the road. The moment arrived sooner than she anticipated, and she was catapulted into the presidential race with Biden's departure only a month before the Democratic National Convention.
Harris instantly reset the terms of the contest with Trump. She was 18 years younger and a former courtroom prosecutor going up against the first major presidential candidate convicted of crimes. Her candidacy energized Democrats who feared they were destined for defeat with Biden at the top of the ticket.
But she also faced steep odds from the beginning. She inherited Biden's political operation with just 107 days until the end of the election, and she faced a restless electorate that was eager for change.
Although Harris pitched "a new way forward," she struggled to meaningfully differentiate herself from the unpopular sitting president. In addition, she had limited time to introduce herself to skeptical voters, who never cast a ballot for her in a presidential primary.
Democrats now face the prospect of picking up the pieces during a second Trump presidency, and it's unclear what role Harris will play in her party's future.
"The work of protecting America from the impacts of a Trump Presidency starts now," wrote Jen O'Malley Dillon, Harris' campaign chair, in a letter to staff. "I know the Vice President isn't finished in this fight, and I know the very people on this email are also going to be leaders in this collective mission."