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Kamala Harris conceded the 2024 presidential election on Wednesday, telling her supporters they should “never give up the fight” for the issues she campaigned on, including the rule of law and democracy.
Speaking from Howard University, her alma mater in Washington, DC, a day after losing her White House bid overwhelmingly to Donald Trump, Harris said she had called the Republican president-elect to congratulate him.
But in remarks clearly aimed at her erstwhile opponent, who never conceded his loss in the 2020 election, Harris told the crowd “we must accept the results of this election” and she would work to ensure “a peaceful transfer of power”.
At the end of a campaign in which she repeatedly accused her opponent of threatening democracy, Harris acknowledged many believed the country was “entering a dark time”, adding: “In our nation, we owe loyalty not to a president or party, but to the constitution of the United States.”
Trump’s campaign took a more conciliatory tone, saying the two candidates had “agreed on the importance of unifying the country”. Trump had noted Harris’s “strength, professionalism and tenacity throughout the campaign”, his spokesperson said.
Harris told supporters on Wednesday that she remained proud of her campaign effort, adding: “While I concede this election, I do not concede the fight that fuelled this campaign.”
President Joe Biden hailed Harris as a “public servant full of integrity, courage, and character” and said she would “continue the fight with purpose, determination and joy”.
The vice-president had originally planned to speak to a large crowd of supporters at the historically Black college after polls closed on Tuesday night. But she did not appear at her own election night party after tallies made it clear she was on course to lose to her Republican rival.
Trump was declared the winner early on Wednesday morning after sweeping all seven battlegrounds in the industrial Midwest, western sunbelt and the south, pushing him over the 270 electoral college votes needed to win the White House. But on Wednesday he also remained on track to win the popular vote, something no Republican has done in two decades.
“America has given us an unprecedented and powerful mandate,” Trump said in a victory speech in the early hours of Wednesday morning, predicting a “golden age” for the US under his leadership.
Harris was far from the only Democrat to suffer defeat at the ballot box on Tuesday. The Democratic party will cede control of the US Senate after Republicans successfully flipped three seats in West Virginia, Ohio and Montana.
Control of the House of Representatives still hangs in the balance, with dozens of races left to be called, but Republicans remain bullish on their chances of holding on to the lower chamber of Congress.
That would give Trump’s party a “unified government”, with control over the White House, Senate and House, and wide latitude to push through the president-elect’s legislative agenda — particularly since his “coat tail” helped secure victories for many Republican congressional candidates.
The White House said Biden — who defeated Trump four years ago but abandoned his own re-election bid over the summer — had also called the president-elect on Wednesday to congratulate him and invite him to a meeting at the White House. Biden is expected to make his own address to the nation on Thursday.
Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung said the Republican “very much appreciated the call” and was looking forward to the meeting to “ensure a smooth transition” between the administrations.
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