VP Harris concedes presidential race in phone call to Donald Trump

By Ariana Figueroa/Iowa Capital Dispatch

WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris Wednesday afternoon called Donald Trump to concede the 2024 presidential race, according to a senior Harris aide.

During the call, the Democratic presidential nominee “discussed the importance of a peaceful transfer of power and being a president for all Americans,” the senior aide said.

Steven Cheung, the Trump campaign communications director said in a statement that during the call Trump “acknowledged Vice President Harris on her strength, professionalism, and tenacity throughout the campaign, and both leaders agreed on the importance of unifying the country.”

Harris delivered a concession speech at 4 p.m. Eastern to her supporters at Howard University in Washington, D.C. Her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, was in the crowd as well.

“The outcome of this election is not what we wanted,” she said. “But hear me when I say this: The light of America’s promise will always burn bright.”

Harris told her supporters to not be discouraged by the results, but to continue the fighting and organizing.

“Sometimes the fight takes a while,” she said. “This is not a time to throw up our hands, this is a time to roll up our sleeves.”

The college was also the site of her election watch party on Tuesday night, which quickly turned somber after her path to the White House narrowed when the southern battleground states of North Carolina and Georgia swung to Trump. 

Harris, who was originally expected to attend her own election night party, never arrived on campus, disappointing supporters and Howard alums.

Trump was declared the presidential winner early Wednesday, according to projections by The Associated Press.

Harris said it was important to accept the results of the race – something that Trump did not do four years ago, leading to a violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

“That principle, as much as any other, distinguishes democracy from monarchy or tyranny and anyone who seeks the public trust must honor it,” she said. “At the same time, in our nation, we owe loyalty not to a president or a party, but to the Constitution of the United States.”

Harris said that while she concedes the election, “I do not concede the fight that fueled this campaign.”

The presidential race isn’t the only loss for Democrats. They lost control of  the U.S. Senate and Republicans are favored to take the House, potentially giving the GOP a trifecta in Washington.

The election saw a deep gender divide, with exit poll surveys showing women tended to favor Harris over Trump.

It’s the second time a woman has led as the presidential candidate for a major party and it’s the second time a woman has lost to Trump. Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton lost to him in 2016.

The election came two years after the constitutional right to an abortion was stripped away by the U.S. Supreme Court. The incoming 47th president cemented its conservative majority by hand-picking three justices.

Harris, whose bid only began in July after President Joe Biden suspended his reelection campaign, had a little over 100 days to pick a running mate, release policy plans to appeal to voters and hit the seven battleground states.

Despite the sprint of a campaign, Harris said she was grateful for the campaign she and Walz ran and the coalition they built along the way. 

Some of that coalition was fractured, though. There was deep dissatisfaction within her party for the current administration’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

Michigan, which has a high Arab American population and is a state that Biden won in 2020, voted for Trump, according to projections by The Associated Press.

It was Harris’ second time running for the White House, after her first run quickly fizzled in 2019 before Biden picked her as his running mate.

With Biden out of the race following a disastrous June debate that rattled his party’s belief he could win a rematch against Trump, the coronation of Harris as the party heir breathed new hope into Democrats along with a flood of cash. They raised more than $1 billion, according to the campaign.

Despite the funding and new enthusiasm among Democrats, the swing states of Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin ultimately went to Trump, giving him a clear path to the White House with 292 Electoral College votes out of 270 needed to win the White House, to her 224 votes, according to The Associated Press.