Kamala Harris concedes 2024 election to Donald Trump: 'We must accept the results'
Vice President Kamala Harris officially conceded the 2024 election to Donald Trump, after he was projected to become the 47th U.S. president.
Harris began her speech on Wednesday by thanking her family, staff and constituents. She also thanked President Joe Biden and Dr. Jill Biden as well as her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz, and his family.
The vice president may have been ending her campaign against Trump, but her concession outlined the contours of future fights against the president-elect.
Harris also noted that while the results were not what she had hoped for, she will help Trump and his administration with a peaceful transfer of power.
"We must accept the results of this election," Harris said. "Earlier today, I spoke with President-Elect Trump and congratulated him on his victory. I also told him that we will help him and we will engage in a peaceful transfer of power."
Trump was declared the winner early Wednesday by the Associated Press and others, having surpassed the 270 electoral votes needed to clinch the presidency.
Harris earned at least 224 electoral votes, with swing state results in Nevada and Arizona still outstanding. According to the White House, Harris will speak at 4 p.m. ET at Howard University in Washington D.C., a historically Black university and her alma mater. Sources told The Associated Press that Harris called Trump Wednesday afternoon to congratulate him.
US Vice President Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris delivers her concession speech at Howard University in Washington, DC, Nov. 6, 2024. (Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)
The Harris campaign hosted an election night party on Tuesday on The Yard at Howard University, where the mood turned from "festive to fretting" as the race calls began coming in, according to The Associated Press.
Harris had been expected to address the election night party, but her campaign co-chair Cedric Richmond said supporters wouldn’t hear from her until Wednesday.
"We still have votes to count. We still have states that have not been called yet. We will continue, overnight, to fight to make sure that every vote is counted, that every voice has spoken," Richmond said Tuesday night, prior to the AP’s race call for Trump.
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Harris launched her White House bid just four months ago after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race. Her modified campaign centered a lot of her message on Trump and a warning of the threat she said he posed to U.S. democracy and abortion protections. She targeted the traditional Democratic base — African Americans, Latinos and young people — but also sought to win over disaffected Republicans.
However, Trump managed to win both nationwide and in key swing states with voters who were alarmed about the economy and prioritized more aggressive enforcement of immigration laws.
2024 Election: AP declares Trump winner
Donald Trump has been elected the 47th president of the United States. Trump’s win in Wisconsin put him over the 270 threshold needed to clinch the presidency. In earlier election remarks at Florida’s Palm Beach Convention Center, Trump vowed not to rest "until we have delivered the strong and prosperous America." Dr. Cayce Myers, Professor and Director of Graduate Studies at Virginia Tech weighs in.
Anxiety about inflation was particularly high nationally, according to AP VoteCast, a sweeping survey of more than 120,000 voters nationwide.
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Voters broadly believed that Trump would be better equipped than Harris, Biden’s current vice president, to handle the economy and jobs. The key swing states of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan largely mirrored the mood of the nation, the survey found.
The AP’s VoteCast survey found that Trump picked up a small but significant share of younger voters, Black voters and Hispanic voters – many of whom were feeling down about the economy. Majorities of younger Black voters and Latino voters said the economy is not working well, according to the survey.
Trump victory speech
Trump speaks to supporters in West Palm Beach
Donald Trump speaks to supporters gathered in West Palm Beach, Florida. Trump has claimed victory in the 2024 presidential election, though several swing states remain undecided. Key states like Michigan, Wisconsin, and Arizona continue counting high volumes of mail-in ballots. Early results favor Trump, but Democrats hope remaining counts in urban areas could tip the scales.
Meanwhile, Trump appeared before a cheering crowd at his Mar-a-Lago election watch party in Florida, following FOX News' early projection of his win.
Trump, 78, will begin his second term early next year after losing his first reelection bid to Biden in 2020. It was an extraordinary comeback for Trump, who refused to accept defeat four years ago and helped spark the U.S. Capitol riot, was convicted of felony charges, and survived two assassination attempts.
In a victory speech early Wednesday, Trump told the crowd: "Every citizen, I will fight for you, for your family and your future."
"This will truly be the golden age of America," Trump said. "This is a magnificent victory for the American people that will allow us to make America great again."