WASHINGTON (AP) — Kamala Harris said Wednesday that “we must accept the results of this election” as she encouraged supporters to continue fighting for their vision of the country after her loss to Donald Trump.
The Democratic vice president said the battle would continue "in the voting booth, in the courts and in the public square.”
“Sometimes the fight takes a while,” she said. “That doesn’t mean we won’t win.”
Harris delivered her remarks at Howard University, her alma mater and one of the country's most prominent historically Black schools, in the same spot where she hoped to give a victory speech.
“While I concede this election, I do not concede the fight that fueled this campaign,” Harris said.
Her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, was in the audience. So were Reps. Nancy Pelosi, the former House speaker, and Barbara Lee, both from Harris’ home state of California.
Before her speech, Harris called Trump to concede the election and congratulate him on his victory. She said, “We will engage in a peaceful transfer of power.”
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.
Biden plans to address the election results on Thursday. The White House said he spoke with Harris and Trump on Wednesday, and he invited the president-elect to meet with him soon.
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 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 had 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.”