WASHINGTON – Vice President Kamala Harris called Donald Trump on Wednesday afternoon to drop out of the 2024 presidential race, according to a senior adviser to Harris.
During the call, the Democratic presidential candidate “discussed the importance of a peaceful transition of power and being president for all Americans,” a senior adviser said.
Steven Cheung, Trump campaign communications director, said in a statement that during the call, Trump “thanked Vice President Harris for her strength, professionalism and tenacity throughout the campaign, and both leaders agreed on the importance of uniting the country.”
At 4 p.m. EST, Harris delivered a concession speech to her supporters at Howard University in Washington, DC. Her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, was also in the crowd.
“The result of this election is not what we wanted,” she said. “But hear me when I say this: The light of the American promise will always shine bright.”
Harris told her supporters not to be discouraged by the results but to continue fighting and organizing.
“Sometimes it takes a while to fight,” she said. “This is not the time to throw up our hands, this is the time to roll up our sleeves.”
The college also hosted an election observation event on Tuesday night that quickly went murky as its path to the White House narrowed as the southern battleground states of North Carolina and Georgia turned to Trump.
Harris, who was originally expected to attend her own election night event, never arrived on campus, disappointing Howard supporters and alumni.
Trump was declared the winner of the presidential election on Wednesday, according to Associated Press projections.
Harris said it was critical to accept the results of the race – something Trump failed to do four years ago, leading to the violent insurrection at the Capitol.
“This principle, like any other, distinguishes democracy from monarchy or tyranny, and anyone who seeks public trust must respect it,” she said. “At the same time, in our nation, we owe allegiance not to the president or the party, but to the Constitution of the United States.”
Harris said that while she concedes the election, she “is not giving up the fight that fueled this campaign.”
The presidential race is not the only defeat for Democrats. They lost control of the U.S. Senate, and Republicans have an advantage in taking over the House, potentially giving the GOP a trifecta in Washington.
There was a deep gender divide in the elections, with exit polls showing that women favored Harris over Trump.
This is the second time a woman has led a major party as a presidential candidate and 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 U.S. Supreme Court stripped the constitutional right to abortion. The incoming 47th president solidified his conservative majority by hand-electing three justices.
Harris, whose candidacy didn’t begin until July after President Joe Biden suspended his re-election campaign, had just over 100 days to choose a running mate, lay out policy plans to appeal to voters and hit seven battleground states.
Despite the rapid pace of the campaign, Harris said she was grateful for the campaign she ran with Walz and the coalition they built along the way.
However, part of this coalition was broken up. There has been deep dissatisfaction within her party with the current administration’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
Michigan, which has a gigantic Arab-American population and is a state that Biden won in 2020, voted for Trump– according to Associated Press forecasts.
This was Harris’ second bid for the White House, after her first bid quickly fizzled out in 2019 before Biden chose her as his running mate.
Biden dropped out of the race after a disastrous June debate that shook his party’s confidence in winning a rematch with Trump, and Harris’ coronation as the party’s successor injected up-to-date hope into Democrats along with a flood of money. According to the campaign, they have raised more than $1 billion.
Despite funding and up-to-date enthusiasm among Democrats, the swing states of Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin ultimately went to Trump, opening a clear path to the White House for him, winning 292 Electoral College votes out of the 270 needed to win the White House with their 224 votes , according to the Associated Press.
Last updated at 16:58, November 6, 2024
