WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris addressed her supporters Wednesday afternoon for the first time since losing the 2024 election, conceding the election to her opponent Republican former President Donald Trump.
"We must accept the results of this election," Harris said on Wednesday. "Earlier today, I spoke with President-elect Trump and congratulated him on his victory. I also told him that we will help him and his team with their transition. And we will engage in a peaceful transfer of power,"
Harris spoke at Howard University in Washington, D.C. to a crowd full of students and other supporters of the vice president.
"To the young people who are watching, it is O.K. to feel sad and disappointed, but please know it's going to be O.K.," Harris said. "On the campaign, I would often say, when we fight, we win; but here's the thing sometimes the fight takes a while — that doesn't mean we won't win."
In the audience, Harris' running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, watched on with his wife and daughter. Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff also watched Harris' speech with his daughter, Harris' stepdaughter.
"While I concede this election, I do not concede the fight that fueled this campaign," Vice President Harris said, pledging to continue to support abortion rights, "democracy, the rule of law and equal justice."
Harris, a Howard University alumna, garnered 226 electoral votes so far, according to the Associated Press, while Trump crossed the 270 mark needed to win and has a projected 295 electoral votes as of this writing.
Still, two states have not been called — Arizona and Nevada. The up-to-date electoral map is below.
The vice president would have become the first Black woman and first Asian American elected president in U.S. history, but Trump delivered her an electoral defeat. In doing so, Trump became the oldest person elected president at 78-years-old. The Republican former president, and now president-elect also became only the second person to be elected to nonconsecutive terms as president.
With a sentencing hearing scheduled for Nov. 26, Trump was also the first person elected president with a felony conviction.
"We overcame obstacles that nobody thought possible, and now it's clear that we've achieved the most incredible political — Look what happened; is this crazy?" Trump said in his victory speech early Wednesday morning.
Trump won the popular vote for the first time on Wednesday. In 2016 when he defeated Hillary Clinton, he won 304 electoral votes, but Clinton had 65.8 million votes to his 62.9 million votes.
And in 2020, President Joe Biden defeated Trump handily with 306 electoral votes and 81.2 million votes to Trump's 74.2 million.
Trump notably declared victory after losing to President Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election and has continued to deny the results of that election.
Harris had been expected to speak at Howard Tuesday night going into Wednesday, but eventually declined — likely waiting for the race to be officially called.