Harris vows to keep fighting, urges supporters to ‘roll up our sleeves’ after ‘incredibly gutting’ election loss
Vice President Kamala Harris took to the stage on Wednesday at Howard University to concede her loss in the 2024 presidential election.
“The outcome of this election is not what we wanted, not what we fought for, not what we voted for,” declared Harris to a packed audience of supporters. “My heart is full today, full of gratitude for the trust you have placed in me, full of love for our country, and full of resolve.”
Harris continued, “But hear me when I say … the light of America’s promise will always burn as long as we never give up and as long as we keep fighting.”
The defeated 2024 Democratic presidential nominee congratulated Republican President-elect Donald Trump earlier on Wednesday. She was all smiles as she addressed thousands of mostly young people on the campus of her alma mater, a historically Black college, where tears were ever present in the crowd – including from her husband, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, and running mate Gov. Tim Walz.
Harris, who said she was “proud” of the race she and her campaign ran, vowed to keep fighting for the issues she ran on, including protecting American democracy and freedoms for all Americans.
“While I concede this election, I do not concede the fight that fueled this campaign,” said Harris passionately. “That is a fight I will never give up.”
She added, “We will continue to wage this fight in the voting booth, in the courts, and in the public square.”
Invoking her signature message of “joy,” the vice president proclaimed, “We will also wage it in quieter ways, in how we live our lives, by treating one another with kindness. and respect.”
“She gave a magnanimous speech that’s incredibly difficult, incredibly gutting,” said Democratic strategist Joel Payne, who worked on the 2016 presidential campaign of another history-making woman who lost to Trump: Hillary Clinton.
“There’s a history of Black leaders being forced to… rise above,” Payne told theGrio. “She did that, and the country should be grateful that Kamala Harris was on the wrong side of this and not Donald Trump because it would not have been handled with the grace that it was.”
Trump, who refused to commit to accepting the results of the 2024 election if he lost, infamously pushed falsehoods that his 2020 election loss to President Joe Biden was the result of mass voter fraud.
As Harris walks away empty-handed in her quest to become America’s first female, first Black woman, and first South Asian president, many have praised the vice president for running what they saw as a masterful campaign.
“She has run not only a flawless campaign, but she personally has been everywhere and done everything,” U.S. Congresswoman Stacey Plaskett, Democrat of Virgin Islands, told theGrio.
“As an American, as a sister, I want to tell her that she’s enough and that she has done more than enough,” said Plaskett.
As for Harris’ future as the Democratic Party’s leader, Plaskett said Harris has already demonstrated she can lead both the party and the country, adding, “I think that she needs to take the time that she needs to evaluate, to breathe and replenish herself.”
During her remarks on Wednesday at Howard, Harris made a direct appeal to “the young people” who strongly supported her campaign.
“Please know it’s gonna be OK. Sometimes, the fight takes a while. That doesn’t mean we won’t win,” said the vice president. “Don’t ever stop trying to make the world a better place. You have power.”
She added, “This is not a time to throw up our hands. This is a time to roll up our sleeves.”
Vice President Harris concluded her speech by quoting a historian who once said, “Only when it is dark enough can you see the stars.”
She declared, “Let us fill the sky with the light of a brilliant… billion of stars. The light of optimism, of faith, of truth and service.”