WATCH LIVE: Harris speaks to his supporters after losing the 2024 presidential election

by Junna Base November 6, 2024

WASHINGTON (AP) — Once seen as a potential savior of the Democratic Party after Joe Biden’s reelection campaign faltered, Kamala Harris and her supporters are counting on deep rejection from American voters in this year’s presidential election.

Harris will address her supporters at Howard University in Washington, DC at 4:00 p.m. ET. Watch it in the player above.

She trails in every battleground state behind Donald Trump, a man she described as an existential threat to the country’s basic institutions. And Trump appears to be 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 an attempt to overturn his previous election loss.

Harris has not yet admitted defeat. She will give a concession speech on Wednesday at 4 p.m., her office said. She will speak at Howard University, her alma mater in Washington, where her supporters watched the repatriations on Tuesday night before being sent home after midnight as Trump prevailed in battleground states. Her campaign announced no plans to speak with Trump.

The result is particularly bitter for Harris because, as sitting vice president, she is expected to oversee the ceremonial certification of the election by Congress.

It’s the same role Mike Pence played four years ago when Trump urged his supporters to march on the US Capitol. Although critics said the violent insurrection highlighted Trump’s threat to American democracy, it ultimately did not deter voters from electing him again.

Harris became the Democratic nominee after Biden, already struggling to convince voters that he could serve as president until he was 86, stumbled badly in his June 27 debate with Trump.

He dropped out of the race on July 21 and endorsed his running mate, who quickly united the Democratic Party around her candidacy.

Harris faced long odds from the start. She inherited Biden’s political lead with just 107 days until the end of the election and faced a restive electorate hungry for change.

Although Harris offered “a new path forward,” she struggled to meaningfully differentiate herself from the unpopular incumbent president. She also had limited time to introduce herself to skeptical voters who had never cast a vote 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.