Vice-President Kamala Harris has reportedly reached out by phone to President-Elect Donald Trump, marking her first public acknowledgment of the election results.
This call is significant for Harris as it signifies her concession to Trump, the Republican candidate poised to be the 47th president of the United States.
CBS News reports that the vice-president emphasized the importance of a peaceful transition of power and pledged to be a president for all Americans, according to a senior official close to Harris.
Harris is scheduled to address the nation with remarks at Howard University later today.
This development comes as Trump has secured a victory in the swing state of Michigan, adding to his collection of critical battleground states, including Pennsylvania, Michigan, Georgia, North Carolina, and four of the five electoral votes in Nebraska.
The election was anticipated to be one of the tightest races in history, but the 78-year-old Trump is on track to win every swing state, as he leads in Nevada and Arizona.
With only 270 electoral votes required to win the White House and assume office on January 20, 2025, Trump currently holds 291 electoral votes, while Harris stands at 222.
This will mark Trump’s second term as president, following his defeat in the previous election, after starting his political journey with the Republican Party nine years ago.
In contrast to Harris, Trump responded less gracefully when he lost to President Biden.
He took to Twitter to claim voter fraud, although his campaign was unable to substantiate these allegations, as reported by NBC at the time.
In a statement, Trump claimed Biden’s ‘media allies’ were trying to assist him, asserting, “I will not rest until the American People have the honest vote count they deserve and that Democracy demands.”
Subsequently, riots erupted on January 6 as MAGA supporters, along with QAnon conspiracy theorists, stormed the Capitol in protest of the election results. A judge later ruled that Trump could potentially face lawsuits after he urged supporters to ‘fight like hell,’ which District Judge Amit Mehta stated could be interpreted as a call for collective action.
An investigation concluded that Trump’s tweet, posted at 01:42 local time on December 19, 2020, incited the violence in the U.S. capital. His tweet stated, “Statistically impossible to have lost the 2020 Election. Big protest in D.C. on January 6th. Be there, will be wild.”
With Harris’s defeat, the United States will have to wait longer before a woman leads the Oval Office.