Vice President Harris is expected to call President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday to concede the 2024 presidential race and is also expected to speak publicly, according to two Harris aides.
Harris is expected to address the nation at 4 p.m. ET at Howard University, her alma mater. In the meantime, she is working on her speech, one of the aides said.
President Joe Biden also plans to call Trump on Wednesday and also plans to speak publicly about the election results, according to a White House official.
Biden’s reaction to Trump’s victory overall is set to include all of the things Trump never did when Biden won in 2020 — a call to congratulate him, an invitation to the White House and an offer to attend his inauguration, the White House official said.
NBC News called the presidential race Wednesday morning, projecting that Trump won just after 5:30 a.m. ET, capturing 276 electoral votes to Harris’ 223.
For his part, Trump declared victory around 2:30 a.m. ET in remarks to his supporters at an election party in Florida.
While Nevada, Michigan and Arizona were too close to call on Wednesday morning, Trump carried several critical battleground states where both candidates spent a considerable amount of time: Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina and Wisconsin.
Harris, 60, launched her presidential campaign after President Joe Biden, 81, withdrew from the race on July 21 and endorsed her as the Democratic Party’s nominee. Biden dropped out after his devastating performance in a June presidential debate against Trump, after which key members of the party expressed deep concerns about his age as well as his ability to win in the general election and to serve another four years in the White House.
While Harris had about three months to campaign, Trump launched his re-election campaign, his third for president, shortly after the 2022 midterm elections that November.
Polls had shown in recent weeks that the race was dead even and Harris faced a gender gap in which more men, specifically white men, were backing Trump. NBC News’ Exit Poll found that 54% of male voters cast their ballots for the former president, while 44% went for Harris.
The vice president had repeatedly said that she was the “underdog” in the 2024 contest and struggled to distance herself from Biden and his administration and present herself as a change candidate.
Her pitch to voters included an “opportunity economy” that would benefit the middle class and tax the wealthy; a promise to sign a bill into law that would codify Roe v. Wade abortion protections nationally; plans to help make rent more affordable; and help families with home health care costs. Harris also attacked Trump, calling him “increasingly unstable” and “unhinged,” and warned voters about the former president being a threat to democracy, calling him a “fascist.”
Trump, 78, presented himself as the candidate who could strengthen the economy and handle conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East. The former president was re-elected despite being convicted of 34 felony counts in a New York hush money case and his attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election, which led to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
