Kamala Harris finally phoned Donald Trump on Wednesday afternoon to concede the election – hours after the race was over and her devastating defeat confirmed.
But even in doing so, she issued a warning to the new president-elect, lecturing him as she offered her congratulations.
‘She discussed the importance of a peaceful transfer of power and being a president for all Americans,’ a senior Harris aide said.
Trump’s team confirmed the Harris call and said the president-elect acknowledged Harris’ ‘professionalism’ and ‘tenacity.’
‘President Donald J. Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris spoke by phone earlier today where she congratulated him on his historic victory,’ Trump communications director Steven Cheung said in a statement.
‘President Trump acknowledged Vice President Harris on her strength, professionalism, and tenacity throughout the campaign, and both leaders agreed on the importance of unifying the country.’
Kamala Harris formally conceded the election to Donald Trump
Harris during her campaign had vowed to be president ‘for all Americans.’
She will officially concede to the nation at Howard University later today – which will be 12 hours after the election was called for her Republican rival.
Trump, meanwhile, is spending the day at his home at Mar-a-Lago after a grueling campaign.
The White House also confirmed President Biden called both candidates.
Biden invited Trump to meet with him at the White House and expressed his commitment to ensuring a smooth transition to power.
But he had his own warning for the president-elect, telling him about ‘the importance of working to bring the country together.’
Biden will address the nation on Thursday to talk about the election results and discuss the transition of power.
Biden also called to congratulate Harris on her historic campaign.
He also invited President-elect Trump to meet with him in the White House, with staff to coordinate a date.
Harris’s concession call, which was confirmed shortly before 2 pm ET, came after Michigan was called for the president-elect, giving him a third win in the once ‘blue wall’ of states that flipped Republican.
Democrats had been counting on holding the trio of states – Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania – to give Harris the White House.
But Trump won them.
Trump now has 292 electoral votes to Harris’ 224. It takes 270 to win the presidency.
Harris is on track to do worse than Hillary Clinton‘s 2016 presidential election. She could even be on pace to have the worst Electoral College result of any Democrat since the 1988 race.
Joe Biden won all three in 2020 but Harris wasn’t able to keep them in the Democrats’ corner.
Trump is the first president in over 130 years, and only the second in history, to win a non-consecutive second term.
Exit polls shows his victory came after he made gains with nearly every voting bloc he lost in the 2020 election and put together a coalition of multi-ethnic working-class voters.
And Harris did worse on Tuesday than Biden in the 2020 contest among key voting groups including women, the working class and Latinos.
That is what the numbers from exit polls show.
The exit polls suggested voters trusted Trump more to fix the economy.
They overwhelmingly believed the Biden-Harris administration had put the country on the wrong track.
In the end, Trump overcame criminal convictions and being shot in the ear by a would-be assassin to return to the White House.
Donald Trump with wife Melania and son Barron on Election night
And Trump did it in a landslide. The election that was predicted to be a nail biter instead was a red tsunami.
Trump didn’t just win the electoral college but the popular vote, garnering 71.2 million votes to Harris’ 66.4 million. Tellingly, Harris garnered less overall votes than Biden in 2020. That year their ticket won 81 million votes.
The popular vote is still being tallied but Trump could be the first Republican president since George W Bush to win it. Republicans also won control of the Senate while control of the House is still being determined.
The 78-year-old Trump will also become the oldest president ever inaugurated, beating President Joe Biden’s record by five months.
‘This was, I believe, the greatest political movement of all time,’ Trump said on election night, appearing with his family on stage before his adoring supporters.
‘This is a magnificent victory for the American people, that will allow us to make America great again.’
Trump will take the oath of office on January 20th.
President Joe Biden has yet to comment on the election – above he and Kamal Harris appear together in Pittsburgh in September
Meanwhile, President Biden watched the results come in with family and close friends at the White House late on Tuesday evening.
But Fox News’ Peter Doocy reported around 11 pm ET that lights within the executive mansion had been slowly turning off room by room, indicating that its occupants were heading to bed before the race was called.
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