(NewsNation) – Democrat Kamala Harris urged unity in a concession speech at Howard University following her defeat to Republican Donald Trump.
The election results prompted foreign leaders and President Joe Biden to congratulate Trump and left Democrats downtrodden after the former president scored victories in swing states.
“The outcome of this election is not what we wanted, not what we fought for, not what we voted for,” Harris said in her first public address since the election. “But hear me when I say – the light of America’s promise will always burn bright as long as we never give up, and as long as we keep fighting.
Harris campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon sent out a letter to staff on Tuesday night, assuring them at the time that the closeness of the race was “exactly what we prepared for.”
In the email, O’Malley Dillon said staff have known all along that this is a “razor-thin race.”
“While we continue to see data trickle in from the Sun Belt states, we have known all along that our clearest path to 270 electoral votes lies through the Blue Wall states,” O’Malley Dillon wrote. “And we feel good about what we’re seeing.”
Harris called Trump on Wednesday to congratulate him on his victory. President Joe Biden also called Trump, the Associated Press reported.
Speaking to supporters at around 1:30 a.m. CT Wednesday, Trump said, “This was a movement like nobody’s ever seen before.
“Frankly, this was, I believe, the greatest political movement of all time,” Trump said. “There’s never been anything like this in this country and maybe beyond, and now it’s going to reach a new level of importance because we’re going to help our country heal.”
Trump’s running mate and now Vice President-elect JD Vance, who also spoke, called the former president’s win the greatest political comeback “in the history of the United States of America.”
“He turned out to be a good choice,” Trump said of Vance.
The Associated Press and NewsNation’s Jeff Arnold contributed to this report.