Democrats hoped Harris would rescue them. On Wednesday, she will publicly reckon with her loss
WASHINGTON — Once seen as a potential savior for the Democratic Party afterward Joe Biden ‘s re-election campaign stalled, Kamala Harris and its supporters take it into account a profound rejection by American voters in this year’s presidential election.
She came in every state of the battlefield Unpleasant Donald Trumpa man she described as an existential danger to the country’s fundamental institutions. And Trump appeared 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 his attempt to overturn his previous election loss.
Harris planned to give a concession speech Wednesday at 4 p.m., her office announced. She will speak at Howard University, her alma mater in Washington, where her supporters watched returns Tuesday night before being sent home after midnight as Trump took the lead in battleground states. Her campaign did not announce plans to talk to Trump.
In a bitter footnote for Harris, as the sitting vice president, she is expected to oversee Congress’s ceremonial certification of the election.
It’s the same role Mike Pence played four years ago, when Trump told his supporters to march on the U.S. Capitol. Although critics said the violent uprising crystallized Trump’s threat to American democracy, which ultimately did not deter voters from re-electing him.
Harris became the Democratic nominee after Biden, already struggling to convince voters 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 vice president, who quickly united the Democratic Party around her candidacy.
It was a remarkable turn of fate for Harris. Four years earlier, her own presidential campaign flamed out, revealing the political limitations of someone who had once been given a name “the female Barack Obama.” Although Biden chose Harris as his running mate, she languished in the role after coming to power as the first woman, Black person or person of South Asian descent to serve as vice president.
Some Democrats began writing her off as they pondered the party’s future after Biden. But Harris then found a new purpose the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, and she became the White House’s leading advocate for abortion rights.
Harris also made a more concerted effort to network with local politicians, business leaders and cultural figures, forging connections that could serve her later.
The moment came sooner than she expected, and she was catapulted into the presidential race with Biden’s departure just a month before the Democratic National Convention.
Harris immediately reset the terms of the contest with Trump. She was 18 years younger and a former prosecutor in the courtroom, running against the first major presidential candidate convicted of crimes. Her candidacy energized the Democrats who feared they were destined for defeat with Biden on top.
But she also faced great odds from the start. She inherited Biden’s political operation with just 107 days until the end of the election, and she faced a restless electorate eager for change.
Although Harris proposed “a new way forward,” she struggled with it to distinguish themselves meaningfully of the unpopular incumbent president. Moreover, she had little time to introduce herself to skeptical voters, who never voted for her in a presidential primary.
Democrats now face the prospect of picking up the pieces during a second Trump presidency, and it is unclear what role Harris will play in her party’s future.