In a tight race to the very end, the 2024 presidential election has come to a close, with former president Donald Trump as the winner. Many emotions are swirling around the nation following the election results, and Vice President Kamala Harris’s concession speech adds to that mix.
At around 4:30 p.m. on Nov. 6, Harris took to the stage at Howard University (Harris’s alma mater, where she spent the night of the election) to officially announce her concession to the general public. But it wasn’t a message of defeat, though — it was a promise to keep fighting.
“This is not the time to throw up our hands,” Harris said during her speech. “This is the time to roll up our sleeves.”
Harris also made a special address to young people who continue to fight hard for change: “It is okay to feel sad and disappointed, but please know it’s going to be OK. Sometimes the fight takes a while, that doesn’t mean we won’t win. The important thing is don’t ever give up, don’t ever stop trying to make the world a better place. You have power, and don’t ever listen when someone tells you it is impossible because it’s never been done before. You have the capacity to do extraordinary good in the world.”
Harris also said in her speech that she already called President-elect Donald Trump and promised the Biden-Harris administration will help him and his team with the peaceful transition of power, because that is what — as she pointedly noted in her speech — “distinguishes democracy from monarchy.”
In an emotional moment for many, Harris also thanked her her team, family, and supporters for a powerful 107-day campaign that has “been intentional about building communities,” and she promised her fight doesn’t end here.
To conclude her presidential campaign, Harris left her crowd of supporters and those watching at home with a message encouraging those feeling discouraged to channel that feeling into action: “Let us fill the sky with the light of billion million of stars, the light of optimism, of faith, of truth, and of service.”