Harris set to give speech after congratulating Trump on win
BBC correspondent reports from near-empty Harris event
- Published
Kamala Harris is preparing to speak to the US public later on Wednesday after calling Donald Trump to congratulate him on his election victory.
The defeated Democrat spoke to her rival on Wednesday afternoon and they discussed "the importance of a peaceful transfer of power and being a president for all Americans", a Harris aide told journalists.
Harris cancelled her expected election night appearance at Howard University in Washington DC, as her prospects of victory began to recede.
The current vice-president is now expected to speak at the venue at 16:00 EST (21:00 GMT).
She did not concede on election night, despite it becoming clear by the early hours of Wednesday that her Republican rival had secured enough votes in key swing states to win.
Trump has now won enough key battleground states, including Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Wisconsin, to secure the presidency, with several states left to declare.
Trump is also beating Harris in the popular vote - the first Republican to lead nationally since George W Bush in 2004.
In a statement, Trump described his victory as one "our country has never seen before".
"I will fight for you, for your family, and your future. Every single day I will be fighting for you with every breath in my body," he told voters.
He vowed to "unlock America's glorious destiny" and promised his presidency would deliver "the golden age of America".
As expected, Trump stormed to victory in conservative strongholds across the US, while Harris won liberal states from New York to California.
Harris saw a surge in popularity after she became the Democratic Party's nominee in June following Joe Biden's disastrous performance in the first presidential debate.
Her team sought to strike a more optimistic vision than the portrait of American decay presented by Trump, focusing heavily on securing abortion rights.
Trump, by contrast, frequently targeted Harris with highly personal attacks during the campaign, variously calling the vice-president "stupid", "lazy", and "dumb as a rock". He also questioned her racial identity during the early stages of the campaign.
In a message to staff, Harris' campaign chair, Jen O'Malley Dillion, said losing the election was "unfathomably hard" and will take a "long time to process".
"But the work of protecting America from the impacts of a Trump presidency starts now," she said in an email obtained by the BBC's US partner, CBS News.
"I know the vice president isn’t finished in this fight, and I know the very people on this email are also going to be leaders in this collective mission."
How swing state voters in Georgia felt on election day
The former California senator was running to become the first woman, black woman and South Asian-American to win the presidency.
Exit poll data suggests that the Democratic nominee may have under-performed with women. Some 54% of female voters cast their ballots for her, below the 57% of women Joe Biden won in 2020.
Black and Latino voters also appeared slightly less likely to support Harris than they were to back Biden four years ago, exit poll data suggested.
The campaign faced criticism at times for its failure to expand on a clear economic message, an issue which was extremely important to Americans who have faced several years of rising inflation.
About 86 million voters cast their ballots early during one of the most turbulent campaigns in recent American history.
The Republican party enjoyed a resurgence across the country, winning a number of key congressional battles in key states and taking back control of the Senate.
The Republicans wrested two seats in West Virginia and Ohio from the Democrats and saw off a stiff challenge in Texas.
Neither party seemed to have an overall edge in the House, which Republicans narrowly control.
If the party does regain control of both chambers, it would make it easier for Trump to push through his agenda - which includes mass deportations of illegal migrants and sweeping tax cuts.
Kamala Harris chats to voters on the phone
How the US presidential campaign unfolded in 180 seconds
North America correspondent Anthony Zurcher makes sense of the race for the White House in his twice-weekly US Election Unspun newsletter. Readers in the UK can sign up here. Those outside the UK can sign up here.