Kamala Harris conceded defeat in the 2024 presidential election on Wednesday in a speech that encouraged her supporters to not give in to despair.
Speaking at her alma mater, Howard University in Washington, D.C., Harris asked that Democrats “never give up” and “keep fighting” while stressing that the Biden administration would engage in a “peaceful transfer of power.”
“We must accept the results of this election,” she said. “A fundamental principle of American democracy is when we lose an election, we accept the results.”
While she did not mention President-Elect Donald Trump by name in this portion of the speech, Harris’ remarks were a clear reference to the Capitol riots on January 6, 2021, and Trump’s alleged role in plots to disrupt the certification of President Joe Biden‘s election.
“In our nation, we owe loyalty not to a president or to a party but to the Constitution of the United States,” she said. “I am here to say while I concede this election, I do not concede the fight that fueled this campaign.”
Harris compelled her supporters to keep up the fight for reproductive justice and gun control, among other issues. She said that her supporters have a lot of work ahead of them, as Trump will likely enter into a second term with control of all three branches of government, but she stressed that “hard work is good work.”
“Hard work can be joyful work, and the fight for our country is always worth it,” she said. “This is not a time to throw up our hands. This is a time to roll up our sleeves.”
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