Once viewed as a potential savior for the Democratic Party after Joe Biden 's reelection campaign stalled, Kamala Harris and her supporters are reckoning with a profound rejection by American voters in this year's presidential election.
She is trailing in every battleground state to Donald Trump , a man she described as an existential danger to the country's foundational institutions. And Trump appears 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 an attempt to overturn his previous election loss.
Harris has not yet conceded her loss. She'll deliver a concession speech Wednesday at 4 p.m., her office announced. She'll speak at Howard University, her alma mater in Washington, where her supporters watched returns Tuesday night before being sent home after midnight as Trump pulled ahead in battleground states. Her campaign did not disclose any plans to speak to Trump.
The outcome is particularly bitter for Harris because, as the sitting vice president, she is expected to oversee Congress' ceremonial certification of the election.
It's the same role that Mike Pence played four years ago, when Trump directed his supporters to march on the U.S. Capitol. Although critics said the violent insurrection crystallized Trump's threat to American democracy, that ultimately did not dissuade voters from electing him again.
