At Kamala Harris' alma mater, tears as she concedes the presidency

Kamala Harris supporters react to election results at Howard University in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday.

Published Nov. 5, 2024 Updated Nov. 6, 2024 2:46 PM PT

Glum Harris supporters gathered at Howard University, a historically Black university the vice president attended, to hear her concession speech.
The raw anguish on display at the prestigious historically Black university was emblematic of what many Democrats were experiencing across the country.

WASHINGTON — Kamala Harris’ supporters finally heard from the vice president on Wednesday afternoon. But her address at Howard University was far from the speech they wanted, and many listened in tears.

In somber remarks delivered at the Yard, a large outdoor space on the Washington, D.C., campus, the Democratic presidential nominee said she had conceded the race to Donald Trump and urged a divided country to come together.

“The outcome of this election is not what we wanted — not what we fought for, not what we voted for,” said Harris, 60, a Howard alumna whose surprise candidacy began in July after President Biden announced he would not seek another term. “But hear me when I say: The light of America’s promise will always burn bright.”

Harris spoke from the same place where her supporters had gathered a day earlier hoping to celebrate a historic breakthrough: the election of the first Black woman to the presidency. But on Wednesday, some of the patriotic regalia that had made the Yard an arresting backdrop was in disarray or gone.

“While I concede this election, I do not concede the fight that fueled this campaign,” said Harris, whose voice momentarily quivered early in her remarks.

As the vice president spoke about her 107-day, whirlwind campaign, some attendees wiped away tears and wrapped their arms around each other.

The raw anguish on display at the prestigious historically Black university was emblematic of what many Democrats were experiencing across the country. The Republican, who declared victory in a speech early Wednesday morning, won several key battleground states. Trump, who ran a grievance-driven campaign suffused with racial animus, could also win the popular vote.

Among those who came to hear Harris on Wednesday was Rebecca ‘Toyin Doherty, a Howard alumna living in Washington. The former middle and high school teacher said the country must “admit that we have misogyny, we have sexism and we have racism.”

“I’m holding back tears,” said Doherty, 42, her voice breaking. “I’m sorry. It just really speaks to America, the spirit of America. How would you run a campaign and belittle women, belittle Puerto Ricans, belittle immigrants, belittle just ... every type of group except a particular group. And people think that’s OK?”

Jessica Finkel, a progressive fundraiser from Charlotte, N.C., who took in Harris’ muted speech, said that her loss “felt crushing.”

“It feels like since the founding of the country, we just haven’t gotten away from our racist and bigoted ideals,” said Finkel, 27.

On Tuesday night, the gathering at Howard had begun before 7 with a sense of optimism — one buoyed by a playlist that included 1990s hip-hop and modern female empowerment anthems.

The possibility that Harris might become the first president to graduate from a historically Black college or university had animated much of the action on the Yard, where thousands of students and alumni were dancing even before Howard’s gospel choir sang “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” the hymn adopted by some as a Black national anthem.

But that enthusiasm was soon overtaken by anxiety that curdled into crushing despair.

Revelers directed their nervous energy toward a large screen showing CNN’s election coverage. The festivities were dampened when the network’s John King said that Harris trailed President Biden’s performance in the 2020 election in key areas.

By 11 p.m., the mood had darkened considerably — the dancing had long since stopped — and attendees watched in near silence as the CNN telecast projected an increasingly narrow path to victory for Harris. Well after midnight, Cedric Richmond, co-chair of the vice president’s campaign, told a dwindling audience that Harris would not be taking the stage.

South Carolina native Nicole Harrison, 42, who wore a sparkly blue and gold jacket Tuesday, recalled living through Trump’s presidency, and the fear some people felt while walking the streets of Washington.

“That’s the scary part about it — safety,” said Harrison, who graduated from the University of South Carolina.

“Someone’s going to be upset,” she said, adding that she hoped people channel their frustrations into change, not violence. “I don’t want to live like that again.”

The event had been a showcase for Howard and the wider network of schools serving mostly Black students. Many attendees wore their sorority or fraternity colors — a celebration of a storied strand of Black culture in America.

Before the vibes shifted, several people told The Times about their admiration for Harris — and the pride they felt watching the Democratic nominee strive for the presidency.

“It means so much more than you can imagine,” said Marissa Jennings, 43, who grew up in the Crenshaw neighborhood of Los Angeles and attended Bennett College, a historically Black institution in North Carolina. “... It was something I couldn’t have dreamed of.”

Harris’ time at Howard — she graduated from the school in 1986 — helped shape her political identity. During her unsuccessful bid for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2019, Harris took to telling voters that her toughest political race was at the university, where she won a seat on the Liberal Arts Student Council during her freshman year, The Times has reported.

The vice president was also a member of the Howard chapter of the Alpha Kappa Alpha, the country’s first Black sorority. Among attendees on Tuesday were women wearing the organization’s signature salmon pink and apple green colors.

On Wednesday, Doherty, the former school teacher who has segued into a career practicing law, said that the vice president’s loss had caused her to reflect on a lesson she had shared with her pupils.

“I remember teaching my students that one of the priorities was to make sure that you understood the importance of voting,” she said.

Mehta and Bierman reported from Washington and Miller from Los Angeles.