Kamala Harris admits in front of an emotional crowd at her alma mater

Vice President Kamala Harris sought to assuage disappointment and deliver words of empowerment to hundreds of supporters as she conceded the presidential election on Wednesday, with some of her supporters wiping away tears as she spoke.

“The outcome of this election is not what we wanted, not what we fought for, not what we voted for, but hear me when I say… “the light of America’s promise will always burn bright,” Harris said in a speech at her alma mater, Howard University.

Harris offered comfort to Democrats over the loss of former President Donald Trump, acknowledging that they were “feeling and experiencing a range of emotions right now.”

But she emphasized that Democrats had to accept the outcome of the election to preserve democracy. By conceding the race on Wednesday, Harris did something Trump never did.

“Earlier today I spoke with President-elect Trump and congratulated him on his victory. I also told him that we will assist him and his team in their transition, and that we will participate in a peaceful transition of power,” she said. earning a cheer from the crowd.

Harris’ concession capped a tumultuous and difficult campaign. She abruptly replaced President Joe Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket just 15 weeks before Election Day. Her rival narrowly dodged a would-be assassin’s bullet, followed nine weeks later by a second apparent assassination attempt. And she endured months of paper thin voting margins that put the nation on edge.

Her loss marked a realignment in the Democratic coalition, with Trump and Republicans expanding their reach deeper into new parts of the electorate, including Latinos. That was despite Trump encouraging the chaotic, divisive MAGA politics that has come to define the Republican Party since its emergence as a political force in the 2016 elections.

Ultimately, Harris faced serious economic problems voters who wanted changeand she could not overcome the shady tactics of Trump’s movement, which sought to portray her as unstable, a traitor and a danger to society through a barrage of lies, racist smears and disinformation. Trump himself leaned on violent rhetoric, pointing to a gunman who shot at reporters covering his rallies, or the idea that guns were pointed at a former Republican representative turned critic when she was sent to war.

Harris, 60, sought to thwart those attacks with a message that combined joy and determination — in which she implored the audience to “lift people up” as she embraced her career as a hardened prosecutor — and a stark warning: that Trump, 78, is destroying the country would rule as an authoritarian.

However, the electorate responded with a decisive victory for Trump, amid an economy still recovering from Covid and inflation and dissatisfaction with the country’s direction.

The former U.S. senator and attorney general from California, who took the lead as the first female vice president, set her party on fire when she entered the presidential race. Democrats were despondent when Biden went from ineffective to severely damaged after his only debate against Trump.

After Biden dropped out and endorsed Harris, Democrats reveled in the change, flooding donation channels and shattering fundraising records. Harris cultivated a forward-looking identity, seeking to break away from the unpopular president she still served with and from the policies that failed to compel Americans.

But in the end, maybe she didn’t back off enough.

Harris had laid out policy ambitions that vowed to restore women’s access to abortion and promised a “care economy” that would help new homebuyers, parents of young children and older Americans. Addressing one of the Biden administration’s biggest vulnerabilities to voters, it pledged to be tough on illegal immigration, pledging more resources for border enforcement while pledging to ease the legal quagmire for asylum seekers streamline and improve pathways to citizenship.

Reproductive rights were at the heart of her argument. Time and time again, Harris sought to harness the anger and energy behind Trump driving the demise of Roe v. Wade. In rallies, interviews and advertisements, she laid the most restrictive state laws in America at the former president’s feet, calling them “Trump abortion bans.” A lasting image of her only debate with Trump — in which she seemed the most powerful and disciplined candidate — came when she described a woman suffering a miscarriage who was denied emergency room care as “bleeding in a parking lot.” .

What Harris failed to highlight was the historic nature of her candidacy, unlike Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign against Trump. But the vice president was well aware of what her election would mean. In an October 22 interview with NBC NewsHarris declared that the country was “absolutely” ready for a woman as president and was also eager to put an era of division behind it.

“I see that in all walks of life in our country,” Harris said at the time. “Part of what is important in this election is not just turning the page, but closing the page and closing the chapter on an era that suggests Americans are divided.”

But many deep within the MAGA movement saw her as a threat, and Harris could not change and transcend the deep divisions and polarization that have come to define American elections.

Just a week before the election, standing before an estimated 45,000 supporters at the Ellipse in Washington, with the White House in the background, Harris blatantly recalled the place where Trump spoke on January 6, 2021, in what preceded a violent action. attack by a crowd of his supporters on the US Capitol.

“America, we have been consumed with too much division, chaos and mutual distrust for too long, and it can be easy to forget a simple truth: it doesn’t have to be this way. It doesn’t have to be this way,” Harris said on that crisp fall evening, in what would be seen as her closing argument. “It’s time to stop pointing fingers. We need to stop pointing fingers and start closing arms. It is time to turn the page on the drama and conflict, fear and division. It is time for a new generation of leadership in America, and I am prepared to provide that leadership as the next President of the United States of America.”

An accelerated campaign

Harris got to this point after a series of extraordinary events.

The crisis point for the Democrats was Biden’s performance the debate of 27 June with Trump. It was Biden who challenged Trump to debate him early. Democrats raised expectations that the president would for once put questions about his cognitive health to rest.

It turned out spectacularly. Biden struggled to speak clearly, staring blankly into the distance and at times being incoherent — at one point declaring that Democrats had “finally defeated Medicare.”

While Democrats were in turmoil, Republicans united after Trump was struck by a bullet while speaking at an outdoor rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13. While visibly bleeding and with the Secret Service surrounding him, Trump pumped his fist in the air and shouted, “Fight! Fight! Fight!” creating an instantly iconic image.

The Republican Party’s energy soared and Democrats worried that the election was all but lost.

The Biden campaign veered off course, causing an eruption of party panic. One by one, congressional leaders called on Biden to step aside until a critical mass emerged, with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., working behind the scenes to push for his departure. Campaign insiders doubted that was a way forward emerged when fundraising dried up, severely hampering the necessary scale-up in the latter part of a presidential contest.

With that, Biden announced his departure from the race on July 21, endorsing Harris.

In less than a month, a revamped Democratic National Convention took place in Chicago, where an excited party celebrated a Black woman who showed promise in defeating Trump. It was a remarkable resurgence after Harris’ first presidential bid, when she abandoned her bid for the Democratic nomination before the 2019 Iowa caucuses.

Harris’ entry transformed the dynamics of the race — literally overnight — expanding the competitive map for Democrats beyond blue wall states, skyrocketing enthusiasm and drawing dozens of volunteers and new voter registrations. These efforts were made possible by a record pace of fundraising that ultimately exceeded $1.4 billion.

Suddenly, the sleepy events surrounding Biden were gone, and with Harris, the campaign booked large-scale venues for mass rallies that immediately drew crowds of at least 10,000 people in each of the swing states. Harris also brought in star power, with celebrities like Oprah, Bruce Springsteen, John Legend and others lending their influential voices to support her in some way.

Trump struggled to adapt to his new opponent and grew publicly excited about her entry and making a series of missteps that put him at odds with certain voters. He questioned Harris’ race and launched gender-based attacks on her, struggled against her in his only debate and delved into debunked conspiracy theories that culminated in his declaration that Haitian immigrants in Ohio were eating pets.

Memorable, Harris offered a sharp retort to Trump’s insistence during the debate that he had won the 2020 election.

“Donald Trump was fired by 81 million people,” Harris said. “It’s clear he’s having a really hard time processing that.”

But Trump managed to connect with working-class voters across racial and ethnic groups, as well as retain a strong male base.

This story first appeared on NBCNews.com. More from NBC News: