The mood at Howard University on election night was somber, to say the least, as thousands gathered on the HBCU campus hoping to witness Kamala Harris become the 47th president of the United States.
Earlier in the evening, the campaign event was expected to be a victory party for Harris. Thousands gathered on “The Yard” at Howard, many breaking out in dance to the tunes of a DJ as the early vote count began to trickle in. But by the night’s end, it became clear Harris’ chances of becoming the first female, Black woman and South Asian president were over.
Instead, Donald Trump reclaimed the White House in a stunning comeback after running a divisive, racist and sexist campaign with several criminal cases looming over him.
At around 2:30 a.m., Trump took to the podium at his campaign headquarters in Florida to give an acceptance speech, though the race had not yet been called. The 45th president had just won Pennsylvania, nearly cementing the 270 electoral votes needed to become America’s 47th president.
During his 25-minute speech, Trump surprisingly struck a lighter tone than usual. “We’re going to help our country heal,” he declared to his supporters. “We have a country that needs help, and it needs help very badly.
“I will govern by a simple motto: promises made, promises kept,” said Trump, who said his incoming administration would “fix our borders” and “fix everything about our country.”
Two hours earlier, disappointed Harris supporters began leaving Howard’s campus in droves as campaign co-chair Cedric Richmond took to the podium at approximately 12:43 a.m. to announce that the vice president would not take the stage to give remarks. Richmond said Harris — who was at her Washington, D.C. residence — would return to the campus on Wednesday to give remarks and address her supporters and the nation.
Though Trump had not yet been declared the winner at the time, Democrats and Harris campaign surrogates who spoke with theGrio off the record expressed dismay and disgust over what appeared to be the inevitable just after midnight on Wednesday morning.
As voters grappled with the election outcome, pundits and experts opined on what went wrong for Harris and the implications of her loss.
“There are vulnerable populations all over this country that feel at risk and believe that their place in this democracy is in question,” Democratic strategist Joel Payne told theGrio.
Most notably, political experts expressed frustration over the clear racial and gender elements of the presidential election.
“It’s bitter in the mouth, the racial and gender dimensions of this,” said Van Jones on CNN, alluding to Harris’ inability to clinch the White House because she is a woman and person of Indian and Jamaican descent.
“Can you imagine a woman of color acting like Donald Trump acted, even for one day, the kinds of stuff that he said, the kinds of things that he did, the way that he would insult people?” said Jones.
Noting Harris’ resume as a former local and state prosecutor, former U.S. senator and now vice president, Jones said, “She should have been qualified enough to be able to not have this sort of outcome.”
CNN commentator Ashley Allison urged voters who supported Harris to “hold their head up high.”
“Despair is not the time to lose hope. It is the time to dig down, to do some soul searching and fight for a better day,” she declared.
Allison noted that many vulnerable communities who have been on the receiving end of Donald Trump’s rhetoric and the Republican Party’s policies — Black and brown communities, immigrants, and LGBTQ+ Americans — are “really afraid right now.”
“Even if there’s polling or outcomes that are showing that some people of color voted for Donald Trump, you’re worthy, you’re visible, you’re not alone,” said Allison. “You can feel what you feel right now, but we have to do the work to protect the most vulnerable.”
Payne told theGrio that the biggest reality and takeaway from the 2024 election is that the “Trump movement hasn’t receded.” He added, “If anything, it’s grown a bit, and it’s more diverse and more durable.”