Harris campaign co-Chair Cedric Richmond announced early Wednesday morning that Vice President Harris would not address supporters at Howard University as the campaign awaited additional election results.
“We still have votes to count. We still have states that have not been called yet. We will continue overnight to fight to make sure that every vote is counted. That every voice has spoken. So you won’t hear from the vice president tonight. But you will hear from her tomorrow.”
The vice president’s office called a lid shortly after, meaning no further public appearances are expected. Attendees at Howard were then also told to start heading for the exits. Many remained hopeful for a potential Harris win despite former President Trump appearing to close in on Harris, with Decision Desk HQ projecting him winning 248 Electoral College votes to Harris’s 213.
Harris’s lack of an appearance at her own campaign party was reminiscent of the 2016 election in which then-Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton opted to not speak at her victory party in New York’s Javits Center after it became clear she was going to be defeated by Trump.
As of early Wednesday morning, Trump is the projected winner in Georgia and North Carolina, and he is narrowly leading in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Arizona, though each of those states are still counting ballots and the races there are too close to call.
Trump would likely only need to win one of the “blue wall” states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, plus Arizona, to surpass the 270 electoral votes needed to secure the presidency.
Results in states like Arizona, Nevada and Pennsylvania could also take days to tabulate.
The Harris campaign has maintained there is a path to victory for the vice president if she is able to win the “blue wall” states. But doing so would require making significant gains through voters in urban centers like Milwaukee, Detroit and Philadelphia.
Exit polls showed Trump making huge gains with Latino voters, bolstering his margins in rural areas and running nearly even with Harris among young men.
Alex Gangitano and Cheyanne M. Daniels contributed.
Updated 1:15 a.m.
