After an electric 107-day campaign that made history, challenged traditional norms of political leadership and centered equality for all Americans, Vice President Kamala Harris delivered a concession speech at Howard University, acknowledging the outcome of the election was not what she had hoped for but emphasizing the enduring promise of America.
She expressed gratitude to her team, volunteers and supporters, highlighting the campaign’s focus on unity and community. Harris emphasized the importance of a peaceful transfer of power and reaffirmed her commitment to fighting for freedom, opportunity and justice. She urged young people to stay engaged and inspired, drawing on historical resilience and the light of optimism and service to guide the nation forward.
As she spoke, the camera cut to listeners and supporters at rapt attention, many of whom were in tears.
Watch it in full below, or read on to hear from Harris—the first woman, the first Black woman and the first South Asian person to serve as vice president of the United States—in her own words.
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, as long as we never give up, and as long as we keep fighting.
Over the 107 days of this campaign, we have been intentional about building community and building coalitions, bringing people together from every walk of life and background, united by love of country, with enthusiasm and joy in our fight for America’s future. And we did it with the knowledge that we all have so much more in common than what separates us.
In our nation, we owe loyalty not to a president or a party, but to the Constitution of the United States.
While I concede this election, I do not concede the fight that fuels this campaign, the fight for freedom, for opportunity, for fairness and the dignity of all people—a fight for the ideals at the heart of our nation, the ideals that reflect America at our best. That is a fight I will never give up. …
I will never give up the fight for a future where Americans can pursue their dreams, ambitions and aspirations, where the women of America have the freedom to make decisions about their own bodies and not have their government telling them what to do.
We will continue to wage this fight in the voting booth, in the courts and in the public square. We will also wage it in quieter ways, in how we live our lives, by treating one another with kindness and respect, by looking in the face of a stranger and seeing a neighbor, by always using our strength to lift people up.
Hard work is good work. Hard work can be joyful work. And the fight for our country is always worth it.
I will often say that when we fight, we win. But here’s the thing: Sometimes the fight takes a while. That doesn’t mean we won’t win.
Many of you know, I started out as a prosecutor. Throughout my career, I saw people at some of the worst times in their lives, people who had suffered great harm and great pain and yet found within themselves the strength and the courage and the resolve to take the stand to take a stand to fight for justice, to fight for themselves, to fight for others. So let their courage be our inspiration.
There’s an adage a historian once called ‘a law of history,’ true of every society across the ages. The adage is: ‘Only when it is dark enough, can you see the stars.’
I know many people feel like we are entering a dark time. … America, if it is, let us fill the sky with the light of a brilliant, brilliant billion stars—the light of optimism, of faith, of truth and service, may that work guide us, even in the face of setbacks toward the extraordinary promise of the United States of America.
