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Supporters of Vice President Kamala Harris‘ bid for the presidency lost hope and abandoned election party events as it became increasingly apparent former president Donald Trump was heading for victory.
Democrats who gathered at Harris’ alma mater of Howard University in Washington, D.C. looked increasingly despondent as votes for the Republican candidate racked up on big screens.
And after her campaign co-chair Cedric Richmond took to the stage to tell Democrats their Presidential hopeful would not be speaking, many appeared to give up on the cause altogether and went home.
Hours later, Donald Trump declared victory as he looked poised to claim several battleground states and secure his place as the 47th President of the United States.
Scenes of teary liberals were replicated across the country at watch parties across the US, where supporters were pictured looking increasingly forlorn, and even at ‘Democrats Abroad’ gatherings in the likes of the UK and Kenya.
Vice President Kamala Harris’ supporters react to election returns that show the Democrat falling behind former Republican President Donald Trump. Harris’ supporters were gathered at her alma mater, Howard University, in Washington, D.C.
Democrats who had turned out expecting to celebrate looked increasingly forlorn as the evening went on – before giving up and going home
There were tears among Democrats who had turned out in the hopes of celebrating their candidate’s victory in D.C.
Despairing Democrats at Howard University – who went home as it became clear Kamala Harris was not going to win the election
A supporter at Kamala Harris’ watch party in D.C. holds her head in her hands as vote tallies suggest she will not win
A flag is left at Kamala Harris’ election night party on Tuesday as she headed for defeat
Tension among Democrats gathered at Howard University before the Kamala Harris campaign said she would not speak at the watch party
Supporters of Vice President Kamala Harris sit down in Howard University’s quad and watch as election results point to a potential Donald Trump win
Supporters gathered at Howard University for the Kamala Harris watch party at 9pm (left) and at 1am after it was announced that she would not speak at the event (right)
Kamala Harris supporters began leaving the Howard University watch party in droves after her campaign co-chair announced that she would not speak at the event
Empty benches at Kamala Harris’ election watch party in Washington D.C. after supporters left in scores
In D.C., Howard University – a historically Black college – had thrown its weight behind Harris, who graduated in 1986 with a bachelor’s degree in political science and economics.
Its in-house gospel choir had performed ‘Oh Happy Day’ earlier in the evening and several alumni turned out to watch the results pour in live.
A DJ had loudly played party music as Democrats watched a soundless CNN on jumbotron screens. The volume only came on the TVs to announce Harris’ wins – Washington, Hawaii and then Virginia.
The playlist would pound again when John King came back on-screen to report how Harris’ path had narrowed. But the early excitement in the air turned to dread as the evening wore on.
Some of Harris supporters were spotted hugging, as a Trump win looked more and more certain.
One bright spot was when the jumbotron in the university quad played the victory speech of Democrat Angela Alsobrooks, who won Maryland’s open Senate seat over the state’s former Republican Gov. Larry Hogan.
But as midnight approached, supporters started leaving campus, as there was no sign that Harris would address the audience.
Supporters were baffled as it emerged Harris would not address the crowd who had turned out at Howard to see her.
Cedric Richmond, co-chair of the Harris campaign, took to the stage as the last glimmers of hope appeared to have been extinguished.
‘We will continue overnight to fight to make sure that every vote is counted. That every voice has spoken,’ Richmond said.
‘So you won’t hear from the vice president tonight, but you will hear from her tomorrow. She will be back here tomorrow.’
Richmond made the announcement shortly after midnight. By 1am, the quad was almost empty and the lights illuminating the stage had been turned off.
A Harris supporter sitting in a bar in Atlanta, Georgia looks on as votes tally up for Donald Trump
A Kamala Harris voter, who did not give his name, holds his head in his hand as he watches results come in on a projector screen
A Kamala Harris supporter tears up as she watches votes roll in for Donald Trump at an election party in San Francisco
A disheartened Kamala Harris supporter pictured at a watch party in San Francisco on Tuesday night
Despondent Democrats at a watch party in Atlanta, Georgia. Pollsters have predicted a second term as POTUS for Donald Trump
The Atlanta event wrapped up at around midnight, as TVs were turned off and supporters were told to go home (pictured: supporters at the end of the night in Atlanta)
Downbeat voters at an event for backers of Florida’s Amendment 4 pro-abortion law in St Petersburg, Florida
Democrat supporters at an event in Madison, Wisconsin watching results come in on Tuesday night
Vice President Kamala Harris took part in a phone bank earlier Tuesday at the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington, D.C. She spent Election Night at her Naval Observatory residence
‘I am scared, I am anxious now,’ Charlyn Anderson told the AFP news agency as she left Harris’s election night HQ.
‘We won’t give up until it’s done but I’m scared.’
‘I wanted this to be a coronation tonight,’ Ben Eddins, a Howard alumnus, lamented to MSNBC.
The mood at the numerous watch parties set up by Democrat groups across the country had been equally downcast.
A gathering held at a hotel in Atlanta wrapped up at around midnight as organisers turned off televisions and told supporters to go home.
One attendee at a Democrat watch party in Pennsylvania simply told AFP: ‘I’m p***** off.’
Betting markets and The New York Times’ election needle predicted a Trump win, as Harris’ campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon pushed that a path to victory was still possible through the ‘blue wall’ of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan.
But as midnight approached, North Carolina slipped away from Harris – a state President Joe Biden narrowly lost to Trump.
And as supporters poured out of the Howard University watch party, the Republican candidate was predicted to claim Georgia and Pennsylvania too.
‘What we do know is this race is not going to come into focus until the early morning hours,’ O’Malley Dillon had written in a memo, obtained by DailyMail.com.
‘This is what we’ve been built for, so let’s finish up what we have in front of us tonight, get some sleep, and get ready to close out strong tomorrow.’
A despondent Kamala Harris supporter in an ‘I’m With Her’ hat leaves the Howard University event after it was announced she would not be speaking
The mood on Howard’s quad had been joyful earlier in the evening before it became apparent that Harris was not on track for victory
Supporters at the event on Howard University’s campus before they were told Kamala Harris was not speaking
Spectators at a Democrat election party in Las Vegas, Nevada embrace as results suggest President Trump will claim Pennsylvania
Democrat supporter Ivet Aldaba cries as she looks at her phone at a Las Vegas gathering
The Harris campaign said that in Pennsylvania – the night’s biggest prize – they overperformed turnout expectations in Philadelphia and in the early vote count in Bucks County. Trump was later projected to win the state.
In Michigan, the Harris campaign said there were still outstanding votes from Detroit – a heavily blue area – and in Wisconsin there was still outstanding votes to be counted in Dane and Milwaukee counties.
Complete results from Wisconsin, the campaign said, wouldn’t be available until between 3am and 5am Wednesday. Election trackers suggest Trump will win.
The campaign also pointed out that Arizona and Nevada could still provide the Democrat with a boost.
‘We’ve been saying for weeks that this race might not be called tonight. Those of you who were around in 2020 know this well: It takes time for all the votes to be counted – and all the votes will be counted,’ O’Malley Dillon said.
‘That’s how our system works. What we do know is this race is not going to come into focus until the early morning hours.’
Cedric Richmond, co-chair of Kamala Harris’ campaign, as he took to the stage at Howard University to tell supporters Harris would not be speaking
A grim mood at a venue hosting a watch party for Democrats living abroad in London, UK
The party’s over: discarded flags, streamers and beer glasses sit scattered on a table at a pub in London where Democrat voters living in England had gathered to watch the election results
Democrat voters living in Kenya look downcast as they watch the results come in from a watch party in the capital city of Nairobi
Social media users were quick to berate Kamala Harris for refusing to address her supporters
A big difference between 2024 and 2020 is that fewer voters who leaned Democratic used mail-in ballots, and some states processed them faster.
Four years ago, that meant Trump votes were often counted first – as his supporters voted in-person – and Biden votes were counted last.
This year it looked as though there were both Harris and Trump votes that still need to be counted – so the Harris campaign could not count on large batches of outstanding votes to put her over the line.
Before long, as the battleground states were declared, Trump took to a stage in Florida in the early hours of Wednesday to declare his ‘magnificent victory for the American people’ – and the Democrat dream appeared to be over.
He told supporters: ‘Every single day I will be fighting for you with every breath in my body.
‘I will not rest until we have delivered the strong, safe and prosperous America that our children deserve, and that you deserve.’
On social media, Harris was mercilessly mocked for appearing to bow out without even addressing her supporters.
‘Kamala Harris is a sore loser by taking her ball and going home to concede tomorrow instead,’ one user wrote.
‘Kamala Harris just dismissed her supporters at her campaign HQ via her campaign manager… super classy. How you lose says everything about you,’ said another.
Harris remained at her Naval Observatory residence as the results came in.
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