Defeated Harris urges supporters to accept peaceful transfer of power
Make us a preferred source
Make us a preferred source on Google
The news: US Vice President Kamala Harris has called on her supporters to accept the “peace transfer of power” to president-elect Donald Trump, who attempted to overthrow his defeat at the last election.
The context: Speaking in Washington DC for the first time since her defeat, Harris confirmed she had called Trump to congratulate him, but said she would never give up a “fight for freedom, for opportunity, for fairness and the dignity of all people”.
Trump swept to victory on Wednesday (AEDT) by winning seven key swing states, and is likely to secure a popular vote majority for the first time. Harris dramatically underperformed President Joe Biden across the board, failing to win over more minority and female voters than the outgoing president.
The Republicans also flipped the Senate and looked likely to retain the House of Representatives. And with the Supreme Court already majority conservative, the results hand Trump almost unchecked power.
In a thinly-veiled reference to Trump’s attempts to overthrow his 2020 election defeat, Harris said the peaceful transfer of power distinguished a democracy from a tyranny.
Trump has repeatedly refused to accept the 2020 result, and last week said he “shouldn’t have left” the White House. His supporters attacked the Capitol on January 6 in an attempt to prevent Biden’s victory being certified.
In his victory speech, Trump declared voters had handed him an “unprecedented mandate” after they delivered him a more comprehensive win that his 2016 defeat of Hillary Clinton. He is just the second US president to serve non-consecutive terms, and the first convicted felon elected.
NBC reported the Department of Justice has begun winding down two criminal investigations into the president-elect, given he will have authority to end them once he takes office.
Independent senator Bernie Sanders, whose 2016 primary coalition shifted towards Trump, blamed the Democrats for their defeat, accusing the party of abandoning working-class voters.
As of Thursday morning (AEDT), Trump had secured 292 electoral college votes and Harris had won 226.
What they said: “A fundamental principle of American democracy is that when we lose an election, we accept the results. That principle, as much as any other, distinguishes democracy from monarchy or tyranny, and anyone who seeks the public trust must honour it. At the same time, in our nation, we owe loyalty not to a president or a party, but to the Constitution,” Harris said.
The sources: Kamala Harris concession speech, The Telegraph, NBC News
