Vice President Kamala Harris called former President Donald Trump on Nov. 6 to congratulate him and concede the presidential race.
“Earlier today I spoke with President-elect Trump and congratulated him on his victory,” Harris told supporters in a concession speech at Howard University in Washington. “I also told him that we’ll help him and his team with his transition and will engage in a peaceful transfer of power.”
The Trump campaign confirmed the call happened.
“President Donald J. Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris spoke by phone earlier today where she congratulated him on his historic victory,” Steven Cheung, the Trump campaign’s communications director, told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement.
“President Trump acknowledged Vice President Harris on her strength, professionalism, and tenacity throughout the campaign, and both leaders agreed on the importance of unifying the country.”
The White House said President Joe Biden spoke over the phone with Harris, congratulating her on her campaign, and also spoke by phone with Trump and congratulated him on his victory.
Trump became the projected winner around 5:30 a.m. ET on Wednesday.
Harris declined to speak to supporters who gathered for her watch party Tuesday at Howard University. Harris, 60, graduated from the school in 1986.
Some of Harris’s surrogates, including businessman Mark Cuban, offered congratulations to Trump, 78, around 1 a.m. ET after Pennsylvania was called for the former president.
Trump told supporters in West Palm Beach, Florida, early Wednesday that his win was a “victory for the American people that will allow us to make America great again.”
He added later that: “It’s time to put the divisions of the past four years behind us. It’s time to unite, and we’re going to try. We’re going to try. We have to try. And it’s going to happen. Success will bring us together.”
Trump won the 2016 election with 304 electoral votes. President Joe Biden won the 2020 election with 306 electoral votes.
Trump as of 2:10 p.m. ET on Nov. 6 was up to 292 electoral votes, well above the 270 required to win the presidency.
Trump won Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, which he had taken in 2016 but lost in 2020, according to projections.
Current vote tallies in Nevada, which he lost in 2016 and 2020, and Arizona, which he won in 2016 but lost in 2020, favored Trump. Those states have not yet been called.
Emel Akan contributed to this report.
From The Epoch Times