Long faces in Washington, in the headquarters of Kamala Harris. Barack Obama’s prophecy (“it will take time before the results”) did not come true either, the vice president “won’t speak to supporters tonight, but she should speak tomorrow”, said the co-chairman of her campaign, Cedric Richmondwhile indigestible election results continued to arrive from all over the country. “We still have votes to count,” he said. Palpable disappointment, awaiting the results of the other four “battleground States” (Wisconsin and Michigan as well as Arizona and Nevada) but the defeat is now certain: the Democrats were overwhelmed by a red avalanche.
The democratic nightmare repeats itself, therefore, almost identically to 2016. There are notable similarities between the bitter election night eight years ago Hillary Clinton and the one Harris had planned for tonight at Howard University.
Neither Clinton nor Harris showed up at the party thrown for them, although both waited in the wings, convinced they were on the verge of defeating Donald Trump.
Both sent their right-hand men to inform the demoralized public that they would not speak. And there are notable similarities between what he said tonight as well Cedric Richmondco-chairman of Harris’ campaign and what John Podesta, chairman of Clinton’s campaign, said eight years ago.
“We still have votes to count. We have states that haven’t been counted yet. We will continue to fight through the night to make sure every vote is counted,” Richmond said. “So you won’t hear the vice president speak tonight, but tomorrow.”
“We’re still counting the votes,” Podesta said in 2016. “And every vote should count. It’s still neck and neck in several states, so we won’t have anything else to say tonight.”
Even the atmosphere and the trajectory that events took over the course of the night is similar. Clinton’s speech at the Javits Center began jubilantly, with people dancing, laughing and wanting to make history: the campaign even planned to throw reflective confetti at the time of the announcement to evoke a shattering glass ceiling. The same thing was planned for Harris at an event that was supposed to resemble a college dance at the Democratic candidate’s alma mater.
When Podesta and Richmond took the stage, the party stopped, people left, and those who remained were disconsolate.
Harris’ campaign has long said her surest route to 270 electoral votes was through Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, states Trump won in 2016 and narrowly won by Biden in 2020.
Harris cannot lose Pennsylvania and reach 270 electoral votes.