As election night was drawing to a close, a crowd was gathered at Howard University in Washington, hoping for a successful run from Vice President Kamala Harris. However, as the clock moved towards the close of the night and it was becoming abundantly clear that Donald Trump was likely to secure victory, the crowd at Harris’s Washington, D.C. watch party began to dwindle. The remaining individuals made their exit closer to midnight when it was announced by a campaign official that Harris would not be making an appearance.
Cedric Richmond, the co-chair of the Harris campaign, informed the remaining audience that Harris had decided to continue monitoring the incoming votes from a distance. He further added she would return to Howard University the next day to address the country. While a few hopefuls clung to the belief that Harris still had a chance, the mood was largely pessimistic. It was clear that no further information or results would be made available on the day itself.
The initial phase of Harris’s party was quite lively, with crowd members singing and dancing. A live DJ was adding to the lively ambiance, with performances from Howard’s performing arts clubs. However, Harris was not going to appear until much later in the evening, a fact that significantly dampened the general mood.
In the hours leading up to the closing of the polls across the country, Harris was busy engaging with voters in a last-minute mammoth effort. She repeatedly iterated the importance of voting, although it became evidently clear as the night wore on that this messaging fell on deaf ears.
As the election was touted to be a close-run encounter, there were no immediate expectations of definitive results on election night. The anticipation was further fueled by the polls, which depicted a neck-and-neck race in various strategic states.
An enormous number of Americans, over 78 million to be exact, had cast their votes before Election Day. Interestingly, the Republicans accounted for a whopping 35% of these early votes, showing an unprecedented surge in GOP early-voting than previous cycles. This trend was a glaring indication that Trump’s victory was more likely.
Amidst the suspense, Harris supporters remained confident, or so they wanted everyone to believe, she would outpace the polls. The baseless optimism however was further exaggerated by attendees lining up at Howard University, holding onto an erroneous belief of Harris’ ascendance.
The vice presidential hopeful was seen by a few misguided attendees as a potential president. An alumnus from Howard’s law school was noted saying that Harris’s candidacy brought a ‘new energy’ to the party. Though, as it became apparent, the ‘new energy’ was not potent enough to turn the tide in her favor.
Throughout the entire day, Harris was seen reminding her supporters to execute their voting rights, a plea that seemed to largely fall upon deaf ears. The queues at the polling stations were not indicative of the results that began to unfold as the night progressed.
Supporters started to express strong confidence in Harris outperforming the polls despite Trump leading the race. At Howard University, where the hopeful stragglers started to gather, optimism was desperately on pitch despite the evident gloomy outcome on the horizon.
Bearers of misplaced trust were found placing their bets on Vice President Harris to clinch this presidential race. Even when a graduate of Howard’s law school referred to Harris’ ascent in the Democratic ticket as bringing ‘new energy’ to the party, evidence suggested it was largely ineffective and misdirected.
As the election night progressed, and Harris’s victory became less and less likely, the atmosphere at Howard University worsened. What started as a hopeful gathering turned into a scene of disappointment and lowered spirits.
The misplaced excitement and anticipation during election night, which only served to underline the glaring inefficiencies of the Harris campaign, was a crushingly poignant reflection of her performance in the contest. Thus, despite the high spirits at the early hours of the watch party, their ill-informed optimism could not prevent the ignoble fall of Kamala Harris.