Kamala Harris was pictured for the first time since conceding the election to Donald Trump on Wednesday, who defeated her in the 2024 race.
The photographs showed the former presidential candidate with her hair wrapped back in a bun and smiling as she played Connect Four with her grand nieces.
Vice President Harris, 60, wore a Howard University sweater in photos posted on Instagram by her niece Meena.
‘Back to where it all began only a few months ago. My eternal gratitude to everyone who showed up. We love her so much,’ Meena wrote in the caption.
Harris delivered her concession speech at Washington D.C.’s Howard University, her alma mater, where she told her supporters she wouldn’t ‘concede the fight that fueled this campaign’.
Her voice shook at times as she addressed a massive crowd of supporters at the historically black college.
Her running mate Tim Walz, 60, stood in the crowd, fighting back tears as she spoke. Husband Doug Emhoff stood to the side, looking sad. Meena Harris also held back tears.
Ella Emhoff, Harris’ stepdaughter, was visibly distraught during the speech and was comforted by her father throughout.
‘My heart is full today. Full of gratitude for the trust you have placed in me. Full of love for our country and full of resolve,’ she said in her first appearance since voters rejected her vision for America.
‘The outcome of this election is not what we wanted, not what we fought for, not what we voted for, but hear me when I say, hear me when I say, the light of America’s promise will always burn bright,’ she said.
Harris thanked President Joe Biden, her family, her staff and her supporters. She also expressed pride in her campaign.
‘Look, I am so proud of the race we ran. And the way we ran it,’ she said.
‘Now, I know folks are feeling and experiencing a range of emotions right now. I get it. But we must accept the results of this election,’ she said.
Harris ultimately conceded to President-elect Trump over a phone call on Wednesday, saying she called for a peaceful transfer of power and encouraged him to be a president for all Americans.
The final electoral college results are now in, with Trump winning 312 electoral votes to Harris’ 226.
After months of neck-and-neck polling with Harris in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Michigan, Trump soundly won every single battleground state.
Trump has become the first president to be re-elected for a non-consecutive term since Grover Cleveland in 1892.
After Harris’ short-lived campaign failed, there is already conjecture about who may run for the Democratic Party in 2028.
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, both of whom were originally considered candidates for Harris’ running mate, are being mentioned by party insiders as potential candidates.
