FULL SPEECH: Kamala Harris addresses nation after conceding election to Donald Trump

this is an ABC News special report now reporting David mure good afternoon we're coming on the air we want to take you to live pictures right now because vice president kamla Harris is about to

come before the cameras at the alma mater Howard University in Washington DC to concede her loss to former president Donald Trump the vice president of course hoped to give a different speech

last night but here she is today after learning that she has lost the election to the former president she's at her alma mater in Washington DC where so many supporters had gathered last night hoping that they would hear a much

different speech from the vice president today delivering this spee good afternoon good afternoon everyone good

afternoon good afternoon good afternoon thank you all thank you thank you thank you thank

you so let me say and I love you back and I love you back so let me say my heart is full

today 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 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 all always burn bright as

long as we never give up and as long as we keep fighting to my beloved Doug and our family I love you so very

much to President Biden and Dr Biden thank you for your faith and support to Governor walls and the Walls family I know your service to our nation will

continue and to my extraordinary team to the volunteers who gave so much of themselves to the poll workers and the

local election officials I thank you I thank you all look I am so proud of the race we ran and the way we

ran it and the way we ran it over the 107 days of this campaign we have been intentional about

building community and building coalitions bringing people together from every Walk of Life and background

United by love of country with enthusiasm and joy in our fight for America's future and we did it with the

knowledge that we all have so much more in common than what separates us 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 earlier today I spoke with president-elect Trump and congratulated him on his victory I also told him that we will help him and his team

with their transition and that we will engage in a peaceful transfer of power 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 honor

it at the same time in our nation we owe loyalty not to a president president or a party but to the

Constitution of the United States and loyalty to our conscience and to our God my allegiance to all three is

why I am here to say while I concede this election I do not concede the fight that fueled this campaign

the fight the fight for freedom for opportunity for fairness and the Dignity of all people a fight for the ideals at

the heart of our nation the ideals that reflect America at our best that is a fight I will never give up

up I will never give up the fight for a future where Americans can pursue their dreams Ambitions and

aspirations where the women of America have the freedom to make decisions about their own body and not have their

government telling them what to do we will never give up the to protect our schools and our streets from gun

violence and America we will never give up the fight for our democracy for the rule of law for Equal

justice and for the sacred idea that every one of us no matter who we are or where we start out has certain

fundamental rights and freedoms that must be respected and upheld and we will continue to wage this

fight in the voting booth in the courts and in the Public Square and we will also wage it in quieter

ways in how we live our lives by treating one another with kindness and and respect by looking in the face of a

stranger and seeing a neighbor by always using our strength to lift people up to

fight for the dignity that all people deserve the fight for our freedom will take hard

work but like I always say we like hard work hard work is good work hard work

can be joyful work and the fight for our country is always worth it it is always worth it to the young people who are

watching it is I love you to the young people who are watching it is okay to feel sad and

disappointed but please know it's going to be okay on the campaign I would often say when we fight we win but here's the thing here's the thing sometimes the

fight takes a while that doesn't mean we won't win that doesn't mean we won't

win the important thing is don't ever give up don't ever give up don't ever stop trying to make the world a better

place you have power you have power and don't you ever listen when anyone tells you something is impossible because it

has never been done before you have the capacity to do extraordinary good in the

world and so to everyone who is watching do not despair this is not a time to throw up our hands this is a time to roll up our

sleeves this is a time to organize to mobilize and to stay engaged for the sake of freedom and

justice and the future that we all know we can build together look many of you know I started out as a prosecutor and throughout my career I saw people at

some of the worst times in their lives people who had suffered great harm and great pain and yet found within

themselves the strength and the courage and the resolve to take the stand to take a

stand to fight for justice to fight for themselves to fight for

others so let their courage be our inspiration let their determination be our

charge and I'll close with this there's an adage and historian once called a law of

history true of every society across the ages the adage is only when it is dark

enough can you see the stars I know many people feel like we are entering a dark

time but for the benefit of us all I hope that is not the case but here's the thing America if it is

let us fill the sky with the light of a brilliant brilliant billion of stars the

light the light of optimism of faith of Truth and service H you

and may that work guide us even in the face of setbacks toward the extraordinary

promise of the United States of America I thank you all may God bless you and may God bless the United States of

America I thank you all vice president k Harris at Howard University likely the most difficult speech of her career saying my heart is full full of

gratitude full of love for our country full of resolve she said the outcome of the election is not what we fought for but she said the light of America's promise will always burn bright as long

as we never give up fighting she talked about reaching out to president-elect Donald Trump uh today she said we will help his team uh we will engage in a peaceful transfer of power to Applause

their in the crowd she talked about her loyalty to the Constitution and her expectation that that same loyalty will be shared by the president elect and she added there while I concede this

election I do not concede the fight that fueled this campaign the fight for freedom for opportunity for fairness and for the Dignity of all people I want to bring in our chief White House

correspondent Mary Bruce she's right there uh in the crowd she listed in on the speech Mary Bruce uh no question a painful speech for the vice president to deliver these are all always difficult

for whichever side loses painful David Bittersweet but this was a chance for KLA Harris to come out here and assure her supporters that the

fight goes on as you noted she said that while she is conceding today she does not concede the fight that fueled this campaign the fight for freedom and for fairness and she wanted to assure all of

her supporters and there are a lot of them here who are shocked despaired angry many in tears she wanted to assure them it's okay to be sad and disappointed but saying them do but

saying to them do not despair saying don't throw up your hands roll up your sleeves and David I think it is important to note that KLA Harris here is doing something that Donald Trump still has not done that is to concede

and admit that she lost and also to say that she will go ahead and go forward and participate in the peaceful transition of power and that was a line here that got a lot of Applause I can

say David even in the midst of what is a lot of shock for so many here today Mary Bruce right there at Howard University Mary thank you our chief Washington correspondent Jonathan Carl this campaign for KLA Harris was just 107

days so many uh things about this campaign really on both sides extraordinary the assassination attempts on Donald Trump uh this extraordinary political comeback unlike anything we've

ever seen and on the vice president side to have a president at the top of the ticket perform in that debate like he did in June uh decide that he was not going to seek re-election and then

suddenly support the vice president and say in 107 days let's see what you can do here uh it's been a campaign for the history books David I have to say I've

seen so many speeches by presidential candidates winning losing presidential candidates candidates that never make it anywhere near this far I think some of the best speeches that I have ever seen

delivered have been concession speeches I think of when Al Gore had to come out and address the country uh after the Supreme Court stopped the Florida recount a race that ended really

essentially in a tie and had to address very disappointed a group of Democrats around the country and say it's okay uh I concede I lost I am now going to help

George W bush in his transition or when John McCain came out and addressed a supporters uh upset that Barack Obama had had won and he shushed the crowd when they started to boo his name and

said no now we're going to support him so I thought the most important line here I mean Mary hit the we're going to continue to fight that's very important to her supporters uh but when she said we must accept the result of this

election we will help his team in the transition it's hard to imagine a more painful time to say that for k Harris she called him a tyrant a petty Tyrant

called him a fascist and now is doing the right thing and saying the founding Miracle of American democracy is we have a peaceful transition of power in the

country the loser Wishes the winner well and helps them get started and in fact when she said we will engage in a peaceful transfer of power that was the largest Applause uh from the crowd gathered at Howard University one the

best speeches of her campaign I ha to I think that I think that was a very powerful speech it was authentic yes it was and lindsy Davis not lost on us where she gave this speech she was hoping to give a different one at Howard last night this is her Elma moer she

spoke of service there and also got a big reaction from the crowd uh but no doubt many young people in that crowd from that university community uh hoping that she would have made history and and

I was struck David by the close-up shots of of the tears streaking the faces of the young people when she addressed them directly and said it's going to be okay I think that people needed to hear that

uh from her in moving forward and of course it is at Howard University the backdrop of all this she talked about in her Memoir that she decided that she would go there because it was a good place to start off her career at the

alma of th Good Marshall and in 2017 uh just a year after she had become only the second elected black female uh US senator in this country she gave a

commencement speech there much different speech from today and yet uh she talked about how I know sometimes we're afraid of falling short it's not that we don't know what we should do it's not that the bar can sometimes feel too high it takes

so much time and effort to reach it so much sweat and so many tears and being human we sometimes fall short and that's okay and I think that we heard a lot of that sentiment really today of course as

we've said not not the speech that that she expected to give she hope to give and she talked about that wonderful uh piece of writing that that spoke of in the darkness you see the most brilliant of stars uh just behind you there Rick

Klein is actually still standing after being here with us on the air until 5:30 in the morning uh when the race was called and Rick just bring us up to speed obviously Donald Trump the president-elect well above the 270

electoral votes he needs there's two states outstanding here uh as this stands Rick and and he will win the popular vote as well which is a different scenario than the last two times he ran that's right David this is

the electoral map as it stands at this hour and we spent so much time over the last days and weeks talking about the Battleground map the paths to 270 Donald Trump bulldozed through basically all of

those paths in the Battlegrounds we saw last night play out in a way where he took North Carolina and Georgia securing the two Southern States took then the big prize of Pennsylvania breaking the

the big wall the blue wall and then the Clincher in Wisconsin this afternoon ABC News projects that Donald Trump will also win the state of Michigan so all three states in the blue wall right now he is up in the vote count in both

Arizona and Nevada very possible that he wins all seven Battleground States and he did it by turning red places a little bit redder by turning purple places Red

by turning blue cities just a shade more Republican he got record numbers of Latino voters for a for a uh Republican candidate and at the end of the night a

remarkable remarkable achievement he is now almost 5 million votes ahead of kamla Harris he cracks 50% he is going to get a majority of Voters for the first time in any of his three runs for

president David and he heads to Washington now with a Republican Senate they've taken back control of the Senate the house uh still has not been projected by ABC News so uh a lot of change in Washington and the voters

sending a very clear message with what we saw overnight here our coverage continues on ABC News live abcnews.com I'll be back with the entire team for World News Tonight for many of you here in the East your early evening local

news is on and I'll see you right after until then good day this has been a special report from ABC News