Vice President Kamala Harris is certifying her own defeat in the 2024 election during the joint session of Congress on Monday, Jan. 6. She will oversee the counting of each state’s electoral votes as Congress fulfills its constitutional duty to ensure there are no irregularities.
The vice president has been responsible for certifying the election in this way since the ratification of the 12th Amendment in 1804. Once all the electoral votes are counted and verified, she will announce that President-elect Donald Trump received 312 while she received 226.
Harris will not be the first vice president responsible for certifying an election they lost.
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On Jan. 6, 2001, then-Vice President Al Gore oversaw the certification of his loss to George W. Bush after a hard-fought race that ended with a landmark Supreme Court decision.
“May God bless our new president and our new vice president and may God bless the United States of America,” Gore said to conclude the session.
That was after he gaveled down multiple Democratic members who tried to object to the results.
“Mr. President, I am objecting to the idea that votes in Florida were not counted,” former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., D-Ill., said. “And it’s a sad day in America when we cannot find a senator to sign this objection.”
“The chair thanks the gentleman from Illinois but, hey,” Gore responded.
On Jan. 6, 1961, then-Vice President Richard Nixon certified his defeat to Sen. John F. Kennedy, D-Mass.
Nixon was frustrated by evidence that the election was stolen by stuffing ballot boxes in Illinois and voter suppression in Texas, home of Kennedy’s running mate Lyndon B. Johnson. Despite his disappointment, he decided not to contest the results and concede.
“This is the first time in 100 years that a candidate for the presidency announced the results of an election in which he was defeated and announced the victory of his opponent,” Nixon stated. “I do not think that we could have a more striking and eloquent example of the stability of our constitutional system.”
After he lost the presidential election, Nixon ran for California governor and lost. The winner, Gov. Pat Brown, told President Kennedy in a recorded phone call, “I don’t see how he can ever recover.”
Nixon more than recovered, he became the 37th president of the United States.
Vice President Harris has not made any announcements about her future, but another attempt at the presidency and a run for California governor are both possibilities.
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