As expected, Trump stormed to victory in conservative strongholds across the US, while Harris won liberal states from New York to California.
But her 15-week campaign failed to galvanise enough support to defeat Trump across the country – with early exit poll data showing her campaign, which had included a focus on abortion rights, failing to resonate.
The Democrat is yet to offer any remarks but is expected to speak later on Wednesday. A senior Trump adviser told the BBC’s US partner CBS that they expected Harris to call the president-elect to concede defeat – which Trump refused to do in 2020.
The vice-president was due to address supporters on Tuesday night, but campaign co-chairman Cedric Richmond announced shortly after midnight on that she would not attend.
“We still have votes to count,” he had said at the time.
The party-like atmosphere of a few hours earlier at Howard had already turned sour as two swing states were called for Trump. At Harris HQ, Democratic fundraiser Lindy Li told the BBC the mood was “pretty grim right now”.
