President Biden will address the nation from the White House this morning, a day after Vice President Kamala Harris conceded defeat in the race against President-elect Donald Trump.
Biden is expected to speak from the Rose Garden at 11 a.m. ET. Yahoo News will stream his comments here.
It will be the first time Biden has spoken publicly since the 2024 election, although he did issue a statement praising Harris as “a great partner and public servant full of integrity, courage and character.” Both Biden and Harris called Trump on Wednesday afternoon to congratulate him.
Biden also invited Trump to the White House to start transition preparations, although an exact date was unclear.
The Associated Press called the presidential race around 5:30 a.m. ET on Wednesday after Trump won 276 electoral votes to Harris’ 223, although Trump declared victory at 2:30 a.m. ET during a speech to supporters at an election party in Florida.
“The outcome of this election is not what we wanted, not what we fought for, not what we voted for,” Harris told supporters at Howard University, her alma mater, on Wednesday. “But hear me when I say: The light of America’s promise will always burn brightly as long as we never give up and as long as we keep fighting.”
In his statement on Wednesday, Biden also highlighted how Harris launched her presidential campaign under “extraordinary circumstances” after dropping out 107 days before the election under pressure from the Democratic party following his debate performance in June.
Harris clinched the Democratic nomination in two weeks but had about 100 days to convince voters compared to Trump, who announced his intention to run in November 2022 and clinched the Republican nomination in mid-March.
