Watch live: Kamala Harris to give concession speech after loss to Donald Trump

Vice President Kamala Harris was set to deliver a concession speech after she came up short Tuesday in her bid to become the next U.S. president.

President-elect Donald Trump defeated Harris on Election Day and will be the next President of the United States.

Harris called Trump on Wednesday to congratulate him on his election victory, a senior Harris aide said. The person spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the call.

The aide said Harris discussed the importance of a peaceful transfer of power with Trump ahead of her planned concession speech Wednesday afternoon.

Trump won the battleground states of Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Georgia and North Carolina and by 5 a.m. led the popular vote on his way back to the White House.

The outcome is particularly bitter for Harris because, as the sitting vice president, she is expected to oversee Congress’ ceremonial certification of the election.

Harris will speak at Howard University, her alma mater in Washington, where her supporters watched returns Tuesday night before being sent home after midnight as Trump pulled ahead in battleground state results.

Harris was scheduled to speak at Howard on Tuesday night and the atmosphere at the event was jubilant as initial results rolled in. As the night dragged on and it became clear that Harris would not defeat Trump, her supporters grew dour.

By early Wednesday, Trump had won 279 electoral votes to Harris’ 223, with several states yet to be counted.

Cedric Richmond, Harris’ campaign co-chair, then told the audience they “won’t hear from the vice president tonight.”

Trump completed his sweep so-called blue wall states on Wednesday when Michigan was called for him. The races in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin were called earlier.

Harris made history as the first woman of color at the top of a major party ticket, after President Joe Biden withdrew from the race. She triggered a surge in enthusiasm, broke fundraising records — raising $1 billion in less than three months — and drew endorsements from celebrities ranging from superstar Beyonce to pop star Taylor Swift to actor and former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

But Harris’ campaign ultimately failed to overcome deep-seated voter concerns about inflation and immigration — twin issues that opinion polls showed favored Trump.

While Harris focused much of her initial message around themes of joy, Trump channeled a powerful sense of anger and resentment among voters.

Her loss underscores a profound shift in American politics over the past decade as blue-collar voters have turned increasingly Republican – a trend Trump appears to have accelerated.

Black voters — men and women — have been the bedrock of the Democratic Party, and in recent years, Latinos and young voters have joined them.

About 8 in 10 Black voters backed Harris, down from the roughly 9 in 10 who backed Biden. More than half of Hispanic voters supported Harris, but that was down slightly from the roughly 6 in 10 who backed Biden in 2020. Trump’s support among those groups appeared to rise slightly compared with 2020. Collectively, those small gains yielded an outsize outcome.

In state after state, Trump outperformed what he did in the 2020 election while Harris failed to do as well as Joe Biden did in winning the presidency four years ago.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.