Vice President Kamala Harris will join an unenviable group of predecessors on Monday as she oversees the formal certification of her own electoral defeat in a joint session of Congress.
Tasked with declaring Donald Trump the winner of the 2024 presidential election, Harris will face the ultimate political blow after losing all seven key battleground states to a candidate she once labeled a “fascist.”
Historical Precedent: Harris Joins Gore and Nixon
Under the Constitution, the vice president serves as the head of the Senate and is responsible for presiding over the certification of presidential election results. Harris will follow in the footsteps of Al Gore, who certified his loss to George W. Bush in 2001 after the Florida recount debacle, and Richard Nixon, who declared John F. Kennedy’s victory in 1961 despite his own narrow defeat.
While some predecessors, like Hubert Humphrey in 1969, opted to skip the ceremonial role, Harris is expected to attend. “I believe that is her plan,” said White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Friday.
Mockery from Critics and Praise for Tradition
The prospect of Harris certifying Trump’s win has delighted critics. Conservative voices on social media have mocked the vice president, calling the moment a “must-see TV event.” Meanwhile, former Vice President Mike Pence’s Chief of Staff Marc Short emphasized the importance of the ritual. “Nobody enjoys certifying their own loss,” Short said, “but it’s integral to all democracies that there is a peaceful transfer of power.”
The Shadow of January 6
The certification process, usually a formality, has taken on heightened significance since the events of January 6, 2021, when a mob stormed the Capitol in an attempt to overturn the 2020 election results. That day, Pence rejected pressure from Trump to overturn the election and reconvened Congress to affirm Joe Biden’s victory in the early hours of the morning.
Since then, Congress has amended the Electoral Count Act to clarify that the vice president’s role is ceremonial, ensuring no room for disputes over the process.
As Harris prepares for this ceremonial yet symbolic duty, her actions will underscore the resilience of democratic traditions, even in the face of personal and political loss.
