After Vice President Kamala Harris’s speech on Wednesday conceding her loss to President-elect Trump in the 2024 race, President Biden issued a statement saying that selecting Harris as his running mate was the ‘best decision’ he made.

In a written statement, Biden said Harris stepped up to lead a ‘historic campaign’ under ‘extraordinary circumstances.’

Harris’ campaign, Biden said, ’embodied what’s possible when guided by a strong moral compass and a clear vision for a nation that is more free, more just, and full of more opportunities for all Americans.’

Biden said selecting Harris was the first decision he made after he became the nominee for president in 2020.

‘It was the best decision I made. Her story represents the best of America’s story. And as she made clear today, I have no doubt that she’ll continue writing that story,’ Biden said. 

The statement came shortly after Harris told supporters at her alma mater, Howard University, that she had lost her race against Trump. 

‘The outcome of this election is not what we wanted, not what we fought for, not what we voted for,’ Harris said. ‘But hear me when I say, the light of America’s promise will always burn bright, as long as we never give up and as long as we keep fighting.’

Harris had planned to address Wednesday’s audience on Election Night with a more upbeat message to deliver. 

Instead, when Harris took the stage, she looked out at a sea of American flags and notably forlorn faces. She was flanked by 30 American flags.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris, in her first public comments since losing the 2024 White House race to former President Trump, urged supporters to ‘accept the results.’ 

But Harris on Wednesday afternoon emphasized that ‘while I concede this election, I do not concede the fight that fueled this campaign.’

The vice president spoke at Howard University, her alma mater, where her campaign held a large election night watch party. Harris never addressed the crowd on Tuesday night, as initial optimism about the election turned dour as the clock struck past midnight.

Trump ended up winning a sweeping electoral and popular vote victory over Harris, as Republicans won back the Senate for the first time in four years. Meanwhile, control of the House was still up for grabs on the day after the election.

The vice president, who walked to the podium one last time to Beyonce’s ‘Freedom,’ the song that had become Harris’ unofficial anthem, noted near the top of her roughly 12-minute address that ‘my heart is full today.’

‘The outcome of this election is not what we hoped, not what we fought, not what we voted for,’ she said. ‘But hear when I say… the light of America’s promise will always burn bright as long as we never give up and as long as we keep fighting.’

The vice president also seemed to take aim at Trump, who for four years has blamed his 2020 White House loss to President Biden on unproven claims of a ‘rigged election’ and who repeatedly tried unsuccessfully to overturn the results. 

‘Earlier today I spoke with President-elect Trump and congratulated him on his victory,’ Harris said. ‘I also told him we will help him and his team with their transition and that we will engage in a peaceful transfer of power.’

She emphasized that ‘a fundamental principle of American democracy is that when we lose an election, we accept the results… anyone who seeks the public trust must honor it.’

The vice president also stressed that ‘we owe loyalty not to a president or a party but to the Constitution of the United States.’

Harris, a former San Francisco district attorney, California attorney general and U.S. senator, ran unsuccessfully for the 2020 presidential nomination. But Biden named his primary rival as his running mate and the two have spent the past four years steering the nation.

Harris, for most of the 2024 election cycle, was the dutiful running mate as Biden bid for a second four-year term in the White House.

But everything changed in late June, due to Biden’s disastrous debate performance against Trump.

The 81-year-old Biden’s halting and stumbling delivery fueled questions about his physical and mental ability to serve another four years in the White House. And it sparked calls from within the Democratic Party for Biden to drop out of the White House race.

The president finally succumbed to the pressure and on July 21, in a blockbuster announcement that rocked the 2024 election, Biden ended his bid and endorsed his vice president.

The Democratic Party quickly coalesced around Harris, who instantly enjoyed a jump in the polls and a massive surge in fundraising.

The Harris honeymoon continued through the late August Democratic National Convention and into September, when most pundits declared her the winner of the one and only presidential debate between her and Trump. 

But as the calendar moved from September into October, Trump appeared to regain his footing, and public opinion surveys indicated the former president gaining momentum. 

Then, in the final days of the campaign, the mood and the vibe appeared to switch again, this time to Harris, who closed out her White House bid on a positive note and didn’t mention Trump’s name during the last 48 hours leading up to Election Day. 

Meanwhile, Trump struck a more negative and angrier tone on the campaign trail as he crisscrossed the key battleground states in the stretch run.

Harris, in her concession speech on Wednesday, appeared to paint a contrast with Trump.

‘I am so proud of the race we ran and the way we ran … over the 107 days of this campaign,’ Harris said. ‘We have been intentional about building community and building coalitions, bringing people together.’

But the former president ended up with a sweeping victory, as Americans returned him to the White House.

Preliminary data from the Fox News Voter Analysis of the 2024 election pointed to a political realignment, as it spotlighted that Trump ran up the score with his MAGA base while narrowing traditional Democratic advantages among Black, Hispanic and young voters. 

Harris came close in her bid to become the first woman elected to the presidency, but was unable to make enough gains in the ideological middle of the electorate to offset defections among groups that traditionally vote Democratic. 

The Fox News Voter Analysis is a survey of more than 110,000 voters nationwide which highlights the 2024 campaign’s key dynamics. 

Just as damaging: Harris wasn’t able to escape the massive unpopularity of the Biden/Harris administration, where polls indicated that nearly three quarters of voters said the country was on the wrong track.

The Fox News Voter Analysis spotlighted that in an election where voters across the nation wanted change, they chose Trump’s outsider appeal over Harris’ promise to ‘turn the page’ on the Trump era. 

Fox News’ Dana Blanton and Victoria Balara contributed to this report

Vice President Kamala Harris has connected with former President Donald Trump and conceded the race, according to a letter sent out by her campaign manager stating that ‘the work of protecting America from the impacts of a Trump Presidency starts now.’

In a letter obtained by Fox News, campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon states that Harris had called Trump ‘to ensure a peaceful transfer of power, unlike what we saw in 2020.’

The letter continues, ‘I don’t have words to express the gratitude I have for everyone getting this email. You left everything on the field. You built a first-rate, historic Presidential campaign in basically 90 days. You navigated things that no one has ever had to navigate, and likely no one will ever have to again.’

Harris said she also made clear that she hopes he will be a ‘President for all Americans.’

‘You stared down unprecedented headwinds and obstacles that were largely out of our control. We knew this would be a margin of error race, and it was. And, your work mattered: the whole country moved to the right, but compared to the rest of the country, the battleground states saw the least amount of movement in his direction,’ Harris wrote. ‘It was closest in the places we competed. That speaks to both the work you did, and the scale of the challenge we ultimately couldn’t surmount.’

Harris is expected to make public comments later Wednesday afternoon during a speech at Howard University in Washington, D.C.

‘I’ll leave you with this: losing is unfathomably painful. It is hard. This will take a long time to process. But the work of protecting America from the impacts of a Trump Presidency starts now,’ Harris vowed.

‘I know the Vice President isn’t finished in this fight, and I know the very people on this email are also going to be leaders in this collective mission. View this as the beginning, not the end. It will be hard work. But as the boss says: hard work is good work. And I look forward to standing beside you.’

Trump campaign communications director Steven Cheung released a statement mentioning Harris’ call with Trump. 

‘President Donald J. Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris spoke by phone earlier today where she congratulated him on his historic victory,’ Cheung said. ‘President Trump acknowledged Vice President Harris on her strength, professionalism, and tenacity throughout the campaign, and both leaders agreed on the importance of unifying the country.’

President Biden reached out by phone and spoke with Vice President Harris and congratulated her on a historic campaign, Fox News senior White House correspondent Peter Doocy reported.

Following his call with Harris, Biden also spoke by phone with Trump and congratulated him on his victory. 

During their call, Biden expressed his commitment to ensuring a smooth transition and emphasized the importance of working to bring the country together. 

He also invited President-elect Trump to meet with him in the White House. The staff will coordinate a specific date in the near future. 

Biden is expected to address the nation on Thursday to discuss the election results and the transition.

Trump defeated Vice President Harris, who entered the presidential race just over 100 days ago after Biden, who won the Democratic primaries, was convinced to stand down.

Trump will be the only president to serve two nonconsecutive terms other than Grover Cleveland, who was elected in 1884 and again in 1892. 

Vice President Kamala Harris standing up her devastated Democratic supporters on election night is drawing attention to a similar choice by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in November 2016.

Both Democrats would have become the country’s first female president if they beat Republican rival Donald Trump.

In 2016, when the race was called for Trump, Clinton did not address her supporters until the following morning. Harris will speak to supporters Wednesday evening.

At the time, some critics blasted Clinton for not giving a consolation speech that same night at the Javits Center in New York. Clinton instead allowed her campaign manager, John Podesta, to briefly speak to supporters.

On the following day, Clinton urged her supporters to ‘accept this result, and then look to the future.’

‘Donald Trump is going to be our president. We owe him an open mind and the chance to lead,’ she said. 

Likewise, on Tuesday night, Harris supporters trickled out of the watch party at Howard University once they learned from a Harris spokesperson she would not be addressing the crowd.

Users on social media quickly took note and critiqued the VP for not showing her face after supporters waited hours for her to come out.

‘Kamala Harris had like 10,000 people at her watch party and didn’t even show up,’ one user on X wrote. ‘Apparently their time meant nothing to her. That final act is so reflective of why she lost.’

Another user wrote, ‘Harris didn’t even show up to her own campaign party last night to greet her supporters. It just goes to show what an elitist she is and messed up the party is to think this is ok.’

Harris called Trump on Wednesday to formally concede the race. Clinton called Trump on election night in 2016 to concede.

According to a staff memo sent out by Harris’ campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon obtained by Fox News, Dillon said, ‘Losing is unfathomably painful’ on Wednesday.

‘Just a few moments ago, the Vice President connected with President Trump to concede the race,’ the email read. ‘In the call, she told him that she would work with President Biden to ensure a peaceful transfer of power, unlike what we saw in 2020. She also made clear that she hopes he will be a President for all Americans.’

Harris was selected by the Democratic National Committee during the summer after President Biden dropped out of his re-election bid following his poor debate performance against Trump and just one week after an assassination attempt against Trump. Harris previously ran for president in 2020, but her campaign was short-lived. She dropped out in December 2019, citing lack of campaign funds. 

Vice President Kamala Harris’ abiding silence following President-elect Trump’s victory suggests an inability to step up as a leader for her base, legal scholars say.

The Democratic nominee has not yet spoken to her supporters, nor encouraged them to accept the election results, since Trump was named the victor of the 2024 presidential race early Wednesday morning. Two sources confirmed to Fox that the Harris campaign was radio silent Wednesday morning and did not provide talking points to surrogates, donors or influencers. 

The vice president is expected to deliver remarks at Howard University at 4 p.m. EST on Wednesday, where she will address Americans for the first time since losing the presidential race to Trump. However, analysts say she should not have waited until the afternoon after the election to address her base.

Jonathan Turley, a legal scholar and a Fox News contributor, said Trump’s clear path to victory should have prompted her to concede sooner.

‘The true test of leadership is to step forward when it is most needed. Half of this population is deeply aggrieved by this decision. Part of that angst and anxiety was fueled by the rage rhetoric and panic politics on the left, including the Harris campaign,’ Turley told Fox News Digital. 

‘Just as voters were going to the polls, the New York governor declared a majority of voters to be ‘unAmerican.’ This is the call of leadership to step forward and acknowledge the victory. There are no major challenges or questions. The election is over,’ Turley added. ‘The only remaining matter is a concession. It has to be more than an afterthought in the late afternoon the following day. It needs to be rendered when it is most needed.’

Legal analyst Andy McCarthy, a FOX News contributor and a senior fellow at the National Review Institute, suggested that remaining out of sight since the election results is a ‘graceless’ misstep.

‘I’d just conclude that this is yet another indication – among countless indications – that she was neither substantively nor temperamentally up to the presidency,’ McCarthy told Fox News Digital. ‘There is no apparent legal strategy at work. She is simply being graceless and suggesting that she and her team do not know what to do… even though what to do is obvious: concede, congratulate the new president, and pledge to cooperate in an efficient transition.’

‘I think this has less to do with democracy per se than with Harris’s lacking a grasp of American democratic tradition,’ McCarthy continued. ‘Perhaps she figures Trump doesn’t rate consideration due to his refusal to accept the 2020 election results. But if that’s the case, it’s not sensible, it’s spiteful.’

Harris was not present at her victory event at Howard University on Tuesday night, which came to an abrupt end ahead of Trump being named the winner of the presidential race.

Despite not making any public appearances or remarks since election night, Harris reportedly called Trump to congratulate him on winning the race ahead of her speech Wednesday afternoon, according to a senior Harris aide.

Fox News’ Jacqui Heinrich contributed to this report.

In the wake of former President Trump’s historic win projected by the Fox News Decision Desk, several winners and losers of the 2024 election have become clear.

Here are those who came out on top on Election Day and those who didn’t quite meet expectations.

Winners

Trump defied all expectations, even some of the more conservative-leaning estimates of the 2024 election. By notable margins, Trump defeated Vice President Kamala Harris in several key battleground states, being projected by the Fox News Decision Desk to win the election by amassing the necessary 270 electoral votes before a number of other top swing states had been called.

Trump’s top of the ticket projected victory was followed by significant victories for Republicans across the board. Senate Republicans were projected by the Fox News Decision Desk to retake the majority in the Senate in 2025, racking up wins in West Virginia, Ohio and Montana, which were previously blue. There are still multiple outstanding Senate races in swing states, giving the party hope for an even larger majority. 

Losers

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., is one of the biggest losers in this particular election, as voters decisively removed his party from the majority in the upper chamber. He will instead lead the minority in the new Congress. Democrats suffered projected losses in West Virginia, Ohio and Montana, effectively killing any chance they had of keeping the majority. They also failed to flip any of their Republican targets, such as Texas or Florida. There are still several Senate races in swing states yet to be called that could increase the GOP’s majority over them.

Political polls failed to accurately predict the projected decisive victory Trump saw in the 2024 election. The RealClearPolitics polling averages underestimated the former president, putting him behind Harris in swing states that he was projected to win and showing Trump leading by a smaller margin than he ultimately did in other battlegrounds. A respected Iowa pollster’s results predicted the state would be led by Harris, and ended up being off by double digits as Trump took Iowa.

As a whole, the Democratic Party was dealt a devastating blow by voters across the country. Not only was their presidential nominee categorically rejected by the American people, but the implications of that loss further dragged down candidates across the board, per the Fox News Decision Desk’s projections. Incumbent senators in some swing states are in battles for their political lives that could take days to resolve. This comes as the party has already lost two blue-held seats in Ohio and Montana. Republicans in the House are also feeling bullish that they could complete the GOP trifecta in Washington, D.C.

The Justice Department is looking to wind down two federal criminal cases against President-elect Donald Trump as he prepares to be sworn in to a second term in the White House— a decision that upholds longstanding policy that prevents Justice Department attorneys from prosecuting a sitting president. 

In making this argument, Justice Department officials cited a memo from the Office of Legal Counsel filed in 2000, which upholds a Watergate-era argument that asserts it is a violation of the separation of powers doctrine for the Justice Department to investigate a sitting president. 

It further notes that such proceedings would ‘unduly interfere in a direct or formal sense with the conduct of the Presidency.’  

‘In light of the effect that an indictment would have on the operations of the executive branch, ‘an impeachment proceeding is the only appropriate way to deal with a President while in office,’’ the memo said in conclusion.

Former Attorney General Bill Barr also backed this contention Wednesday in an interview with Fox News Digital, noting that after Trump takes office in January, prosecutors will be unable to continue the cases during his term. 

Barr told Fox News Digital that a Trump-appointed attorney general could immediately halt all federal cases brought by current Special Counsel Jack Smith in Washington, D.C. and Florida. 

The charges in D.C. stem from Trump’s alleged efforts to overturn the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. In Florida, they are centered on Trump’s handling of classified documents after leaving the White House in 2020.

And though Trump would be powerless to halt two state cases filed in Georgia and New York, Barr said local prosecutors and judges need to move on from the ‘spectacle’ of prosecuting the president-elect.

‘Further maneuvering on these cases in the weeks ahead would serve no legitimate purpose and only distract the country and the incoming administration from the task at hand,’ Barr said.

He also noted that voters were well aware of the criminal allegations against Trump when they voted to reelect him for a second term.

‘The American people have rendered their verdict on President Trump, and decisively chosen him to lead the country for the next four years,’ Barr said. 

‘They did that with full knowledge of the claims against him by prosecutors around the country and I think Attorney General Garland and the state prosecutors should respect the people’s decision and dismiss the cases against President Trump now.’

This is a breaking news story. Check back soon for more developments.

KAOHSIUNG, Taiwan —Theofficial response from Xi Jinping’s communist China to President-elect Trump’s victory was formulaic.

‘Our policy towards the U.S. is consistent,’ foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told reporters Wednesday afternoon. ‘We will continue to view and handle China-U.S. relations in accordance with the principles of mutual respect, peaceful co-existence and win-win cooperation.’ 

National Taiwan University Department of Philosophy professor Yuan Juzheng returned to Taiwan from a trip to China Monday, where, he noted, nearly everyone he met with wanted to talk about the U.S. election. He told Fox News Digital a Trump win is a ‘worst-case scenario’ for Beijing. China experts, as well as Chinese citizens online, believe the next four years under President-elect Trump will almost certainly worsen already strained ties.

During the campaign, Trump made it abundantly clear he would adopt a tariff-based approach to trade with China. Professor Yuan explained that China had ‘not been prepared psychologically’ when, around 2018, President Trump hit huge Chinese companies such as Huawei with tariffs.

But this time around, Yuan says, China knows how much such policies will hurt, and they will come at a time when China’s domestic economy is not doing well. 

‘Three key issues will continue to dominate the U.S.-China relationship. They are the three T’s — trade, technology and Taiwan,’ Zhiqun Zhu, a professor of political science and international relations at Bucknell University, told Fox News Digital a few hours before Trump’s stunning triumph became official. 

On Wednesday, Taiwan President William Lai wrote on X, ‘Sincere congratulations to President-elect @realDonaldTrump on your victory. I’m confident that the longstanding # Taiwan – #US partnership, built on shared values & interests, will continue to serve as a cornerstone for regional stability & lead to greater prosperity for us all.’ 

Taiwanese Vice President Bi-khim Hsiao, also via X, added, ‘I join President Lai in offering my congratulations to President Trump, VP-elect Vance, and the American people. Looking forward building a strong Taiwan-US partnership, for freedom, peace, and economic prosperity.’

The Taiwanese public has had mixed views about the U.S. election. Some here find Trump’s often brash and blunt personality unappealing. One recent poll showed over 50% of the Taiwanese preferred Harris to Trump. However, many Taiwanese have also said they viewed Trump as potentially ‘better for Taiwan,’ mostly due to an expectation that he will take a hard line on China. That expectation is shared on the other side of the Taiwan Strait. 

Ross Darrell Feingold, a Taipei-based lawyer and commentator on local and regional politics, is among a small group of Americans living in Taiwan who are active on TouTiao, a Chinese information platform owned by ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok. With over 150 million daily users, TouTiao could be likened to a hybrid of Facebook and X. 

On the Sunday before the U.S. election, Feingold posted a question on TouTiao that was finally allowed to be published after some rewording due to China’s strict internet controls. 

‘As a Chinese person, do you think Trump or Kamala Harris will be more harmful to China-US relations?’ he wrote.

More than 30,000 people viewed the question, and roughly 5,500 provided a variety of answers that included some direct support for Democratic nominee Harris, whom Chinese netizens have given the nickname ‘Ha Ha Sister,’ a reference to the vice president’s exuberant laughter. 

Feingold, however, noted the near unanimity in Chinese netizens’ comments that the U.S. is hostile toward China, and they don’t wish to see China rise to its rightful place as a global power. 

‘Based on the comments I received on TouTiao, the public in China seems to think the U.S. — led by a leader from either party — would seek to restrain China’s growth,’ Feingold told Fox News Digital. 

He added that it can be difficult to determine whether internet comments reflect genuine personal opinions or are merely the parroting of ideas from China’s state-run media. Overall, Feingold says, the Chinese public has begun to take American policies personally, interpreting them as being directed at ordinary Chinese people rather than critiques of the governing Chinese Communist Party.

Zhu, the Bucknell professor, laid it out starkly in comments to Fox News Digital, saying, ‘While over 80% of Americans surveyed view China negatively now, the positive Chinese views of America have also dropped. … What is different now than a few years ago is that many Chinese, including liberals in China, have become more critical of the United States … and believe the U.S. is not welcoming Chinese students, tourists and businesspeople.’ 

Zhu noted that some states such as Florida have cut virtually all cultural and educational exchanges with Beijing. 

Japan, which also has a tense relationship with China, offered its congratulations to Trump Wednesday. Barron’s quoted Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba as saying he hoped the countries’ alliance would move ‘to new heights’ during Trump’s second term. 

In a post on X, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol both congratulated and praised Trump, writing, ‘Under your strong leadership, the future of the ROK [Republic of Korea]-U.S. alliance and America will shine brighter. Look forward to working closely with you.’ 

And despite the views of some that North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un would welcome the return of Trump to the White House, there was no immediate official comment from the so-called ‘Hermit Kingdom.’ But North Korea ‘fired multiple short-range ballistic missiles toward its eastern sea’ hours before the U.S. election on Tuesday. 

Democrats are growing increasingly concerned that they will narrowly lose the House of Representatives after Republican victories in the Senate and White House.

The balance of power in the House is expected to run razor-thin no matter who wins, but sources who spoke with Fox News Digital are worried that the Democrats’ path is narrowing.

‘We’re almost certainly going to lose the House by a narrow margin,’ a senior House Democratic aide told Fox News Digital. ‘We got our a–es kicked.’

The House aide found optimism, however, in Republicans’ comparatively decisive victories in the upper chamber and presidential race.

‘If you told me [President-elect Trump] won the popular vote, dominated the electoral college, and they could end up with 56 seats in the Senate, this House map is really not too bad,’ they said.

A person familiar with House Democratic campaigns told Fox News Digital, ‘If last night is any indication of how the House will flip, I don’t feel confident. The American people are clearly not buying what we’re selling.’

‘I think it comes down to the economy, honestly,’ the second source said. ‘People feel like they could have more in their bank account.’

As of early Wednesday afternoon, Republicans led Democrats by nearly two dozen projected race wins, according to The Associated Press.

The winning party must take 218 of 435 House races to control the chamber, and there are those on the Democratic side still holding out hope but acknowledging the margins would be thin.

‘I think Democrats are still hopeful…there’s a chance to get some flips to get a narrow majority,’ longtime Democratic strategist Joel Rubin told Fox News Digital. 

Rubin pointed to toss-up seats in California and New York that still have not been called, which are currently held by Republican incumbents, as well as an open seat in Maryland that Democrats are fighting to keep.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York also remained hopeful on Wednesday afternoon.

‘As a result of the enduring strength of our battle-tested incumbents, critical open seat holds in Virginia and Michigan, victories in Alabama and Louisiana and flipping four Republican-held seats in New York this year, the House remains very much in play,’ Jeffries said in a statement.

‘The path to take back the majority now runs through too close to call pick-up opportunities in Arizona, Oregon and Iowa – along with several Democratic-leaning districts in Southern California and the Central Valley.’

Jeffries, who is likely to become House Speaker if Democrats win, vowed his caucus would ‘continue to govern with common sense and conviction.’

Democrats are poised to unseat two Republican incumbents – New York Reps. Marc Molinaro and Brandon Williams – so far in their quest to win the majority.

Meanwhile, Republicans are projected to take control of the open Michigan seat that was vacated by Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin. Reps. Matt Cartwright and Susan Wild, vulnerable Democrats in Pennsylvania, conceded their races to their respective Republican challengers.

On the presidential level, Democrats – including those in the House – have already started pointing fingers.

Rep. Ritchie Torres, a pragmatic Democrat from New York, blamed the ‘far left’ for Vice President Kamala Harris’ loss.

‘Donald Trump has no greater friend than the far left, which has managed to alienate historic numbers of Latinos, Blacks, Asians, and Jews from the Democratic Party with absurdities like ‘Defund the Police’ or ‘From the River to the Sea’ or ‘Latinx,’’ Torres wrote on X.

‘The working class is not buying the ivory-towered nonsense that the far left is selling.’

A smiling Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., congratulated both President-elect Trump for his projected win and his fellow Senate Republicans for being projected to retake the majority in the new Congress. 

He told reporters on Wednesday, it is ‘certainly a happy day for the GOP.’

McConnell addressed the significance of the projected Trump win, remarking, ‘What he’s accomplished has not been done, as all of you know, since Grover Cleveland, which was a while back.’

Former President Grover Cleveland was notably the only president to serve non-consecutive terms. 

‘I also want to commend the Trump campaign for running a sharper operation this time,’ he added. 

The minority leader specifically touted the work of Trump campaign managers Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles, saying they ‘deserve a lot of credit’ and ‘ran a spectacular race.’

The Fox News Decision Desk has projected that Republicans will re-take the Senate majority, flipping three blue seats. There are still several Senate races in battleground states that have yet to be called, meaning their majority could still grow. 

McConnell, who announced in February that he would not seek the role of party leader in the new Congress, explained he ‘had really hoped I’d be able to hand over to my successor a majority.’

‘I’ve been the majority leader. I’ve been a minority leader. Majority is a lot better.’

‘Based on the fact that we haven’t got all the results, and we certainly already know we’re going to be in the majority, we’re hopeful that that might actually grow some,’ he said. 

He also credited National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Steve Daines, R-Mont., for his leadership during the cycle. 

McConnell’s praise for the Trump campaign came just days after Trump mocked him at a North Carolina rally. ‘Hopefully we get rid of Mitch McConnell pretty soon ‘cause he helped them, that guy,’ the former president said, suggesting he aided the Biden-Harris administration. 

He also made fun of the fact that McConnell had endorsed him earlier in the year, despite their well-documented issues with one another. ‘Can you believe he endorsed me?’ Trump asked the crowd on Sunday. ‘Boy, that must have been a painful day in his life.’

At the time, McConnell had said it should not be surprising that he would get behind the Republican nominee. However, before the election, a new book reminded voters of his true feelings for Trump. 

In ‘The Price of Power,’ by Michael Tackett, deputy Washington bureau chief of The Associated Press, it was reported that McConnell referred to Trump at times as a ‘sleazeball,’ ‘stupid,’ ‘erratic,’ a ‘despicable human being,’ and a ‘narcissist.’