Kamala Harris conceded the election to Donald Trump on Wednesday and urged Americans devastated by the result “not to despair” but to remain committed and vigilant in the fight to protect American democracy.

Under a dramatic orange sky, the vice president took the stage while shouting “Kamala!” from the grounds of her alma mater, Howard University, in Washington. The speech came in the afternoon after Trump surpassed the 270 votes needed to win the Electoral College. This was a stunning political comeback, nearly four years after his refusal to relinquish power led to a violent attack on the seat of the American government.

“While I concede this election, I do not admit the fight that fueled this campaign,” Harris said, his voice hoarse after a tumultuous 107-day campaign. “Hear me when I say: The light of America’s promise will always burn bright as long as we never give up.”

Earlier Wednesday, Harris called Trump to congratulate him on his victory. A campaign aide said Harris emphasized the importance of a peaceful transfer of power and stressed the importance of being a president for all Americans, including those who did not vote for him. As vice president, she will assume the ceremonial role of president of the Senate when Trump's victory is confirmed in January.

“In our nation, we owe loyalty not to a president or a party, but to the Constitution of the United States,” Harris said, drawing loud applause as she pledged to support Trump's team in the transition to the White House.

Four years ago, Trump refused to concede the election to Joe Biden. His sweeping efforts to hold on to power led to a violent attack on the U.S. Capitol, for which he faces federal charges. During the campaign, Harris said she agreed that Trump was a fascist.

Harris nodded to fears that Trump poses an existential threat to the future of American democracy and the planet. But she said now is not the time to “throw your hands up.”

“This is a time of organizing, mobilizing and engaging for freedom and justice and the future we all know we can build together,” she said.

The vice president's public concession marked the end of a turbulent election that lasted just over 100 days, the shortest in modern history, after the president resigned just weeks before the party's summer convention, effectively naming her his successor.

As of Wednesday afternoon, Trump, the twice-impeached former president convicted of dozens of crimes and accused of many more, had won at least five of the seven battleground states and appeared to be on track to win the popular vote. Unlike 2016, when Trump won a surprise election victory against Hillary Clinton but lost the popular vote, he will return to power with what he called an “unprecedented and powerful mandate.”

Republicans easily managed to gerrymander the US Senate and appeared within reach of retaining control of the US House of Representatives, a scenario that would give Trump's party control of all levels of elected government in Washington.

The address marked Harris' first public appearance since Tuesday afternoon, when she stopped by the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington to thank phone bankers who worked to stop voting before the polls closed. Harris was expected to address supporters at the campaign's campus watch party on Tuesday evening. But as hope turned to despair, a campaign co-chair, Cedric Richmond, showed up instead to tell attendees she wouldn't be speaking.

Supporters returned to Howard on Wednesday to say a painful farewell to a woman they had hoped would finally break the country's “toughest and highest” glass ceiling.

“I've been at it for a long time and this time I really thought we could do it,” said Joanne Howes, Founding member of Emily's List, an influential fundraising group that supports Democratic candidates who support abortion rights. “We will be sad and sad, but then we have to get back up. We cannot simply accept that our democracy is at an end.”

Harris ran a carefully choreographed campaign, lavishing battleground states with visits and television ads while turning to traditional Democrats' voter turnout efforts, including phone banking and door-knocking. On the Saturday before the election, her campaign said people in crucial Pennsylvania had knocked on more than 800,000 doors – a number that was more than 10 times Biden's 2020 victory in the state. On Monday, the vice president even knocked on a few doors herself.

Harris framed her campaign around the theme of freedom, promising to be a president for “all Americans.” She sought to present an optimistic, forward-looking vision that addressed Americans' pervasive economic fears while warning of the threat Trump posed to democratic institutions.

Opinion polls showed an extremely close race until the end. Her campaign had signaled optimism in recent days, pointing to data that she said showed undecided voters were making their way after a racist joke at Trump's grievance-fueled rally at Madison Square Garden sparked a backlash among Puerto Rican celebrities and artists had triggered. At her campaign's final rally in Philadelphia, Ricky Martin appeared and Fat Joe implored his fellow Latinos to support Harris: “When is enough enough?”

But the country was angry and disillusioned, angry at the incumbent party and hungry for change, which it saw in the norm-busting former president. In the end, Trump was able to make gains in almost every part of the country and in almost every demographic group.

Concluding her brief remarks, the vice president invoked what she called a “law of history” and quoted a saying: “Only when it's dark enough can you see the stars.”

“I know many people feel that we are entering a dark time, but for the sake of everyone, I hope that is not the case,” she said. “If America is it, then let us fill the sky with the light of a billion stars. The light of optimism, faith, truth and service.”

Beyoncé's Freedom played one last time as the vice president turned from the lectern and left the stage.

Read more of the Guardian's coverage of the 2024 US election