IIn the end, Kamala Harris never took the stage at her election night party on the Howard University campus in Washington DC. When Americans seemed ready to return Donald Trump to power, their campaign co-chair Cedric Richmond appeared on the scene instead.

He tried to convey an optimistic note – there were still votes to be counted. But the scene was reminiscent of Hillary Clinton's defeat in 2016, when her campaign manager, not the candidate, addressed supporters awaiting the results of a presidential election that many hoped would finally break the “hardest and highest” glass ceiling would.

Richmond told the dispersing crowd that they would not hear from the vice president until the next day. He promised that she would return to campus, her alma mater, to address her supporters.

“We still have to count votes. We still have states that have not yet been called,” he said. “We will continue to fight overnight to ensure that every vote is counted and every voice has spoken.”

The evening had started promisingly. Doreen Hogans, 50, arrived at Kamala Harris' election night party at Howard University on Tuesday evening full of cautious optimism. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a pearl necklace that had belonged to her late mother. She thought about how her mother might feel that the country's first female and first black vice president was on the threshold of history.

“She would have been so proud,” Hogans said, eyes twinkling, imagining Harris and her signature pearls ascending to the presidency. She took a deep breath, pocketed the necklace, and melted into the crowd of Democrats gathered in the yard.

The assembled crowd was excited. The music was pulsating. Members of Harris' AKA sorority, dressed in pink and green, danced together. Michele Fuller, who was visiting Howard at the same time as Harris, rushed to the event with a friend. “It feels incredible,” she said, who helped campaign for Harris in Pennsylvania.

“She did just great,” she said. “And she is more than qualified. I’m just so excited.”

All around her, students and supporters filled the lawn surrounding the stage for Harris to speak. Fans danced as the music pulsed. “If you’re ready to make black history, talk to me,” the DJ shouted.

In the last 108 days since Harris' sudden rise to the top of the Democratic Party, she has carried with her the fears of tens of millions of Americans who fear a second Trump presidency. There is a lot at stake, she acknowledged, agreeing at one point that her opponent fits the definition of a fascist but promising a future that is not marked by the fear and anxiety of the Trump era. “It doesn’t have to be this way,” Harris said in her closing argument last week.

Her wildly joyous campaign unleashed a wave of pent-up excitement among Democratic voters, particularly women. She had raised a billion dollars. She focused on abortion rights and framed it as a question of bodily autonomy. It attracted an energetic crowd and the support of the world's biggest stars. And yet the race remained extremely exciting.

As Donald Trump began to carve out the expected early lead on Tuesday evening, nervousness set in. But this was a crowd prone to fear.

Eight years after Hillary Clinton's defeat – a surprise that stunned the scores of women who gathered at her glass-filled election night party in New York and covered Susan B. Anthony's grave with stickers reading “I Voted” – few left Democrats are anything but “disgustingly optimistic” about Harris’ prospects.

Rhonda Greene, 55, of Virginia, said she woke up the Wednesday morning after the 2016 election convinced that the United States had elected Hillary Clinton. “Then I looked at the TV and I was in a state of shock – for at least a week,” she said. “I can’t even imagine that. I won’t even allow my thoughts to go there.”

After all, so much has changed since then. Trump's presidency sparked an extraordinary backlash, and women marched en masse across the country. Democratic women ran for office in record numbers – and many of them won. And then in 2022, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, galvanizing women of all ideological persuasions. Anger over the loss of federal abortion rights again helped powerful Democrats stave off a red wave in 2022 and led conservative states to take action to protect access. Harris' candidacy, while unexpected, appeared to be a natural progression.

“To see a woman become president, I think I can do anything after that,” said Chelsea Chambers, a sophomore at Howard University, as she arrived at the Yard where the Frederick Douglas Memorial Hall is lit and the stage was set for the Vice President to speak.

But perhaps a lesson from 2016: There were no flashy displays of confidence at Harris' election night party. Not a glass ceiling — it was outside at her alma mater, the place where she won her first election as a freshman representative on the Liberal Arts Student Council. Many Howard students and alumni were in attendance to support Harris, who would be the first president to graduate from an HBCU – Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

As the evening progressed, the crowd celebrated the few bright spots. Angela Alsobrooks was elected as the first Black female senator to represent Maryland. When Harris won her home state of California, there was a cheer, hardly a surprise, but it increased her vote total to 145 to Trump's 211.

But the night quickly turned from celebration to terror. Attendees began refreshing their phones, staring at a probability needle increasingly pointing toward a Trump victory.

The loss of North Carolina – the first of the seven battleground states to go for Trump – stung, but there was little reaction from the crowd – just nervous sighs and scattered groans.

As the mood darkened and the campaign finally turned off the sound on the televisions and music began playing, 2Pac's “California Love” played. But the mood was off. Many attendees began to leave, while others debated whether they should stay and hear from the vice president herself.

Rushing to the exit, Janay Smith, 55 and a Howard graduate who flew in from Atlanta, said she hadn't given up hope. The blue wall states had not yet been called, and that was always what the Harris campaign viewed as its clearest path to victory.

But Harris had portrayed the election as an existential decision for the future of the country. And in the choice between electing the first female president and returning to power, Americans chose the former president, whose attempts to stay in power led to an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol in 2020 and who was the first convicted felon Commander in Chief would be him. again.

“I’m a little disappointed in my nation for even being this close,” Smith said.