The vice president will preside over Congress on Monday as it finalizes her defeat by Donald J. Trump by counting the Electoral College votes.
The vice presidency comes with numerous humiliations, but perhaps none more significant than the one Kamala Harris will endure on Monday when she presides over the certification of her electoral defeat.
Under the Constitution, the vice president assumes the gavel when the two houses of Congress convene to formally count the Electoral College votes for president. While not every vice president has chosen to fulfill this duty, Ms. Harris has indicated her intention to carry out the arduous task of declaring Donald J. Trump’s victory.
Although the situation may be uncomfortable and distressing for Ms. Harris, whose political future remains uncertain, it is poised to be a more peaceful and less perilous experience compared to four years ago when Mr. Trump refused to accept defeat and persistently attempted to retain power after voters decided to remove him from office. A mob he incited marched on the Capitol and stormed the building to prevent Vice President Mike Pence from fulfilling the duty that now falls to Ms. Harris.
Unlike Mr. Trump, Ms. Harris has refrained from attempting to cast doubt on the election results and has instead graciously accepted defeat. Neither she nor President Biden has sought to pressure the Justice Department, members of Congress, governors, state legislators, or election officials to overturn the vote she lost, as Mr. Trump did four years ago.
She has not filed numerous lawsuits that would likely be dismissed by judges as frivolous or unfounded. She has not repeated false fraud allegations or wild conspiracy theories that her own advisors had informed her were untrue.
Nor has she considered attempting to use her role as presiding officer to reject votes for Mr. Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance, similar to how Mr. Trump attempted to get Mr. Pence to do the same for Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris in 2021. (Mr. Pence declined, asserting that he lacked such authority, and Congress subsequently passed a law reaffirming that interpretation.)
The stark contrast between the two January 6 events is evident. Four years ago, the mob ransacked the Capitol, chanting, “Hang Mike Pence,” while the Secret Service swiftly evacuated the outgoing vice president to safety. At the time, Ms. Harris, then a senator on the verge of becoming vice president, was also at Democratic National Committee headquarters and had to be evacuated when a pipe bomb was discovered near a park bench outside.
Since the election, Ms. Harris has largely remained out of public view, amidst speculation about her future prospects. Some allies advocate for her presidential run in 2028, while others suggest she should instead run for governor of her home state, California, in 2024.
She has neither publicly expressed her thoughts nor indicated any plans beyond stating her intention to remain active. In a prerecorded video message scheduled for release on Monday, she focuses on her duty to preside over the election certification, subtly acknowledging the difference from four years ago.
“The peaceful transfer of power is one of the most fundamental principles of American democracy,” Ms. Harris emphasizes in the video. “As much as any other principle, it is what distinguishes our system of government from monarchy or tyranny.”
“Today, at the United States Capitol,” she continues, “I will fulfill my constitutional duty as vice president of the United States to certify the results of the 2024 election. This duty is a sacred obligation that I will uphold, guided by my love for the country, loyalty to our Constitution, and unwavering faith in the American people.”
Ms. Harris, the first vice president to lose a presidential election and preside over its certification, joins a long line of vice presidents who faced similar challenges. In modern times, two sitting vice presidents, Richard M. Nixon in 1960 and Al Gore in 2000, had to stand on the rostrum and count the votes against them.
Another vice president, Hubert Humphrey in 1968, skipped the ceremony to attend the funeral of the first U.N. secretary general, leaving the task of counting the votes to Senator Richard Russell, the Democrat from Georgia and the president pro tempore of the Senate. Other vice presidents, including Walter F. Mondale in 1981 and Dan Quayle in 1993, also had to preside over vote counts certifying their defeat for re-election.
Both Mr. Nixon and Mr. Gore had strong reasons to object to the outcomes they certified. Mr. Nixon lost to John F. Kennedy by a narrow margin of about 118,000 votes out of nearly 69 million cast. Despite the advice of his advisers to challenge the results, he refused, fearing it would tear the country apart.
Forty years later, Mr. Gore actually won the popular vote by more than 500,000 votes out of 105 million cast but fell short in the Electoral College. After the Supreme Court ended five weeks of recounts in Florida, Mr. Gore accepted the decision of the justices and congratulated George W. Bush.
Despite the circumstances, both vice presidents performed the duty of certifying their defeats with remarkable humor and grace, earning standing ovations from members of both parties.
Mr. Nixon recognized the significance of the situation, stating that it was the first time in a century that a presidential candidate had finalized the results of an election he had lost. He called it a “striking and eloquent example of the stability of our constitutional system” and institutions of self-government. Mr. Nixon emphasized that in their campaigns, regardless of how hard-fought or close the election may be, those who lose accept the verdict and support those who win.
When it was his turn, Mr. Gore repeatedly ruled out of order attempts by a small group of House Democrats to object to the Florida vote. After declaring Mr. Bush the winner, Mr. Gore expressed his well wishes, saying, “May God bless our new president and our new vice president, and may God bless the United States of America.”
