Congress on Monday officially certified Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential election win, with Vice President Kamala Harris presiding over her loss — four years after the process was interrupted by Trump supporters storming the U.S. Capitol to protest Trump’s 2020 loss.
In a relatively quick, roughly 30-minute process, Harris, sitting next to Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson, presided over the joint session of Congress as every state’s results were read aloud, certifying that Trump won 312 Electoral College votes compared to Harris’ 226.
“The votes for president of the United States are as follows: Donald J. Trump of the state of Florida has received 312 votes. Kamala D. Harris of the state of California has received 226 votes,” Harris said in the House chamber.
Harris was the first vice president to preside over her own presidential election loss since Al Gore in 2000.
The process is usually a formality and lasts less than an hour. But it stood in sharp contrast to 2021, when certification took more than 14 hours due to insurrectionists attacking the Capitol in an attempt to stop the certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s win. Congress members had to stop and evacuate during that certification, as rioters breached the Capitol and attacked police officers. The process was also slowed by some Republican members of Congress raising objections to several states’ electoral results, echoing Trump falsely claiming that the 2020 election was stolen from him.
This time, no protesters were present outside the Capitol, which was fortified by barriers, and no Congress members were given opportunities to raise objections.
