Members of Congress have officially certified President Trump as the winner of the 2024 election, with Vice President Harris presiding over the reading and the certification of her own November loss. The affair was quick and painless, with no members objecting to Trump’s victory — a far cry from the riot at the Capitol just four years ago. 

Members gathered in a joint session of Congress on Monday afternoon, with representatives and senators sitting in the House chamber to hear the Electoral College votes be read. They had to traverse tall barricades and other security measures before entering the Capitol complex, along with nearly one foot of snow that had fallen the night before 

As the lawmakers appointed to read out the Electoral College tallies, Republicans and Democrats clapped for their respective candidates. Vice President-elect Vance, sitting in the front row with three of his Senate Republican colleagues, politely clapped as the electoral votes were read for both the Republican and Democratic tickets. 

Ahead of the certification, Ms. Harris had conceded the race and promised to preside over the affirmation of her defeat. 

In a video posted to X on Monday morning, Ms. Harris affirmed that she would perform her duties and preside over the certification of her own electoral loss. 

“The peaceful transfer of power is one of the most fundamental principles of American democracy,” the vice president said in the video. “I will perform my constitutional duty as Vice President of the United States to certify the results of the 2024 election. This duty is a sacred obligation — one I will uphold.”

Ms. Harris has reportedly signaled to allies, according to CNN, that her political career is not yet over. At 60 years old, Ms. Harris is about two decades younger than both President Biden and Trump. She is mulling a run for California governor in 2026, though that could complicate a potential presidential campaign in 2028. According to a recent poll from McLaughlin and Associates, Ms. Harris is capturing more than one-third of the Democratic primary vote for the 2028 nomination, and leading her nearest competitor by more than 20 points. 

Ms. Harris joins a select club of vice presidents who had to preside over their own electoral defeats. Vice Presidents Mondale, Quayle, Gore, and Pence all had to stand at the Speaker’s Rostrum before the joint session and declare that they themselves had been rejected by the American people. Mr. Gore, in certifying President Bush’s victory in 2001, famously told his fellow Democrats who were offering objections that they should stop fighting on his behalf. 

“The chair thanks the gentleman from Illinois, but, hey,” Mr. Gore said to an objecting congressman, followed by a pause and a laugh from lawmakers. “May God bless our new president and our new vice president, and may God bless the United States of America.”

The 2024 certification also marks the first occasion since 1989 that no Democrats objected to a Republican victory, though those objections were futile from the beginning, with only a handful of House members signing on to the protest and no senators joining those objections.