Donald Trump can’t become US President without Kamala Harris’ approval

Admin confirmation of Trump's win, certification of the election, election certification, Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol, electoral college process, Harris override electoral votes, 2025 joint session of Congress
By Gulam Jeelani

US Vice President Kamala Harris conceded the Presidential elections on Wednesday — hours after congratulating her rival, Donald Trump.

However, Trump will officially be declared President of the United States by his opponent, Harris, who will announce it as vice president, per the country’s electoral rules.

Republican nominee Trump is all set to be the 47th President of the United States after defeating Democrat Harris in a historic race to the White House.

A final confirmation of Trump’s win will happen through the Electoral College process in December. The Electoral College is set to cast its votes on December 17, 2024. The votes will then be counted and confirmed by the US Congress on January 6, 2025, before the new president is sworn in on January 20, 2025.

In this constitutionally mandated role, Harris as the president of the Senate, will preside over the counting of electoral votes in the joint session of Congress before formally declaring the winner of the election – Donald Trump, who defeated her in the race.

“The Constitution names the vice president of the United States as the president of the Senate. In addition to serving as presiding officer, the vice president has the sole power to break a tie vote in the Senate and formally presides over the receiving and counting of electoral ballots cast in presidential elections,” the Senate website says about the role of US vice president.

Joint Session on January 6, 2025

A joint session of Congress will convene to formally ratify the results state by state on January 6 2025. Harris is supposed to preside over this session as vice president and president of the Senate.

It was on the same date four years ago when an armed mob of Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol in a bid to stop the certification of the election in favour of President Joe Biden. Trump lost the 2020 US Presidential race.

Harris won’t be the first vice president to announce the presidential opponent as the next US president.

Democratic nominee Al Gore was the last vice president who fought the race to the White House in 2000 against Republican George W Bush. Gore declared Bush the next US president in a joint session of Congress on January 6, 2001.

The vice president’s responsibility, as president of the Senate, is to announce the count mandated in the electoral college, which is part of the US electoral system.

Harris can, however, choose not to participate in the process. In that case, it would be up to the president pro tempore of the Senate to announce the electoral college results.

Others have done this too

In the last seven decades, three vice presidents have declared their opponent the next president of the US.

Before Gore, it was Hubert Humphrey, the US vice president between 1965 and 1969, who lost the Presidential election as Democratic candidate to Republican Richard Nixon in 1968.

Humphrey’s run had a similarity with Harris. He joined the race after the then president, Lyndon B Johnson, opted out. This paved for Humphrey to become the Democratic candidate, just as Joe Biden’s exit from the presidential race this year led to Harris’s nomination.

Humphrey lost to Nixon. He, however, skipped the sitting of the joint session of the Congress since he had to attend the funeral of the first secretary-general of the United Nations, Trygve Lie.

Democrat Richard Russell, the president pro tempore of the Senate, announced Nixon’s election.

Former vice president Nixon declared his Democratic opponent, John F Kennedy, the next president of the US in 1960 after he lost the race to the White House.

There have been occasions when the vice presidents had to announce their own victory in joint session of the Congress.

In 1989, George HW Bush declared himself the next president of the US, after winning the 1988 election. Bush was the first vice president since 1836 to declare himself the next US president.

Martin Van Buren, one of the founders of the Democratic Party, was the vice president who declared himself the next president in 1836 elections.

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