NOTE: NBC Chicago will offer a live feed of Harris' remarks starting at 3 p.m. CT in the player above.
Vice President Kamala Harris called Donald Trump Wednesday just before she was scheduled to deliver her concession speech in the 2024 election.
Harris has called President-elect Trump to congratulate him on winning the presidential race, a senior Harris aide told NBC News. In the call, Harris talked about the importance of a peaceful transfer of power and being a president for all Americans, the aide said. Harris later discussed the call during her concession speech.
"Earlier today, I spoke with President-elect Trump and congratulated him on his victory. I also told him that we will help him and his team with their transition and that we will engage in a peaceful transfer of power," she said. "A fundamental principle of American democracy is that when we lose an election we accept the results."
Trump's communication's director confirmed the phone call, saying Harris "congratulated him on his historic victory."
"President Trump acknowledged Vice President Harris on her strength, professionalism, and tenacity throughout the campaign, and both leaders agreed on the importance of unifying the country," Steven Cheung, the Trump campaign's communications director, said in a statement.
The call came hours before Harris was scheduled to give her official concession speech Wednesday afternoon.
Harris aides told NBC News that the vice president spent the morning and afternoon working on her speech.
One aide reported Harris hadn't previously written much of a victory or concession speech, but had dedicated more time to a speech directing supporters to "hold on," as both campaigns anticipated a more uncertain race at this time.
The vice president did not speak publicly on election night.
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"We still have votes to count. We still have states that have not been called yet. We will continue overnight to try to make sure that every vote is counted, that every voice has spoken," campaign co-chair Cedric Richmond said during Harris' election night party. "So you won't hear from the vice president tonight. But you will hear from her tomorrow, because she will back here tomorrow to address not only the HU family, not only to address her supporters, but to address the nation."
Around 4:30 a.m. Wednesday, NBC News projected Trump would become the next President-elect after clinching Wisconsin's 10 Electoral College votes. Those votes put Trump over the edge to secure 276 electoral votes, surpassing the 270 electoral votes needed to win.
The president-elect will also have at least Republican control of the Senate as well. Previously, Democrats held a narrow majority in the senate. Meanwhile, the House is still very much in play.
When Trump takes the oath of office, he will become just the second person in history to serve two non-consecutive terms in the White House, joining Grover Cleveland in that group.
Trump told the audience at his election night party early on Wednesday that it was “time to unite” as a country.
“It’s time to put the divisions of the past four years behind us,” Trump said. “It’s time to unite.”
“We have to put our country first for at least a period of time,” he added. “We have to fix it.”
He promised that he would “not rest until we have delivered the strong safe and prosperous America.”
“Every single day,” Trump said, “I will be fighting for you with every breath in my body.”
