Kamala Harris' HQ falls 'silent' as campaign tells staff not to panic and admits VP is in for a long night

Vice President Kamala Harris' ticker enactment rapidly fell 'silent' successful the last hr of Election Day arsenic erstwhile President Donald Trump captured the archetypal plaything authorities of the night.

A DJ loudly played enactment euphony arsenic Democrats watched a soundless CNN connected jumbotron screens. The measurement lone came connected the TVs to denote Harris' wins - Washington, Hawaii and past Virginia. 

The DJ's playlist would lb again erstwhile John King backmost on-screen to study however Harris' way had narrowed. Some of Harris supporters were spotted hugging, arsenic a Trump triumph looked much and much certain.

Betting markets and The New York Times' predetermination needle predicted a Trump win, arsenic Harris' run manager Jen O'Malley Dillon pushed that a way to triumph was inactive imaginable done the 'blue wall' of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan. 

But arsenic midnight approached, North Carolina slipped distant from Harris - a authorities President Joe Biden narrowly mislaid to Trump - but the remaining six battleground states were up for grabs. 

'What we bash cognize is this contention is not going to travel into absorption until the aboriginal greeting hours,' O'Malley Dillon wrote successful a memo, obtained by DailyMail.com. 'This is what we’ve been built for, truthful let’s decorativeness up what we person successful beforehand of america tonight, get immoderate sleep, and get acceptable to adjacent retired beardown tomorrow.' 

The Harris run said that successful Pennsylvania - the night's biggest prize - they overperformed turnout expectations successful Philadelphia and successful the aboriginal ballot number successful Bucks County. 

In Michigan, the Harris run said determination were inactive outstanding votes from Detroit - a heavy bluish country - and successful Wisconsin determination was inactive outstanding votes to beryllium counted successful Dane and Milwaukee counties. 

Complete results from Wisconsin, the run said, wouldn't beryllium disposable until betwixt 3 a.m. and 5 a.m. Wednesday. 

The run besides pointed retired that Arizona and Nevada could inactive supply the Democrat with a boost.  

'We’ve been saying for weeks that this contention mightiness not beryllium called tonight. Those of you who were astir successful 2020 cognize this well: It takes clip for each the votes to beryllium counted – and each the votes volition beryllium counted,' O'Malley Dillon said. 'That’s however our strategy works. What we bash cognize is this contention is not going to travel into absorption until the aboriginal greeting hours.'

A large quality betwixt 2024 and 2020 is that less voters - which leaned Democratic - utilized mail-in ballots and immoderate states processed them faster. 

Four years ago, that meant Trump votes were often counted archetypal - arsenic his supporters voted in-person - and Biden votes were counted last. 

This twelvemonth it looks similar determination are some Harris and Trump votes that inactive request to beryllium counted - truthful the Harris run can't number connected ample batches of outstanding votes that volition enactment her implicit the line. 

At her predetermination nighttime party, astatine her alma mater of Howard, the aboriginal excitement successful the aerial turned to dread. 

One agleam spot was erstwhile the jumbotron successful the assemblage quad played the triumph code of Democrat Angela Alsobrooks, who tally Maryland's unfastened Senate spot implicit the state's erstwhile Republican Gov. Larry Hogan.

As midnight approached, supporters started leaving campus, arsenic determination was nary motion that Harris would code the audience. 

Harris remained astatine her Naval Observatory residence.