President Joe Biden's former White House communications director said that Donald Trump's victory in the 2024 election was a "thorough shellacking."
"I think certainly there is an anti-incumbent sentiment across the country but also globally," Kate Bedingfield said on CNN. "This is not the only place in the world where, since 2020, somebody has stood for reelection and suffered a defeat like this."
"Certainly, no question, VP [Kamala] Harris was facing those headwinds," Bedingfield added.
The Associated Press called the election for Trump early Wednesday morning when he won the battleground state of Wisconsin, putting him over the 270 Electoral College votes needed to secure his second term in the White House.
As of Wednesday afternoon, Trump had picked up wins in almost every swing state, including Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania—the three states that make up the "blue wall" that Democrats typically rely on to win the presidency.
Trump also won North Carolina and Georgia, where both candidates spent significant money and resources campaigning in the final sprint to Election Day.
The Republican Party also gained ground across the country, according to a New York Times analysis of the shift in margins in 2024 compared to the presidential vote in 2020.
"I think you look at the places where she [Harris] underperformed Biden's vote, you look at the breakdown with different ethnic groups, racial groups across the country, it's hard to point to one place where she really—it would almost be sort of easier to look at the result and say, OK, well it was clearly her underperformance in Dearborn, it was clearly Gaza that didn't bring Michigan home for her," Bedingfield said. "That's not the case, unfortunately, for the Democrats.
"I think Democrats across the board clearly have a challenge connecting with working-class voters. This is not unique to Vice President Harris' campaign. This is a demographic shift, a realignment in this country that's happened over the course of the last 10 years."
Harris' campaign chief, Jen O'Malley Dillon, confirmed to staffers that the vice president called Trump to congratulate him on his victory on Wednesday afternoon.
"She told him that she would work with President Biden to ensure a peaceful transition of power, unlike what we saw in 2020," O'Malley Dillon said in an email to campaign staff. "She also made clear that she hopes he will be a president for all Americans."
Harris was criticized for declining to make an appearance Tuesday night at an election-night watch party at her alma mater, Howard University, as Trump seemed poised to win the presidency. She will return to Howard on Wednesday afternoon and make a formal concession speech at 4 p.m. ET.
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