Kamala Harris gave a ‘powerful first impression’ during her concession speech earlier today, according to body language expert Patti Wood.

Following a months-long presidential race, Republican nominee Donald Trump emerged victorious last night, securing 295 electoral votes and confirming his return to the Oval Office in January 2025 as the 47th President of the United States.

After reportedly calling him to concede the election, Democratic nominee and Vice President Kamala Harris took the stage at her alma mater, Howard University, to publicly address the nation and her supporters.

Harris addressed the nation from Howard University. (Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)

“While I concede this election, I do not concede the fight that fueled this campaign,” Harris said in her concession speech. “The fight for freedom, for opportunity, for fairness and the dignity of all people.”

As Harris arrived on stage to a roar of applause from the crowd, body language expert, professional speaker, and author of Snap: Making the Most of First Impressions, Body Language, and Charisma Patti Wood told UNILAD that the vice president appeared ‘powerful and confident.’

“Coming on stage, from backstage, to the podium by herself without even being introduced was a bold, brave move,” Wood shared. “It gives a powerful first impression.”

“[Harris] smiles and waves high in the air several times, and claps with her arms up and out towards the audience,” Wood continued. “A multitude of ‘up’ body language cues that indicate happiness and joy. That she still feels powerful and confident…It makes her look like the winner.”

When Harris begins to address the crowd, Wood notes that she does so with a ‘large open smile,’ ‘her cheeks lifted,’ and ‘her hand resting on her chest,’ which she explains are all indications that ‘the smile is not fake’ and that she ‘feels the crowd’s love which makes her truly happy.’

Wood explains Harris could feel ‘the crowd’s love’ which made ‘her truly happy.’ (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

As Harris continued on with her speech, Wood mentions her body language shifts, noting that ‘we can see her bracing herself to speak’ as she begins to take deep breaths and moves her shoulders back.

“She gives a more prissy, forced, tight smile, and this slightly sour smile [is] letting you know the taste of what she is going to have to say is not sweet,” Wood explains. “She says ‘the light of America’s promise will always burn bright’ but with some emotional vocal fry and slight squinting. It’s a great statement, but I would have liked it to be more confidently delivered.

“As she finishes, she looks down, brows down, and tight lipped, trembling chin, holding back tears,” Wood adds. “She does follow it up with…’As long as we keep fighting’ with a slightly stronger delivery and gesturing with a pointed finger, but her voice breaks.”

Harris’ body language the shifts as her speech goes on. (Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)

While Wood notes that you can ‘see’ Harris’ love when she addresses her husband Douglas Emhoff and their family, she also explains that there is a ‘revealing tell’ when Harris begins talking about President-Elect Donald Trump.

“There is a revealing ‘tell’ when she says, ‘Earlier today I talked to President-Elect Trump’ as she gestures with a downward push motion, symbolically pushing him down as she frowns,” Wood explains.

“The most potent illuminating moment occurs after she makes several strong statements,” she continues. “[Harris] sounds strong, angry, and opens her mouth wide with power. Then her eyes flutter briefly showing that she may be hiding even more anger,” she says, noting that these moments particularly occurred when Harris urged her supporters to keep fighting and to never give up.

Wood notes Harris’ body language indicated anger when she urged her supporters to keep fighting. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

“There is a moment where she begins a statement, ‘To the young people who are watching’… You see a mixture of happiness and sadness. She feels both simultaneously. She is saying some very motivational things and using the word fight many times. But as she continues to say it, she is no longer mad. Her voice is strong.”

When ending her speech, Harris urged people to mobilize, organize, and stay perseverant even in difficult moments, referencing what she called an old adage: “Only when it is dark enough can you see the stars.”

Wood notes that Harris is making a ‘positive statement using the word light’ here, emphasizing that she ‘clearly believes people will need to fight, but her final message was about light.’

It’s a close race in this year’s presidential election as polls continue to show a neck-and-neck break between candidates Donald Trump and Kamala Harris.

While the verdict will likely come down to a handful of swing states, in the historically rare chance that the Electoral College finds itself in a tie, there are measures in place to determine who will be the next president and vice president.

For a tie to occur, each candidate would have to win 269 electoral votes.

But what would happen next?

Well, the 12th Amendment rules that the president would be chosen by the House of Representatives and the vice president by the Senate.

The Electoral College would be considered evenly split if votes finish at 269 for each candidate. (Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)

The newly elected House of Representatives taking office in January will meet to count the electoral votes.

Once it’s been confirmed that no candidate has a majority of electoral voters, House lawmakers will then break the tie by having each state’s delegation submit a single vote.

At that point, a majority of 26 states would be needed to determine who the next president is.

The Republican party has a majority in the House of Representatives with 26 state delegations, meanwhile the democratic party has 22 delegations. Two states, Minnesota and North Carolina, are tied.

The House of Representatives would select the next president. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

Notably, while Washington, D.C. has three electoral votes in the presidential election, it would not have a vote in the House in the case of a tie because it is not a state.

House lawmakers would be able to list their top three candidates, but in practice, the choice will likely be a toss-up between Trump and Harris.

Meanwhile, a vice president will be selected by a simple majority vote in the Senate. All senators would have the chance to cast a single vote, and would have to choose between the two highest-scoring vice presidential candidates in the Electoral College.

The Senate would select the next vice president. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

In this case, the choice will be between Senator JD Vance or Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.

This ruling means that it’s possible, although rare, that the president and vice president could be from different parties.

In the off-chance the House is also not able to select a president, then the person elected as vice president by the Senate would serve as president while representatives continue to vote.

Under the Presidential Succession Act of 1947, if both the Senate and House do not come to a decision, then a speaker of the House would serve as president. However, the aforementioned scenarios have never happened in American history.

Although an even split in the Electoral College is remarkably rare, scenarios that could lead to it include a third-party candidate winning some of the electoral votes or if there are ‘faithless electors’ who decide to break their pledge and vote for a candidate other than the one who won the state’s popular vote.

Kamala Harris has spoken out for the first time following the result of the 2024 US presidential election.

As election day came to an end on November 5, it became clear that Harris was in a tough spot as her opponent Donald Trump took the win in the majority of US states, including Texas, Florida, Georgia, and the key swing state of Pennsylvania.

Harris planned to celebrate the night at her alma mater, Howard University in Washington, DC, but ultimately chose not to speak as the news of Trump’s success continued to arrive.

Harris won in states such as New York and California (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

Harris was declared the winner in states including Washington, Oregon, New York, and California, but was left trailing behind the 270 votes needed to secure the win as Trump edged closer.

The Vice President continued to encourage people to get out and vote right into the final hours, posting on Twitter: “Today, we have the chance to vote for a future of freedom, opportunity, and justice—not just for some, but for all.”

“If you are in line before the polls close, stay in line,” she added in a later post.

Following the final result, Harris delivered a concession speech at Howard University on November 6 sharing, “Let me say, my heart is full today. Full of gratitude for the trust you have placed in me, full of love for our country, and full of resolve.”

Harris addressed the nation from Howard University. (SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)

“The outcome of this election is not what we wanted, not what we fought for, not what we voted for,” Harris continued. “But hear me when I say the light of America’s promise will always burn bright as long as we never give up and as long as we keep fighting.”

“While I concede this election, I do not concede the fight that fueled this campaign,” the vice president added. “The fight for freedom, for opportunity, for fairness and the dignity of all people.”

“To the young people who are watching,” Harris continued. “It is okay to feel sad and disappointed. But please know it’s going to be okay. On the campaign, I’d often say when we fight, we win. Sometimes the fight takes a while. That doesn’t mean we won’t win. The important thing is don’t ever give up.”

“Don’t ever stop trying to make the world a better place.”

Harris joined the race after the current president, Joe Biden, announced his decision to drop out on July 21, saying it was ‘in the best interest’ of the Democratic party for him to step down and ‘focus solely on fulfilling [his] duties as President for the remainder of [his] term’.

Trump was formally named as the Republican presidential nominee in July, but first voiced his hopes to become POTUS again in November 2022.

Kamala Harris took over in the race from Joe Biden (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

He declared his victory in the 2024 race before actually securing the 270 votes needed to win, when he was just a handful of votes away.

Speaking at the West Palm Beach, Florida, Convention Center, Trump said: “I want to thank the American people for the extraordinary honor of being elected your 47th president and your 45th president.”