Kamala Harris' Body Language During Her Concession Speech Says It All

On November 5, 2024, Americans voted President Donald Trump into the White House for a second time. At the time of writing, Trump has garnered 294 electoral votes to Kamala Harris' 223, putting him over the 270 vote threshold to win and making him the 47th president of the United States. President-elect Trump will be sworn in on January 20, 2025 on the usual date in the usual way.  

While jubilation reigns in the Trump camp and among his supporters, the opposite is very much true for those who supported Vice President Kamala Harris. She gave her concession speech on Wednesday, November 6, wearing a dark plum suit and delivering a speech that at once resembled the sentiments of her supporters and offered them encouragement. "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. ... The light of America's promise will always burn bright as long as we never give up and as long as we keep fighting," she said in her nearly 13-minute-long speech.

Those words came across as resigned, but hopeful. It was also clear to the lay viewer that Harris looked a bit sad. On that note, body language expert and behavior analyst Traci Brown spoke exclusively to Grunge and said that Harris' body language matched her words — she exuded a combination of "sadness" and "hopefulness." 

According to Traci Brown, Vice President Kamala Harris' body language exuded everything that you'd realistically expect her to feel upon losing her bid for presidency. Brown pointed to specific moments during Harris' speech where the vice president's gestures, facial composure, movements, etc., made it clear what she was feeling beyond words. 

Looking to the aforementioned "light of America's promise" line from Harris' speech, Brown said that her voice wavered in a way that is "leaking sadness." This, Brown said, is "almost impossible to fake." She noted that this quiver also appeared when Harris mentioned democracy. You can hear it when she spoke of a peaceful transfer of power being a critical component of this system of government — as opposed to a monarchy or tyranny. 

As for the hope evident in Harris' body language, Brown pointed out that at one point, Harris lifted her hand into a "prayer pose" and then placed her hands under her chin. There's a spot early in the vice president's speech where she placed her hands flat against each other. "I know folks are feeling and experiencing a range of emotions right now — I get it," she said at the time. "But we must accept the results of this election." She also clasped her hands in a fist-like prayer gesture toward the end of her speech when she cited a common star/darkness analogy: "Only when it is dark enough can you see the stars."

There's another sentiment that body language expert and behavior analyst Traci Brown said Kamala Harris exhibited during her concession speech: anger. It's not clear which point Brown is speaking of, but there were a couple moments when Harris' voice became a bit harder, and she furrowed her brow in something approaching anger. Brown said that she hadn't seen Harris demonstrate this kind of emotion before, which is understandable given the immensity of losing a presidential election. Such sentiments also come less than three months after August's Democratic National Convention (DNC), an event that was replete with maxims of "joy" that run very counter to the feelings of the present.

Looking at Harris' speech, her voice and face demonstrated anger when she said that she will never "give up the fight" for an America where women "have the freedom to make decisions about their own body and not have their government telling them what to do." Harris' somewhat hard face and angrier voice also cropped up again when she talked about protecting kids in schools from gun violence. "The fight for our country is always worth it," she said.

No matter her sadness and anger, Harris ended her concession speech by turning back to a hopeful star-and-light analogy. She exhorted listeners to let hope "fill the sky with the light of a brilliant, brilliant billion of stars." "The light, the light of optimism, of faith, of truth and service," she said at the conclusion of her address.