Page 88 of 107 Days
Half a foot of snow had fallen during the night. It was still drifting down as we drove through the gates of the Naval Observatory. The ride to the Capitol was slow through the icy streets.
During the campaign, I had become used to roadsides lined with waving crowds. This was not that kind of day. Today, as the wipers swished and thumped against the snowy windshield, I looked out onto deserted sidewalks.
“We need to leave. Now.”
I had been in this business long enough that when the agents say move, you do not ask questions. You go. I learned later that a pipe bomb had been found outside the DNC headquarters, mere feet from where I sat.
I spent the rest of that day in a secure location, following the news with disbelief, trying to reach my colleagues in the Senate and the House. Rioters bashed police, smashed windows, and carried a Confederate flag through the halls of the Capitol. They defecated and urinated in the offices.
At the White House, President Trump watched the violence on Fox News and did nothing to stop it.
Later that night, when the People’s House had been cleared and secured at last, I walked through the vandalized halls to take my seat on the floor of the Senate. Mike Pence certified the election of Joe Biden as president at 3:40 a.m.
Now, as vice president and president of the Senate, it was my duty to preside over the certification of Donald Trump’s election.
I am one of only three vice presidents who have been in the position of certifying the victory of their opponent.
The others were Richard Nixon to John F.
Kennedy, and Al Gore to George W. Bush. Hubert Humphrey refused and left it to the Senate president pro tempore to certify his loss to Nixon.
Donald Trump had done everything he could to subvert an election, stand in the way of the peaceful transfer of power, and deny the will of the people.
I was there to keep my oath to protect and defend the Constitution. I would uphold the rule of law.
As I walked into that chamber, I knew that the eyes of the world were on me.
I would have to muster the strength to override my internal emotional storm.
As vice president and as Kamala Devi Harris, I had to call on every ounce of poise and self-discipline I possessed.
I owed it to myself and to the nation to demonstrate what I believed: that this moment was bigger than any one individual.
I stood in front of the tall chair behind the dais, facing the full chamber of the Senate and the House. Each state read the number of electoral votes for Donald Trump and the number of votes for Kamala Harris. When they finished, I recited the necessary words.
“The state of the vote for the president of the United States as delivered to the president of the Senate is as follows: The whole number of the electors appointed to vote for president of the United States is 538. Within that whole number, the majority is 270. The votes for president of the United States are as follows. Donald J. Trump of the state of Florida has received 312 votes.”
The Republican side of the room cheered. I waited, hands folded. When the applause subsided, I continued. “Kamala D. Harris of the state of California has received 226 votes.”
It was one of the most difficult things I have ever done. I stood there and did my duty for democracy. And that day, democracy stood.
As I finished speaking, both sides of the aisle rose and applauded, as one.