How have presidential candidates conceded before? A look at recent concession speeches
A staple of American elections has been missing following this year’s presidential race: concession.
The Associated Press declared now President-elect Joe Biden the winner of the presidential election on Saturday after he claimed a key victory in Pennsylvania — picking up enough Electoral College votes to put him over the 270 threshold needed to win.
He and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris gave victory speeches that night in Wilmington, Delaware.
But President Donald Trump has not conceded victory to the former vice president. He’s reportedly told his allies he has “no intention” of doing so, according to CNN.
He isn’t required to concede, and a refusal to do so — though it would break a long-standing norm — wouldn’t have an impact on finalizing the election results or keep Biden from taking office on January 20, the date of his inauguration.
Concession speeches started as a formality in the United States in 1896 when William Jennings Bryan sent a telegram to his opponent, William McKinley, congratulating him on his victory. The tradition has been present in some way in every election since, per NPR.
Here’s a look at the concession speeches from defeated presidential candidates over the last three decades.
Hillary Clinton (2016)
At 2:35 a.m. Nov. 9 — roughly five minutes after the media reported Trump claimed Wisconsin’s 10 Electoral College votes, putting him over the 270 threshold — Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton called the new president-elect to concede, The Guardian reports.
She later delivered a speech in New York that morning, telling her supporters “we must accept this result.”
“Donald Trump is going to be our president,” she said. “We owe him an open mind and the chance to lead. Our constitutional democracy enshrines the peaceful transfer of power and we don’t just respect that, we cherish it.”
Clinton lost to Trump with 227 electoral votes to his 304. She won the popular vote by more than 2.8 million votes.
Mitt Romney (2012)
Republican challenger Mitt Romney, now a U.S. senator from Utah, gave his concession speech in the early morning hours of Nov. 7, the day after election night, calling for bipartisan cooperation in light of President Barack Obama winning re-election.
“I have just called President Obama to congratulate him on his victory,” he said during his speech in Boston. “His supporters and his campaign also deserve congratulations. I wish all of them well, but particularly the president, the first lady and their daughters. This is a time of great challenges for America and I pray that the president will be successful in guiding our nation.”
Obama defeated Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, for a second term with 332 electoral votes to Romney’s 206, per The New York Times.
John McCain (2008)
The late Sen. John McCain’s 2008 concession speech has resurfaced amid the 2020 election and has been held up as one of the most gracious in recent history.
He delivered the speech in Phoenix, Arizona, just after 11:15 p.m. EST on election night.
“The American people have spoken and they have spoken clearly,” McCain, who represented Arizona in the U.S. Senate, said in the speech. “A little while ago I had the honor of calling Sen. Barack Obama to congratulate him on being elected the next president of the country that we both love.”
His supporters could be heard booing in the background, which the Vietnam War veteran dismissed with “please” and gestured for them to stop, video shows.
McCain’s 2008 run was his second bid for president. He lost with 173 electoral votes compared to Obama’s 365, according to the Times.
”...This is an historic election, and I recognize the special significance it has for African-Americans and for the special pride that must be theirs tonight,” he continued.
John Kerry (2004)
Democratic challenger John Kerry conceded the election to then-President George W. Bush after the race was called on Nov. 3, the day after Election Day.
Kerry, who at the time represented Massachusetts in the U.S. Senate, told his supporters he had a “good conversation” with Bush and congratulated him on his victory.
“I would not give up this fight if there was a chance we would prevail,” he said. “But it is now clear that even when all the provisional ballots are counted — which they will be — there won’t be enough outstanding votes for us to be able to win Ohio, and therefore we cannot win this election.”
Kerry lost with 251 electoral votes compared to Bush’s 286, according to 270toWin.
Al Gore (2000)
Democrat Al Gore, then-the incumbent vice president, conceded to Republican George W. Bush after the election but called back an hour later to retract it — contesting the result and kicking off a contentious and lengthy recount in Florida, NPR reports.
The election ended up in the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled in favor of Bush, and Gore conceded for a second time in December.
“Just moments ago I spoke with George W. Bush and congratulated him on becoming the 43rd president of the United States, and I promised him that I wouldn’t call him back this time,” he later said during his concession speech. “I offered to meet with him as soon as possible so we can start to heal the divisions of the campaign and the contest through which was just passed.”
Gore — who won the popular vote by nearly 544,000 votes — claimed 266 electoral votes to Bush’s 271, according to Encyclopedia Britannica.
Bob Dole (1996)
Republican candidate Bob Dole conceded to then-President Bill Clinton on election night, saying during his speech in Washington, D.C., that he congratulated Clinton on his victory.
The crowd of his supporters started to boo in the background.
“No, no, no. Wait a minute. Wait a minute,” he said. “I’ve said repeatedly in the campaign that the president is my opponent not my enemy, and I wish him well and I pledge my support in whatever advances the cause of a better America because that’s what the race was about in the first place.”
Dole lost the election with 159 electoral votes to Clinton’s 379.
George H.W. Bush (1992)
Then-President George H.W. Bush lost his bid for reelection to Democratic challenger Bill Clinton, whom he famously became friends with after the election, McClatchy News reports.
The late Bush and Trump are the only one-term presidents the country has had since Jimmy Carter in 1980.
Video of Bush’s concession speech, which he gave in Houston on election night, has also recently resurfaced.
“Here’s the way I see it, here’s the way we see it, the country should see it: that the people have spoken and we respect the majesty of the democratic system,” he said during the speech.
Bush lost the election with 168 votes to Clinton’s 370.
This story was originally published November 9, 2020 at 11:33 AM with the headline "How have presidential candidates conceded before? A look at recent concession speeches."
