US Election 2024: If Trump declares premature victory, Democrats have 'a plan'

The Democratic party in the US is all set to counter any potential premature claim of an election victory by the Republican Donald Trump as he did in 2020.

The party's presidential candidate Kamala Harris's campaign revealed it's preparing a rapid-fire response to flood social media and the airwaves with calls for calm and patience with vote-counting if Trump prematurely tries to claim the victory.

The Republican candidate told reporters this week that he hoped to declare victory on Election Day. However, election experts have cautioned that it could take several days for the final result to be known, especially if there are demands for vote recounts in some key areas. Trump is locked in a razor-thin race with Democratic rival Kamala Harris.

Add WION as a Preferred Source

US election winners are typically declared by major media outlets that analyze vote counts provided by election officials. While candidates sometimes declare victory before those calls are made, it is unusual to do so before the winner is at least arguably apparent.

The vice president, in an interview on Wednesday (Oct 30), said that her campaign is "sadly ready" should Trump make the premature declaration. Harris accused Trump of "manipulating" the press and the "consensus of the American people."

She gave no details of those preparations, but six Democratic Party and Harris campaign officials said the initial fight against any early Trump victory claim would take place in the court of public opinion. They plan to flood social media and television airwaves with demands that all votes be counted before victories are declared.

A senior Harris campaign official said in a conference call with reporters on Friday that they "fully expect" Trump to falsely claim victory on Tuesday night before all the votes are counted.

The Trump campaign told Reuters that the Republican candidate would fight for all votes until the polls close, but it did not directly answer whether Trump planned to again declare victory before the race was called.

No Republican farewell

In 2020, Trump's victory declaration was met with condemnation from Democrats and many high-profile Republicans. Markets reacted with a shrug, with major stock indices climbing modestly in the days after the election.

But this time could be different.

The former president has consolidated near-total control of the Republican Party in the intervening years, meaning many influential conservatives could be more willing to go along with his claims, several political strategists said.

Trump and his Republican allies have also spent months laying the groundwork for contesting a loss by claiming that non-citizens could try to vote for the Democratic Party and by readying an army of lawyers to go to court to challenge results.

(With inputs from agencies)