Vice President Kamala Harris plans to spend election night in Washington, D.C., at her alma mater, Howard University, three people familiar with the planning tell NBC News.
The news comes as more than 50,000 people are expected to gather in downtown D.C. Tuesday night for Harris' speech on the Ellipse.
A few days ago, seven sources told NBC News her campaign was eyeing the university as a possible venue.
Harris inherited President Joe Biden's campaign headquarters in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware, when he dropped out of the race in July, but spending election night there wasn't a natural fit for the vice president from California.
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The vice president graduated from Howard in 1986 and was a member of the school’s debate team and the Alpha Kappa Alpha (AKA) sorority.
If Harris won the White House, she would be the first woman elected president and the first graduate of a historically Black college to hold that office. Her ascent to the top of the ticket has been a capstone moment for the university.
Decision 2024
People familiar with the planning for election night said Harris' team was preparing for the possibility that a winner might not be declared for days, and it's possible she could address the country multiple times.
If former President Donald Trump were to declare victory before the results are in, as he wrongly did in 2020, the sources said they would have a campaign strategy for handling that, NBC News reported.
