Promise and excitement turn to jitters and dread at Kamala Harris’s watch party

Scene at Howard University had echoes of Hillary Clinton's loss in 2016 as US appears poised to return Trump to power

In the end, Kamala Harris never took the stage at her election night watch party on the Howard University campus in Washington DC. As Americans appeared poised to return Donald Trump to power, it was her campaign co-chair, Cedric Richmond, who appeared onstage instead.

He tried to strike a note of optimism - there were still votes to be counted. But the scene had echoes of Hillary Clinton's loss in 2016, when her campaign chairman, not the candidate, came out to address supporters awaiting the result of a presidential election that many hoped would finally shatter the hardest, highest" glass ceiling.