(WASHINGTON) — House and Senate lawmakers on Monday met for joint session to certify President-elect Donald Trump’s 2024 victory.
Vice President Kamala Harris, who presided over the ceremony, read the results aloud.
Republicans cheered loudly as she announced Trump’s 312 electoral votes, while Democrats did the same for her 226 electoral votes.
The vote count occurred exactly four years after thousands of pro-Trump supporters violently stormed the U.S. Capitol, temporarily disrupting lawmakers affirming President Joe Biden’s 2020 win.
Monday’s events marked a return to the traditional ceremonial task that had long been a subdued affair until Trump’s challenge of his loss to Biden, though heightened security measures remain in place.
A winter snowstorm blanketed Washington but lawmakers forged ahead with the constitutionally mandated responsibility. The House floor was packed with lawmakers for the count, which was the final step in validating Electoral College results.
This year, President Biden emphasized the importance of America’s bedrock principle of a peaceful transfer of power but urged the country to never forget what happened in 2021.
“We should be proud that our democracy withstood this assault,” Biden wrote in an op-ed published late Sunday by the Washington Post. “And we should be glad we will not see such a shameful attack again this year.”
Harris, too, called it a “sacred obligation” — one she said she would “uphold guided by love of country, loyalty to our Constitution and my unwavering faith in the American people.”
As she made her way to the House chamber, Harris was asked what people should take away from Monday’s events.
“Democracy must be upheld by the people,” she said, raising one finger in the air.
Speaker Mike Johnson, who was just elected to a second term to lead the House with Trump’s assistance, and Vice President Harris called the chamber to order shortly after 1 p.m. ET after the procession of ballots and senators through the Capitol.
Harris opened the votes from each state and handed them to the House tellers, who read aloud the result.
Unlike in 2021, there were no objections to the results. Harris conceded to Trump the day after Election Day, and no Democrats have challenged the outcome as many Republican allies of Trump did in 2020.
Vice President-elect JD Vance, who was a senator from Ohio when he was tapped to be Trump’s running mate, was seated in the front row during the count.
Trump, ahead of the certification, posted on his social media platform that it will be “A BIG MOMENT IN HISTORY. MAGA!”
The president-elect will be sworn in on Monday, Jan. 20.
Trump has claimed his win is a “mandate” from the American people to implement his agenda for the economy, immigration and more.
He is returning to the White House with Republicans controlling both the House and Senate. The 119th Congress was sworn in last Friday.
ABC News’ Allison Pecorin and John Parkinson contributed to this report.
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