As Vice President Kamala Harris entered the Senate chamber on Monday, when NBC News asked her if she would preside over the certification of the 2024 election, she made a simple statement: “Democracy prevails.”

Just minutes later, Harris prevailed, ensuring that Congress collectively endorsed the vote she lost and affirmed Donald Trump’s return to the White House.

With her hands clasped in front of her, Harris looked ahead clearly and attentively as four senators took turns reading the election results from each state.

She beamed a broad smile both as the vote total reached a threshold to declare Trump the next president and as she received a standing ovation from her party as her vote total was read out.

Harris’ message on Jan. 6 was one that both she and her predecessor on the campaign trail, President Joe Biden, delivered to voters again and again. They stood for “freedom” and democracy and shunned the events of the violent insurrection by Trump supporters on January 6, 2021, which led to an unprecedented attack on the nation’s Capitol.

That day, compared to four years earlier, was missing a gallows and a noose erected outside the Capitol grounds. Or chants advocating hanging the vice president for failing to reject the will of the people and the true outcome of the election. Instead, the event went as planned, pro forma and only lasted 30 minutes.

Ultimately, American voters rejected Harris, ushering in Trump and his vows to blow up the status quo. Trump took 312 electoral votes to Harris’ 226, won the popular vote and swept through battleground states, including toppling the so-called blue wall of states that Democrats normally need for their party’s victory.

In contrast to Trump’s refusal to accept the results of the 2020 vote, Harris acknowledged her defeat and tried to offer words of comfort to her supporters a day after the election.

“The outcome of this election is not what we wanted, not what we fought for, not what we voted for, but listen to me when I say… the light of America’s promise will always burn bright,” she said.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com