Though it became clear relatively early on Election Night that Republican former President Donald Trump would soon become the president-elect, again, Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris initially declined to address her supporters or concede the race.

Later on Wednesday, however, Harris finally delivered a concession speech, right around the same time that a memo from her campaign manager to staffers was leaked to the media, according to Fox News.

That leaked letter from Jen O'Malley Dillon acknowledged Harris' defeat but, perhaps to try and encourage the campaign's disappointed staffers, took a few swipes at Trump and indicated that the partisan fight between Democrats and Republicans was not over but had merely entered a new phase.

The leaked campaign memo

O'Malley Dillon's memo to staffers congratulated and thanked them for their hard work but also informed them that VP Harris had called President-elect Trump to concede the race and "to ensure a peaceful transfer of power, unlike what we saw in 2020."

The memo further praised the staffers for the job they'd done on a condensed timeline to keep the race close, particularly in the important battleground states, and reassured them that their efforts had not gone unnoticed as well as that their fight would continue.

"I’ll leave you with this: losing is unfathomably painful. It is hard. This will take a long time to process," O'Malley Dillon wrote. "But the work of protecting America from the impacts of a Trump Presidency starts now."

"I know the Vice President isn’t finished in this fight, and I know the very people on this email are also going to be leaders in this collective mission," she added. "View this as the beginning, not the end. It will be hard work. But as the boss says: hard work is good work. And I look forward to standing beside you."

Trump campaign reveals concession calls from Harris, Biden

The Trump campaign confirmed that VP Harris had conceded the race with a statement on Wednesday from spokesman Steven Cheung, who said, "President Donald J. Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris spoke by phone earlier today where she congratulated him on his historic victory. President Trump acknowledged Vice President Harris on her strength, professionalism, and tenacity throughout the campaign, and both leaders agreed on the importance of unifying the country."

Later that same day, the campaign also noted in a release that President Joe Biden had also made contact with Trump to acknowledge his unquestionable victory, as Cheung said, "President Joe Biden called President Donald J. Trump to congratulate him on his victory and extended an invitation to the White House to ensure a smooth transition between the current Administration and the incoming Administration. President Trump looks forward to the meeting, which will take place shortly, and very much appreciated the call."

There was perhaps some initial confusion and dispute over the Trump campaign's statement about Biden's call, as Biden also released a White House statement on Wednesday that praised Harris and congratulated her on her strong run in his place but made no clear mention of her defeat or the victory by Trump.

Biden acknowledged Trump's victory

Any confusion or wishful thinking on the part of Democrats was cleared up on Thursday, however, when President Biden delivered remarks in the White House Rose Garden that seemed to effectively foreclose any sort of Democratic challenges to the election results.

"Yesterday, I spoke with President-elect Trump to congratulate him on his victory," Biden said. "And I assured him that I would direct my entire administration to work with his team to ensure a peaceful and orderly transition. That’s what the American people deserve."

"Campaigns are contests of competing visions. The country chooses one or the other. We accept the choice the country made," he continued at another point in the speech. "I’ve said many times you can’t love your country only when you win. You can’t love your neighbor only when you agree."

"Something I hope we can do no matter who you voted for is see each other not as adversaries but as fellow Americans, bring down the temperature," Biden added in a conciliatory gesture. "I also hope we can lay to rest the question about the integrity of the American electoral system. It is honest, it is fair, and it is transparent. And it can be trusted, win or lose."