Clinton's campaign manager tells heartbroken crowd she won't concede

Even as the presidential election seemed to slip away from Hillary Clinton, her campaign manager appeared before a depleted crowd of emotional supporters early Wednesday morning to say she will not concede the race–without an appearance from the candidate herself.

Just after 2 AM, Clinton’s campaign chair John Podesta arrived at the podium in New York City’s Javits Center, where he thanked supporters and urged them to get home and get some rest.

“It’s been a long night, and it’s been a long campaign,” Podesta said. “But I say, we can wait a little longer, can’t we?”

After explaining there were still several states “too close to call,” Podesta said, “We’re not going to have anything more to say tonight.”

“Thank you so much to all of you,” Podesta exclaimed. “You are in all our hearts.”

Shortly after the Associated Press called the race for Trump, CNN reported on air that Clinton had called the billionaire to concede the race.

Just days earlier, Clinton had enjoyed a near universal chorus of polls and pundits predicting her as the odds-on favorite to win the White House, buoyed by by a coalition of Latinx, African American, and women voters for whom the prospect of a Trump presidency was both horrifying and motivating. But as Tuesday night rolled into Wednesday morning, that supposition was turned on its head as the electoral map significantly narrowed for Clinton’s presidential aspirations.

A mood of excited anticipation early Tuesday evening turned to unbridled despair as results filtered in, with scenes playing out of supporters hugging, crying, and filing out of the massive convention center hours before the final races of the evening were called.