After three days of key swing states counting their ballots, the United States finally have an answer to who the next president and vice president of the United States are: former Vice President Joe Biden and Senator Kamala Harris.
Harris will go down in history as the first woman vice president, as well as the first person of color to hold the position.
“While I may be the first woman in this office, I won’t be the last,” Harris said in an acceptance speech. “Every little girl watching tonight sees that this is a country of possibilities … Dream with ambition, lead with conviction, and see yourself in a way that others might not see you, simply because they’ve never seen it before.”
The presidential race was called Nov. 7 after major news networks had called the state of Pennsylvania and its 20 electoral votes for the former vice president, flipping it from red to blue from the previous election.
Biden has attained 290 electoral votes against incumbent President Donald Trump who has 214. North Carolina and Georgia still remain too close to be called.
For several days, experts had projected that Biden’s path to victory had narrowed after flipping the states of Wisconsin and Michigan, creating a Midwestern “blue wall” that paved Biden’s path to victory.
President-elect Biden had secured the highest number of votes for a Presidential candidate in American history, securing nearly 75 million votes in the process, about 50.6% of the popular vote.
President Donald Trump has called for recounts in multiple swing states and made claims of voter fraud, all of which have been debunked by political fact-checkers.
“I WON THIS ELECTION, BY A LOT,” he tweeted.
Trump’s campaign has also refused to concede the election, despite it being impossible to secure an electoral college victory based on current projections.
Milwaukee residents celebrated the victory for the president-elect in Zeidler Square, near where the location of Milwaukee Central Count is. Caravans also paraded around downtown, one of which passed through Marquette’s campus.
The City of Milwaukee had over 300,000 votes for Biden, a number that pushed the vote for the state in Biden’s favor, which secured it for the former vice president.
Following the announcement of his projection to win the presidency, Biden gave a speech from his home state of Delaware, the same place where he celebrated his announcement of accepting the Democratic nomination back in July.
“The people of this nation have spoken,” Biden said. “They’ve delivered us a victory … for we the people.”
World leaders congratulated the newly elected President, including Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and French President Emmanuel Macron.
“Indeed across the world, there is an outpouring of joy, renewed faith in tomorrow that brings a better day,” Biden said. “I am humbled by the trust and confidence you’ve placed in me. I pledge to be a President that seeks not to divide, but unify. (I) don’t see red states and blue states, but only the United States.”
Biden’s campaign was built on the grounds to “fight for the soul of the nation.” A sentiment he drove forward in his acceptance speech alongside Harris the Vice President-elect.
“It’s the honor of my lifetime that so many millions of Americans have voted for me for that vision. And now, the work at making that vision is real,” Biden said. “It’s the task of our time.”
Biden thanked his wife, Jill Biden, and his children and grandchildren for the support they gave him over the campaign trail.
Both Biden and Harris will be sworn into office at their Inauguration on Jan. 20, 2021.
This story was written by Benjamin Wells. He can be reached at [email protected].
