Joe Biden has become US President-elect after winning the pivotal state of Pennsylvania, NBC News projected.
The former vice president accumulated 273 Electoral College votes after winning Pennsylvania’s 20 electors, according to NBC News, surpassing the 270 needed to win the White House and defeat President Donald Trump.
Biden’s victory capped one of the longest and most tumultuous campaigns in modern history, in which he maintained an aggressive focus on Trump’s widely criticized handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. A majority of voters said rising coronavirus cases were a significant factor in their vote, according to early results from the NBC News Exit Poll of early and Election Day voters.
Biden regularly criticized Trump as unfit for office and positioned his campaign as a “battle for the soul of America.”
He promised from the outset of his run to heal and unite the country if he won, and made central to his closing message a pledge to represent both those who voted for him as well as those who didn't when he got to the White House.
In a statement issued shortly after NBC News called the race, Biden said he was honored by the news and reiterated the calls for unity that had been hallmark of his campaign speeches in recent weeks.
Biden will address the US today in a speech from Wilmington.
His running mate, Kamala Harris, said in a tweet that "this election is about so much more" than Biden and herself and it’s about the soul of America and their willingness to fight for it.
Celebrations and protests erupted across the nation in the moments after the race was called for Biden. Crowds of Biden supporters quickly gathered in grew in Times Square and Grand Army Plaza in New York, in Black Lives Matter Plaza near the White House in Washington, D.C., and outside the Pennsylvania Convention Center, in Philadelphia.
Pro-Trump gatherings protesting Biden's victory broke out in numerous locations, too, including outside the Michigan State Capitol building, in Lansing and outside the North Carolina State Capitol building, in Raleigh.
Biden will be sworn in as the 46th U.S. president on January 20th.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump refused to formally concede the US election, even as senior Republicans began to distance themselves and as recriminations were reported among aides to a president doomed to electoral defeat.
Before the race was called, Trump continued to tweet his defiance and to attract censure from Twitter for making baseless claims about voter fraud and his supposed victory.
He also went to his course in Virginia to play golf. From there, he issued a defiant statement.
Trump says the simple fact is this election is far from over and Joe Biden has not been certified as the winner of any states, let alone any of the highly contested states headed for mandatory recounts, or states where their campaign has valid and legitimate legal challenges that could determine the ultimate victor.
Trump says the American people are entitled to an honest election and that means counting all legal ballots, and not counting any illegal ballots.
Trump adds beginning Monday their campaign will start prosecuting their case in court to ensure election laws are fully upheld and the rightful winner is seated.
Pro-Trump gatherings protesting Biden's victory broke out in numerous locations, too, including outside the Michigan State Capitol building, in Lansing and outside the North Carolina State Capitol building, in Raleigh.
Biden will be sworn in as the 46th U.S. president on January 20th.
Kamala Harris will become the first female, first Black and first South Asian American vice president.
[Source: NBC/Guardian]
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