Saturday, November 7, 2020
Today, former Vice President of the United States Joe Biden was projected by multiple media outlets to have surpassed 270 electoral college delegate total and therefore become the 46th President of the United States elect.
His running mate, Kamala Harris, would become the first female and first African- and Asian-American vice president.
At around 11:25 am US east coast time (1625 UTC), the Associated Press (AP) called the election for Biden, as did NBC News, when Biden was declared to have won Pennsylvania’s 20 electoral college votes. Later in the day, the AP and NBC News also called Nevada for Biden, giving him an additional six electoral college votes, for a total by NBC’s reckoning of 279 electoral votes to President Donald Trump’s 214, or 290 electoral votes by AP’s reckoning.
Biden said in a statement, “I am honored and humbled by the trust the American people have placed in me and in Vice President-elect Harris”. He added, “With the campaign over, it’s time to put the anger and the harsh rhetoric behind us and come together as a nation. It’s time for America to unite. And to heal […] We are the United States of America. And there’s nothing we can’t do, if we do it together.”
President Trump has yet to concede, saying earlier in the morning before the call for Biden, “I WON THIS ELECTION, BY A LOT!” on Twitter. Following the announcement of Biden’s win, Trump issued a statement at his golf club outside Washington, D.C. saying, “The simple fact is this election is far from over. 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 our campaign has valid and legitimate legal challenges that could determine the ultimate victor”. The lack of a concession from Trump has no legal standing.