President-elect Joe Biden declared victory in the US presidential race on Saturday and called for Americans to come together after years of partisan rancor.
“The people of this nation have spoken. They’ve delivered us a convincing victory. A clear victory,” Biden told the crowd of supporters in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware.
Biden became the president-elect after several days of vote counting when major news outlets called Pennsylvania and its 20 electoral votes for the former vice-president. Soon after the Pennsylvania call, media outlets announced Biden had also defeated Donald Trump in Arizona and Nevada, giving him a total of 290 electoral votes.
Echoing the introductory speech by his running-mate, Vice-President-Elect Kamala Harris, Biden in his speech pledged to be a president for all Americans, including the 70 million who voted to re-elect Trump.
“I pledge to be a president who seeks not to divide but to unify,” Biden said.
The incoming 46th president acknowledged the current era of hyper-partisan politics and tense race relations across the country. “Let this grim era of demonization in America begin to end – here and now,” he said.
“It’s time to put away the harsh rhetoric. To lower the temperature. To see each other again. To listen to each other again,” Biden added.
“To make progress, we must stop treating our opponents as our enemy. We are not enemies. We are Americans. The Bible tells us that to everything there is a season — a time to build, a time to reap, a time to sow. And a time to heal. This is the time to heal in America,” Biden said.
And he acknowledged the historic nature of his campaign, and the supporters that buoyed it even when it struggled to stay afloat.
“To all those who supported us: I am proud of the campaign we built and ran. I am proud of the coalition we put together, the broadest and most diverse in history. Democrats, Republicans and independents,” Biden said. “Progressives, moderates and conservatives. Young and old. Urban, suburban and rural. Gay, straight, transgender. White. Latino. Asian. Native American. And especially for those moments when this campaign was at its lowest – the African American community stood up again for me. They always have my back, and I’ll have yours.”
Cars at the Chase Center convention venue honked and supporters cheered throughout the address.
Biden’s speech was as much a celebration as it was an acknowledgement of the momentous tasks his incoming administration faces. The US confirmed 126,480 new coronavirus cases on Friday, a record number for a third day in a row. Millions of Americans are still losing their jobs each month, and the climate crisis is worsening.
Biden is likely to enter his first term as president with a divided Congress, where Democratscontrol the House of Representatives but Republicans hold a majority in the Senate.
Biden on Saturday formally announced a new taskforce to plan federal efforts to curb the virus. “On Monday, I will name a group of leading scientists and experts as transition advisers to help take the Biden-Harris Covid plan and convert it into an action blueprint that starts on January 20 2021,” Biden said. “That plan will be built on a bedrock of science. It will be constructed out of compassion, empathy, and concern. I will spare no effort – or commitment – to turn this pandemic around.”
Biden was introduced by Kamala Harris, the California senator who is now the vice-president elect. She noted the historical aspect of her ascension to the vice-presidency, becoming the the first woman of color to inhabit the office. She thanked Biden for helping break “one of the most substantial barriers” and picking a woman as his vice-president. She vowed to be a vice-president for all Americans.
It was a theme the ticket would return to repeatedly. Biden stressed the need for unity in addressing the challenges the country faces going forward, and he reached out to supporters of Donald Trump – one of the only times he and Harris directly name-checked the president in their remarks.
“And to those who voted for President Trump, I understand your disappointment tonight. I’ve lost a couple of elections myself,” Biden said. “But now, let’s give each other a chance.”
It’s unclear whether Trump will continue the traditions past presidents have kept when leaving office, both because of term limits and electoral defeat.
Trump has not conceded the race and he and some of his advisers say that the election results are laced with fraud. Those claims are unfounded. After the race was called for Biden, Trump sent out several angry tweets, baselessly alleging vote count irregularities.
The White House signaled that it would have no more public events on Saturday. The 45th president went golfing earlier in the day.
During Biden’s speech, Trump was in the executive residence of the White House with the first lady, Melania Trump. It is unclear if he watched Biden’s remarks. As of Saturday, Trump had not extended an invitation to meet with Biden, as presidents normally do with their successors.
After Biden’s speech, the campaign shot out fireworks as the incoming first and second families watched together on stage. The fireworks included the Biden campaign logo and the words “president-elect” and “vice-president-elect.”
Source: Elections - theguardian.com
