Former presidents and politicians from both major parties weighed in to congratulate Joe Biden on his victory over Donald Trump, with Democrats eager to turn the page on four years of tumult and some Republicans offering prayers and best wishes while hinting at the partisan combat to come.
Biden was declared the winner of Pennsylvania on Saturday, pushing him over the 270 electoral college votes needed to win the presidency after days of uncertainty as election officials counted an unprecedented number of mail-in ballots due to coronavirus pandemic. Trump has refused to concede.
“In this election, under circumstances never experienced, Americans turned out in numbers never seen,” Barack Obama said in a statement praising his former vice president and Biden’s running mate, Kamala Harris. “And once every vote is counted, President-Elect Biden and Vice President-Elect Harris will have won a historic and decisive victory.”
Obama implored Americans to stay active, urging them not to view Biden’s election as the finale after four years of protest and action but rather to see it as a stepping stone in their quest for progress.
“Enjoy this moment,” he continued. “Then stay engaged. I know it can be exhausting. But for this democracy to endure, it requires our active citizenship and sustained focus on the issues – not just in an election season, but all the days in between.”
Former president Jimmy Carter, who lost his re-election bid in a landslide to Ronald Reagan in 1980, congratulated the Democratic ticket, which may be the first to win his home state of Georgia in more than a quarter-century.
“We are proud of their well-run campaign and look forward to seeing the positive change they bring to our nation,” he said in a statement.
Shortly after Biden clinched Pennsylvania, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer called Biden to congratulate him. According to an aide, it was a “happy call”. Schumer, who had joined revelers in Brooklyn, held up his phone for Biden to hear their cheers and applause.
“Today marks the dawning of a new day of hope for America,” Pelosi said in a statement. “A record-shattering 75 million Americans cast their ballots to elect Joe Biden President of the United States – a historic victory that has handed Democrats a mandate for action.”
House Democrats will maintain their majority, but Pelosi is on track to lead the thinnest majority in decades after sustaining unexpected losses. The Senate majority will almost certainly be decided by a pair of runoff elections in Georgia in January.
Republicans appeared divided on Saturday between accepting the new president-elect and standing by Trump.
Utah Senator Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican nominee who did not vote for Trump, congratulated Biden and Harris, praising them as “people of good will and admirable character.”
Senator Lamar Alexander, Republican of Tennessee who is retiring, urged Trump to follow more than two centuries of precedent and accept the outcome of the election.
“After counting every valid vote and allowing courts to resolve disputes, it is important to respect and promptly accept the result,” he wrote.
Like Trump, many of his closest allies were unwilling to accept the result, at least not yet.
“The media do not get to determine who the president is. The people do,” Missouri senator Josh Hawley, a Republican seen as having presidential ambitions, wrote on twitter. “When all lawful votes have been counted, recounts finished, and allegations of fraud addressed, we will know who the winner is.”
Source: US Politics - theguardian.com
