Elections

Joseph R. Biden Jr., a 77-year-old former vice president and longtime senator who has sought the White House on and off for more than three decades, on Saturday renewed his commitment to unifying and serving all Americans at a time the nation is deeply divided along sharply drawn partisan lines.In a roughly 17-minute address, Mr. Biden, speaking for the first time as president-elect, promised to lead with compassion, decency and character and heal the nation’s soul. As he has for months, Mr. Biden also promised to immediately address the coronavirus pandemic and work to stop its spread, an effort he said would be key to economic recovery.And to conclude, he returned the idea of that there is nothing Americans’ can’t do if they work together.“Let us be the nation that we know we can be,” he said. “A nation united, a nation strengthened, a nation healed.”Here is a transcript of Mr. Biden’s remarks as they were prepared for delivery.My fellow Americans, the people of this nation have spoken.They have delivered us a clear victory. A convincing victory.A victory for “We the People.”We have won with the most votes ever cast for a presidential ticket in the history of this nation — 74 million.I am humbled by the trust and confidence you have placed in me.I pledge to be a president who seeks not to divide, but to unify.Who doesn’t see red and blue states, but a United States.And who will work with all my heart to win the confidence of the whole people.For that is what America is about: the people.And that is what our administration will be about.I sought this office to restore the soul of America.To rebuild the backbone of the nation — the middle class.To make America respected around the world again and to unite us here at home.It is the honor of my lifetime that so many millions of Americans have voted for this vision.And now the work of making this vision real is the task of our time.As I said many times before, I’m Jill’s husband.I would not be here without the love and tireless support of Jill, Hunter, Ashley, all of our grandchildren and their spouses, and all our family.They are my heart.Jill’s a mom — a military mom — and an educator.She has dedicated her life to education, but teaching isn’t just what she does — it’s who she is. For America’s educators, this is a great day: You’re going to have one of your own in the White House, and Jill is going to make a great first lady.And I will be honored to be serving with a fantastic vice president — Kamala Harris — who will make history as the first woman, first Black woman, first woman of South Asian descent, and first daughter of immigrants ever elected to national office in this country.It’s long overdue, and we’re reminded tonight of all those who fought so hard for so many years to make this happen. But once again, America has bent the arc of the moral universe towards justice.Kamala, Doug — like it or not — you’re family. You’ve become honorary Bidens and there’s no way out.To all those who volunteered, worked the polls in the middle of this pandemic, local election officials — you deserve a special thanks from this nation.To my campaign team, and all the volunteers, to all those who gave so much of themselves to make this moment possible, I owe you everything.And 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.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.I said from the outset I wanted a campaign that represented America, and I think we did that. Now that’s what I want the administration to look like.And to those who voted for President Trump, I understand your disappointment tonight.I’ve lost a couple of elections myself.But now, let’s give each other a chance.It’s time to put away the harsh rhetoric.To lower the temperature.To see each other again.To listen to each other again.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.Now that the campaign is over — what is the people’s will? What is our mandate?I believe it is this: Americans have called on us to marshal the forces of decency and the forces of fairness. To marshal the forces of science and the forces of hope in the great battles of our time.The battle to control the virus.The battle to build prosperity.The battle to secure your family’s health care.The battle to achieve racial justice and root out systemic racism in this country.The battle to save the climate.The battle to restore decency, defend democracy, and give everybody in this country a fair shot.Our work begins with getting Covid under control.Election 2020 More

President-elect Joe Biden promised to ‘restore the soul of America’ as he declared victory in front of a crowd of supporters on Saturday night in his home town of Wilmington. ‘I pledge to be a president who seeks not to divide but unify, who doesn’t see red states or blue states but who only sees the United States.’
Addressing Trump supporters, Biden said he understood their disappointment because he had lost before. But now, ‘let’s give each other a chance’, he said. Biden and Kamala Harris hardly mentioned Donald Trump directly in their speeches – instead, they focused on the challenges ahead, including tackling the coronavirus pandemic
Full report: Biden wins US election after four tumultuous years of Trump
The path to Joe Biden’s victory: five days in five minutes – video highlights More

News organizations have called the presidential race for Joe Biden and he is now the president-elect of the United States. But Donald Trump refuses to concede. While a concession is not a legal requirement, it does create some uncertainty around what happens between now and the presidential inauguration on 20 January, when the constitution is clear the president’s term ends.
Here’s what you need to know about challenges to the vote totals over the next few weeks.
Joe Biden is projected to defeat Donald Trump. Is the election really over?
Media outlets have called Biden the winner based on their assessment of all of the counting and outstanding votes. They have made the assessment that Biden has a significant enough lead in enough states to get the 270 electoral college votes he needs to be president and that there’s no path forward for Trump.
The organizations that make these determinations, such as the Associated Press, rely on experts to make these projections and are often extremely cautious because they don’t want to get them wrong. Once a candidate is projected as the president-elect, it is highly unlikely the organization behind that projection would withdraw it.
As a matter of law, however, state results are not official until they go through a statewide certification process. Each state sets its own deadline for finishing that process. On 14 December, the electors chosen by their respective parties will all meet and cast their votes for president. The electors are chosen based on the certified winner of the popular vote.
Trump’s campaign is already filing lawsuits challenging votes. Can he change the results of the vote before results are certified and the electoral college meets?
It’s very unlikely.
Joe Biden holds a lead of tens of thousands of votes in key states where he needs the electoral college vote, and by about 4m in the overall popular vote. To overturn those margins, the Trump campaign would need to convince judges that those ballots had been cast illegally.
But election officials closely track mail-in ballots and the ballot counting process, and voter fraud is extremely rare in the US. It will be very hard for Trump to convince judges otherwise.
So far, Trump’s efforts do not look promising. The handful of lawsuits he has filed are legally shaky, experts say, and even if they had any merit, they would not be sufficient to overturn Biden’s leads. At least two of the suits have already been dismissed.
Trump has already said he’s going to seek recounts. What does that mean and will that change anything?
Recounts are a normal process in elections and many states have laws that specifically outline the process under which they occur. In Wisconsin, a candidate is entitled to a recount if the margin is less than 1 percentage point (Biden currently leads Trump there by about 0.7 points). In Georgia, a candidate can request a recount if the margin is less than 0.5% of votes cast (Biden currently leads by about 0.2 points). In Pennsylvania, there is an automatic statewide recount if the margin between the candidates is less than 0.5% of votes cast.
A recount doesn’t mean there was anything wrong with the initial count – it’s a way of checking the results in a close race. Recounts rarely change the results of a race.
Between 2000 and 2019, there were 5,778 statewide elections and 31 statewide recounts, according to FairVote, a voting reform group. Three of those recounts resulted in a reversal of the results. FairVote found that margin shifts are usually smaller in recounts with a high number of votes cast and presidential elections usually have the highest turnout.
Even Scott Walker, the former Republican governor of Wisconsin, has acknowledged Trump is unlikely to overcome Biden’s 20,000-vote lead in the state with a recount.

But what about the US supreme court? Conservatives have a powerful 6-3 majority there. Can’t Trump ask them to step in and determine the outcome of the election?
It’s true that the US supreme court is very conservative, but the justices are unlikely to determine the outcome of this election for a few reasons.
Much of Trump’s focus in challenging the election result has been focused on the fact that election officials are counting mail-in ballots after election day. But even though the ballots are tabulated after election day, all of them were cast on or before it.
Trump has offered little evidence of any, let alone widespread, ballots that were cast illegally.
There is currently only one pending case regarding the election in front of the US supreme court. It’s a dispute over whether Pennsylvania ballots that were postmarked by election day but arrive in the days after should be counted. Even though three justices on the court have suggested those ballots should be thrown out, it does not appear that there are enough of those late-arriving ballots to swing the election in Pennsylvania. Even if there were, legal experts have also voiced skepticism over whether the justices would reject the ballots because voters who cast those late-arriving ballots relied on instructions from government officials to believe they would be counted.
The US supreme court also wants to be seen as above politics and unlikely to get involved in an election where it would have to overturn the results in a number of states. In the 2000 election, the supreme court got involved in one state, Florida. But 2020 is dramatically different. Biden is projected to win a number of key swing states and the court is likely to be very hesitant to get involved. That sets a high bar for Trump and his lawyers: they have to show clear evidence of wrongdoing that would change the results in those places. More

Kamala Harris, the first woman, the first Black woman, and the first woman of Indian heritage to be elected vice president, said Saturday that “a new day for America” had arrived and thanked Americans for making their voices heard in a brief speech on Saturday night, hours after she and Joseph R. Biden Jr. had been declared the winners of the 2020 presidential election.In her historic remarks, Ms. Harris recalled her mother, an immigrant who came to California as a teenager.“She maybe didn’t imagine quite this moment,” Ms. Harris said of her mother, Shyamala Gopalan Harris. “But she believed so deeply in America where a moment like this is possible, and so I am thinking about her and about the generations of women, Black women, Asian, white, Latina, Native American women — who throughout our nation’s history have paved the way for this moment — women who fought and sacrificed so much for equality and liberty and justice for all.”Ms. Harris acknowledged “all the women who have worked to secure and protect the right to vote for over a century.“Tonight, she said, “I reflect on their struggle, their determination, and the strength of their vision to see what can be unburdened by what has been. And I stand on their shoulders.”Here is a transcript of Ms. Harris’s remarks as they were prepared for delivery.Good evening.Congressman John Lewis, before his passing, wrote: “Democracy is not a state. It is an act.”And what he meant was that America’s democracy is not guaranteed.It is only as strong as our willingness to fight for it, to guard it and never take it for granted.And protecting our democracy takes struggle.It takes sacrifice. There is joy in it and there is progress.Because “We The People” have the power to build a better future.And when our very democracy was on the ballot in this election, with the very soul of America at stake, and the world watching, you ushered in a new day for America.To our campaign staff and volunteers, this extraordinary team — thank you for bringing more people than ever before into the democratic process and for making this victory possible.To the poll workers and election officials across our country who have worked tirelessly to make sure every vote is counted — our nation owes you a debt of gratitude as you have protected the integrity of our democracy.And to the American people who make up our beautiful country — thank you for turning out in record numbers to make your voices heard.I know times have been challenging, especially the last several months.The grief, sorrow, and pain. The worries and the struggles.But we’ve also witnessed your courage, your resilience, and the generosity of your spirit.For four years, you marched and organized for equality and justice, for our lives, and for our planet.And then, you voted. You delivered a clear message.You chose hope, unity, decency, science, and, yes, truth.You chose Joe Biden as the next President of the United States of America.Joe is a healer. A uniter. A tested and steady hand.A person whose own experience of loss gives him a sense of purpose that will help us, as a nation, reclaim our own sense of purpose.And a man with a big heart who loves with abandon.It’s his love for Jill, who will be an incredible first lady.Election 2020 More

Kamala Harris, the first Black woman and first South Asian American woman to become vice-president-elect, began her victory speech by quoting the late congressman and civil rights leader John Lewis, who said, ‘Democracy is not a state, it is an act.’
A century after women won the right to vote, Harris, wearing suffragette white, spoke about her late mother, Shyamala Gopalan Harris. ‘When she came here from India, at the age of 19, she maybe didn’t quite imagine this moment. But she believed so deeply in an America where a moment like this is possible,’ she said.
Joe Biden was declared the president-elect after the AP announced he had won Pennsylvania and its 20 electoral votes, putting him over the threshold of the 270 electoral votes needed to win the White House and beat Donald Trump
The path to Joe Biden’s victory: five days in five minutes – video highlights
Kamala Harris makes history as first woman of color elected VP More

Bernie Sanders, the progressive senator of Vermont who put up a strong challenge to Joe Biden in the Democratic primaries before helping him campaign, has offered congratulations to the president-elect and his running mate, Kamala Harris. Sanders called this election the most important in modern American history
The path to Joe Biden’s victory: five days in five minutes – video highlights
US election live: Joe Biden wins and says ‘It’s time for America to unite’ More

Donald Trump came to use the line often at his campaign rallies. “Can you imagine if you lose to a guy like this?” he would say of Joe Biden. “It’s unbelievable.”
It’s not so unbelievable now. Despite record turnout, and a tighter than expected race, the US president’s blind faith in the power of positive thinking appears to have collided with the reality of a coronavirus pandemic, a chaotic campaign and the uprising of a democratic and Democratic resistance. He is the first incumbent to lose a bid for re-election since George H W Bush in 1992.
More successful incumbents have made elections about their challengers rather than themselves. But Trump could neither escape the pandemic and its economic fallout nor find a way to define Biden. With more than 225,000 Americans dead after contracting the virus, his closing rallies were held largely in midwestern states enduring record infections, hospitalisations and deaths.
The election was always going to be a referendum on Trump in general and his handling of the virus in particular.
As Trump shot himself in the foot almost daily with crass behaviour and denials of scientific reality, Biden was able to sit back and watch the implosion. His own campaign schedule was lighter, observed public health guidelines and was always sure to keep a laser focus on the pandemic.
In February, with the economy humming, Trump had some reasons to be confident of re-election. Having filed the paperwork to run on inauguration day, his re-election campaign had built a formidable war chest and data operation. He survived an impeachment trial that led some critics to accuse Democrats of overreach. The president stood in the White House and brandished a newspaper front page that declared “Trump acquitted” – but tectonic plates were shifting beneath his feet. More

Donald Trump was golfing at the Trump National Golf Club in Virginia when major news outlets projected presidential rival Joe Biden had won the 2020 US election. Trump posed for photos at the club but did not comment on the results at the time. The president’s camp has since refused to concede the result and released a statement saying the ‘simple fact is this election is far from over’
Trump heads for golf club – again – before defeat by Biden is called
US election live: Joe Biden wins and says ‘It’s time for America to unite’ More