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    'Spread the faith': Biden and Harris victory speeches offer message of unity – video highlights

    Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have offered a message of unity as the pair spoke following their election victory. Harris, who will be the first woman to be vice-president, paid tribute to her mother. For Biden, his speech was an opportunity to offer an olive branch to his political rivals after nearly four years of division under Donald Trump
    ‘We must restore the soul of America’: Joe Biden’s victory speech in full – video
    ‘You chose truth’: Kamala Harris’s historic victory speech in full – video More

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    'This is the time to heal': Joe Biden addresses Americans in election victory speech

    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.” More

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    Unity amid diversity: key takeaways from Biden's and Harris's speeches

    Joe Biden calls for unity, unity, unity
    Throughout his campaign, Joe Biden spoke about how he was running to restore “the soul of America”, and he returned to the sentiment again and again in his victory speech. There was the Obamaesque: “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.” There was the biblical: “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.” And there was plain-spoken Joe from Scranton: “Let’s give each other a chance.”
    This pair will celebrate America’s diversity
    From the moment that Kamala Harris, in suffragette white, appeared on stage to the strains of Mary J Blige’s Work That, it was clear that this pair of leaders would celebrate America as it is – not hearken back to the whiter America of the past. Biden celebrated “the broadest and most diverse coalition in history – Democrats, Republicans, independents, progressives, moderates, conservatives, young, old urban, suburban, rural, gay, straight, transgender, white, Latino, Asian, Native Americans,” as well as “the African American community”, which he especially praised for standing up for him “when this campaign was at its lowest ebb”.

    “We must make the promise of the country real for everybody, no matter their race, their ethnicity, their faith, their identity, or their disability,” he added.
    Harris paid tribute to her mother, who immigrated to the US from India at the age of 19, not knowing her daughter would go on to be, as Biden said, “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 was a night to celebrate finally breaking that stubborn glass ceiling. “I may be the first woman in this office,” Harris said. “I won’t be the last.”
    America turned away from its “darkest impulses” – but it was close
    Biden only mentioned Donald Trump once, and only in reference to the people who voted for the president, but the specter of the sitting president loomed over both speeches. Both Harris and Biden made reference to the fragile state of American democracy – and the other direction things could have gone. “Our very democracy was on the ballot in this election,” Harris said.
    Biden called for the end of “this grim era of demonization”, saying: “It’s time to put away the harsh rhetoric, to lower the temperature, to see each other again, to listen to each other again.” Perhaps the closest Biden came to directly invoking the ugly racism and demagoguery of the Trump era came in a reference to Abraham Lincoln’s first inaugural address: “Our nation is shaped by the constant battle between our better angels and our darkest impulses. It is time for our better angels to prevail.”
    There is a lot of work to be done – and it starts with controlling Covid
    As much as Americans may want to sit back and let a pair of competent, even-tempered adults take the wheel for the next four years, both Harris and Biden were clear that the country is not in the best shape – and fixing it won’t necessarily be easy.
    “Now is when the real work begins – the hard work, the necessary work, the good work,” Harris said. Biden spoke of “the great battles of our time” and delineated six key priorities: the coronavirus, the economy, healthcare, “the battle to achieve racial justice and root out systemic racism”, the climate crisis and “the battle to restore decency, defend democracy and give everybody in this country a fair shot”.
    Addressing the pandemic will be the first order of business, he said, and something he will begin addressing with the appointment of scientists to a Covid transition team on Monday. “Our work begins with getting Covid under control,” he said. “I will spare no effort or commitment to turn this pandemic around.”

    America’s reputation abroad is looking up
    Though Biden made few references to the rest of the world, what he said of America’s role within it will undoubtedly be reassuring to many. “Tonight, the whole world is watching America,” Biden said. “I believe at our best, America is a beacon for the globe, and we lead not by the example of our power, but by the power of our example.”
    For the past four years, many have watched in horror or fearful anticipation of what would fall out of the president’s mouth next. On Saturday night, over the course of 30 minutes, Harris and Biden stood before the world to speak of shared values and aspirations, without insulting any nation or group of people, without invoking hatred or fear, and without threats or rancor.
    That sound you hear? That’s the sound of billions of people exhaling. It’s been a long four years. More

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    'We must restore the soul of America': Joe Biden's victory speech in full – video

    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

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    'You chose truth': Kamala Harris's historic victory speech in full – video

    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

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    Bernie Sanders offers congratulations to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris – video

    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

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    ‘She represents the best of us’: Black women reflect on Kamala Harris’s historic win – video

    Kamala Harris made history as the first woman of color to be elected US vice-president. ‘It brings tears to my eyes and joy to my heart,’ said the former US national security adviser Susan Rice, while Atlanta’s mayor, Keisha Lance Bottoms, said: ‘She represents the best of us.’
    Harris, who is of Indian and Jamaican heritage, is the first woman to be elected to such a position in the White House.
    Kamala Harris makes history as first woman of color elected US vice-president
    US election live: Joe Biden wins and says ‘it’s time for America to unite’ More