US media: Mr. Joe Biden elected president
Joe Biden was "announced" as the 46th President of the United States, after he won Pennsylvania to get 284 electoral votes. He then won Nevada, bringing the total to 290 votes.
As the United States enters its fourth day since Election Day, November 3, with tens of thousands of votes yet to be counted and the world anxiously awaiting the final results, Democratic candidate Joe Biden was unanimously "announced" by media outlets as the President-elect of the United States.
He won the battleground state of Pennsylvania with 20 electoral votes and reached a total of 284 electoral votes, surpassing the 270 mark to defeat his opponent Donald Trump and win the race to the White House. Biden then continued to win the state of Nevada with 6 electoral votes, bringing the total number of electoral votes to 290.
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| Joe Biden speaks in Wilmington, Delaware, on November 6. Photo: Reuters. |
The victory also made Senator Kamala Harris the first Black female vice president of the United States and made Trump the first incumbent president to fail in his re-election bid since George HW Bush in 1992.
President-elect Joe Biden was quick to thank the American people for their support of him and Vice President-elect Harris, and called on them to unite in this time of crisis.
"As this campaign is over, it's time to put aside the anger and the harsh criticism and come together. It's time for America to unite and heal. We are America. There's nothing we can't do if we stand together," Biden said.
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| Biden supporters celebrate in downtown Washington on November 7. Photo: Reuters. |
However, in a statement after news agencies "announced" Biden as President-elect, Trump said "the election is far from over" and his campaign will file a lawsuit on November 9. Trump also claimed Biden was "rushing to pretend to be the winner", but did not provide evidence.
A source familiar with the matter said Trump has no plans to invite Biden to the White House in the coming days. Normally, the two US presidents meet in the Oval Office to discuss the situation after the election results.
Biden’s victory was celebrated across the country by millions of Americans who had spent the past four years organizing and campaigning against Trump, rejecting a president who had shattered democratic norms and stoked racial and cultural resentment. Cheers, sirens and dancing erupted in major cities, including the capital, where Biden will be sworn in on January 20.
Deep divisions were exposed, however, as pro-Trump protesters continued to claim that the election was stolen from Trump, a president whom millions still see as a defender of "law and order" at home and of "America First" abroad.
With voter turnout reaching its highest level in a century despite the pandemic, a frightened and anxious nation elected a candidate who promised to govern not as a Democrat but as “president of the United States” and vowed to be a unifying force after four years of turmoil.
Even though Biden received nearly 75 million popular votes, the most for any presidential candidate in history, it remains uncertain whether America will be able to wean itself off Trump and the Trumpism the former vice president envisioned when he declared the election a “battle for the soul of the nation.”
As of November 7, Trump has garnered more than 70 million votes, more than the number of votes Barack Obama won in his historic victory in 2008.
"The work ahead of us will be difficult, but I promise you this: I will be president for all Americans — whether you voted for me or not," Biden said on November 7 after his election. "I will keep the trust you have placed in me."
Joe Biden is scheduled to address the nation on the evening of November 7 (morning of November 8, Hanoi time).