Democrat Joe Biden won the US presidential election late Saturday after a bitter campaign, sparking street celebrations among his supporters in major cities, even as President Donald Trump refused to accept defeat. Biden’s running mate, Kamala Harris, has written history by becoming the United States’ first black and Indian-American female vice president-elect.
Also read: the world reacts to Biden’s victory
Biden’s victory on the Pennsylvania state battlefield put him above the threshold of the 270 Electoral College votes he needed to win the presidency, ending four days of scathing suspense in a deeply divided country.
Track trends and results live on our interactive map here.
Here are the live updates (all hours IST):
7.15 am
I don’t see red states and blue states, only America: Joe Biden
Biden declares victory in the US presidential elections. This is his first address to the nation as president-elect.
“Friends, the people of this nation have spoken. They have given us a clear victory, a compelling victory,” says Biden, referring to a record 74 million votes that he garnered.
“I promise to be a president who seeks not to divide, but to unify … who does not see red states and blue states but the United States,” he says in a speech that emphasized science, unity, hope and decency. He says he wants a cabinet that resembles the United States.
President-elect Joe Biden addresses a caravan rally in Delaware.
Addressing Trump supporters, Biden says: “I understand the disappointment. I’ve gotten lost a couple of times. But now let’s give ourselves a chance … listen to us again … we have to stop treating our opponents as enemies. “
I will spare no effort to reverse this pandemic: Biden on COVID-19. “Don’t just keep the faith, spread the faith,” says Biden at the conclusion of the speech. His wife, Dr. Jill Biden, and members of his family, all wearing masks, join him on stage. She is later joined by Kamala Harris and her husband Douglas Emhoff, both wearing masks.
7 am
Kamala Harris says voters ushered in a ‘new day for America’
Vice President-elect Kamala Harris said voters had ushered in a “new day for America” when she opened a victory speech Saturday with President-elect Joe Biden.
Harris, who will be the highest-ranking woman in American history, took the stage in Wilmington, Delaware in a white suit honoring the women’s suffrage movement to the tune of Mary J. Blige.
“When our own democracy was on the ballot in this election, with America’s soul at stake and the world watching, you ushered in a new day for America,” Harris said to cheers from the socially estranged crowd at the fresh air. – AFP
6.45 am
President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris are expected to speak soon at a motorcade in Wilmington, Delaware.
6.30 am
Why are questions raised about the viability of the US electoral system?
The 2020 U.S. presidential election has been one of the most bitterly polarized democratic exercises in recent times. The winner, Democrat and former Vice President Joe Biden, has obtained more than 74 million votes, and his rival, current Republican President Donald Trump, has obtained more than 70 million votes.
The fact that this election has had one of the highest turnout numbers since 1960 suggests that voters and both campaigns lobbied heavily for the chosen candidate to be elected. But despite the presence of both a ‘blue wave’ and a ‘red wave’, the bottom line went all the way and depended on tight voting margins in a handful of ‘undecided states’.
These circumstances have fueled outrage at the lack of direct representation in the electoral system and have raised doubts about the viability of the institution, the ‘Electoral College’, which makes the popular vote insufficient to determine the winner.
6 am
Kamala Harris breaks barriers as the next vice president of the United States
Senator Kamala Devi Harris has written history for the first time by becoming the first woman, Black and Indian-American Vice President of the United States.
Harris was chosen by Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden as her running mate in August, months after she suspended her own presidential dreams, saying she lacked the financial resources to continue her campaign.
A fierce critic-turned-ally of her former rival Biden, the 56-year-old California senator is one of only three Asian-Americans in the Senate and the first Native American to serve in the chamber.
Harris is known for many novelties. He has been a county district attorney; the San Francisco district attorney, the first woman and the first African American and Indian to be elected to the position. – PTI
.
