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WILMINGTON, Del. – President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. will address the nation Saturday at 8 p.m. ET, his campaign said, after days of anticipation and anxiety among his supporters about the election outcome.
Biden was expected to speak from a flag-bedened outdoor stage near the Chase Center on Riverfront, an event facility in Wilmington. He will be joined by his wife, Jill Biden, as well as Vice President-elect Senator Kamala Harris and her husband, Douglas Emhoff.
In a written statement Saturday, Biden called for the nation to come together, a sentiment that he will likely express in his comments Saturday night as well. “It is time for the United States to come together,” he said. “And to heal.”
On Saturday, Biden spoke with former President Barack Obama, who congratulated him, as well as with top Congressional Democrats, President Nancy Pelosi and Senator Chuck Schumer of New York. At one point, Mr. Schumer he held up his flip phone so Mr. Biden could hear people cheering him on in Brooklyn.
Meanwhile, Biden’s advisers and allies were giving serious thought to the transition period, which they had been planning for months.
“He will show respect to the approximately 68 million Americans who voted for his opponent on how he behaves in the transition, how he speaks to the country as president-elect if that is what happens and on his inauguration,” said Senator Chris Coons. from Delaware, he said Friday. “He will soon begin communicating with leaders on both sides to help figure out what is possible and what is the right way forward.”
And several officials hoping to be involved in the transition said they thought Biden’s team would be especially focused on dealing with healthcare challenges, including how they will cope with the coronavirus crisis.
“There is no question that Covid has been a hugely important part of everything that has happened to healthcare over the past few months,” said former Delaware Governor Jack Markell, who also said he intended to be involved in the transition. of medical care. “The big focus on Covid would continue.”
But at Wilmington on Saturday, news of the victory was still creeping in. Biden’s campaign manager, Jennifer O’Malley Dillon, said she had been on the run and that her mother had called her to inform her that CNN had called for the race. your candidate. “Ecstatic, a great day for this county,” he said, according to a group report.
“It’s wonderful,” Valerie Biden Owens, Biden’s sister, told a small group of reporters at the Westin Hotel in Wilmington minutes before CNN called the race. “It’s a wonderful thing for us, but it’s a better thing for America.”
Biden’s younger brother, James Biden, was also present at the Westin, where a group of Biden’s aides camped out in recent days, and said he had spoken with the president-elect.
“We are very happy, very happy and grateful,” he said. “It’s okay”.
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