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Total euphoria, joy and singing erupted in Joe Biden’s hometown of Wilmington when the presidential election was decided.
Hundreds of people in the city are now waiting for tonight’s victory numbers, including Biden’s friend and former neighbor.
“This is what I’ve always wanted to see, it’s been my dream for him,” says 74-year-old Bob Williams.
Following the announcement that Joe Biden will be the next president of the United States, people are flocking to the Chase Center in Wilmington, Delaware.
Cars honk, strangers yell at each other, jump, and climb streetlights in the afternoon sun. A huge American flag is hoisted on two cranes.
“Joe, Joe, Joe!” The collection yells to deafening cheers.
The stage has been ready for several days. Now there are only hours left before Joe Biden is expected to speak to the nation and deliver his victory speech.
Happiness tears
Kate Michalek, 26, is one of those who came to celebrate the news that a Wilmington resident is moving into the White House. It was a total happiness when he received the message.
– I could hardly believe it. I cried a few tears of joy and called my family to let them know that we have been waiting and worried all this week. I was as happy as you can be, she says.
She believes it is important to share the experience with like-minded people, in what she describes as a watershed historical event.
Photo: PONTUS HÖÖK
Kate Michalek.
– The feeling is incredible. There are so many people here of different ethnicities, religions, origins, it is a moment of total unity. This is what America is about, not the kind of polarization we had before, he says.
He had no doubt that Joe Biden would win, but it has been an emotional roller coaster ride during the election campaign, the 2016 election felt like a shocking experience.
– So I tried to be cautiously optimistic, she says.
– We’ll keep celebrating all night. We look to the future and are ready to start working to see what can happen in the next few years, he continues.
“The best thing that happened in 2020”
At the fence is Remi Pointdexter, 30, who arrived for the celebration wearing a blue pinned cowboy hat from Biden and holding a tambourine that he spins in the air.
– I’m so excited to be here! It is wonderful to see a Delaware resident elected to the White House. At first I didn’t think it was real. There has been so much waiting and very bad news this year. But this is probably the best thing that happened in 2020.
He has
Photo: PONTUS HÖÖK
Before Joe Biden’s speech at the Chase Center tonight after he won the election.
n thinks it feels good to see people come together and that it is a wonderful energy, reminding him of 2008 when Obama was elected president and he felt that there was hope in the air.
– This was exactly what I needed. I was a little nervous when I saw that it was so even. But once it happened, I felt “finally, the best news for all of 2020!”
Old friend instead
Bob Williams, 74, who has lived in Wilmington for most of his life, has also parked himself in a tent chair before tonight’s speech. In fact, Joe Biden has been his old friend since the 1970s and a former neighbor.
– I was with him the day he decided to go to Washington DC The blocked bridges in the city and he jumped off the couch and said “I’ll go to Washington and fix it.” I’d never mentioned it before, so that was the beginning, says Bob.
They used to go to the town swim club about 50 years ago and saw each other together for the evening news because they were “addicted to politics,” says Bob.
Photo: Emelie Svensson
Bob Williams.
Every now and then he has run into his old friend in Wilmington. But not in recent months.
– The last time was probably last winter, before the primary elections. That’s where he usually goes and has breakfast, at Janssen’s. I still live around the corner. He said, “Once a neighbor, always a neighbor,” says Bob.
The darkness descends. Now he is waiting for his old friend’s victory speech on the stage of their common hometown.
– It’s been a long week, on Monday I was a bit depressed about how it was going to go. But it was all the way! This is what I’ve always wanted to see: it’s been my dream for him, says Bob.
The state-by-state vote count
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