Joe Biden Elected as 46th President of the United States

Ana Martinez, Feature/Design Editor

After crossing over the 270 electoral votes threshold, Democratic nominee Joseph R. Biden has officially won the 2020 election for 46th President of the United States, according to the Associated Press, following a campaign dedicated to coming “together as a nation.”

Biden won the presidency four days after election day, when the Associated Press announced that he had won Pennsylvania, giving him 20 more electoral votes and securing his win over Republican nominee and incumbent President Donald J. Trump. 

Additionally, Biden won Nevada hours after Pennsylvania, giving him a total of 290 electoral votes. President Trump currently has 214 electoral votes, according to the Associated Press. The AP’s vote projections remain preliminary until confirmed by individual states. The Electoral College votes on this in December, and they announce the official results in January.

The voter turnout for the 2020 election has been at its highest in a century, with over 141 million ballots cast throughout the country. Voter turnout remained especially high in the key battleground states of Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Nevada, and 22 other states broke their 40-year voter turnout record, according to the Washington Post. Currently, Biden is winning the popular vote with over 74 million votes, while Trump has over 70 million. 

Vice president nominee Kamala Harris has made history as the first woman, first Black and first South Asian vice president-elect ever. On Saturday, Harris congratulated Biden on his win. “We did it, Joe,” Harris said in a video released on her Instagram.

Trump has not yet conceded Biden’s win, instead making a statement on Twitter Saturday morning. 

Trump has continued to pursue lawsuits in several states, including Michigan, Georgia, Nevada and Pennsylvania, questioning mail-in and absentee ballot voting procedures, many of which had been done due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Judges in Georgia and Michigan have dismissed Trump’s lawsuits, which asked the respective states to stop counting absentee ballots. In Pennsylvania, the Trump lawsuits gave state polls  greater access to ballot counting starting Thursday. 

North Carolina and Georgia have not yet finalized their votes; Trump leads the vote in North Carolina and Biden leads the vote in Georgia. Regardless, Georgia and North Carolina’s  electoral votes will not affect Biden’s win.

Tonight at 8 p.m. EST, Biden plans to give remarks at an outdoor event in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware discussing his win of the 2020 Presidential election. 

“America, I’m honored you have chosen me to lead your great country,” Biden said in a Twitter statement. “The work ahead of us will be hard, but I promise you this: I will be a President for all Americans — whether you voted for me or not. I will keep the faith that you have placed in me.”