US President-elect Joe Biden has taken the stage at his campaign headquarters in Delaware to wild applause.
Biden jogged onto the stage and double fist-bumped US Vice President-elect Kamala Harris before removing his mask to address the crowd.
"The people of this nation have spoken. They've delivered us a clear victory, a convincing victory, a victory for we the people."
He said 74 million votes were the most in history.
"Tonight we're seeing all over this nation, indeed across the world, an outpouring of joy ... I am humbled by the trust and confidence you've placed in me."
He said he only saw the United States, not red and blue states, and he would work to win the confidence of all.
"That is what America, I believe, is about. It's about people. I sought this office to restore the soul of this nation ... to make America respected around the world again.
"It is the task of our time. I'm Jill's husband, and I would not be here without the love and tireless support of Jill ... and all our family."
He said it was great day for educators because they'd have "one of their own" in the White House in Jill.
Biden said Harris would be a "fantastic" Vice President.
"Don't tell me it's not possible in the US. It's long overdue, and we're reminded tonight of those who fought so hard for so many years," he said of Harris being the first woman of colour to be Vice President.
He paid tribute to those who worked the polls in the middle of the pandemic. "You deserve a special thanks from the entire nation."
"All those who supported us, I'm proud of the campaign we built and ran."
He said it was a broad coalition reaching across racial divides and urban and rural divides.
"I wanted this campaign to represent and look like America. We've done that."
He told Trump supporters he understood the disappointment of losing, but now was the time to "see each other again".
Opponents were not enemies, but Americans, he said.
"This is the time to heal in America. Now this campaign is over, what is the will of the people? I believe it's this: America has called upon us to marshal the forces of decency, the forces of fairness, science and hope, and the great battles of our time, the battle to control the virus ... the battle to root out systemic racism in this country, and the battle to save our planet by getting climate under control."
"Our work begins with getting Covid under control."
On Monday he will name a group of transition adviser experts to put together an action blueprint built on "bedrock science" that will start on January 20, 2021.
"I will spare no effort, none, to turn around this pandemic.
"I'm a proud Democrat but I will govern as an American President. I will work as hard for those who didn't vote for me as those who did."
He said Democrats and Republicans could decide to co-operate.
"That's the choice I'll make."
The American story was about widening opportunities, but "too many dreams have been deferred too long".
"America has always be shaped by moments in time where we made hard decisions about who we are and who we wanted to be."
America stood at a crossroads, he said, and "we must restore the soul of America".
"Tonight the whole world is watching America and I believe at our best, America is a beacon for the globe. We will lead by the power of our example.
"I've always believed we can define America in one word: possibilities. I believe in the possibilities of this country."
He looked ahead to an America "that never gives in".
"There's never been anything we're not able to do when we've done it together."
He said his heart went out to the 230,000 Americans who had lost someone to Covid-19.
He called on Americans to embark on the next steps with "full hearts and steady hands", with faith in each other and a thirst for justice.
"Spread the faith. May God bless America and may God protect our troops."
His wife Jill then joined him stage, followed by the rest of his family.
Kamala Harris and her husband Douglas Emhoff also then joined him on stage.
Harris earlier paid tribute to the late Congressman John Lewis, who had said: "Democracy is not a state, it is an act."
Harris said that meant protecting democracy. "We the people have the power to build a better future."
She said the "very soul of America was at stake".
"You ushered in a new day for America."
She thanked the campaign volunteers, election officials and poll workers who had worked "tirelessly" to make sure every vote is counted.
"To the American people who make up our beautiful country, thank you for turning out in record numbers to make your voices heard."
She said times had been challenging, especially the "grief, sorrow and pain" of recent months.
"For four years you marched and organised for equality, justice, for our lives and for our planet. And then you voted."
"You chose Joe Biden as the next President of the United States of America."
"And Joe is a healer, a uniter, a tested and steady hand."
"A man with a big heart who loves with abandon."
She said she got to know him as the father who loved Beau, who died of a brain tumour.
She paid tribute to her mother who came to the US from India at age 19, a woman who believed "a moment like this" was possible in America.
She said women of colour had paved the way for her, and proven they are the "backbone of our democracy".
"Tonight I reflect on their struggle, their determination ... I stand on their shoulders. What a testament to Joe's character that he had the audacity ... to select a woman as Vice President. While I may be the first woman in this office, I will not be the last."
"Every little girl watching tonight sees that this is a country of possibilities ... Dream with ambition, lead with conviction, and see yourselves in way others may not.
"No matter who you voted for, I will strive to be a Vice President like Joe was to President Obama ... waking up every day thinking of you and your family."
She said she would fight to combat Covid-19, the climate crisis, and "systemic racism" in the country.
She said Biden would be a President "for all Americans".
Biden has a long list of challenges which he has vowed to tackle head-on in his first 100
days as the leader of the free world.
He gave hints at some of the key issues he wants to address in his speech in Delaware yesterday — pointing to racism, international relations and climate change — and he is expected to wind back many of Donald Trump's policies.
However, it is understood his overriding priority will be tackling the pandemic.
As the US waited on results yesterday, the nation clocked a new world record for a single-day increase in cases — more than 122,000 — and Biden has been critical of Trump's handling of the situation.
He said that from day one, he would call leaders around the world and try to rekindle relationships that had been soured under the Trump administration.
Biden this morning defeated President Donald Trump to become the 46th President of the United States, positioning himself to lead a nation gripped by a historic pandemic and a confluence of economic and social turmoil.
But Trump has refused to concede defeat, threatening further legal action on alleged voter fraud and demanding recounts in key battleground states.
Biden, in an earlier statement, declared it was time for the battered nation "to unite and to heal".
"With the campaign over, it's time to put the anger and the harsh rhetoric behind us and come together as a nation," he said. "There's nothing we can't do if we do it together."
Biden was on track to win the national popular vote by more than 4 million, a margin that could grow as ballots continue to be counted.
Trump was not giving up.
Departing from long-standing democratic tradition and signalling a potentially turbulent transfer of power, he issued a combative statement saying his campaign would take unspecified legal actions and he would "not rest until the American people have the honest vote count they deserve and that democracy demands".
Trump has pointed to delays in processing the vote in some states to allege with no evidence that there was fraud and to argue that his rival was trying to seize power — an extraordinary charge by a sitting president trying to sow doubt about a bedrock democratic process.
Kamala Harris made history as the first black woman to become Vice President, an achievement that comes as the US faces a reckoning on racial justice. The California senator, who is also the first person of South Asian descent elected to the vice presidency, will become the highest-ranking woman ever to serve in government, four years after Trump defeated Hillary Clinton.
Trump is the first incumbent president to lose re-election since Republican George HW Bush in 1992.
He was golfing at his Virginia country club when he lost the race. He stayed out for hours, stopping to congratulate a bride as he left, and his motorcade returned to the White House to a cacophony of shouts, taunts and unfriendly hand gestures.
Trump earlier repeated his unsupported allegations of election fraud and illegal voting on Twitter. One of his tweets, quickly flagged as potentially misleading by Twitter, claimed: "I WON THIS ELECTION, BY A LOT!"
Across the country, there were parties and prayer. In New York City, spontaneous block parties broke out. People ran out of their buildings, banging on pots. They danced and high-fived with strangers amid honking horns. Among the loudest cheers were those for passing US Postal Service trucks.
People streamed into Black Lives Matter Plaza near the White House, near where Trump had ordered the clearing of protesters in June, waving signs and taking cellphone pictures. In Lansing, Michigan, Trump supporters and Black Lives Matter demonstrators filled the Capitol steps. The lyrics to "Amazing Grace" began to echo through the crowd, and Trump supporters laid their hands on a counter protester, and prayed.
Americans showed deep interest in the presidential race. A record 103 million voted early this year, opting to avoid waiting in long lines at polling locations during a pandemic. With counting continuing in some states, Biden had already received more than 74 million votes, more than any presidential candidate before him.
Trump's refusal to concede has no legal implications. But it could add to the incoming administration's challenge of bringing the country together after a bitter election.
Throughout the campaign, Trump repeatedly refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power, arguing without evidence that the election could be marred by fraud. The nation has a long history of presidential candidates peacefully accepting the outcome of elections, dating back to 1800, when John Adams conceded to his rival Thomas Jefferson.
It was Biden's native Pennsylvania that put him over the top, the state he invoked throughout the campaign to connect with working class voters. He also won Nevada on Saturday, pushing his total to 290 Electoral College votes.
Biden received congratulations from dozens of world leaders, and his former boss, President Barack Obama, saluted him in a statement, declaring the nation was "fortunate that Joe's got what it takes to be President and already carries himself that way".
Republicans on Capitol Hill were giving Trump and his campaign space to consider all their legal options. It was a precarious balance for Trump's allies as they try to be supportive of the President — and avoid risking further fallout — but face the reality of the vote count.
On Saturday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had not yet made any public statements — either congratulating Biden or joining Trump's complaints. But Senator Mitt Romney, one of Trump's strongest critics within the Republican Party, congratulated Biden and Harris on their victory.
More than 236,000 Americans have died during the coronavirus pandemic, nearly 10 million have been infected and millions of jobs have been lost. The final days of the campaign played out against a surge in confirmed cases in nearly every state, including battlegrounds such as Wisconsin that swung to Biden.
The pandemic will soon be Biden's to tame, and he campaigned pledging a big government response, akin to what Franklin D Roosevelt oversaw with the New Deal during the Depression of the 1930s. But Senate Republicans fought back several Democratic challengers and looked to retain a fragile majority that could serve as a check on such Biden ambition.
The 2020 campaign was a referendum on Trump's handling of the pandemic, which has shuttered schools across the nation, disrupted businesses and raised questions about the feasibility of family gatherings heading into the holidays.
The fast spread of the coronavirus transformed political rallies from standard campaign fare to gatherings that were potential public health emergencies. It also contributed to an unprecedented shift to voting early and by mail and prompted Biden to dramatically scale back his travel and events to comply with restrictions. The President defied calls for caution and ultimately contracted the disease himself.
Trump was saddled throughout the year by negative assessments from the public of his handling of the pandemic. There was another Covid-19 outbreak in the White House this week, which sickened his chief of staff Mark Meadows.
Biden also drew a sharp contrast to Trump through a summer of unrest over the police killings of Black Americans including Breonna Taylor in Kentucky and George Floyd in Minneapolis. Their deaths sparked the largest racial protest movement since the civil rights era. Biden responded by acknowledging the racism that pervades American life, while Trump emphasised his support of police and pivoted to a "law and order" message that resonated with his largely white base.
The third president to be impeached, though acquitted in the Senate, Trump will leave office having left an indelible imprint in a tenure defined by the shattering of White House norms and a day-to-day whirlwind of turnover, partisan divide and Twitter blasts.
Trump's team has filed a smattering of lawsuits in battleground states, some of which were immediately rebuffed by judges. His personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, was holding a news conference in Philadelphia threatening more legal action when the race was called.
Biden, born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and raised in Delaware, was one of the youngest candidates ever elected to the Senate. Before he took office, his wife and daughter were killed, and his two sons badly injured in a 1972 car crash.
Commuting every night on a train from Washington back to Wilmington, Biden fashioned an everyman political persona to go along with powerful Senate positions, including chairman of the Senate Judiciary and Foreign Relations Committees. Some aspects of his record drew critical scrutiny from fellow Democrats, including his support for the 1994 crime bill, his vote for the 2003 Iraq War and his management of the Clarence Thomas' Supreme Court hearings.
Biden's 1988 presidential campaign was done in by plagiarism allegations, and his next bid in 2008 ended quietly. But later that year, he was tapped to be Barack Obama's running mate and he became an influential vice president, steering the administration's outreach to both Capitol Hill and Iraq.
While his reputation was burnished by his time in office and his deep friendship with Obama, Biden stood aside for Clinton and opted not to run in 2016 after his adult son Beau died of brain cancer the year before.
Trump's tenure pushed Biden to make one more run as he declared that "the very soul of the nation is at stake".
- Additional reporting: news.com
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