WS Chronicle

After days of waiting for ballots to be counted in several key states, on Saturday, Nov. 8, Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. was named the 46th president-elect of the United States. The announcement came four days after Election Day when election officials in Pennsylvania announced that Biden had won the state’s 20 electoral votes, giving him a total of 273, three more than the 270 needed to secure the presidency.

A native of Scranton, Pa., by way of Delaware, Biden studied at the University of Delaware before earning his law degree from Syracuse University in 1968. In 1970 he became one of the youngest senators in American history when he was elected to represent Delaware. He was re-elected to the Senate six times before resigning in 2008 to serve as Barack Obama’s vice president.

The president-elect delivered his acceptance speech from a drive-in event in Wilmington, Del. Biden’s address called for the country to come together and for the end of the hate rhetoric that became a trademark for the Trump administration. He said under his leadership, there won’t be “red states or blue states,” only Americans working together to “restore the soul of the country.”

“I am humbled by the confidence you placed in me. I pledge to be a president who seeks not to divide but unify; who doesn’t see red states and blue states, only the United States, and work with all my heart,” Biden continued. “I sought this office to restore the soul of America, to rebuild the backbone of this nation, the middle class, and make America respected around the world again … and to unite us here at home. It’s the honor of my lifetime that so many millions of Americans have voted for that vision.”

When addressing the more the 70 million Americans who voted for Donald Trump, Biden said now is the time to put aside differences and give each other a chance.

“It’s time to put away the harsh rhetoric, lower the temperature. See each other again, listen to each other again,” he continued. “And to make progress, we have to stop treating our opponents as our enemies. They are not our enemies; they are Americans.”

While much of the focus was on the president-elect, it was the Vice President-elect Kamala Harris who made history as the first woman, first African American, and person of South Asian decent to be elected vice president. As a graduate of Howard University, Harris is also the first HBCU graduate in office.

Harris’ journey to the White House began in Alameda County where she worked in the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office. In 2003 she was elected district attorney of San Francisco and in 2010 she was elected attorney general of California. Six years later Harris defeated Loretta Sanchez to become the second African American woman and the first South Asian American to serve in the Senate.

As she stood before the world for the first time as vice president-elect, Harris said, “While I may be the first woman in this office, I will not be the last.” She said every little girl across the country can see that this is a country of possibilities.

“To the children of our country … our country has sent you a clear message: Dream with ambition, lead with conviction and see yourselves in a way that others may not simply because they’ve never seen it before … Know we will applaud you every step of the way,” Harris said.

As many expected, Donald Trump has yet to accept the results of the election. Instead, the 45th president has filed several lawsuits in states across the country and spread baseless claims of election fraud. Meanwhile, the Biden-Harris ticket has already began looking toward the future. The president-elect is expected to announce members of a COVID-19 task force sometime this week.

Biden for President has also launched a transition website that outlines several issues the administration plans to address. The site, www.buildbackbetter.com, lists COVID-19, racial equality, economic recovery, and climate change as the top challenges currently facing the country.