Despite pending litigation and election results in states around the nation, former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) addressed a crowd on Saturday night, declaring their presidential victory and thanking the American people for their votes.
“I’m humbled by the trust and confidence you placed in me. I pledge to be a president who seeks not to divide but unify, who doesn’t see red states or blue states, sees the United States,” Biden said.
Harris took the stage first, proclaiming the Biden-Harris administration would be productive and act on its agenda.
“For four years you marched and organized for equality and justice for our lives and for our planet, and then you voted,” she told a cheering crowd. “And you delivered a clear message. You chose hope and unity. Decency, science, and, yes, truth.”
BREAKING: Vice President-elect Kamala Harris takes the stage to address the nation. https://t.co/eJ4LLajSB6 pic.twitter.com/JjIZZxaRji
— ABC News (@ABC) November 8, 2020
Harris also congratulated her running mate, expressing hope that he would bring the country together with his “big heart.”
“Joe is a healer. A uniter. A tested and steady hand. A person whose own experience of loss gives him a sense of purpose that will help us as a nation reclaim our own sense of purpose,” she said. “And a man with a big heart who loves with abandon.”
Harris, who would be the first female vice president, continued to praise Biden for his leadership and “audacity to break one of the most substantial barriers that exists in our country and select a woman as his vice president.”
“While I may be the first woman in this office, I will not be the last,” she said.
Before Harris exited the stage, she reaffirmed her promise to move forward with Biden’s agenda, specifically in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic, racism, and climate change.
“Now is when the real work begins. The hard work. The necessary work. The good work. The essential work to save lives and beat this epidemic,” she said. “To rebuild our economy so it works for working people, to root out systemic racism in our justice system and society. To combat the climate crisis. To unite our country and heal the soul of our nation.”
“The road ahead will not be easy. But America is ready. And so are Joe and I,” she added.
Biden echoed his running mate’s words, saying that he is committed to furthering an agenda based on “the forces of decency, the forces of fairness, the forces of science, and the forces of hope.”
“Folks, I am a proud Democrat. But I will govern as an American president,” he said. “I will work as hard for those who didn’t vote for me as those who did. Let this demonization in America begin to end here and now.”
Biden also claimed with confidence that he was the definite winner of the presidential race, despite the pending litigation and recounts in certain key states, promising to restore the soul of America” through his time in the White House.
“I sought this office to restore the soul of America,” Biden explained, thanking his family, including his son Hunter Biden for supporting him on the campaign trail. “To rebuild the backbone of this nation, the middle class, and to make America respected around the world again. To unite us here at home.”
The Democrat, who once told people that “you ain’t black” if you cast a vote for Trump also expressed gratitude for his campaign and the people who supported him.
“I’m proud of the coalition we put together—the broadest and most diverse coalition in history,” he said. “Democrats, Republicans, progressives, moderates, conservatives, suburban, rural, gay, straight, transgender, white, Asian, Native Americans. Especially those moments when this campaign was at its lowest ebb, the African-American community stood up. You always had my back and I will have yours.”
While votes in key states such as Georgia are still being counted, CNN, NBC News, CBS, and the Associated Press announced earlier on Saturday that Biden’s growing lead of at least 35,000 votes in Pennsylvania secured his spot in the White House.
Shortly after the media projected a Biden victory, people took to the streets of the nation’s capital in Black Lives Matter Plaza to celebrate, crowding around each other despite the pandemic and social distancing guidelines to pop champagne bottles.
