President in all but name
IT wasn’t the victory speech contender Joe Biden had hoped to make, but in a late night address to America calling for calm, unity and healing, the Democrat set a stark contrast to the bombastic president he looks almost certain to depose.
Declaring he was “already getting started” the work necessary to rebuild a country shattered by coronavirus and political division, Mr Biden said that despite legal challenges and a refusal by Donald
Trump to give up the White House, the record 74 million votes his ticket received were his mandate.
“We are beating Donald Trump by over four million votes,” Mr Biden said.
“What is becoming clear each hour is that record numbers of Americans of all races, faiths, religions, chose change over more of the same.
“They have given us a mandate for action on COVID, the economy, climate change, systemic racism.
“They have made it clear that they want the country to come together, not continue to pull apart. The people spoke.
“More than 74 million Americans spoke loudly for our ticket. But while we’re waiting for the final results, I want people to know we are not waiting to get the work done. We’re going to start the process.”
While Mr Biden was leading across the board as counting dragged on last night, he had not been awarded the necessary 270 electoral college votes he needed to officially beat Donald Trump.
He again stopped short of declaring he had won, saying he hoped to speak again today.
“We don’t have a final declaration of victory yet, but the numbers tell us it is clear, and a clear and convincing story,” Mr Biden said. “We’re going to win this race.”
He said he believed he would win more than 300 electoral college votes, with yesterday’s results all in his favour.
“We were behind in Georgia. Now we are ahead and we’re going to win that,” he said. “Twenty-four hours ago, we were behind in Pennsylvania, and we are going to win
Pennsylvania. We are winning in Arizona, winning in Nevada, and in fact, our lead has just doubled in Nevada.
“We are on track to have over 300 electoral college votes. Look at the national numbers. We’re going to win this race, a clear majority with the nation behind us.
“We’re going to be the first Democrat to win in Arizona in 24 years, we’re going to be the first Democrat to win Georgia in 28 years, and we have rebuilt the blue wall in the middle of the country that crumbled just years ago.”
Anxious Americans were warned they could be waiting days or even weeks for the final results, as Mr Biden expanded his leads in Georgia, Nevada and Pennsylvania.
If Mr Biden wins any of those states he wins the White House, while Mr Trump has to win all of them.
With Mr Trump trailing in Pennsylvania by 29,000 votes, scrutineers at Allegheny County were due to resume counting on Saturday, local time, to process the final votes.
Mr Trump did not appear in public yesterday.