Joe Biden Wins Pennsylvania — and the Presidency

The former vice president will be the 46th president of the United States.

Joe Biden has won Pennsylvania—and with that, the nation.

While votes are still being counted, projections show Pennsylvania has given Biden the last of the votes he needs to reach the 270-electoral vote threshold needed to become president.

As of 11:30 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 7, he has 3,344,182 votes to President Donald Trump’s 3,310,483 in the state.

There are 76,498 mail-in ballots left to be counted, according to data from the state Department of State.

The nation has been waiting for this news since Tuesday, when it became clear that some combination of wins in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin would decide the presidency.

The Biden campaign bet heavily on Pennsylvania, and it paid off when the Keystone State helped seal the deal on Saturday.

The former vice president and senator from neighboring Delaware kicked off his quest for the White House with a rally in Philadelphia in May 2019. Often called Pennsylvania’s third senator, he spent a lot of time in Philadelphia and his childhood home, Scranton, during the campaign.

In the last days of the campaign, Joe Biden, Jill Biden, Kamala Harris, and Harris’ husband, Doug Emhoff visited the state several times. So did some of the campaign’s more popular surrogates, Cory Booker, Pete Buttigieg, Bernie Sanders, and Andrew Yang.  

Musicians Bon Jovi, Lady Gaga, and John Legend performed at rallies for Biden in Pennsylvania.

On Election Day, after he celebrated mass in Delaware, Joe Biden traveled to Scranton, where he talked with volunteers and local officials before visiting his childhood home. Inside the home, Biden wrote, “From this house to the White House with the grace of God. Joe Biden 11-3-2020” on one of the walls.

He had to wait four extra, chaotic days.

Wisconsin and Michigan went into Biden’s corner by midday Wednesday, leaving him just 17 votes short of the presidency. 

Some news outlets had already shifted Arizona’s 11 electoral votes into Biden’s column.

Trump held a large lead over Biden in the Pennsylvania vote tally early Wednesday morning. That 700,000-vote lead was trimmed to 109,772 votes Thursday afternoon, and Biden had the lead by Friday morning.