Joe Biden Will Be the Next President of the United States

On Saturday morning, Reuters, AP, NBC, and CNN said Joe Biden is the president-elect.

After launching his first presidential campaign 33 years ago, Joe Biden is projected to become the next president of the United States.

The Associated Press called the race for Biden on Saturday morning, after he secured an over 30,000 vote lead over President Donald Trump in the key state of Pennsylvania. Reuters, CNN, and NBC also called the race for Biden.

Like his long quest to become president, Biden’s victory in this election didn’t come easily, either. His Democratic primary campaign started out with a string of losses, before a critical win in South Carolina in late February set him on the path to clinching the nomination.

Election night started off on equally shaky for Biden. His early loss in Florida seemed to signal that the Democrat would not have an easy night. However, as every vote was counted throughout the night and over the following days, Biden steadily bested Trump in key states, racking up electoral votes in the process. Those included crucial Midwest battlegrounds, like Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan.

By Wednesday afternoon, though, Biden had already made history, garnering the most votes of any candidate in American history. That includes his running mate in 2008, President Barack Obama who won 69.4 million votes in 2008. As of Thursday afternoon, Biden had received 74.5 million votes. That number is only expected to grow as states continue working their way through ballots.

“It’s time for America to unite and heal,” a statement from the Biden-Harris campaign said after the news was announced. “We are the United States of America. And there’s nothing we can’t do, if we do it together.”

Biden has long focused his campaign on unity and restoring the “soul of America.” In recent months he made clear that his priority would be addressing the coronavirus pandemic that has devastated the nation. In an interview with Pod Save America last month, Biden gave a more in-depth look at his agenda.

“Get control of the virus. Get control of coronavirus. Without that, nothing else is going to work very well, number one,” Biden said. “Number two: invest in the community, in real infrastructure. [Trump has] been promising to invest in infrastructure in ’17, ’18, ’19, ’20. He hasn’t done a single, solitary thing. So we’re going to invest in generating economic growth in the United States by making it and buying it. Buy it in America, made in America. He is exporting jobs overseas.”

The incoming Biden administration also launched a website about their transition effort, focused on Biden’s “Build Back Better” plan.