It's Official: Biden Certified as Winner of Pennsylvania

President-Elect Joe Biden speaks during a campaign stop at Amtrak's Cleveland Lakefront train station, Sept. 30, 2020, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

By Associated Press

November 24, 2020

The Pennsylvania Department of State certified the results Tuesday morning, and Gov. Tom Wolf sent the certification to the national archives.

HARRISBURG — Democrat Joe Biden has been certified as the winner of the presidential election in Pennsylvania, culminating three weeks of vote counting and a string of failed legal challenges by President Donald Trump, state officials said Tuesday.

The Pennsylvania State Department “certified the results of the November 3 election in Pennsylvania for president and vice president of the United States,” Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, tweeted.

“As required by federal law, I’ve signed the Certificate of Ascertainment for the slate of electors for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris,” Wolf wrote.

Again, I want to thank the election officials who have administered a fair and free election during an incredibly challenging time in our commonwealth and country's history.

Our election workers have been under constant attack and they have performed admirably and honorably.
— Governor Josh Shapiro (@GovernorShapiro) November 24, 2020

The State Department said Wolf’s “certificate of ascertainment” has been sent to the national archivist in Washington. Pennsylvania’s electors, a mix of elected Democrats, party activists, and other staunch Biden backers, will meet in the state Capitol on Dec. 14.

One of them, state Democratic Party chair Nancy Patton Mills, said she will also lead the Electoral College’s meeting in Harrisburg next month.

Patton Mills said she was gratified that Pennsylvania was “the state that made it possible” for Biden to win.

Biden’s win in the state, giving him its haul of 20 electoral votes, put him over the 270 needed and led The Associated Press to declare him the president-elect four days after Election Day. Biden has collected 306 overall electoral votes to Trump’s 232.

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Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar, in a news release, called the state’s election officials and poll workers “the true heroes of our democracy.”

“We are tremendously grateful to all 67 counties who have been working extremely long hours to ensure that every qualified voter’s vote is counted safely and securely,” Boockvar said.

A world of thanks to all 67 counties and all of PA’s dedicated election workers, for ensuring that every qualified voter’s vote is counted accurately! Thanks to them, @PAStateDept certified the results of the election in PA for President and Vice President of the United States.
— Kathy Boockvar (@KathyBoockvar) November 24, 2020

The final results show Biden and Harris with 3.46 million votes, Trump and Vice President Mike Pence with 3.38 million, and Libertarian Jo Jorgensen with 79,000.

Trump has made Pennsylvania a centerpiece of his unsuccessful legal attempts to invalidate the election results.

A federal judge on Saturday dealt a serious blow to the Trump campaign’s legal efforts by dismissing a lawsuit he said lacked evidence and offered “strained legal arguments without merit and speculative accusations.”

The federal government on Monday recognized Biden as the “apparent winner” of the national presidential contest.