Biden demands healing in appeal to Trump voters

President-elect Joe Biden declared it had been "time to heal" a deeply divided America in his first speech after prevailing on Saturday in a bitter election, even as President Donald Trump refused to concede.

Biden's victory in the battleground state of Pennsylvania put him over the threshold of 270 Electoral College votes he had a need to clinch the presidency, ending four days of nail-biting suspense and sending his supporters in to the streets of major cities in celebration.

"The people of this nation have spoken. They have delivered us a clear victory, a convincing victory," Biden told honking and cheering supporters in a parking lot in his city of Wilmington, Delaware.

The Democrat pledged that as president he would seek to unify the united states and "marshal the forces of decency" to fight the coronavirus pandemic, rebuild economical prosperity, secure healthcare for American families and root out systemic racism.

Without mentioning his Republican rival directly, Biden addressed the 70 million Americans who cast ballots to get Trump, some of whom took to the streets on Saturday to demonstrate against the results.

"For all people of you who voted for President Trump, I am aware the disappointment tonight. I've lost a couple times myself. However now, let's give the other person a chance. It is time to set aside the harsh rhetoric, lower the temperature, see the other person again, listen to the other person again," he said.

"This is the time to heal in America."

He also thanked Black voters, saying that even at his campaign's lowest occasions the African American community had stood up for him. "They will have my back, and I'll have yours," he said.

Biden was introduced by his running mate, U.S. Senator Kamala Harris, who'll be the first woman, the first Black American and the first American of Asian descent to serve as vice president, the country's No. 2 office.

"What a testament it really is to Joe's character that he had the audacity to break just about the most substantial barriers that exists inside our country, and select a female as his vice president," Harris said.

Congratulations poured in from abroad, including from conservative British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, making it hard for Trump to push his repeated claims, without evidence, that the election was rigged against him.

Trump, who was simply golfing when the major television set networks projected his rival had won, immediately accused Biden of"rushing to falsely pose as the winner."

"This election is definately not over," he said in a statement.

Trump has filed a raft of lawsuits to challenge the results but elections officials in states in the united states say there's been no proof significant fraud, and legal experts say Trump's efforts are unlikely to achieve success.

As the news of his win broke, cheers and applause were heard around Washington, with persons emerging onto balconies, honking car horns and banging pots. The wave of noise in the country's capital built as more persons learned of the news headlines. Some sobbed. Music commenced to play, "We will be the Champions" blared.

In the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant, some persons erupted in screams of joy as word spread. Several residents danced on the fire escape of 1 building, cheering while others screamed "yes!" because they passed by.

Trump supporters reacted with a mix of disappointment, suspicion and resignation, highlighting the difficult task that Biden faces winning over many Americans in more rural areas who believe Trump was the first president to govern with their interests in mind.

"It's sickening and sad," said Kayla Doyle, a 35-year-old Trump supporter and manager of the GridIron Pub on Main Street in the tiny town of Mifflintown, Pennsylvania. "I believe it's rigged."

Angry pro-Trump "Stop the Steal" demonstrators gathered at state capitol buildings in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Arizona. Protesters in Phoenix chanted "We wish audits!" One speaker told the crowd: "We will win in court!"

There were no signs of the violence or turmoil many had feared, and the pro-Trump protests mostly faded as the results sunk in. Prior to the election, Trump refused to invest in a relaxing transfer of power if he lost, and he falsely declared victory long before counting was complete.

Former and present political leaders also weighed in, including congratulations from former Democratic President Barack Obama and Republican U.S. Senator Mitt Romney. Trump ally Senator Lindsey Graham called on the Justice Department to research claims of voting irregularities.

The networks' declaration for Biden came amid concerns within Trump's team about the strategy in the years ahead and pressure on him to choose a specialist legal team to outline where they believe voter fraud occurred and provide evidence.

Trump's allies made it clear the president does not plan to concede any time in the future.

One Trump loyalist said Trump simply had not been prepared to admit defeat despite the fact that there would not be enough ballots thrown out in a recount to change the results. "There's a mathematical certainty that he's going to lose," the loyalist said.

Biden's win ends Trump's chaotic four-year presidency where he played down a deadly pandemic, imposed harsh immigration policies, launched a trade war with China, tore up international agreements and deeply divided many American families along with his inflammatory rhetoric, lies and willingness to abandon democratic norms.

On Saturday, Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien urged supporters to be ready to wait protests or rallies that the campaign is "propping up around the united states," according to a person acquainted with the situation.

DIFFICULT TASK AHEAD

For Biden's supporters, it was fitting that Pennsylvania ensured his victory. He was created in the professional city of Scranton in the state's northeast and, touting his middle-class credentials, secured the Democratic nomination with a promise to win back working-class voters who had supported Trump in 2016.

He launched his campaign in Pittsburgh this past year and wrapped it up with a rally there on Tuesday. It was a good race in commercial states such as for example Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota, but Biden did enough to prevail.

He faced unprecedented challenges. These included Republican-led efforts to limit mail-in voting at the same time whenever a record number of folks were because of vote by mail due to the pandemic, which has killed more than 236,000 people in america.

When Biden enters the White House on Jan. 20, the oldest person to assume the office at age 78, he likely will face a hard task governing in a deeply polarized Washington, underscored by a record nationwide voter turnout.

Both sides characterized the 2020 election as one of the most crucial in U.S. history, as important as votes during the 1860s Civil War and the 1930s Great Depression.

Biden's victory was driven by strong support from groups including women, African Americans, white voters with college or university degrees and city-dwellers. He beat Trump by more than four million votes in the nationwide popular vote count.

Biden, who has spent half of a century in public areas life as a U.S. senator and vice president under Trump's predecessor Obama, will inherit a nation in turmoil over the coronavirus pandemic and the related monetary slowdown and also protests against racism and police brutality.

Biden has said his first priority will be creating a intend to contain and get over the pandemic, promising to boost access to testing and, unlike Trump, to heed the advice of leading public health officials and scientists.

Furthermore to taming medical crisis, Biden faces an enormous challenge remedying the monetary hardship due to the pandemic. Some 10 million Americans trashed of work during coronavirus lockdowns remain idled, and federal relief programs have expired.

The U.S. economy remains technically in recession, and prospects are bleak for a return to work for millions, especially operating industries such as hospitality and entertainment where job losses hit women and minorities particularly hard.

Biden also offers pledged to restore a feeling of normalcy to the White House after a presidency where Trump praised authoritarian foreign leaders, disdained longstanding global alliances, refused to disavow white supremacists and cast doubt on the legitimacy of the U.S. election system.

Despite his victory, Biden will have didn't deliver the sweeping repudiation to Trump that Democrats had envisioned, reflecting the deep support the president still retains.

This may complicate Biden's campaign promises to reverse key elements of Trump's legacy. Included in these are deep Trump tax cuts that especially benefited corporations and the wealthy, hardline immigration policies, efforts to dismantle the 2010 Obamacare healthcare law and Trump's abandonment of such international agreements as the Paris climate accord and Iran nuclear deal.

Should Republicans keep control of the U.S. Senate, they might likely block large parts of his legislative agenda, including expanding healthcare and fighting climate change. That prospect could rely upon the results of four undecided Senate races, including two in Georgia that will not be resolved until runoffs in January.

For Trump, 74, it was an unsettling end after an astonishing political rise. The real estate developer who established a nationwide brand as possible TV personality upset Democrat Hillary Clinton to win the presidency in 2016 in his first run for elected office. Four years later, he becomes the first U.S. president to reduce a re-election bid since Republican George H.W. Bush in 1992.

Despite his draconian immigration curbs, Trump made surprising inroads with Latino voters. He also won battleground states such as for example Florida, where his pledge to prioritize the economy whether or not it increased the risk of the coronavirus appeared to have resonated.

In the end, though, Trump failed to considerably widen his appeal beyond a committed core of rural and working-class white voters who embraced his right-wing populism and "America First" nationalism.

Duane Fitzhugh, a 52-year-old teacher celebrating Biden's victory beyond your Trump Hotel in Washington, said it was as if an evil enchantment had been lifted.

"It's such as a pall fell over the country four years back and we've been waiting years for this to get rid of," he said.