Barack Obama, Bill Clinton congratulate Joe Biden, Kamala Harris on election victory

Former US presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton have extended their congratulations to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris for their win the presidential elections.

“I could not be prouder to congratulate our next President, Joe Biden, and our next First Lady, Jill Biden. I also couldn’t be prouder to congratulate Kamala Harris and Doug Emhoff for Kamala’s ground-breaking election as our next Vice President,” PTI quoted Obama saying in a statement.

Taking to Twitter, Clinton said, “America has spoken, and democracy has won. Now we have a President-Elect and Vice President-Elect who will serve all of us and bring us all together. Congratulations to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris on your momentous victory!”

Both presidents served consecutive terms in office. Obama was president from 2008-2016 while Clinton was in office from 1992-2000.

All major American media outlets called the race for Biden once he won the key battleground state of Pennsylvania, which has 20 electoral college votes, taking his tally past the insurmountable total of 270.

Obama, who campaigned for Biden and Harris in the final phases of the election, especially in the states of Florida, Pennsylvania and Michigan, lauded Americans for their record turnout in this election.

“And once every vote is counted, President-Elect Biden and Vice President-Elect Harris will have won a historic and decisive victory,” he said.

“We’re fortunate that Joe’s got what it takes to be President and already carries himself that way. Because when he walks into the White House in January, he’ll face a series of extraordinary challenges no incoming President ever has – a raging pandemic, an unequal economy and justice system, a democracy at risk, and a climate in peril,” Obama said.

“I know he’ll do the job with the best interests of every American at heart, whether or not he had their vote. So I encourage every American to give him a chance and lend him your support.”

“The election results at every level show that the country remains deeply and bitterly divided. It will be up to not just Joe and Kamala, but each of us, to do our part – to reach out beyond our comfort zone, to listen to others, to lower the temperature and find some common ground from which to move forward, all of us remembering that we are one nation, under God,” he said.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the result marks the dawn of a new hope for the United States. She said that in Biden, Americans have a president who will tackle the threat of the coronavirus from day one to reopen schools and the economy.

“In President-elect Biden, the American people delivered a mandate for lower health costs, a mandate for creating bigger paychecks by rebuilding America’s infrastructure, and a mandate for cleaner government that works for the public interest, not the special interests. And in President-elect Biden, they have elected a unifier who values faith, family and community, and who will work tirelessly to heal our nation,” Pelosi said.