‘I pledge to unify the US and work for all’: Joe Biden

Hours after winning the US Presidential elections, Joe Biden addressed the nation from his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware. The Democrat leader said that the people have spoken and “we won by a big mandate.” “I pledge to unify this country and will work for all and for the United States of America. We’ve won with the most votes ever cast on a presidential ticket in the history of the nation.” 

Biden, 77, was joined by his running mate Kamala Harris, who is set to become the first female vice-president in the United States’ 244-year history.

Biden vowed to “make America respected around the world again.”

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He said, “Folks, the people of this nation have spoken. They’ve delivered us a clear victory, a convincing victory.” Urging the Americans to end a divide between Democrats and Republicans, he said, “Stop treating opponents as enemies.”

“It’s time to put away the harsh rhetoric, lower the temperature, see each other again, listen to each other again, and to make progress, we have to stop treating our opponents as our enemies. They are not our enemies. They are Americans,” Biden said.

He continued: “The Bible tells us for everything there is a season, a time to build, a time to reap, and a time to sow and a time to heal. This is the time to heal in America.”

He added that to stop the spread of the coronavirus, he will name a task force of ‘leading scientists’ on Monday. 

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The democratic challenger closed the doors for President Donald Trump after winning Pennsylvania and Nevada on Saturday. Of the 538 electoral college votes, Biden currently has 279, while Trump has 214.

For Biden, who got more than 74 million votes, a record, the triumph after a tense contest conducted during a global coronavirus pandemic was the crowning achievement of his half century in US politics, including eight years as deputy to the first Black US president Barack Obama.

“Now for all those of you who voted for President Trump, I understand your disappointment tonight. I’ve lost a couple of times myself, but now let’s give each other a chance,” Biden said.

The result condemned 74-year-old Trump — who made frantic attempts to claim fraud and stop the vote count — to becoming the first one-term president since George HW Bush at the start of the 1990s.