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Joe Biden elected president, defeating incumbent Donald Trump

Joe Biden was elected the 46th president of the United States. | Renee Josse de Lisle/The Cougar

Joe Biden was elected the 46th president of the United States. | Renee Josse de Lisle/The Cougar

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden will be the next president of the United States after the 77-year-old defeated incumbent President Donald Trump in the heated 2020 presidential election.

Biden, the former vice president under Barack Obama, secured his win after carrying Pennsylvania and its 20 electoral votes, which Trump won over former Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in 2016. The votes pushed him passed the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency, according to multiple outlets.

While votes are still being counted in Nevada, Arizona, North Carolina and Georgia, Biden has diminished Trump’s early leads in these states. In Georgia, Biden leads over Trump by 7,200 votes as ballots are still being tallied in Clayton County, a historically Democratic Atlanta suburb. If the margin for victory remains razor-thin, it could result in a recount.

On top of the Electoral College, Biden handily won the popular vote by over 4 million votes, and his 74.8 million votes is the most for any candidate in American history.

“It’s a breath of fresh air that the president-elect reflects the wishes of the popular vote in America,” UH College Democrats president Blake McNeill said, referring to the 2016 election in which Trump won the election without winning the popular vote.

The former vice president also flipped key states that Trump won in 2016 on his way to the presidency, including the traditional “blue wall” states of Wisconsin and Michigan.

Biden’s win comes with a bit of history behind it.

He will be the oldest president in the United States’ history when he is inaugurated on Jan. 20, 2021, breaking the 74-year-old Trump’s record.

But the more prominent barrier that will be broken will be when Kamala Harris, his running mate, is sworn in as the first female vice president. Harris will also be the first woman of color to hold the nation’s second-highest office.

“It is incredibly important to find that intersection in American politics where people have been unrepresented,” McNeill said. “No where is it more obvious than in the lack of representation Black women have had in politics.”

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