‘Darkest era’ avoided: Biden secures presidency, wins battleground states
Former Vice President Joe Biden will serve as the 46th president of the United States after acquiring 290 Electoral College votes Nov. 7. WikiCommons
Nov. 7, 11:44 a.m. PT: Former Vice President Joe Biden has unseated incumbent President Donald Trump in an incredibly narrow presidential race in several battleground states – including now-won states Nevada and Pennsylvania. The Associated Press called the race at 8:28 a.m. PST when they determined the then-34,243 vote lead Biden had over Trump would not be recoverable by the remaining uncounted ballots in Pennsylvania. Winning the Northeastern state by only a 0.5% lead, Biden expressed his gratitude in a tweet at 8:52 a.m. PST.
California Sen. Kamala Harris is anticipated to help the president-elect break social barriers as the first woman, the first Black person and the first person of South Asian descent to serve as vice president. This historic transition of power coincides with 2020 standing as the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment: a woman’s right to vote.
The current president has not conceded the race as of Nov. 7 and will take legal action on the basis of voter and election fraud. Despite Trump’s claims, there is no evidence of ballot tampering. Twitter and major news organizations have restricted the president’s speech because of its inaccuracies and attempts to undermine the Electoral College process.
“The simple fact is this election is far from over,” Trump released in a Nov. 7 statement. “Beginning Monday, our campaign will start prosecuting our case in court to ensure election laws are fully upheld and the rightful winner is seated.”
Fred Smoller, a Chapman University campaigns and elections professor, told The Panther that any Trump campaign attempt to challenge the integrity of the Electoral College would be in vain. His sentiment of moving forward as a country was echoed by Jim Kenney, the mayor of Philadelphia, who said at a Nov. 6 press conference that Trump should put his “big boy pants on” and concede the race – just like former presidential candidates Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush and Al Gore once did.
This is the first race in which a president wasn’t reelected for two terms since 1992. Smoller argued a blue shift to mail-in voting helped Biden acquire the numbers he needed to break through 270 electoral votes. According to the U.S. Elections Project, 7.8 million more registered Democrats than Republicans returned their mail-in ballots, and over 25.6 million more registered voters used the mail-in method over the in-person method.
Graphic by HARRY LADA, The Panther Art Director
Despite polling in the weeks leading up to Election Day illustrating Biden with an 8% to 10% lead, Biden currently holds 50.6% of the vote to Trump’s 47.7%, who trails behind by over 4.2 million popular votes. Both candidates broke the 2008 record set by former President Barack Obama for most votes cast in a presidential election, and support for Trump exceeded his 2016 voter turnout by an additional 7.6 million popular votes.
Smoller added that the president subverting the election process is threatening rhetoric that serves to further divide the country and promote violence. If Trump were to have won the election, he postulated, it would’ve been the “darkest era” in American history.
“This national nightmare is over,” Smoller said. “The story of American politics will be two steps forward, one step back … The promise that Biden offers is personal redemption – the promise that if he can heal himself, the country can too.”