Running on a message of uniting the country, Joe Biden is being called the winner of the 2020 Presidential Election by the Associated Press.
Further, running mate Kamala Harris becomes the first woman, and first woman of color, to ever be elected vice president.
Biden, 77, served eight years as vice president to Barack Obama. Conversely, that experience has seen voters turn out in heavy numbers. Biden’s message on the campaign stump was to heal the societal rifts that have rocked the country.
Biden becomes the first challenger to beat an incumbent since Bill Clinton toppled George H.W. Bush in November 1992. This year’s results mark only the 10th time a sitting U.S. president has lost his reelection.
Aside from Bush, here are the others who didn’t win reelection:
- Jimmy Carter, 1980 (lost to Ronald Reagan)
- Gerald Ford, 1976 (lost to Jimmy Carter)
- Herbert Hoover, 1932 (lost to Franklin D. Roosevelt)
- William Howard Taft, 1912 (lost to Woodrow Wilson)
- Benjamin Harrison, 1892 (lost to Grover Cleveland)
- Martin Van Buren, 1840 (lost to William Henry Harrison)
- John Quincy Adams, 1828 (lost to Andrew Jackson)
- John Adams, 1800 (lost to Thomas Jefferson)
Joe Biden is Oldest President Ever Elected
Biden will be 78, Nov. 20. So when he’s inaugurated, Jan. 20, he’ll be the oldest president ever elected.
Biden limited how he campaigned this summer and fall because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Further, his strategy was to win back the three midwestern states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. The trio of states was thought to be a “blue wall” for Democrats until Trump won them in 2016.
Obama also campaigned heavily for Biden.
Joe Biden Performs in Swing States
The ultimate factor in the race lies in Pennsylvania and Georgia. The two states are typically hotly contested, although the Keystone State has traditionally leaned left and the Peach State to the right.
While Trump jumped out to an early lead, Biden’s win is due to cities like Atlanta and Philadelphia. The high-population areas, as well as mail-in voting, were counted late in the process and have seen Biden take leads in both states.
However, it was the northeast state that AP called last.
