WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden on Thursday assured the nation that democracy had prevailed despite his party’s sweeping electoral defeats, and in brief remarks from the White House he promised that his achievements would live on.
“I know for some people this is a time of victory and stating the obvious. For others it is a time of loss. Campaigns are contests of competing visions. The country chooses either one or the other. We accept the choice the country has made,” Biden said in just over six minutes of speech to his staff and administration officials gathered in the Rose Garden just after 11 a.m. EST.
Former Republican President Donald Trump, now president-elect, he won easily on Tuesday in the 2024 presidential election against Vice President Kamala Harris, scoring victories in closely watched swing states including Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
At the beginning of Thursday afternoon, Trump had 295 votes in the Electoral College, to 226 for Harris and the 270 needed to win. He also led in the popular vote.
Republicans also secured a majority in the Senate, winning at least 52 seats to Democrats’ 45. Control of the U.S. House of Representatives remained unclear, although a trend towards a GOP victory was emerging as votes continued to be counted.
Biden competed with Trump for much of the 2024 presidential race, but dropped out of his re-election bid weeks ago after a disastrous presidential debate performance that sparked a pressure campaign for him to step down.
Biden called Trump on Wednesday to congratulate him and arranged an in-person meeting to discuss the transition to the White House – a step Trump did not take after losing to Biden in 2020.
“I assured him that I would direct my entire administration to work with his team to ensure a peaceful and orderly transition. This is what the American people deserve,” Biden said.
Biden also talked about his Wednesday phone call with Democratic candidate Harris, whom he described as a “partner and official.”
“She ran an inspiring campaign and everyone saw something I learned to respect very early on: her character. “He has a spine like a ramrod,” Biden said.
The president told his team that “together we changed America for the better.”
“The American people are already feeling much of the work we’ve done, and the vast majority of it won’t be felt, will be felt over the next 10 years,” Biden said, citing specifically the bipartisan infrastructure legislation he signed into law law in November 2021
Harris acknowledged the race on Wednesday in a phone call with Trump.
In speech to somber supporters at her alma mater, Howard University in Washington, D.C. that same day, Harris told the audience, “I understand” about feeling a range of emotions after the result.
“However, we must accept the results of these elections.[…]It is a fundamental principle of American democracy that if we lose an election, we accept the results,” Harris said.
After the 2020 presidential election, Trump and his allies challenged the results in dozens of ultimately unsuccessful lawsuits. After losing in court, Trump and his team of private lawyers continued to deny the election results and pressure government officials to manipulate voter rolls.
Trump’s repeated denials of defeat – including a speech on January 6, 2021 in which he told his supporters he would never concede – culminated in a violent attack on the US Capitol as Congress was meeting that day to certify the election results.
Last updated at 1:31 PM, November 7, 2024
