Joe Biden has won the election, obtaining 290 electoral votes, compared to Trump’s 229. Here’s what happened throughout the stress filled week for many Americans.
The election officially started out on Tuesday, November 3rd, with people’s main expectations for Trump to take control of the midwest and for Biden to win California. Still, others had more extreme projections. Some thought that California could turn red this year. An anonymous student who was providing commentary on the election stated “In 2016, it almost happened. This year it’ll turn red. It’s just the big cities that might prevent this.” Others stated that Joe Biden could have a chance to win Texas; he almost did. A student said “I thought Texas would be a blowout for Trump, but it turns out Joe Biden has a lot more support in Texas than I thought he did.”
As the days progressed, the election primarily focused on six crucial states – Georgia, North Carolina, Michigan, Nevada, Arizona, and Pennsylvania. By then, many viewers were surprised, as they were expecting a “Blue Wave,” – they foresaw an obvious Biden win. Clearly, this was not the case, as one student wrote “Trump is trailing Joe Biden just by a little – He’s still in this game.” President Trump had lead in Georgia, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania, but Joe Biden was slowly taking over each of those, including Michigan, Arizona, and Nevada.
Once mail-in ballots were counted in those three states, the race started to become more tense as Joe Biden now only needed one more state to win. Trump, on the other hand, needed to win Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina, if he were to get 270 electoral votes. It became more clear over who the winner would be when Georgia, Arizona, Pennsylvania and Nevada started displaying a pro-Joe Biden majority. Still, many people didn’t agree with these results. A student who supported Trump explained that “there might be fraud – It’ll go to the courts, and then we’ll see who the decisive winner is.”
The Trump campaign contends that he didn’t lose rightfully, and there was some sort of fraud. In a variety of instances, President Trump claimed that mail-in ballots were “illegal” and that they were miscounted to favor Biden. He and is administration plan to take the election to the courts, despite multiple other Republican lawmakers stating his claims have no basis.
The Biden campaign, however, is celebrating their victory. Not only has Joe Biden already given a victory speech, but also been congratulated by many world leaders for winning the election. More historically than Biden’s victory, though, was Vice-President-Elect Kamala Harris’, marked with several historic firsts. She will be the first female, first African-American, and first person of South Asian descent to occupy the Vice Presidency.
As the American people move forward, President-Elect Joe Biden explains that he has a single message: it’s important to note that whoever won will try their best to lead the country forward, not into division. “We should stop treating our opponents like enemies,” he states. “Let’s give each other a chance.”
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