Joe Biden expects to win U.S. presidency as vote count persists

WILMINGTON (NEWS 1130) — Democrat Joe Biden says he expects to become the next U.S. president, but stopped short of declaring victory during a second pre-final vote count speech Wednesday.

“And now, after a long night of counting, it’s clear that we’re winning enough states to reach 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency,” he said, alongside his running mate, California Sen. Kamala Harris in Wilmington, Delaware.

“I’m not here to declare that we’ve won,” Biden said. “But I am here to report, when the count is finished, we believe we will be the winners of all those counted.”

#BREAKING – Joe Biden stops short of declaring outright victory but says, “Now after a long night of counting, it’s clear we are reaching the 270 votes needed”

— Richard Southern (@richard680news) November 4, 2020

The Associated Press hasn’t called the presidential race.

Biden currently has 248 electoral votes, while President Donald Trump has 214.

It takes 270 to win the presidency.

 

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“Every vote must be counted,” Biden added. “We the people will not be silenced.”

Biden also promised to reach out to political opponents and insisting that the presidency “itself is not a partisan institution.”

Trump’s reelection campaign has filed lawsuits in Pennsylvania and Michigan as ballots continue to be counted in both states.

“We have won one Wisconsin by 20,000 votes, virtually the same margin that President Trump won that state four years ago. In Michigan, we lead by over 35,000 votes, and it’s growing — a substantially bigger margin than President Trump won Michigan in 2016,” Biden said.

Biden: “Now every vote must be counted, no one is going to take our democracy away from us”

— Richard Southern (@richard680news) November 4, 2020

“Michigan will complete his vote soon, maybe as early as the day, and I feel very good about Pennsylvania. Virtually all the remaining ballots to be counted were cast by mail and we’ve been winning 78 per cent of the votes by mail in Pennsylvania,” he added.

“We’ve flipped Arizona, the second district of Nebraska. Of special significance to me is that we’ve won with the majority of the American people. And every indication is that the majority will grow, with a popular vote lead of nearly three million votes, and every indication is that will grow as well. Indeed, Senator Harris and I are on track to win more votes than any ticket in the history of this country, that ever won the presidency and vice presidency — over 70 million votes.”

Biden said he’s proud of the Democratic campaign.

“Only three presidential campaigns in the past have defeated an incumbent president. When it’s finished, God willing, we’ll be the fourth.”

If elected, Biden said he will work towards helping the U.S. heal after four years of division.

“I know how deep and hard the opposing views are in our country on so many things,” he added. “But I also know this as well, to make progress we have to stop treating our opponents as enemies. We are not enemies. What brings us together as Americans is so much stronger than anything that can tear us apart. So let me be clear: we’re campaigning as Democrats, but I will govern as an American president. The presidency itself is not a partisan institution. It’s the one office in this nation that represents everyone. And it demands a duty of care for all Americans.”