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U.S. Democratic Party presidential candidate and former vice president Joe Biden, 77, has been declared the winner of the 2020 U.S. election by major press/media organizations, defeating impeached incumbent President Donald Trump, 74, in one of the most contentious elections in American history.

Biden has surpassed former President Barack Obama’s 2008 popular vote total, breaking the record for the most votes ever received by a U.S. presidential candidate in American history — the first candidate to surpass 70 million.

With a major win officially flipping the state of Pennsylvania Saturday morning, Biden has now exceeded the threshold of the 270 electoral college votes needed to secure the presidency.

and ...

Kamala Harris makes history as first woman vice president in U.S.

Vice president-elect Harris has served as the junior senator from California since 2017. Prior to that, she served as Attorney General of California from 2011 to 2017 and San Francisco District Attorney before that. Harris was only the second Black woman and first South Asian American to be elected to the U.S. Senate.

The child of Jamaican and Indian immigrants, Harris has emphasized the importance of diversity, inclusivity, and representation in government.

As a former prosecutor, she was often a sharp questioner in the Senate, including during the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. She also made pointed criticism of Trump’s handling of the COVID-19 crisis throughout the campaign. Before Biden named her as his running mate in August 2020, she mounted her own bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, but withdrew in December 2019, endorsing Biden a few months later.

Harris’ husband, Douglas Emhoff, a lawyer, will become the first Second Gentleman of the United States. Dr. Jill Biden will serve as First Lady.

The 2020 election saw historic turnout, with more than 101 million Americans having cast their votes going into November 3. NBC News projected that the total numbers of votes cast would be at least 159.8 million.

Biden and Harris will be sworn into office on January 20, 2021.

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