Kamala Harris will serve as first Female and first African American Vice President-elect in U.S. History
After one of the most grueling and controversial presidential elections in U.S. history, the votes have been cast, the results are in, and the winner is (drumroll please)……. President-elect Joseph Robinette Biden Jr.
Biden, who served as vice president for 8 years under President Barack Obama, has been elected by the American people to become the 46th President of the United States.
Not only was Biden elected as the 46th president on Tuesday, Nov. 3, his running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris has also cemented her name in the history books, becoming the first female and first African American Vice President-elect in the nation’s history. She also becomes the first graduate of a Historically Black College & University (HBCU) to hold this position. Vice President-elect Harris is also a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. and the Divine Nine, who helped impact the election in a major way.
Biden will succeed President Donald J. Trump, who surprised many people in 2016 with his victory to become the 45th President, and who polarized this nation during his tenure.
Going into Election Day, Biden held a significant lead in the polls, so a loss would have come as a huge surprise and shock to many political pundits and journalists who had been covering this contentious race.
Biden needed 270 electoral votes to win the 2020 U.S. Presidential contest, and was able to do so after several days of having the contest decided by mail-in ballots, that heavily favored Democrats. He crossed the finish line after Biden came back from behind and took the lead by approximately 35,000 votes in Pennsylvania and snagged the 20 Electoral Votes that were up for grabs. Without Pennsylvania, Biden still had a pathway to 270, because he is slated to win in Arizona, Nevada and Georgia.
Georgia, who has been a Republican stronghold for decades, flipped for Biden and Democrats, thanks in large part to the tremendous strategic efforts of former gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams.
As several thousand votes are still left to be counted, Biden has also handily won the popular vote over Trump by nearly 4 million votes, and he broke the popular vote record set by President Obama in 2008.
Unlike in 2016, where going into Election Day Trump found himself significantly behind in the polls, but was able to pull off the stunning victory, the polarizing president was unable to provide another November surprise.
This victory serves as a sigh of relief for many who wanted significant change at the presidential level. Trump did himself no favors, in that his botching the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, racist attacks, countless scandals, loss of global respect and other incendiary actions and statements he has displayed throughout his entire presidency, ultimately led to his presidential demise.
In addition to that, not one living former president endorsed Trump and other staunch Republicans withdrew their support for Trump and shifted it to Biden.
In typical fashion, many key battleground states like Texas, had situations where voters faced aggressive suppression tactics at various levels across the state that sought to disenfranchise select voting blocs. Many of these tactics were instituted, but in the end none of them were able to sway the results of this presidential election. The actions, however, could have easily shaped the outcomes of many of the other state races, select local races and down ballot races.
Despite of the reported suppression tactics, lawsuits and controversies surrounding Trump, turnout for this 2020 election was record-breaking in many parts of the country, including Harris County and Fort Bend County, where Democrats practically swept every county race where they had a Democrat on the ballot.
Many voters were first-time voters, or voters who did not come out in 2016, undoubtedly made a huge difference in this election.
Now with Biden and Harris elected to take the helm, it will be interesting to see if both major political parties will work together to move this country forward and finally address many of the key concerns of African Americans.
Will Biden address the important issues facing African Americans and make those issues his top legislative priorities? Will he provide a safe and expedient cure for the COVID-19 pandemic? Will he seek to reduce the high unemployment rate? Will he advocate for continued criminal justice reform efforts? Will he restore America’s stature in the world? Will he and the Democrats have control of the presidency, House and Senate? With Biden being given four years by the American people to lead this country, will he lead better than his soon-to-be predecessor?
These are some of the many questions, and only time and actions will tell.
The Forward Times remains vigilant and focused on ensuring President-Elect Joe Biden holds true to the expressed commitment he has made on the campaign trail, to intently focus on the many issues that are extremely important to the African American community in this country. We will all be watching and waiting.