WASHINGTON — President-elect Joe Biden on Monday gave his most scathing indictment yet of the attempts by President Donald Trump and his allies to overturn November’s election, hours after the Electoral College officially sealed Biden’s victory.
Biden called the election, which Trump and his supporters have tried to overturn with scores of failed legal challenges, “honest, free and fair.” And he called attacks on the election and election officials “simply unconscionable” and Trump‘s attempts to overturn the election an “abuse of power.”
“In America, politicians don’t take power — the people grant it to them,” he said. “The flame of democracy was lit in this nation a long time ago. And we now know that nothing, not even a pandemic — or an abuse of power — can extinguish that flame.
“In this battle for the soul of America, democracy prevailed,” Biden added. “We the people voted. Faith in our institutions held. The integrity of our elections remains intact. And so, now it is time to turn the page. To unite. To heal.”
He again vowed to be “a president for all Americans” and said his priority is to get the pandemic under control and deliver economic help.
“I will work just as hard for those of you who didn’t vote for me as I will for those who did. There is urgent work in front of all of us,” he said. “Getting the pandemic under control to getting the nation vaccinated against this virus. Delivering immediate economic help so badly needed by so many Americans who are hurting today — and then building our economy back better than ever.”
All 538 electors met Monday in their respective states to cast their votes for president based on the election results that were recently certified by all 50 states and Washington, D.C. California’s 55 electoral votes pushed Biden over the 270 threshold needed to win shortly after 5 p.m. ET.
Electors and attendees in California cheered as the Biden vote was announced — and enjoyed an even more raucous round of applause when Sen. Kamala Harris’ vote was announced. The vice president-elect is a native Californian.
The California victory left the electoral tally at 302 for Biden and Harris and 232 for Trump and Vice President Mike Pence. After Hawaii, the last state to cast its ballots, voted, Biden solidified his win at 306 votes to Trump’s 232.
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