(CNS) – Former Vice President Joe Biden has defeated President Donald Trump, winning with 50.6% of the popular vote and 290 electoral college votes to Trump’s 47.7% and 214 votes.
The Associated Press called the race after calling Pennsylvania for Biden, giving him the 20 electoral votes in the state and putting him well in the lead over Trump.
“America, I’m honored that you have chosen me to lead our great country.” Biden tweeted. “The work ahead of us will be hard, but I promise you this: I will be a President for all Americans – whether you voted for me or not. I will keep the faith that you have placed in me.”
An hour before the call was made Trump tweeted, “I WON THIS ELECTION, BY A LOT!” Twitter tagged this tweet, noting that official sources had not yet called the race.
Trump will not concede, instead promising legal challenges to the results, the AP reported.
Since election night, Trump has been tweeting and speaking about voter fraud. In the last three hours, four of his tweets were tagged by Twitter as containing information that may be disputed or misleading.
There has been no evidence of voter fraud.
The Trump campaign has already requested a recount in Wisconsin, which he would need to pay for out of pocket without a margin of 0.25% or less to trigger an automatic recount.
At this point, even if North Carolina, Georgia, Nevada and Alaska – all uncalled states – were to vote in Trump’s favor, he still would not gain enough electoral votes to hit the magic number.
With Biden soon to be the 46th president of the United States, Kamala Harris will step into the historic position as both first Black woman and first person of South Asian descent to serve as vice president of the United States.
On the flip side, Trump is now the first incumbent president to lose reelection since 1992 with George H.W. Bush’s loss.
Over the course of his campaign, Biden outraised Trump by double with over $1.3 trillion in funds and spent over $1.1 trillion, according to OpenSecrets.org data. Trump has raised just over $600 million and spent over $565 million, according to FEC data.
In critical swing states Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, Biden spent about $53 million on campaign ads as of Oct. 17 mainly attacking Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, The New York Times reported. In the last months of the election, Biden has maintained a 2-to-1 advantage in airtime. Biden won all three of those states.
The race has been a historic one, with unprecedented levels of early and mail-in voting.
On election day both candidates were active on Twitter, reminding their supporters to vote and remain hopeful about the election. Trump tweeted around 6 p.m, “THANK YOU! WE ARE LOOKING REALLY GOOD ALL OVER THE COUNTRY. THANK YOU!”
Biden and his campaign continued tweeting throughout the night telling voters to “stay in line,” noting that as long as voters are in line before polling stations close, they have the right to vote.
Throughout his campaign, Biden emphasized to voters that he would be an American president, representing all regardless of their voting choice.
