Joe Biden appeared before supporters in Delaware on Wednesday and said he believed it’s “clear” that his campaign is winning enough states to reach the 270 electoral vote threshold — but clarified he was not declaring a victory, as Trump had done earlier that morning.
“Here, the people rule. Power can’t be taken or asserted. It flows from the people and it’s their will that determines who will be the president of the United States, and their will alone. 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. I’m not here to declare that we won, but I am here to report when the count is finished, we believe we will be the winners,” Biden said alongside running-mate Kamala Harris.
“Now, every vote must be counted. No one is going to take our democracy away from us. Not now, not ever,” he continued. “We the people will not be silenced. We the people will not be bullied. We the people will not surrender.”
Early on Wednesday, Trump spoke to his supporters from the White House to fraudulently declare a victory, even though a victor has not been declared as votes continue to be counted. And in a Wednesday morning tweetstorm, Trump also spread false claims about the validity of mail-in ballots while his campaign has requested recounts in Wisconsin and filed lawsuits in Michigan and Pennsylvania in an attempt to halt the counting of ballots.
In his Wednesday afternoon speech, Biden said that if he does indeed win the presidency, it will be time to move past the “harsh rhetoric of the campaign” and to “come together as a nation.”
“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,” Biden said.
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