President-Elect Biden and Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris with their families.
After a long week of counting votes and waiting, Joe Biden was announced the next President of the United States. History was made as Kamala Harris will be the first female and person of color Vice President. In his victory speech, Biden said he will be a leader who "seeks not to divide, but to unify."
Despite his victory, there is still an issue at hand. President Donald Trump has yet to concede the election, claiming there was voter fraud.
Trump tweeted, "He only won in the eyes of the FAKE NEWS MEDIA. I concede NOTHING! We have a long way to go. This was a RIGGED ELECTION!"
Despite these claims, there has been no evidence of widespread fraud in the 2020 election. Election officials from both parties publicly stated that the election went well, with no serious irregularities. Many of his legal challenges have been dismissed by judges.
For instance, in Arizona, a judge rejected Republicans' bid to postpone the certification of election results. Furthermore, states in which Trump claimed to have won, such as Georgia and Michigan, officially called the election for Biden.
Despite Trump's refusal to concede, President-Elect Biden moves forward with his plans. Shortly after being declared the winner, Biden launched a transition website where he outlines some of his key areas of focus, including COVID-19, racial equity, and climate change.
Biden also announced the members of his COVID task force; the three co-chairs will be Vivek H. Murthy, surgeon general during the Obama administration, David Kessler, Food and Drug Administration commissioner under George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, and Marcella Nunez-Smith, associate dean for health equity research at Yale School of Medicine.
The President-Elect also named Ron Klain his chief of staff; Klain served as Biden's chief of staff when he was Vice President under the Obama administration. Biden and Harris have been meeting with public health experts as they prepare to tackle the pandemic.
As weeks have passed since Biden defeated President Trump, he calls Trump's refusal to concede an "embarrassment." On Jan. 20, 2021, Joe Biden will officially be named the 46th President of the United States.