WILMINGTON, Del. — Joe Biden became president-elect Saturday after winning the pivotal state of Pennsylvania, NBC News projected.
The former vice president amassed 273 Electoral College votes after winning Pennsylvania’s 20 electors, according to NBC News, surpassing the 270 needed to win the White House and defeat President Donald Trump.
Biden’s victory capped one of the longest and most tumultuous campaigns in modern history, in which he maintained an aggressive focus on Trump’s widely criticized handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. A majority of voters said rising coronavirus cases were a significant factor in their vote, according to early results from the NBC News Exit Poll of early and Election Day voters.
Biden regularly criticized Trump as unfit for office and positioned his campaign as a “battle for the soul of America.” He promised from the outset of his run to heal and unite the country if he won, and made central to his closing message a pledge to represent both those who voted for him as well as those who didn't when he got to the White House.
As president, Biden will immediately be confronted with a bitterly divided nation in the throes of a pandemic that has already killed 236,000 Americans. Trump has exacerbated the split by minimizing the effects of the pandemic, and has not even said whether he would recognize the outcome of the election.
He will also have to corral a fractious Democratic Party with unresolved tensions between its progressive and centrist wings.
Biden, who will turn 78 later this month, making him the oldest person ever elected to the presidency, first ran for the nation’s highest office more than 30 years ago. A longtime moderate, he has stressed bipartisanship for decades, and his long Senate career was typified by his willingness to work across the aisle with Republican colleagues.
Heading into Saturday, Biden led Trump 253 to 214 in the projected Electoral College vote tally tracked by NBC News. Biden had higher vote totals in four key states — Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and Pennsylvania. But all four remained rated by NBC News Decision Desk as too close to call.
Biden will be sworn in as the 46th U.S. president on Jan. 20. Harris will become the first female, first Black and first Asian American vice president. In addition to the projected Electoral College vote, Biden also won the popular vote, and he set a record for winning the most votes of any candidate in U.S. history.
Trump has repeatedly and erroneously declared victory, including in states where Biden is the projected winner. The president has also repeated unfounded conspiracy theories and tried to cast doubt on the integrity of the tabulation process.
This is a breaking news story, please check back for updates.
Former Vice President Joe Biden campaigning in 2019.
Today, former  Joe Biden was projected by multiple media outlets to have surpassed 270  delegate total and therefore become the 46th President of the United States elect.

His running mate, Kamala Harris, would become the first female and first African- and Asian-American vice president.  

At around 11:25am  (1625 ), the Associated Press (AP) called the election for Biden, as did NBC News, when Biden was declared to have won Pennsylvania's 20 electoral college votes. Later in the day, the AP and NBC News also called Nevada for Biden, giving him an additional six electoral college votes, for a total by NBC's reckoning of 279 electoral votes to President Donald Trump's 214, or 290 electoral votes by AP's reckoning.
Electoral college results map when the election was called for Biden.
Biden said in a statement, "I am honored and humbled by the trust the American people have placed in me and in Vice President-elect Harris". He added, "With the campaign over, it's time to put the anger and the harsh rhetoric behind us and come together as a nation. It's time for America to unite. And to heal ... We are the United States of America. And there's nothing we can't do, if we do it together."

President Trump has yet to concede, saying earlier in the morning before the call for Biden, "I WON THIS ELECTION, BY A LOT!" on Twitter. Following the announcement of Biden's win, Trump issued a statement at  outside Washington, D.C. saying, "The simple fact is this election is far from over. Joe Biden has not been certified as the winner of any states, let alone any of the highly contested states headed for mandatory recounts, or states where our campaign has valid and legitimate legal challenges that could determine the ultimate victor". The lack of a concession from Trump has no legal standing.