Remarks as Prepared for Delivery by President-elect Joe Biden on the Electoral College Vote Certification in Wilmington, Delaware

C-SPAN video

Good evening, my fellow Americans. 

Over the past few weeks, officials in each state, commonwealth, and district, without regard to party or political preference have certified their winning candidate.  

Today, the members of the Electoral College representing the certified winner, cast their votes for President and Vice President of the United States in an act just as old as our nation itself. 

And once again in America, the rule of law, our Constitution, and the will of the people have prevailed.

Our democracy — pushed, tested, threatened — proved to be resilient, true, and strong.

The Electoral College votes which occurred today reflect the fact that even in the face of a public health crisis unlike anything we have experienced in our lifetimes, the people voted. 

They voted in record numbers. More Americans voted this year than have ever voted in the history of the United States of America. Over 155 million Americans were determined to have their voices heard and their votes counted.

At the start of the pandemic crisis, many were wondering how many Americans would vote at all. But those fears proved to be unfounded. 

We saw something very few predicted or even thought possible — the biggest voter turnout ever in the history of the United States of America. 

Numbers so big that this election now ranks as the clearest demonstration of the true will of the American people — one of the most amazing demonstrations of civic duty we’ve ever seen in our country. 

It should be celebrated, not attacked.

More than 81 million of those votes were cast for me and Vice President-elect Harris. 

This too is a record number. More votes than any ticket has received in the history of America. 

It represented a winning margin of more than 7 million votes over the number of votes cast for President Trump and Vice President Pence.

Altogether, Vice President-elect Harris and I earned 306 electoral votes — well exceeding the 270 electoral votes needed to secure victory.  

306 electoral votes is the same number of electoral votes DonaldTrump and MikePence received in 2016. 

At that time, President Trump called his Electoral College tally a landslide. 

By his own standards, these numbers represented a clear victory then. 

And I respectfully suggest they do so now.

If anyone didn’t know it before, they know it now.  

What beats deep in the hearts of the American people is this: Democracy. 

The right to be heard. 

To have your vote counted. 

To choose the leaders of this nation.

To govern ourselves. 

In America, politicians don’t take power — the people grant power to them. 

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.

And as the people kept it aflame, so, too did courageous state and local officials and election workers. 

American democracy works because Americans make it work at the local level. 

One of the extraordinary things we saw this year was these everyday Americans — our friends and neighbors, often volunteers, Democrats and Republicans and Independents — demonstrating absolute courage. They showed a deep and unwavering faith in and a commitment to the law. 

They did their duty in the face of a pandemic.

And then they could not and would not give credence to what they knew was not true. 

They knew the elections they oversaw were honest and free and fair. 

They saw it with their own eyes. 

And they wouldn’t be bullied into saying anything different. 

It was truly remarkable because so many of these patriotic Americans were subjected to so much: enormous political pressure, verbal abuse, and even threats of physical violence. 

While we all wish that our fellow Americans in these positions will always show such courage and commitment to free and fair elections, I hope we never again see anyone subjected to the kind of threats and abuse we saw in this election. 

It is unconscionable. 

We owe these public servants a debt of gratitude. They didn’t seek the spotlight, and our democracy survived because of them. 

Which is proof once more that it’s the everyday American — infused with honor and character and decency — that is the heart of this nation.

And in this election, their integrity was matched by the strength, independence, and the integrity of our judicial system. 

In America, when questions are raised about the legitimacy of any election, those questions are resolved through a legal process. 

And that is precisely what happened here. 

The Trump campaign brought dozens and dozens and dozens of legal challenges to test the results. 

They were heard.  And they were found to be without merit. 

Time and again, President Trump’s lawyers presented their arguments to state officials, state legislatures, state and federal courts, and ultimately to the United States Supreme Court, twice.

They were heard by more than 80 judges across the country. 

And in every case, no cause or evidence was found to reverse or question or dispute the results.  

A few states went to recounts. All of the counts were confirmed.

The results in Georgia were counted three times. It did not change the outcome. 

The recount conducted in Wisconsin actually saw our margin grow. 

The margin we had in Michigan was fourteen times the margin President Trump won the state by four years ago. 

Our margin in Pennsylvania was nearly twice the size of President Trump’s margin four years ago.

And yet none of this has stopped baseless claims about the legitimacy of the results. 

Even more stunning, 17 Republican Attorneys General and 126 Republican Members of Congress actually signed on to a lawsuit filed by the State of Texas. It asked the United States Supreme Court to reject the certified vote counts in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. 

This legal maneuver was an effort by elected officials in one group of states to try to get the Supreme Court to wipe out the votes of more than twenty million Americans in other states and to hand the presidency to a candidate who lost the Electoral College, lost the popular vote, and lost each and every one of the states whose votes they were trying to reverse. 

It’s a position so extreme we’ve never seen it before. A position that refused to respect the will of the people, refused to respect the rule of law, and refused to honor our Constitution.

Thankfully, a unanimous Supreme Court immediately and completely rejected this effort. 

The Court sent a clear signal to President Trump and his allies that they would be no part of this unprecedented assault on our democracy. 

Every avenue was made available to President Trump to contest the results. 

He took full advantage of each and every one of these avenues. 

President Trump was denied no course of action he wanted to take. 

He took his case to Republican Governors and Republican Secretaries of State. To Republican state legislatures. To Republican-appointed judges at every level. 

And in a case decided after the Supreme Court’s latest rejection, a judge appointed by President Trump wrote: “This court has allowed the plaintiff the chance to make his case, and he has lost on the merits.”

Even President Trump’s own cybersecurity chief overseeing our elections said it was the most secure in American history.

Let me say it again, his own cybersecurity chief overseeing this election said it was the most secure in American history.

Respecting the will of the people is at the heart of our democracy — even when we find those results hard to accept. 

But that is the obligation of those who have taken a sworn duty to uphold our Constitution.

Four years ago, as the sitting Vice President of the United States, it was my responsibility to announce the tally of the Electoral College votes that elected Donald Trump.

I did my job. 

And I am pleased — but not surprised — that a number of my former Republican colleagues in the Senate have acknowledged the results of the Electoral College.

I thank them. I am convinced we can work together for the good of the nation.

That is the duty owed to the people, to our Constitution, and to history.

In this battle for the soul of America, democracy prevailed.

We the People voted. 

Faith in our institutions held. 

The integrity of our elections remains intact.
Now it is time to turn the page as we’ve done throughout our history.

To unite. To heal.

As I said through this campaign, I will be a president for all Americans.

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 us all.

Getting the pandemic under control and 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.

In doing so, we need to work together, give each other a chance, and lower the temperature.

And most of all, we need to stand in solidarity as fellow Americans. To see each other, our pains, our struggles, our hopes, our dreams. 

We are a great nation. 

We are a good people.

We may come from different places and hold different beliefs, but we share a love for this country. A belief in its limitless possibilities.

For we, the United States of America, have always set the example for the world for the peaceful transition of power.

We will do so again.

I know the task before us will not be easy. 

It’s tempered by the pain so many of us are feeling.

Today, our nation passed a grim milestone, 300,000 deaths due to this virus.

My heart goes out to all of you in this dark winter of the pandemic about to spend the holidays and the new year with a black hole in your hearts and without the ones you love by your side.

My heart goes out to all of you who have fallen on hard times through no fault of your own, unable to sleep at night, weighed down with the worry of what tomorrow will bring for you and for your family.

But we have faced difficult times before in our history.

And I know we will get through this one, together.

And so, as we start the hard work to be done, may this moment give us the strength to rebuild this house of ours upon a rock that can never be washed away. 

And as in the Prayer of St. Francis, for where there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith, where there is darkness, light.

This is who we are as a nation. 

This is the America we love. 

And that is the America we will be.

May God bless you all.

May God protect our troops and all those who stand watch over our democracy. 

###

Biden
306
Trump
232



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Democractic National Committee
December 14, 2020

DNC on Electoral College Vote

DNC Chair Tom Perez released the following statement after the Electoral College officially confirmed Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’s historic victory:

“The election is over, the votes have been counted, and the American people have spoken: Joe Biden will be the 46th president of the United States. This is not an opinion. It is not a partisan statement. It is a fact. That’s why the Electoral College just certified this decision, and why Donald Trump needs to accept it.

“An incredible coalition of Americans endorsed Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and their message. This is the first ticket in history to earn over 80 million votes. Voters of different backgrounds and life experiences came together around our shared values of inclusion and opportunity for all. Using their voice and their vote, they chose to put our nation on a new path, one defined by hope,  integrity, and dignity. Joe and Kamala embody that vision of America, and their leadership will move our nation forward.

“In the United States, the side with the most electoral votes wins, and our country begins a road towards unification. That’s how a healthy, functioning democracy is supposed to work. That’s what the American people want and expect from their leaders. It’s time for our nation to come together around our newly elected president and vice president so that we can move forward and heal our wounds. It’s time to show the world that American democracy is still strong, vibrant, and fair.”

Meanwhile, Republicans in a number of states...

Arizona Republican Party
December 14, 2020

ARIZONA REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTORS CONVENE TO CAST VOTES FOR PRESIDENT TRUMP, VICE PRESIDENT PENCE

PHOENIX - As the legal proceedings arising from the November 3 presidential election continue to work their way through our nation's judicial system, the Arizona Republicans who pledged to choose President Trump and Vice President Pence in the Electoral College convened on December 14 to cast their votes and send them to Congress where they are to be opened and counted beginning on January 6 .

Of course, there is precedent for our Republican electors meeting on December 14, even as the Democrat electors for Arizona also meet elsewhere.

Democrat electors pledged to John F. Kennedy convened in Hawaii in 1960, at the same time as Republican electors met, even though the Governor had certified Richard Nixon as the winner. In the end, Hawaii's electoral votes were awarded to President Kennedy, even though he did not win the state until 11 days after his electors cast their votes.

The legitimacy and good sense of two sets of electors meeting on December 14 to cast competing votes for President and Vice President, with the conflict to be later sorted out by the courts and Congress, was pointed out by prominent Democrat lawyers Van Jones and Larry Lessig in an essay published last month on CNN.com.

Given that the results in Arizona remain in doubt, with legal arguments still to be decided, just as the Democrat electors met in Hawaii in 1960 while awaiting a final resolution of that state's vote, so too the Republican electors have agreed to meet this year on December 14 as we await a final resolution of Arizona's 11 electoral votes.

Republican Party of Arizona Chairwoman Kelli Ward released the following statement:

"Today, Arizona's 11 Republican presidential electors met to cast their votes for President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence. With ongoing legal challenges to the 2020 presidential election still being heard In the courts, and state legislatures across the country holding hearings on election fraud and voting irregularities, It is Imperative that the proper electors are counted by Congress."







Republican Party of Pennsylvania

December 14, 2020

REPUBLICAN ELECTORS CAST PROCEDURAL VOTE, SEEK TO PRESERVE TRUMP CAMPAIGN LEGAL CHALLENGE

Harrisburg, PA – At the request of the Trump campaign, the Republican presidential electors met today in Harrisburg to cast a conditional vote for Donald Trump and Mike Pence for President and Vice President respectively.

“We took this procedural vote to preserve any legal claims that may be presented going forward” said Bernie Comfort, Pennsylvania Chair of the Trump campaign. “This was in no way an effort to usurp or contest the will of the Pennsylvania voters.”

Today’s move by Republican party electors is fashioned after the 1960 Presidential election, in which President Nixon was declared the winner in Hawaii. While Democrat legal challenges were pending, Democratic presidential electors met to cast a conditional vote for John F. Kennedy to preserve their intent in the event of future favorable legal outcomes.

The conditional resolution states that electors certify their vote for the President and Vice President “on the understanding that if, as a result of a final non-appealable Court Order or other proceeding prescribed by law, [they] are ultimately recognized as being the duly elected and qualified Electors for President and Vice President of the United States of America from the State of Pennsylvania…”

# # #
Amplification...







Biden
306
Trump
232




Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell
December 15, 2020

McConnell Applauds President Trump & Congratulates President-Elect Biden

‘Over the last four years, our country has benefitted from a presidential term filled with major accomplishments. President Donald Trump has repeatedly surprised the skeptics, confounded his critics, and delivered significant policy victories that have strengthened our country.’

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered the following remarks today on the Senate floor regarding President Trump and President-Elect Biden:

“Over the last four years, our country has benefitted from a presidential term filled with major accomplishments.

“President Donald Trump has repeatedly surprised the skeptics, confounded his critics, and delivered significant policy victories that have strengthened our country.

“Case in point:

“Back in May, when the President set the goal of finding a pandemic-ending vaccine by the end of this year, his timeline was dismissed by people who assumed they knew better.

“Quote: ‘Trump promises coronavirus vaccine by end of the year,’ scoffed one headline, ‘but his own experts temper expectations.’

“Fact check,’ complained another headline, ‘Coronavirus vaccine could come this year, Trump says. Experts say he needs a ‘miracle’ to be right.’ End quote.

“Well, with the genius of science, support from Congress, and the bold leadership of the Trump Administration, that medical miracle arrived right on schedule.

“Americans on the front lines are receiving vaccinations as we speak.

“This episode offers a kind of microcosm of the last four years.

“On so many subjects — from economic prosperity to foreign policy to protecting American families — the skeptics doubted him, the critics derided him, but President Trump has delivered.

***

“When President Trump ran for office, he promised to help open a new chapter for working families.

“After eight years of failed policies that concentrated wealth and optimism among a lucky few, prosperity was going to flow to all kinds of workers in all kinds of communities, he said.

“And that is exactly what happened.

“Before this pandemic spread from China and the world had to slam on the brakes, the American people had the best job market in living memory.

“With help from the policies of President Trump and Republicans in Congress, American workers dynamited the stagnation that experts had said was “the new normal.”

“Unemployment hit a 50-year low. Capital markets hit record highs. And this time, all kinds of Americans got to share in the gains.

“We saw earnings grow faster for workers than for managers; faster for the bottom 25% than for the top 25%.

“This success was fueled in part by the policy leadership of President Trump.

“This Administration pursued bold regulatory changes.

“Once-in-a-generation tax reform had eluded prior leaders. This President signed it into law in his first year.

“And together we repealed the worst part of Obamacare. The unfair individual mandate was zeroed out.

“President Trump also took historic steps to strengthen the future of our trade with the world.

“He secured the historic United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement and bilateral tax treaties with partners in Europe and Asia.

“A nation this productive needs plenty of energy to keep it going. Fortunately, President Trump and his administration ended the ideological war on fossil fuels and hit the accelerator on all-of-the-above American energy dominance.

“In the last four years we surpassed Saudi Arabia in oil production. We saw energy exports exceed energy imports for the first year in almost 70 years.

“Meanwhile we saw our CO2 emissions fall, along with other harmful pollutants.

“That energy independence has dramatically strengthened our hand with respect to the rest of the world, particularly the Middle East.

“Speaking of the Middle East, President Trump wasted little time pulling back from the prior administration’s disastrous “Iran deal.”

“His team eliminated daylight between us and Israel and repaired our relationships with Arab partners.

“And he aligned these relationships around our common shared interests — countering threats like radical Islamic terrorists and Iranian aggression.

“Under President Trump’s command, our forces took terrorist leaders like Al-Baghdadi and Soleimani off the battlefield.

“The physical caliphate that ISIS established on the previous president’s watch was destroyed.

“All this paved the way for the Abraham Accords — the historic normalization of relationships between Israel and the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan, and most recently Morocco, with the potential for more on the horizon.

“Now, the Middle East isn’t the only place where the Trump Administration has shored up our footing on the world stage.

“Our 45th commander-in-chief set out to rebuild and modernize our military, and to move our foreign policy from a chapter of weakness and apology into a renewed posture of strength.

“Four years later, we have a new National Defense Strategy to compete with and deter adversaries like Russia and China.

“We have rebuilt the military and invested in new technologies to ensure America keeps our edge in everything from cyber to space to advanced weapons systems.

“And the President’s leadership has not stopped with those who are currently serving.

“He also signed into law the historic VA MISSION Act, to ensure our dedication to our men and women in uniform does not end when their tours conclude.

***

“Clearly, the list of American accomplishments since 2016 is nearly endless.

“There are the many miles of new protections on our southern border. At one point apprehensions at the border hit their lowest level since the 1970s.

“Essential causes like religious liberty and the most vulnerable, the unborn, have had a champion in this Administration, instead of an adversary.

“There have been historic new steps to conserve our national treasures, like the Great American Outdoors Act.

“And perhaps most important of all, President Trump nominated — and this Senate confirmed — three outstanding Supreme Court Justices along with more than 220 more Article III federal judges.

“These are brilliant, young, constitutionalist men and women in lifetime appointments who will renew the judiciary for a generation.

“All because President Trump knows we need judges who respect the essential but limited job description the framers wrote for our third branch of government.

***

“As you can see, it would take far more than one speech to catalog all the major wins the Trump Administration has helped deliver for the American people.

“The outsider who swore he would shake up Washington and lead our country to new accomplishments both at home and abroad proceeded to do exactly that.

“President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence deserve our thanks and our gratitude for their tireless work — and their essential roles in all these victories and many more.

***

“Six weeks ago, Americans voted in this year’s general election. The legal and constitutional processes have continued to play out.

“Yesterday, electors met in all 50 states. So, as of this morning, our country officially has a President-elect and a Vice President-elect.

“Many millions of us had hoped the presidential election would yield a different result. But our system of government has processes to determine who will be sworn in on January the 20th.

“The Electoral College has spoken.

“So today, I want to congratulate President-elect Joe Biden. The President-elect is no stranger to the Senate. He has devoted himself to public service for many years.

“I also congratulate the Vice President-elect, our colleague from California, Senator Harris. Beyond our differences, all Americans can take pride that our nation has a female Vice President-elect for the first time.

“I look forward to finishing out the next 36 days strong with President Trump. Our nation needs us to add another bipartisan chapter to this record of achievement.”