Kamala Harris took to the stage for the first time as Vice President-elect as she joined President-elect Joe Biden to celebrate their victory over President Donald Trump Saturday with addresses to the nation – as the man they defeated refused to accept defeat.
Harris spoke first, outside the Chase Center in Wilmington, Delaware – the town where Biden centered his 48-year political career. She entered the stage alone, all in white at 8.28pm.
‘Good evening, good evening, good evening,’ she said, over the sound of honking car horns.
‘Congressman John Lewis before his passing wrote: ‘Democracy is not a state, it is an act.’ Democracy is not guaranteed. It is only as strong as our willingness to fight for it.
‘It takes struggle, it takes sacrifice, but there is joy in it and there is progress because we the people have the power to build a better future.
Harris and Biden celebrated their victory over President Donald Trump Saturday as the man they defeated refused to accept defeat
![Harris thanked the poll workers, saying 'you have protected the integrity of our democracy.' Never before had there been such focus on the count](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2020/11/08/01/35386864-8925571-image-a-15_1604800262137.jpg)
Harris thanked the poll workers, saying ‘you have protected the integrity of our democracy.’ Never before had there been such focus on the count
![Harris introduced Biden on stage to cheers for adoring fans in Wilmington, Delaware](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2020/11/08/01/35387190-8925571-image-m-30_1604800682163.jpg)
Harris introduced Biden on stage to cheers for adoring fans in Wilmington, Delaware
![Madam Vice President: Kamala Harris addressed the nation for the first time since the election was finally called on Saturday](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2020/11/08/01/35386790-8925571-image-a-13_1604799432878.jpg)
Madam Vice President: Kamala Harris addressed the nation for the first time since the election was finally called on Saturday
‘When our very democracy was on the ballot in this election, the very soul of America at stake, and the world watching, you ushered in a new day for America.’
Harris said voters chose ‘hope and unity, decency, science, and the truth,’ in choosing her and Biden over President Donald Trump.
She also thanked the poll workers, saying ‘you have protected the integrity of our democracy.’ Never before had there been such focus on the count.
Harris noted her ascension to the role comes 100 years after the 19th Amendment was ratified and 55 years after the signing of the Voting Rights Act, which expanded who could participate in American democracy.
She praised Joe Biden for having ‘the audacity to break one of the most substantial barriers that exist in our country’ by selecting a woman as his running mate.
‘Every little girl watching tonight sees that this is a county of possibilities,’ Harris said.
The remarks were some of the most direct she has delivered about her history-making role as Biden´s running mate.
She thanked her family for their support, thanking her husband Doug, children Cole and Ella, and sister Maya.
She also paid tribute to her mother Shyamala Gopalan Harris, saying she is ‘most responsible for my presence here today.’
She added: ‘When she came here from India at the age of 19, maybe she didn’t quite imagine this moment.’
‘But she believed so deeply in an America where a moment like this is possible. So, I’m thinking about her and about the generations of women — Black Women, Asian, White, Latina, and Native American women throughout our nation’s history who have paved the way for this moment tonight.
‘Women who fought and sacrificed so much for equality, liberty, and justice for all, including the Black women, who are too often overlooked, but so often Prove that they are the backbone of our democracy.’
![Supporters were gathered in and around their cars and even more people had clustered outside the perimeter security to cheer on the soon-to-be president and vice president](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2020/11/08/02/35387224-8925571-image-a-31_1604801038934.jpg)
Supporters were gathered in and around their cars and even more people had clustered outside the perimeter security to cheer on the soon-to-be president and vice president
![Supporters were gathered in and around their cars - drive-in movie theater-style to see Harris and Biden](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2020/11/08/01/35386768-8925571-image-a-22_1604800497802.jpg)
Supporters were gathered in and around their cars – drive-in movie theater-style to see Harris and Biden
In the hours leading up to Biden and Harris’ arrival to the Chase Center, spontaneous cheering broke out and Lady Gaga – who headlined Biden’s final rally in Pennsylvania – loudly played.
Hundreds of cars filled the parking lot – drive-in movie theater-style – and more than 1,000 people sat on the roofs of their vehicles or milled around in small groups nearby, many cheering and waving American flags or Biden campaign signs.
The smell of grilling meat hung in the air not unlike a football tailgate, and some of the attendees danced and sang, with facemasks nearly universally worn.
Supporters were gathered in and around their cars and even more people had clustered outside the perimeter security to cheer on the soon-to-be president.
It was Pennsylvania, the state where the former vice president was born – that allowed him to clinch the needed Electoral College votes to eject Trump from the White House. Nevada later was called in his favor.
![Hundreds of cars filled the parking lot - drive-in movie theater-style - and more than 1,000 people sat on the roofs of their vehicles to see the new President-elect and Vice President-elect](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2020/11/08/02/35387216-8925571-image-a-34_1604801099372.jpg)
Hundreds of cars filled the parking lot – drive-in movie theater-style – and more than 1,000 people sat on the roofs of their vehicles to see the new President-elect and Vice President-elect
![Supporters were gathered in and around their cars - drive-in movie theater-style to see Harris and Biden](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2020/11/08/01/35386302-8925571-image-a-25_1604800582515.jpg)
Supporters were gathered in and around their cars – drive-in movie theater-style to see Harris and Biden
![Supporters sat on top of their vehicles to get a better view of Harris and Biden](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2020/11/08/01/35386308-8925571-image-a-27_1604800612905.jpg)
Supporters sat on top of their vehicles to get a better view of Harris and Biden
![We did it! The moment Kamala Harris congratulated Joe Biden on becoming President-elect](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2020/11/08/01/35371190-8925571-We_did_it_The_moment_Kamala_Harris_congratulated_Joe_Biden_on_be-a-1_1604798474946.jpg)
We did it! The moment Kamala Harris congratulated Joe Biden on becoming President-elect
![](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2020/11/07/22/35369688-8915483-image-a-20_1604788321628.jpg)
![](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2020/11/07/22/35369424-8915483-image-a-19_1604788317143.jpg)
![](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2020/11/07/22/35373520-8915483-image-a-21_1604788325861.jpg)
The president has yet to concede and instead was tweeting Saturday night, ‘I WON. BAD THINGS HAPPENED. 71,000,000 Legal Votes. The most EVER for a sitting President!’
Biden actually set the record, receiving more than 75 million and counting.
Biden’s journey to the Chase Center stage started with his first election to the Senate, exactly 48 years ago, on November 7, 1972. But the last few days were drawn out – as ballots in swing states Pennsylvania, Nevada, Georgia and Arizona kept being counted.
Trump, in the meantime, rage-tweeted and filed lawsuits publicized by his most loyal allies, including former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
Biden and Harris – who is set to become the nation’s first female vice president and first veep of color – marked the end of the Democratic National Convention in August outside the same venue.
Joe Biden’s grandchildren told him he had the won the election when it was called for by at 11.25am Saturday – then hugged him with his son Hunter.
Naomi Biden, Hunter’s daughter, tweeted a picture of the moment they celebrated the end of a rollercoaster election and count, as in cities across America crowds took to the streets.
Meanwhile Kamala Harris, the first person of South Asian descent elected to the vice presidency, posted video of her celebratory phone call with Biden on Twitter Saturday.
‘We did it, Joe. You’re going to be the next president of the United States,’ Harris is heard telling her running mate in the brief clip.
Harris’ husband Doug Emhoff, an attorney who will also make history as the nation’s first Second Gentleman, posted a photo of the couple hugging, tweeting: ‘So proud of you.’
Harris and Emhoff were married in 2014, and have raised two children from his previous marriage.
Emhoff took a leave of absence from DLA Piper, where he is a partner, following the announcement that Harris would join Biden on the Democratic presidential ticket.
As the highest-ranking woman ever elected in American government, Harris’ victory gives hope to women who were devastated by Hillary Clinton’s defeat four years ago.
Harris has been a rising star in Democratic politics for much of the last two decades, serving as San Francisco’s district attorney and California’s attorney general before becoming a U.S. senator.
After Harris ended her own 2020 Democratic presidential campaign, Joe Biden tapped her as his running mate. They will be sworn in as president and vice president on January 20.
During the campaign, President Donald Trump and his campaign attempted to portray Harris as a far-left influence who would bring a radical agenda to the Biden administration.
As the election was called for Biden on Saturday, Harris tweeted: ‘This election is about so much more than Joe Biden or me. It’s about the soul of America and our willingness to fight for it.
‘We have a lot of work ahead of us. Let’s get started.’
Biden’s running mate selection carried added significance because he will be the oldest president ever inaugurated, at 78, and hasn’t committed to seeking a second term in 2024.
Harris was born in 1964 to two parents active in the civil rights movement. Shyamala Gopalan, from India, and Donald Harris, from Jamaica, met at the University of California, Berkeley, then a hotbed of 1960s activism.
They divorced when Harris and her sister were girls, and Harris was raised by her late mother, whom she considers the most important influence in her life.
Kamala is Sanskrit for ‘lotus flower,’ and Harris gave nods to her Indian heritage throughout the campaign, including with a callout to her ‘chitthis,’ a Tamil word for a maternal aunt, in her first speech as Biden’s running mate.
When Georgia Sen. David Perdue mocked her name in an October rally, the hashtag #MyNameIs took off on Twitter, with South Asians sharing the meanings behind their names.
In contrast Trump finally reacted to the presidential election being called after almost six hours Saturday – unleashing an all-capitals tirade on Twitter saying: ‘I WON THE ELECTION.’
As thousands partied outside the White House, he tweeted a barrage of complaints – all without evidence – that ‘bad things happened.’
Trump had learned his fate on his own golf course, and been sneaked back in to the White House by a side gate to avoid the celebrations outside about two hours before his tweet.
The election was called for Biden at 11.25am Saturday morning by television networks and the Associated Press as he passed a 30,000 lead in Pennsylvania, an agonizing four days after the polls closed.
CNN, NBC, ABC, CBS, the AP and USA Today all made the call and Fox News followed suit 10 minutes later after Biden picked up more votes in Philadelphia, where officials had been working through mail-in ballots for days.
Pennsylvania, with its 20 electoral college votes, finally pushed Biden over the line. Nevada was called for him shortly afterwards. Now, only Arizona, Alaska and North Carolina remain uncalled but none can alter the election outcome now.
Within minutes of the call being made, spontaneous celebrations broke out in major cities as people cheered, danced and honked horns in the streets.
Trump was playing golf at the time. He has refused to accept the outcome, claiming Biden was trying to ‘falsely pose’ as the winner, vowing to keep challenging results he claims are a ‘fraud’ and creating the potential for weeks of chaos and constitutional crisis. He was on his Sterling, Virginia, course as he news broke and was photographed deep in conversation with his three golfing partners just afterwards.
![Trump arriving back at the White House on Saturday afternoon while Biden supporters flooded the area to celebrate his victory](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2020/11/07/20/35377110-8915483-image-m-48_1604781902625.jpg)
![Trump arriving back at the White House on Saturday afternoon while Biden supporters flooded the area to celebrate his victory](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2020/11/08/00/35377112-8915483-Trump_arriving_back_at_the_White_House_on_Saturday_afternoon_whi-a-2_1604796559818.jpg)
Trump arriving back at the White House on Saturday afternoon while Biden supporters flooded the area to celebrate his victory
![President Trump, arriving back at the White House after finding out on the golf course that the election had been called for Biden](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2020/11/08/00/35377108-8915483-President_Trump_arriving_back_at_the_White_House_after_finding_o-a-1_1604796559805.jpg)
President Trump, arriving back at the White House after finding out on the golf course that the election had been called for Biden
Trump has no immediate plans to invite Biden to an Oval Office meeting, a tradition between outgoing and incoming presidents, CNN reported. Then Barack Obama hosted Trump for such a meeting on Thursday, November 10, 2016, two days after that year’s presidential election.
Votes in Philadelphia pushed Biden’s margin in must-win Pennsylvania to 34,558, more than 0.5%, just after 11am – putting the result in the state beyond doubt. That took him to 273 electoral votes – putting the 77-year-old on a clear path to the White House. Less than an hour later Nevada was called by networks, putting him on 279.
The states of Arizona, Georgia and North Carolina were still to be called. Biden was ahead in all but North Carolina, and if he stays that way he will have 302 electoral college votes, the same as Trump in 2016.
Kamala Harris, his running mate, becomes the first female vice president, and the first black and Asian-American vice president. She was out for a run when the call came.
Biden tweeted: ‘America, I’m honored that you have chosen me to lead our great country. 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.’
Jill, when tweeting the picture of them, said: ‘He will be a President for all our families.’