Joseph R. Biden Jr. has been elected as the 46th president of the United States. After winning the popular vote with an unprecedented number of votes and surpassing the necessary 270 electoral votes on Saturday morning, the former vice-president overtook Donald J. Trump to become only the fourth president-elect in history to defeat a sitting president. 

The world held its breath all week long, anxiously waiting for a result since the tallying began on Tuesday evening. An influx of absentee ballots, due heavily to the COVID-19 pandemic, delayed results as poll workers worked around the clock to report the outcome in key states, such as Pennsylvania, Nevada, Arizona and Georgia. 

The Trump Administration engaged in a series of legal battles, insisting upon voter fraud and calling for states to halt counting legal mail-in votes as they came into precincts. Addressing the nation in the early hours of Wednesday morning, he incorrectly announced that he had already won re-election, with hundreds of thousands of votes remaining uncounted and unconfirmed. 

Trump has insisted that mail-in ballots were fraudulent for months, leading his supporters to largely distrust the system. This led to a majority of the mail-in votes leaning Democratic, which contributed to the dramatic late surge of Biden votes in states that he was formerly behind in, such as Pennsylvania and Georgia.

Trump gave another speech on Thursday evening. He spoke in a somber tone, attempting to undermine the legitimacy of the election with baseless claims of fraud. Many news outlets, such as ABC, NBC and CBS, cut away from his speech to prevent the spread of disinformation. MSNBC declined to broadcast the speech entirely.

In contrast, Biden addressed the nation multiple times throughout the week to encourage patience. In a speech Friday afternoon, he repeated his promise to the nation that he would be a president for all Americans, regardless of party affiliation. 

“We may be opponents, but we’re not enemies. We’re Americans.” Biden said. “We have to put the anger and the demonization behind us.” 

Early Friday morning, Biden overcame Trump in Georgia and Pennsylvania as votes rolled in. On Saturday morning, networks confirmed Biden’s win in Pennsylvania and Nevada, finalizing the result. 

Senator Kamala Harris will become the first woman to serve as vice-president. Her historical accomplishments have and will continue to be a powerful stepping stone for women and women of color in politics and beyond. 

In the coming days, votes will continue to be counted and recounted in states where the margin remains thin. Meanwhile, Trump has vowed to continue his legal battle in an attempt to reverse the results.