Four days later, we finally have a winner
( Valerie Muzondi / Rowdy Magazine Art Director )
There ya have it folks. Finally, on Saturday, Nov. 7th, 2020 Joseph R. Biden Jr. is projected to be the 46th President of the United States. Senator Kamala Harris will then become the nation's first female, Black and South Asian Vice President.
It's happened. After a grueling four years —and an endless three days of yelling at maps and numbers —, we can finally breathe a little bit easier knowing that we won’t be pulled into a downward trajectory to hellfire.
In the end, Biden won 273 out of the available 538 electoral votes, with votes still coming in. The man broke President Obama’s record for most votes counted for a Presidential candidate with over 70 million votes and counting. He managed to flip the red tides in Georgia, Wisconsin, Michigan and Biden’s home state of Pennsylvania.
The fact of the matter is that the President-elect Joe Biden did not win by a landslide; he won because of the sustained efforts of young voters of color, specifically Black voters, who came out all across the county.
We’re giving you a look into the historic win of President Joe Biden, his third campaign for president, and what it could mean for the future of an America left behind by Donald Trump.
In the beginning of his campaign trail, it was unclear whether he was cut out to become the next leader of the Democratic party. The candidates that ran amongst him were rising stars who were younger, and mostly more progressive and willing to reshape the mold. So the beginnings of the Democratic primary didn’t look good for him.
The race for who would take the spot Democratic nominee for this election consisted of a total of 29 major candidates, which was the largest field of candidates for any American party since 1972. The race eventually went down to seven during the primaries and Biden rose victorious amongst them.
But Biden pulled through towards the end and beat Bernie Sanders for the nomination. Although the Democratic party itself split in it’s opinion on the nomination, it came together to vote this past week and on Election Day to ensure that we could attain what we accomplished today.
Thus began the even more difficult journey for a fight that would go down as historical till the end.
Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris spent the remaining week of their campaign visiting as many swing states as they could, closing his campaign on Monday night in Pennsylvania. He made sure to specifically visit his hometown, Scranton, and Pennsylvania’s most populated city, Philadelphia. Clearly, as the polls showed, their work payed off.
In 2016, Trump won Pennsylvania due to heavy support from white voters without a college degree. This past week, the Biden-Harris administration made sure to target suburban voters and people of color, especially Black voters, most of whom vote on Election day.
Vice President Kamala Harris visited Detroit, Michigan, a state that the Democrats were very close in and ended up losing in 2016.
As Biden headed back to his home in Delaware, he was asked what would give him confidence for his win. He responded by saying if Florida went blue, his win would be “Done” and secured. Nonetheless, he managed to win the presidency without Florida’s help.
According to NBC News, Biden made 57 campaign visits in the months of September and October alone. Trump made eight more with 65 and Trump also visited 15 states, while Biden visited 10. However, in Pennsylvania, a battleground state, Biden campaigned 14 times while Trump campaigned 13.
Unlike Trump, Biden interacted with fewer people during his campaign because of COVID-19. This seems to be a large reason that Biden hadn’t done as many campaigns as Trump had. The Biden campaign made multiple, smaller stops within a city while Trump held larger rallies in one spot of a city. Trump holding massive rallies covered more ground but unlike his opponent, Trump chose to ignore that these rallies were dangerous amidst a global pandemic.
Most of Biden’s ad buys were in key states like Texas, Wisconsin, Michigan, Florida, Iowa, and Pennsylvania.
President Trump might have changed the definition of “president” but Biden has a way with people. A president’s way, aka the way that a leader of a fair democracy should act. He is coherent, civil and hasn’t nonsense during debates. He looked at the people at home when he spoke into cameras and didn’t call countries impoverished from white colonialists “shit holes”. He believes in basic human rights and doesn’t exacerbate and give power to hateful rhetoric.
I’m not saying this country’s good to go now that Biden is president. But we’re not going to get exponentially worse.
Anushka Dakshit is a Staff Writer at Rowdy Magazine. She likes to read, watch really long films, listen to old Bollywood, and listen to sad music when it rains. She wants to use her writing to discuss the nuances of womxnhood and culture and is passionate about social justice, femininity, and words that bring her catharsis. You can reach her at anushkadakshit@ufl.edu