The US Electoral College decisively confirmed Joe Biden win on Monday as the nation’s next president and Trump defeat, ratifying his November victory in an authoritative state-by-state repudiation of President Donald Trump’s refusal to concede he had lost.
The presidential electors gave Biden a solid majority of 306 electoral votes to Trump’s 232, the same margin that Trump bragged was a landslide when he won the White House four years ago.
Heightened security was in place in some states as electors met to cast paper ballots, with masks, social distancing, and other pandemic precautions the order of the day. The results will be sent to Washington and tallied in a Jan 6 joint session of Congress over which Vice President Mike Pence will preside.
Trump’s claims
For all of Trump’s unsupported claims of fraud, there was little suspense and no change as every one of the electoral votes allocated to Biden and the president in last month’s popular vote went officially to each man. On Election Day, the Democrat topped the incumbent Republican by more than 7 million in the popular vote nationwide.
Today, the members of the Electoral College cast their votes for president and vice president.
And once again, the rule of law, our Constitution, and the will of the people have prevailed.
Our democracy—pushed, tested, and threatened—proved to be resilient, true, and strong. pic.twitter.com/Ka1Aj3hV3m
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) December 15, 2020
California’s 55 electoral votes put Biden over the top. Vermont, with 3 votes, was the first state to report. Hawaii, with 4 votes, was the last.
“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,” Biden said in an evening speech in which he stressed the size of his win and the record 81 million people who voted for him.
He renewed his campaign promise to be a president for all Americans; whether they voted for him or not, and said the country has hard work ahead on the virus and economy.
Trump remained in the Oval Office
Trump remained in the Oval Office long after the sunset in Washington; calling allies and fellow Republicans while keeping track of the running Electoral College tally; according to White House and campaign aides. The president frequently ducked into the private dining room off the Oval Office to watch on TV; complaining that the cable networks were treating it like a mini-Election Night while not giving his challenges any airtime.