The race to the Presidency was called on Saturday morning.

By: Sabrina Benet 

As of Saturday morning, the race was called making Joe Biden the 46th President-Elect of the United States. Pennsylvania was called on Saturday giving Biden 273 electoral votes and the presidency, followed by winning Nevada (290).

Biden has secured his election into the White House, 48 years to the day he was first elected to the Senate.

Mr. Biden has promised the American people a chance at unity and recovery while serving his term in office. His running mate and Vice President-Elect, Kamala Harris, is the first woman to serve as VP.

As well as being the first woman to serve, Harris is also the first Black and South Asian Vice President-Elect.

Donald Trump, the first incumbent to lose re-election in more than a quarter-century, is refusing to concede and is claiming that he will mount unspecified “legal challenges.” However, like his other lawsuits so far, it is unlikely that they will be considered.

Along with this, he has released a statement claiming the race is not over and that all legal votes need to be counted.

“The American people are entitled to an honest election; that means counting all legal ballots and not counting any illegal ballots,” President Trump said. “It remains shocking that the Biden campaign refuses to agree with this basic principle and wants ballots counted even if they are fraudulent, manufactured, or cast by ineligible or deceased voters.”

Democratic candidate Biden had 253 electoral votes, needing only 17 more to win the race to the presidency. As of Friday morning, he officially holds the lead in Pennsylvania, a battleground state, by just under 6,000 votes.

In the 2016 election, Trump flipped the “Blue Wall”, a triumvirate of states (Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania) that were typically Democratic strongholds. Going into this election, it was seen as crucial that Biden flip these states back. He has, winning Michigan and Wisconsin, and taking the lead in Pennsylvania with many mail-in ballots still to be counted. 

Along with Pennsylvania, Biden has also taken the lead in Georgia by just 1,579 votes, with many ballots, mostly mail-in, uncounted. As well as provisional ballots, thousands of overseas and military ballots can arrive up until today, November 6th. 

Currently, Biden also holds a lead in Arizona (47,052 votes) and Nevada (11,438). While the race has not officially been called yet, it is looking increasingly likely that Joe Biden will hit 270 electoral votes, and become the President-Elect of the United States. 

The Trump campaign has called for recounts in several states, including battlegrounds such as Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. However, it is very unlikely that a recount would yield the desired votes to flip the states to Trump. 

The Biden campaign has increasingly advocated to let the voting process play out and has urged calm. This is a stark contrast from Trump, who has baselessly claimed states he hasn’t won, and stated that the voting process is fraudulent.