Joe Biden-Kamala Harris transition website goes live ahead of results, ex-VP stresses 'votes still being counted'
Even as ballots across key battleground states like Georgia, Pennsylvania and Arizona are still being counted and the winner of the 2020 presidential election hands in the balance, Democratic nominee Joe Biden and his running mate, Kamala Harris, launched their transition website on Wednesday, November 4.
Although the former vice-president has ways to go before being officially declared the winner and there are still chances that President Donald Trump might clinch a victory if Biden loses by narrow margin leads in some of the swing states, the ex-VP is currently in the lead to hit the 270 electoral vote count threshold. And even as the Trump administration files a barrage of lawsuits to stop the count of votes in the states that Biden is currently leading, the latter has chosen to focus his energies on making preparations for a Democratic transition of power, if that were to happen.
A preliminary look at the Biden-Harris transition website was promising. Under the domain name https://buildbackbetter.com/ a closeup picture of Biden sat against a backdrop of blue with the letters "BIDEN-HARRIS TRANSITION" written in all-caps. The photo was not a smiling or celebrating Biden - it was of a determined and focused ex-VP resting his face on his hands with a pen in between his fingers, staring into the distance. The description that followed reflected what Biden was trying to say with his determined face.
"The American people will determine who will serve as the next President of the United States. Votes are still being counted in several states around the country. The crises facing the country are severe — from a pandemic to an economic recession, climate change to racial injustice — and the transition team will continue preparing at full speed so that the Biden-Harris Administration can hit the ground running on Day One," the message on the website read, with an option to translate it into Spanish.
Making sure to set his tone exactly opposite as his opponent, Biden has time and again stressed the fact that he was not going to prematurely declare victory like Trump did on Election night and instead was optimistic that he will be the new POTUS once all the votes are counted and the nation has a definite answer. Late on Wednesday night, Biden delivered a speech saying, "Now, after a long night of counting, it’s clear we are winning enough states to reach 270 electoral votes needed to win the Presidency. I’m not here to declare that we’ve won, but I am here to report that when the count is finished we believe we will be the winners."
His second speech in 12 hours came shortly after CNN projected that Biden would win Wisconsin, edging him closer to the 270-mark. “Now, every vote must be counted,” said Biden. “No one is going to take our democracy away from us, not now, not ever. America has come too far, America has fought too many battles, America has endured too much to ever let that happen. We the people will not be silenced, we the people will not be bullied, we the people will not surrender. I’m confident, we will emerge victorious.”