On Nov. 7 Joe Biden was declared president-elect of the United States. Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris joins him. She is the first woman, the first Black person, and the first South Asian to be named Vice President. 

Joe Biden currently has the most votes for a U.S presidential candidate ever, passing Former President Obama. This election has brought out one of the highest voter turnouts since 1900. According to Bloomberg, 151 million votes have been counted, and a remaining 9 million need to be counted as of Nov. 12 

President Donald Trump has filed lawsuits against three different states and has yet to concede. Trump claims that Nevada, Michigan, and Pennsylvania took too long to count their ballots, which could reflect a lack of transparency when it came to their counting process. 

Many experts have said the lawsuits have little to no evidence to support them. Therefore they will most likely be thrown out as several already have. 

Going into the election, Biden and Trump both campaigned hard in Arizona, Florida, Texas, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin to secure the swing states that would push each to 270. 

On election night, Trump won Texas and Florida. He ended the night with 214 electoral votes. Biden held a slight lead with the help of west coast states, especially California.

As more votes were counted the next day on Nov. 4, it was announced that Wisconsin and Michigan would go to Biden. The 26 electoral votes would give Biden a total of 253 and a point lead over Trump. This was a massive win for the democrats as WI and MI went to Trump in 2016.

The Associated Press has since called Arizona, Pennsylvania, and Nevada for Biden. 

As of Nov. 10, Georgia remains unconfirmed, yet leans to Biden. North Caroline has also not been called but is leaning to Trump. Neither of these states will make enough of a difference because Biden already has 290 electoral votes.

Illinois is historically blue, and that continued this year. More than 2.9 million votes went to Biden and around 2.3 million to Trump. In Cook County, Biden won 72.6% of the votes, while only 25% went to Trump. Despite this, the state voted against Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s ‘Fair Tax’ Amendment.

While it is clear this election is not yet over, American’s have a sense of peace knowing who their next president will be.