Biden predicts victory, says he will govern as an 'American president'

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Joe Biden: 'I feel very good about Pennsylvania'

Democratic nominee addresses the nation as the presidential race hangs in the balance

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden struck an optimistic tone Wednesday afternoon, saying he anticipates he will win the 2020 presidential election and that he will govern as an “American president.”

Biden, speaking from the Chase Center in Wilmington, Del., touted the “extraordinary” turnout in the 2020 race, just hours after the Fox News Decision Desk projected that the former vice president won the battleground state of Wisconsin.

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“If we had any doubts, we shouldn’t have any longer about a government of, by and for the people,” Biden said. “It is very much alive – very much alive in America. Here, the people rule.”

He added: “Power can’t be taken or asserted – it flows from the people, it is their will that determines who will be the president of the United States, and their will alone.”

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Biden said that he was “not here to declare that we won,” but to “report that when the count is finished, we believe we will be the winners.”

Biden said he feels “very good” about Pennsylvania and Michigan, and said that many of the remaining votes to be counted were “cast by mail,” noting that the Biden campaign has been “winning 78% of votes by mail in Pennsylvania.”

Biden touted his wins in key battleground states but said there was “special significance” to him that he and his running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., “won the majority of the American people.”

Biden said that he and Harris will win the popular vote, and are “on track to win more votes than any ticket in the history of this country.”

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“I am very proud of our campaign,” Biden said, noting that only three presidents have defeated an incumbent president, and he hopes that he will become the fourth.

Biden shifted, though, recognizing the deep divide in the United States, as the presidential race has remained in a dead-heat since polls closed Tuesday night.

“Once this election is finalized and behind us, it will be time to do what we’ve always done as Americans … to lower the temperature, to see each other again, to listen to one another, to hear each other again, to unite and heal, to come together as a nation,” Biden said.

“I know this won’t be easy,” Biden continued. “I know how deep and hard the opposing views are in this country on so many things, but to make progress, we have to stop reading our opponents as enemies.”

Biden said “we are not enemies,” and maintained that “what brings us together as Americans is so much stronger than anything that tears us apart.”

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Biden went on to say that “every vote must be counted,” as President Trump's campaign has leveled lawsuits in key states, urging a recount in Wisconsin, and legal questions in others.

“No one is going to take our democracy away from us – not now, not ever,” Biden said. “My friends, I am confident we’ll emerge victorious, but this will not be my victory or our victory alone – it will be a victory for the American people, for democracy – for America.”

He added: “No blue states and red states when we win – just the United States of America.”

Biden projected confidence, despite a number of key battleground states not yet having declared a winner, including Michigan, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada and North Carolina. 

In order to win the presidency, a candidate must secure at least 270 electoral votes.