Way of delaware elected president elect of these United States. Right now our map having called nevada in the last few hours, our map has him at 279 electoral votes to the incumbent president s 214 electoral votes. If you have been watching a live followon coverage following the big news of this morning and today you know that americans are flooding into the streets. They are flooding into the area near lafayette park, black lives matter plaza in washington, d. C. Lets stop there first. Our correspondent garrett haake, this is different i imagine than your last visit which featured pepper spray in the air. Reporter yeah. Brian, this is the polar opinion sit of that experience here. As my photographer putt it i havent seen this many happy people all in one place in a very long time and that certainly wasnt the case five months ago. These are all students from johns hop conditions in baltimore. They saw the news, got on a train and came down here. Why did you want to be here so badly for this . If i look back on this moment ten years from now i wouldnt be able to live with myself. You have your Kamala Harris shirt on. Whoo reporter what does her ascension as Vice President elect mean to you . Everything it means literally everything. She is the first woman of color Vice President. She literally is going to change the future of our country whoo reporter brian, this speaks to it. It is unfiltered joy out here. We are in the middle of a concert here. We have been cheering here. Very little mention of the current occupant of the building far behind me. This is a forward looking, joyous event and a street thats seen so much history already this year, brian. Garrett, how far back does the crowd go . I think for all the wrong reasons my audience had a lesson in the confines of the white house and the border around the white house has really been almost militarized and quietly so over the last couple of months. Reporter yeah. Oddly enough, the structure looks the same with the nonscale fence here. Long time viewers may recognize the building in that direction, the building we talked about one night when it was on fire during the protests here in d. C. But, tony, if you can swing back the other way, her looking down h street past 16th street down to 17th street in the far distance is absolutely packed. And where i can see but the camera cannot i can tell you there are there is quite the crowd. Really going in several directions here. Every direction north, west and east of the white house for several blocks is packed. Frankly, even driving down here hours ago, its like theyre taking attendance. Everyone in d. C. Wants to pass through this, to be part of this moment at least for a moment. All right. Ga garrett haake, keep coming back to us. The president loves a discussion of crowd size and that certainly is a crowd the likes of which he can hear from the residence after coming back from golf at his nearby golf resort in virginia. Aly vitali is standing by for us outside biden headquarters in w wilmington. Tell me about the mood, tell me about the campaign and now transition, staffers you have spoken to and today kind of proves their adage of slow and steady wins the race. Reporter yeah. That was their adage the few days between Election Night and today. When we heard this race called there was sort of a collective exhale from the biden staffers here in delaware who had been waiting to see the Networks Call it. They knew they had it using words like imminent but the timing on this was so up in the air that finally seeing the Networks Call it all of the irritability to wait was replaced with jubilation and the mood is outside of this packing lot right now in delaware. I was just out there talking with supporters, also spontaneously showing up to be part of this moment and so joe biden and Kamala Harris set to speak in the parking lot that we have basically been living in for a few days and nights, theyll finally take the stage here once the sun sets, see a light show, potentially fireworks but this is an event thats had some stop and then start to it as the campaign has seen some moments when they thought they might clinch this race and then finally having it happen today. As you get into the transition, because thats where we are right now, the biden team is going to hit the ground running on big issues like the coronavirus. I know that we are focused on the election, people are out celebrating in the streets right now but cases are still spiking. This is an issue that biden himself ran on for several weeks and putting together the transition were reporting that they will have a 12member coronavirus team. They will have it led by dr. Murthic and where they begin this process because this was the key issue. You get out on the road, talk to anyone, the reminders are everyone, everyone is Wearing Masks. This crisis is hitting home. Joe biden now going to be in a position he knows well from being on the campaign trail, a nation dealing with hundreds of thousands of deaths from this virus and who better than the man who showed his empathy at every turn on the campaign trail to lead this nation just through this pandemic as he promised he would throughout this campaign. Thank you for raising that because its the unmentioned part of the pictures we keep showing from cities across the country and that is we are at the height of an uncontrolled pandemic in our country. Most of the s we have seen come out have been Wearing Masks and sharpeared viewers heard the train whistle behind her symbolic of the way joe biden commuted for so many years from wil mng on the, delaware, which is now temporarily the center of power. We have seen it from los angeles to little rock to chicago to trump tower no new york. Right now its delaware. Soochb the road show will go to washington and the white house. Rehema ellis is in philadelphia. Rehema, i have got to say because of philadelphias ability to put joe biden over the top, they have showed donald trump the same courtesy that eagles fans show us giants fans and flyers show us ranger fans. But democrats will forever thank philadelphia for the role they played in this. Reporter without question, brian. This city is particularly proud that this place, the birthplace of democracy, where they talked about the liberty and the constitution and they have got this eagle back here. It looks grounded for a minute but they say this baby is about to take flight in celebration of the fact that biden is now president elect. And that the keystone state and philadelphia were key in making all of that happen. Spontaneous celebration. People dancing in the street. This family is part of that. Family came out with your children. Yes. Reporter what does it moon to you that what has happened here and that a black woman is headed to the white house . Im actually still trying to take it all in. Im ecstatic. As a fellow hbscu grad i could not be more proud. It was black people who made america live up to the ideals of a democracy and it is black people in philly who came and staged this one right here. I am completely ecstatic. Reporter what do you think about it . You have a daughter, 6 years old. For your daughter as well as for your son whos 13. It is important for them to see this, to see how a democracy works and how everyone has a voice and are able to exercise their voice through a vote and witness it firsthand as an educator and a person that sits on the board of we rain, an organization for brooding, aspiring black girls, this is exactly what we need so put on a spotlight. Good things do happen in philadelphia. Reporter good things happen in philadelphia. Thank you, family, very much. This family over here, dad you brought your family out because you wanted them to see democracy in action. Yes. Its actually history happening that we have biden and we have harris going into office. The firstever black woman from outside the country that we have incoming. Daughter of an immigrant and so proud. And it gives my daughter an opportunity to see other things that are greater out there. Reporter absolutely. 16 years old. You said that you couldnt be happier about whats getting ready to happen in terms of whats going to happen in washington. Yeah. Its definitely em pempowering have somebody thats a female in such a high power, especially when that woman is of color ab like my dad said considered out of america, not yeah. An immigrant. I think thats really like empowering for women and just like little girls around the world because you can see that we are not going to be putt down and we are coming closer to the equality and united place we need to be. Reporter thank you very much. Thank you, family. One of the things that people are commenting on here, the history of it, the fact that its about unity of one woman said she was so overwhelmed because this is a sign of the country being uniteded rather than divided. They are united here in looking forward as we go from this point on. Brian . Thank you, rehema. I know where you are and i have to say we are blessed here in the east with an unseasonably warm day. Temperatures in the 70s. In most of the big cities up and down the east coast, even warmer down in washington. You see people in tshirts and very light summer type clothing. My colleague yasmin is in times square in new york. In knowing we would talk with you im remembering the last you and i did this, you were marching along with one of the black lives matter protesters and entirely different mood, an entirely different time in just our recent history. Reporter it was an entirely different time and that was i think four or five months ago and now here we are after this prolonged election period it seems, a lot of folks in this crowd right now in new york city streets breathing a sig of relief it seems, folks celebrating. Lets give you a sense of what were seeing. Heres a big dance circle here. People are having a lot of fun in times square celebratinging joe biden being the 46th president of the United States. Some of the people i have been hearing from, a nurse saying to me this pandemic needs to be dealt with and joe biden is the man to do it. A black mother that spoke to me saying it was the immigration policies of donald trump that got to me and a change needed to happen in this country. Hi, you guys. Hello. Reporter thank you for speaking me today. Absolutely. Reporter how do you feel about the campaign . We feel really great about it. Reporter what about you . Same thing. Glad to be here celebrating everybody right now. Reporter what matters to you most . You talked about your religion. Yes, absolutely. Character is number one thing for me. People dismiss that like its a situation of personality and thats the point to make is it is about a character for me and if the person in the highest office in the land cannot reflect at least a basic amount of moral character they have lost me. Reporter you told me youre an evangelical christian. I came out of that tradition. Reporter how do you reconcile your views with some of what the democrats belief with the social beliefs . When you have so many christians voting for donald trump. I think thats an absolute sham and baffles me that that is such a common thing and had comments with family and friends about this and i feel like its wrong to allow any one party to dominate the conversation on what morality is and particularly coming to the life of an embryo. If you care about life then we should care about life in all forms and i dont see enough care and concern from the Republican Party of the life of human beings once it leaves the womb so compassion, integrity and a real fight for justice in this world matters to me. Reporter thank you. Appreciate it. One more family to speak to. How are you . Is this okay . Good. Youre here with your three boys . Yes. Reporter celebrating the election of joe biden. Who do you feel today . Perfect. We come from a small town and a lot of my family are Trump Supporters so were here with the new new york city family celebrating the big win. Reporter how does the conversation go with the family that are Trump Supporters . We love our families. Extremely close to us. And its challenging at times. We just hope the guys can make whatever decision they want when they grow up and have freedom to do that and can think about all ways but this election for us was we were pretty clear with them who we were voting for and pretty emotional. Three boys, we want them to be upstanding citizens unlike the other. Reporter your son, do you know why youre out here . Yes. Because we are celebrating the election of joe biden. Reporter there you go. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. One more. Brian, i know im taking a long ti time. You are an indian american. Yes. Reporter how do you feel about Kamala Harris being the next Vice President of the United States as a black and indian woman . Im so proud that she is the Vice President and he is also a woman. So im extra extra proud and she is from india. So happy that people chose biden and Kamala Harris as our next president and Vice President. Reporter you know whats interesting, brian . Earlier on in your career you had been out on the streets and you understand how difficult to talk to people about politics in the streets of this country. People are very enthusiastic. Thank you for talking to me. Thank you. Reporter people are very enthusiastic about talking about this election and feel relieved after watching the news and expeerpsed this for 18 months and the Trump Presidency for 4 years and it speaks for itself whats happening in the streets of new york right now is how new yorkers feel who have taken the Trump Presidency personally, brian. Two things here. First of all, no fair. Youre there on a day when Everyone Wants to talk to you. I was a street reporter for so long i used to be able to anticipate ten feet away which folks wanted to talk and which folks didnt but we were just bragging on you in the control room. Not only did you select such fascinating people but interviews well conducted. Enjoy the scene there on what we keep saying is an unseasonably warm day for november. Reporter certainly is. Lets bring in the first two guests, you know them both. Clair mccaskill, democrat, great state of missouri. Eddie claude who chairs the africanamerican studies department at princeton university. Eddie, i would like you to go first. I want to hear you react to the news today. We should also remember theres not going to be any living with any of the Howard University bison or any member of aka after this. You understand that, dont you . Oh, absolutely. As a morehouseman itch i have to endure that. We have been enduring donald trump and the minion for four years and some ways contributed to the erosion of our democracy and democratic norms but we have made History Today and i think we need to enjoy it, celebrate that. I think as Kamala Harris in particular ascends to the vice presidency as the first black woman to hold that position, im thinking about the atlanta washer women strike of 1881. Im thinking about Matilda Crawford and the Womens Council in montgomery so central to the busboy cot. Im thinking about ida b. Wells and ella baker and she has an enormous wind at her back. Politicians are only as good as our demands and expectations. We should not assume that joe biden is the savior Kamala Harris is a savior but we can celebrate this moment and prepare ourselves for the difficult and challenging work that will begin tomorrow and the next day. But im going to enjoy this and youre right. I have to deal with those howard bisons. Oh my goodness. What a day. I know. Its not even started yet. We have to gird for that. And its a all kidding aside, it is a big time for hsbcus and something we heard people volunteering in interviews. Claire, indeed, hasnt it been pleasantly surprising to hear so many of the folks in interviews talk about Kamala Harris, talk about sounds like she was a huge part of their voting motivation . First, i think its really mean to make me go after eddie today. He brought tears to my eyes. Sorry. Yeah. It is just not fair. Eddie is so good at wrapping up history and the emotion of a moment and thats what this is and it is kamala is amazing. I am so lucky to call her a friend and the country is so lucky to have her be the first woman who is going to have the bright klieg lights of power and frankly press that will be examining her every move, every statement. Theyll go after her outfits, her hair. Theyll figure out a way to go after her husband. They will do all of that. And shes the right person to stand up to that kind of pressure. This was a wise choice which reflects on the president elect. There were many people he could have chosen and by the way they were all amazing. But he knew that kamala particularly was ready for the pressure that this job would bring and let me say this. Kamala is fortunate, too, because joe biden was a Vice President. He knows what it feels like. I believe that he was probably disappointed that he wasnt given a chance to speak in grant park in 2008. He was probably disappointed that he didnt get a chance to speak when the election was claimed in 2012. Dollar bet you a dime that kamala will be at the podium and a partner to make him proud and do america well. Of course, claire, no pressure. They have 74 whole days to figure this out and i quoted my friend stevie last night saying that what we can take away from the raw vote is that 70 million americans wanted donald trump to prevail and as he put it loosely every other person you pass on the street disagrees with your politics. Thats a heck of a setup even for a politician as much into unification and the language of unification as joe biden. Yeah. Today is a good example. The hangover of trump is very obvious today. There is not one single republican elected official on capitol hill that did not celebrate and expect a concession speech when ap called their race and ap called all their races and by the way ap called their races while the votes were still being counted and none of them then said, oh no, oh no, this doesnt count. The trump team is now zero for nine in court. All the major media outlets, conservative and otherwise called this race and still republicans up and down the line have refused to take the tiny step of just congratulations. Of some, some modicum of concession. That was the trump hangover and what biden harris will have to deal with. Eddie, this question does not rely on pour your grasp of history, eloquence or incredible schooling but just on your feelings of today. Isnt it nice to see happy people en masse in the streets, no one that i have seen thus far has been hit with pepper spray. Yeah. Thats really a delight, brian. Its beautiful. We know were a divided country and that we have a lot of work to do but i think there today calls for solemnity amid the celebration and i want to call our athe tension to the fact that 230,000 plus americans are not here with us in this moment. That their families, even amidst the joy and jubilation, who are grieving. People have lost their moms, their brothers, their sisters, their friends. And we need to understand that this moment as powerful as it is is taking place in a moment of unimaginable grief and sorrow. So as we celebrate which we must as we prepare ourselves to do the hard work that democracy requires of us lets do it in the name of the dead, those that arent with us today and i think well do them a good service if we remember them rightly moving forward. Let history reflect those words. Claire, of course, he did it again but let history also reflect that a morehouse maroon tiger extended the olive branch of love and acceptance to a bison from Howard University whos about to become the Vice President elect of the United States. Thank you both, friends. Appreciate it. Great to talk to you. To our viewers, a little bit of a transition. Lets go show you the scene in phoenix, arizona. Before we go to correspondent gadi schwartz, what i understand is because the count is still going on youre in the middle of a trump rally. Is that correct . Reporter thats right. Theres a trump rally here in the parking lot. A big and small picture. Big picture, you have got hundreds of people earlier at the State Capitol and here protesting the way the vote is going. They are in favor of the president and then i want to show you a little picture here because this is something going on at the corner of this protest. You have got this woman here, she is holding a sign saying make america gay again and then a woman with a keep America Great hat and been in conversation for quite sometime. It seems like you have found some things to agree on. Right . Yeah. She is so sweet. We are having a good time. She is super nice. We are just here, we are all americans. I respect her. Right . Yes. I respect her opinion. She is respecting my opinion. We have differences, more alike policies accomplished than like our policy differentials and i think theres way too much divide and i think the two party system has divided people that should be friends. It is not fair. I heard you guys are agreeing on the fact that colleges is expensive. Yes i think we need to have reduced cost for Community College because its a good way to try out clnlg and get into trades or to go to the you voted for biden an yd yo voted for President Trump . Yes, sir. Reporter thank you. We are going to swivel around here. People have been talking pictures right there. Everything is extremely peaceful so far but then right here you have got hundreds of people, theyre peaceful but they are in the parking lot of the Maricopa County election center. Inside they are counting the ballots. Actually, one more thing. This is very arizona. So now we have this gentleman here he is coming up, been chatding with her, too. But theyre getting along very well, talking about roe v. Wade and some other issues. But theyre finding things to agree on. Inside of that building again we are seeing that vote counted and we are still expecting more votes to come and doesnt look like theres going to be a big release of results this weekend from Maricopa County, one that might putt the whole thing to bed but that lead that joe biden has here in arizona right now is still about 20,000 with overall in the state 100,000 or so votes rehmanin remaining. Back to you. A saturday amid the high tension power lines and the cactus in phoenix, arizona. Gadi schwartz, i think was responsible for something of a coming together of people there as we watched everybody put a mask on. Veteran journalist Jonathan Allen has stopped by our coverage to talk about as only he can what we have witnessed and where we are going. First of all, my friend, i guess we are real news again. You know, for the news industry it will be nice to not be heckled every day from the white house. Thats krpcertainly a little bif a relief. Most journalists look past that and do their work. Jonathan, because we have known each other for a while and i have read all your stuff, what just happened . You know, brian, i think what we saw happen is a slight move in the electorate across the board. Democrats coming out of 2016 had a great debate among them whether to work harder to turn out the base or do a better job to appeal to the middle and the answer was both and you see this across the country. In pennsylvania, for instance, the big boost for joe biden, over 2016, came in the form of votes in philadelphia suburbs and it came in the form of margins being cut across the state and in counties that trump won. And slight uncreases for biden in county that is he won. At georgia, look at atlanta, fulton county, dekalb county, gwinnett, tens of thousands of votes more for biden this time than 2016 so the answer is he was able to manage both parts and by the way very narrowly. We are looking at a narrow election when this is not a case of some overwhelming repudiation of trump and looking at the vote he has a higher percentage of the popular vote than he did in 2016 so this was a very, very close election but biden pulled together the broad coalition. Also, it is unscientific as hell because we are canvassing people on an unseasonably warm day who are in mostly blue cities, they are outside for a reason. They are already true to the cause. But please note how many people have volunteered the name of Kamala Harris and in my view in president ial politics, that as a motivator is highly unusual. President ial candidates hope theyre picking a motivator in a Vice President ial candidate. This may rewrite some of the rules. Its interesting. I noticed in yasmins interview with the indianamerican she said, yes, shes proud but also because shes a woman. Its a politically divided country and those extremely disappointed in the result when Hillary Clinton didnt win the presidency in 20 sf. You see Kamala Harris coming into the vice presidency now and its not just women but its fathers who have young daughters, i have a 7yearold daughter, who understand what representation means, whether that means an africanamerican in one of those executive offices, an indianamerican woman. That Representation Matters because children look up to and the Younger Generation looks up to the people in high office and makes determinations about what they can do with their lives and whats paid attention to in their lives from people in power and see Something Different and so whether or not someone voted for Kamala Harris and joe biden or did not i think that theres a sort of broader recognition of the value of the representation and in addition to that, Kamala Harris did a very good job on the trail of doing what Vice President ial candidate should do which is first do no harm. This is somebody who came out who hit her marks from a political standpoint who carried the message of joe biden even though that was dimptd than her message in the primary. Kamala harris had a message of inclusion as a candidate and joe biden also had a message of inclusion as a general election candidate so you could see that coming together even though they have had broad disagreements on some specifics of how to get there. Amazing pictures while you were talking of people literally dancing in the streets of san francisco. Jonathan, final question, does todays result, does the result of this election prove that sometimes people just go with the guy they see as a good guy . Absolutely. If you look at joe bidens campaign, from the very againing until this day now, its been one message. He wants to restore the soul of the nation, a candidate that rejected the extremes of both parties. Seen to have good character. People find him honest and trustworthy. The attacks didnt work from the president. The idea that he was corrupt or that he was a socialist or whatever it was that trump threw at him didnt work because its so against what people saw from joe biden which was somebody who has tremendous empathy, tremendous compassion and who can relate to their lives, relate to personal struggles whether thats in the realm of health care or a younger man coming from an aspiring but working class community. And so, you know, i think that very much you hit the nail on the head, brian. You have been doing this a few years, as well, and your analysis is right on. Thank you so much. Glad to have your voice as part of the coverage especially on this day while we witness all these live pictures, as you spoke. We have much more to get to. Our live continuing coverage of the news of this day, former Vice President joe biden now becomes president elect joe biden. Kamala harris Vice President elect of the United States. Its a lot. Were just getting under way. [ engines revving ] its amazing to see them in the wild like th shhh. [ engine revs ] for those who were born to ride, theres progressive. You can go your own way go your own way your wireless. Your rules. Only Xfinity Mobile lets you choose shared data, unlimited or a mix of each. And switch anytime so you only pay for the data you need. Switch and save hundreds on your wireless bill. Plus, get 300 off when you buy the Samsung Galaxy note20 ultra 5g. Learn more at your local xfinity store today. This means so much for so many people and the fact they even want to place value on human lives that says enough. When i found out she would be Vice President it volted me. A black woman as Vice President , like i cant even express like how amazing this feels to be represented. Our city feels love right now. People are indeed driving around honking the horns and in times square a family is posing in front of the american flag. Lets go from times square downtown to correspondent ron allen. Ron, its a shame the sun has to go down. It is a shame the temperature has to drop a few degrees because it really is a festival atmosphere out there. Reporter brian, you know none of thats going to make a bit of difference. People will be out here all night. Thats true. Reporter doesnt matter light or dark or anything. People have been waiting for a long too many. This is a great party scene. There are people who have been coming to this park since the moment biden was announced as president elect. They have been celebrating, popping champagne bottles, singing and dancing, applauding when birds fly over. Everybody is just celebrating this is a long time coming. Heres a group of young women here since the beginning. Why are you why do you think this is so special . Why are you celebrating . Because now we have a first black asian female president in office elected and joe biden was able to steal steal . No. He was able to win. Sorry. Reporter i thought i had a new story here. Able to win the election. Reporter Kamala Harris is very important to you . Yes. Reporter what does it moon to you as a woman . Well, come on it was the first time in American History that you have a black asian woman in power and americas a country that hates women and its very important for the feminist movement. It is very important for empowerment of women. And yeah. Reporter and your friends here, as well. Why do you think this is so important. Did you think that this was going to happen . Yes. Reporter did you think that biden would win . Its happening. Its definitely happening. Reporter President Trump is going to fight it. Does that concern you . Yeah. He is going to fight, of course, definitely. Reporter does that matter to you . Reporter no. No. I think its over. I think its over and i think he is he needs to just like concede. Put his i dont know. Violence in the little case. Reporter i dont know that he plays the violence but well see. A lot of other recommendations to him along the way. Thank you. Lets come over here. Theres another couple over here to see. So, sorry to interrupt your celebration here. What do you think about the fact that now this is over . Are you do you think the country is going to be come together . Are you concerned theres still a lot of division . People that dont agree on a lot of things. Ideally i would hope that everyone would come together. I think theres still separation. Thats not changed but a while before that does change. But we can always only hope for the best. Reporter what about the fact that President Trump is still fighting this . Does that concern you at all . Of course i think it does concern me. I would hope that if trump is like focusing on like the integrity of like the office and what it stands more like hell make that right move and on toninato the tradition. Reporter sounds really nice but are you able sounds nice. Reporter after four years do you think that will happen . Realistically, no. But theres steps and processes and executive branch thats going to like push that forward. And allow for biden to take that position. So im in that sense i somewhat trust the process and im just sitting back and just seeing what will happen. Reporter sounds good. Thank you very much. Enjoy the party. Its going to go on all night i think. You know how things go here in new york, brian. People are still arriving and honking the horns driving by. After covering so many protests and dmemonstrations and anger here and in the park it is really nice to be in a place for people to just enjoy a really important historic moment and celebrating a big victory here in new york and across the country. That is palpable, ron. Thank you. Between your description of people applauding birds and the people blowing balloons in the background in rons conversation. Please wear a mask if youre going out to any of these gatherings. We realize people cant wait to get outside and tired of being cooped up. Priscilla thompson is outside in atlanta. Same kind of atmosphere. They enjoy daylight little later than we do in the northeast this time of year. What do you have . Reporter you can probably tell from the honking and noise, the excitement here, this party began hours ago in the park and moved right here near the roadway. Folks are waving the signs and waving to folks making the way through as soon as the light turn you have people doing that stuff. It started back here with a lot of dancing and now folks are just moving but still hanging out and really it is about community. I spoke to a woman saying this is a community that the folk that is live in this neighborhood heard the honking, heard the cheering and decided to come out and be a part of this. And this is a state mind you that still hasnt actually called a winner mean and not determined whos won here in georgia but that is not stopping people from coming out to celebrate. I spoke to one woman who was here in freedom black for black lives matter protest this summer and said it was the last time she was here and to be back here today with the mood of festivity was really Something Special for her. Another woman came and she drove by and saw what was going on and so she parked the car and got out with her children and i spoke to her children about what this moment means and her 9yearold daughter was saying i might be in the white house, not just a first lady. We got these ladies who have been here throughout the day. Talk to me about why you all decided to come out today to be part of the celebration. We are firsttime voters. This is our first election and means so much voting for equality and the future. The future. History. Celebration. Just yeah. Everything. Reporter Kamala Harris will be the first woman in the white house. What goes through your mind whenever you heard that news this morning . It was the best news ever. Im h im honored to her as the Vice President and she will do an amazing job. It is historic. Historic. So glad its her. First woman as the Vice President holding that office is just insane. Its amazing. Im curious, ten years from now when you look back on this day, this moment, what will you remember moist . Ill remember all of the people that came out to celebrate joe biden and Kamala Harris. Just like the energy we feel just driving around atlanta. It feels so good. Everyone is united. Yes. Well, not everyone but reporter thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Reporter as she mentioned folks are celebrating here but a few miles up the road theres a stop the steal rally and they consider to be a stolen election but as for here folks are celebrating and this is happening on a backdrop of ballots still being counted here in georgia, a razor thin margin between donald trump and joe biden here as this state works to certify the election results. Brian . Priscilla thompson, indeed. It seems that horns honking are the new applause of this pandemic era and might be the sound of a state turning blue before our very eyes. Cal perry standing by in the great city of chicago, illinois. Cal, whats it like there . Reporter its like whether the cubs win the world series. From Michigan Avenue to wabash, this is state street. State street in front of trump tower along the river and its nobody would accuse the crowd of being overly sober. People started to come out two, two and a half hours ago, pots and pans and honking as there have been in all the American Cities sort of whether the results came out and then people sort of came here. We avoided a crowd at Wrigley Field on the way downtown which again not to do the baseball thing too much i think is probably just instinctive in chicago but people are gathered here. Can we talk do you live . Were just messing around. Hi. Reporter why are you out here today . Rather not. Sorry. Reporter took a big swing and missed there. We can visit cutout president elect we can visit cutout president elect here and the im sorry. Hi. Theres a cutout joe biden and a cutout Kamala Harris. President elect and Vice President elect. Are you the gentleman who brought these here today . What is your name . Dean. Reporter why . Raise money for black lives matter. Reporter you are using this to raise money in georgia . Yep. And black lives matter. Reporter this city obviously seen large we have an ad to pull it up. Reporter okay. Donate, yep. Reporter two senate races in georgia. Very politically hooked in and aware. 100 . Reporter there you go. We have a crowd that gathered here because of us. Very proud reporter back to you from chicago. Thank you. Cal perry in chicago, illinois, thank you so much. Former congresswoman Donna Edwards of the great state of maryland standing by to talk with us. Congresswoman, first time ive had to talk to you since we got the news that, as i keep saying, former Vice President joe biden, veteran senator joe biden is now president elect and so notably from all the interviews weve heard, Kamala Harris, Vice President elect. Wow. I have to tell you, brian, ive been all day long overjoyed since hearing the news. Between responding to Text Messages and emails, i can tell you my circle is excited too. I couldnt understand it when you think this was the year of the 100th anniversary of the 19th amendment, women getting the right to vote, and here weve elected Kamala Harris, our next Vice President of the United States, a black woman, it just is so exciting. And i think that, you know, when you think about the role that black women play in our politics and certainly played in the election of president elect joseph biden that it really is fitting that kbhals Kamala Harris is going to sit at right hand out of this precarious time. Looking at the throngs of young people dancing and singing and the joy thats on the street, there is absolute joy about the future, and to put this dangerous presidency behind us. And you can just feel it in every conversation in every face, the joy that america is feeling right now. You cant envy this pair, the 74 days they have between now and taking over, between now and getting sworn in when you survey the landscape and look at what theyre going to have to deal with. Yeah. I think thats true, but i also know that joe biden came in with barack obama at a time when, you know, we had a major financial crisis coming into a recession and trying to get people back to work. He understands what it means to work in crisis. Kamala harris is totally prepared to be with him to make the decisions that are going to move us forward. You know, right away, even in this interim period, i think joe biden is going to clearly begin to lead this country so that we can see a pathway forward. As he says, in conquering the virus, and then moving forward and rebuilding this economy that those two things are linked. And i think that they are prepared to do it and we perhaps could not have had a better pair of leaders in president elect biden and Vice President elect harris to lead us all of this really difficult circumstance. Former congresswoman Donna Edwards from the state of maryland, congresswoman, thank you. Its great to talk to you. Thank you for your patience in waiting to come on the air with us. Now over to another friend of our broadcast and that is the president ial historian and author, michael beschloss. Ive been thinking about you too. Same here, brian. And the transition that now has to take place. Talk about that transition. Can it be one sided . Does it rest on cooperation from the incumbent . Or is it just much easier that way . Its pretty hard to have a real transition. You know, you and i have talk about this in the past. Dwight eisenhower once said theres really no such thing as a transition. He sort of the rescented tsent fact. He said the words you can really use is turnover, which meant the old president turns over power, transfers it on the 20th of january. Whatever, you do have to have two sides and its usually the case that in recent decades theres been sort of a tradition, which is that, number one, when the tv networks declare a president elect, especially if its a president whos defeated someone who is running for reelection, the person whos undefeated calldef graciously. At the moment the president saying i won big and its a fraud, god knows where thats going to go. Second thing that usually has is a couple days after the election the winner flies to washington, goes to the white house, usually with his wife, and they meet with the incumbent president and first lady. That happened with the bushes after their defeat in 1992. Carters in 1980, fords in 1976. Each outgoing president ial family was gracious. I dont see any evidence of graciousness in President Trumps reactions today on the golf course. Michael, is there any comparison for the skill set that barbecued brings . Im talking about washington experience. That many years in the u. S. Senate, that many years as Vice President before coming into this job. Well, in a little bit. In a way its as calming as it was to many people in 1963 after the tragic assassination of president kennedy. In comes Lyndon Johnson with decades of washington experience and the executive branch and in the house and in the senate. People felt that he was a pro who knew the government and could bring things back together. They felt same after Dwight Eisenhower became president in 1953. He had been one of the most powerful people in the world for about 20 years. And gerald ford coming in and after Richard Nixons resignation saying our Long National nightmare is over. A lot of people said how wonderful it is we got someone who knows how to operate in government and knows how to bring the country together. I think sometimes, brian, historians give too much credit to president s who wage wars and do things that are dramatic and not enough credit to people like Lyndon Johnson in 63 or Dwight Eisenhower or gerald ford who healed the nation after the kind of traumas we have seen during the last four years. Michael beschloss, always a pleasure. Thanks for the context and perspective you offer on this day. My friend joy reid takes over at the top of the next hour. Remember, joe biden speaks 8 00 this evening. Ill be back with you 9 00 to 11 00 eastern time following his remarks. Our live coverage continues. Er . Next time try bounce wrinkle guard dryer sheets. The worlds first mega sheet with 3x more wrinkle relaxers. Look at the difference of these two shirts. The wrinkle guard shirt has less wrinkles and static, and more softness and freshness. To tame wrinkles on the go use bounce 3in1 rapid touch up spray. Bounce out wrinkles with bounce wrinkle guard dryer sheets and touch up spray both, with a money back guarantee. We started by making the cloud easier to manage. But we didnt stop there. We made a cloud flexible enough to adapt to any size business. No matter what it does, or how it changes. And we kept going. So you only pay for what you use. Because at dell technologies, we stop. At nothing. It is finally time to exhale, america. Joe biden is the president elect of the United States, and Kamala Harris makes history as the first woman and the first black and the first asianamerican Vice President. And this was the moment that made it all feel real. We did it. We did it, joe. Youre going to be the next president of the United States