States to reach the needed 270 Electoral College votes. He also advocated for every vote to be counted. That has been accelerated with [cheers and applause] mr. Biden good afternoon, everyone. Make aand i are here to sure weatement, and im will have more to say later, either tonight or tomorrow. But let me begin by thanking the press for being here and thanking everyone else. My fellow americans, yesterday once again proved that democracy is the heartbeat of this nation. Just as it has been for two centuries. Even in the face of a pandemic, more americans voted than in history. Over 150 Million People cast their votes. I think that is just extraordinary. If we had any doubts, we should not any longer about a government of, by, and for the people. It is very much alive in america. Here, the people rule. Power cannot be taken or asserted. It flows from the people. It is their will that determines who will be president , and their will alone. And now after a long night of counting, it is becoming clear we will reach enough votes. I am not here declaring we have won, but i am here to report that when the count is finished, we believe we will be the winners. Of votes counted, we have won wisconsin by 20,000 votes. Virtually the same margin trump won there four years ago. In michigan, we are leading on by 35,000, and the margin is growing. A bigger margin than trump had in michigan in 2016. Michigan will complete their vote soon, maybe as early as today, and i feel very good about pennsylvania. Virtually all of the remaining ballots left to be counted were cast by mail and we have been winning 78 of the mailin votes in pennsylvania. We flipped arizona and nebraska. And the Second District of nebraska. Of special significance to me is that we won the majority of the American People and every indication is that majority will grow. With a popular vote lead of nearly 3 million votes. Every indication is that will grow as well. Indeed, senator harris and i are on track to win more votes than any ticket in the history of this country that ever won the presidency and vice presidency. Over 70 million votes. I am proud of our campaign. Only three president ial campaigns in the past have defeated an incumbent president. When this is finished, god willing, we will be the fourth. This is a major achievement. This is a major achievement. It has been a long and difficult campaign, but it has been a more difficult time for our country, a hard time. We have had hard campaigns before. We have faced hard times before. So once this election is finalized, and behind us, it will be time for us to do what weve always done is americans, to put the harsh rhetoric of the campaign behind us, to lower the temperature to see each other , again and listen to one another, to hear each other again and respect and care for one another. To unite, to heal, to come together as a nation. I know this will not be easy. I am not naive. Neither of us are. I know how deep and hard the opposing views are on so many things. But i also know this. To make progress, we have to stop treating our opponents as enemies. We are not enemies. What brings us together as americans is so much stronger than anything that can tear us apart. So let me be clear. I am campaigning as a democrat, but i will govern as an american president. The presidency itself is not partisan. It is the one office in this nation that represents everyone. It demands a duty of care for all americans, and that is precisely what i will do. I will work as hard for those who did not vote for me as i will for those who did. Now, every vote must be counted. No one is going to take our democracy away from us, not now, not ever. America has come too far. We have 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. My friends, i am confident we will emerge victorious. But this will not be our victory alone. It will be a victory for our democracy and for america. There will be no blue states and red states when we win. Just the United States of america. God bless you all. May god protect our troops. Thank you. [applause] announcer use your laptop or phone to follow the results of the historic 2020 election. For interactive tools, giving you realtime voting results. Our national map to track the president ial race. See the popular vote tally, Electoral College count map, as well as the balance of power for the house and senate. Stream live ondemand anytime on , attion night cspan. Org alexion. On wednesday, Rudy Giuliani and other Trump Campaign advisors held a press conference in philadelphia to discuss the vote count in pennsylvania. Mr. Giuliani announced the campaign was filing a lawsuit in pennsylvania in an effort to throw out absentee ballots that they feel should not be counted. Due to technical issues, we are missing a portion of the start to this event