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The votes have been counted and America has spoken: former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. will be the next president of the United States — unless President Trump succeeds in overturning the will of the people with desperate court challenges he has filed to stop some mail-in ballots from being counted.

If justice prevails, Trump’s baseless claims of voter fraud by Democrats will be thrown out of court, leading to him being thrown out of the White House on Jan. 20. As Biden has pointed out, candidates don’t decide who win elections — voters do.

They say the third time is a charm and that’s true for Biden, who ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1988 and 2008, before being elected as vice president that year on a ticket headed by Barack Obama.

Only three presidential challengers have defeated an incumbent president until now. Biden is the fourth. So while his margin of victory was closer than some had predicted, the fact that he was able to defeat a sitting president is a major achievement.

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I’m happy that Biden will soon be replacing Trump in the White House — not just because I’m a Democrat, but as an American. Biden’s policies, experience and character will all benefit our nation.

Biden has promised to make protecting the health and safety of the American people his top priority. He will get to work on Day One to fight the deadly coronavirus pandemic. Unlike Trump, he will listen to the scientists and medical professionals. Unlike Trump, Biden won’t downplay the seriousness of the pandemic, won’t hold super-spreader events that ignore social distancing and mask-wearing guidelines, and won’t pretend the coronavirus will miraculously disappear one day.

I believe that President-elect Biden is the leader we need to guide us through this storm to the other side. And I believe that Vice President-elect Kamala Harris — a woman of color who will shatter multiple glass ceilings when she takes office — will do an outstanding job as well.

There are those that say there wasn’t a lot of voter enthusiasm for Joe Biden; but the numbers prove them wrong. History was made in this election, with Biden receiving more votes than any presidential candidate ever has.

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Biden drew support for many reasons: His ability to deal with the coronavirus pandemic; the Supreme Court justices and other judges he could nominate; his promise to build on ObamaCare rather than going to court to end it; his vast experience in foreign policy and dealing with Congress, and more.

But let’s face it — many people voted for Biden because they are sick and tired of having Trump serve in the most powerful office in the world and do such a poor job as president.

After the polls closed, Biden spoke of democracy being the heartbeat of this nation and reminded us that our government is truly of, by and for the people. He spoke of power and how it flows from the people. And we the people exercised that power for change, for a brighter tomorrow, a different future, and a different path than the one President Trump has taken us down.

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Biden spoke of “putting the harsh rhetoric of the campaign behind us, to lower the temperature, to see each other again, to 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” and said we should “stop treating our opponents as enemies.”

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Joe Biden will be a caring president with a big heart, looking out for all of us. He spoke to us like a concerned father. I believe we should take his advice. 

“What brings us together as Americans is so much stronger than anything that can tear us apart,” our next president said. I couldn’t agree more. Under a Biden administration our country will be healthier, stronger and more prosperous, and truly become the UNITED States of America once again.

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