Biden-HarRis for the win

Biden-Harris for the Win

By David Abelev

The 2020 election will go down as one of the most important in U.S history. “Trump 2020” and “Biden Harris” signs stood all around the country, with the Republican and Democratic candidates putting in all their efforts to ensure a victory.

This election shattered many records. First, Joe Biden and Donald Trump spent a combined $14 billion on campaign efforts for the election. This was more than double the previous record set four years ago. Also, a 120-year old record was broken this year as around 67% of America’s eligible voters filled out ballots, which shows the increasing patriotism in America.

Common sense says that the more people that vote, the more difference there would be between the two candidates. One would think that it’s impossible to have a close race when 160,000,000 people have cast their Q1`ballots, but this was proven wrong. This election was one of the closest ones of all time, leaving only a 5 million vote difference between the two candidates. While that may seem like a lot, that's only just over 3% of the vote. People wanted to make sure their voices were heard on whether the incumbent president should continue to lead or be replaced with a new one.

While most years the results are in by the end of Election Day, this year was quite different. Due to the ongoing pandemic, most people decided to play it safe and voted by mail in ballots instead of going to vote in person. Most states don’t start counting their mail in ballots until Election Day, so it was unlikely that the winner would be revealed on Election Day. In fact, the election was decided around a week after November 3rd. It was extremely close up until the end. At one point, it was looking like Biden would win 270 - 268, which is the second closest possible outcome, only behind a 269-269 tie.

Ultimately, the swing states decided this year’s election. Swing states don’t strictly affiliate themselves with one party and instead “swing” between parties each year. In this case, the swing states were Nevada, Arizona, Florida, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Wisconsin and Michigan. Out of these seven states, the one decided by the biggest margin was Florida, which leaned towards the Republican side by only 3.3% of the vote. On the other hand, Arizona went to Biden by only 11,000 votes. By comparison, out of the 160,000,000 ballots that were cast, 11,000 takes up only 0.006 percent. The election was called for Democratic candidate Joe Biden mid Saturday morning on November 7, after the swing state of Pennsylvania was called in his favor.

Not only is this election historic because of the high voter turnout, but also because of the president and vice president who will enter the White House on January 20. Joe Biden, at the age of 78, is the oldest person to ever take office, and his vice president, Kamala Harris has broken quite a few barriers herself. She is the first female, first black, and first South Asian to ever hold the position of vice president.

When an eighth grader, who preferred to stay anonymous, was asked about how they felt about the election, they stated, “I think the better candidate of the two won the election, and I’m hoping Joe Biden will at least be able to clean up the mess Trump made.” When another WMS student, who also wanted to stay anonymous, was asked about their opinion, they said “I’m pretty indifferent about how the election turned out. I hope Biden actually sets out to accomplish the things he said he would.”

During his many rallies, Biden said that he wanted to increase taxes, especially for the rich. He also stated that he wants to set up at least 10 COVID-19 testing centers in each state and expand the amount of free colleges. And with racial inequality being a huge issue in 2020, Joe Biden promises to help get minorities the opportunities that everyone else has, but doesn’t want to defund the police. We’ll see what he accomplishes, and how he ends up changing America.

All in all, after one of the most important and closest elections that the United States of America has ever experienced, Democrat Joe Biden prevailed over Republican Donald Trump making him the first one-term president since the turn of the century . With a record-breaking number of cast ballots, and with both sides spending billions of dollars in hopes of winning, it’s obvious that the people and candidates understood the importance of this election. All we can hope for is that Joe Biden fulfills his duties, and makes America a better place for all.

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