News for North Texas
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Watch Live: In Evening Speech, Biden To Urge Americans To 'Turn The Page'

President-elect Joe Biden gives a thumbs-up in Philadelphia on Saturday.
President-elect Joe Biden gives a thumbs-up in Philadelphia on Saturday.

Updated at 4:50 p.m. ET

On the day electors around the country vote to reaffirm his victory, President-elect Joe Biden will call for unity and healing, according to excerpts of his speech released by the Biden-Harris transition team.

He's also set to deliver a rebuke to President Trump, who continues to unsuccessfully challenge the results. "In America, politicians don't take power — the people grant it to them," Biden plans to say.

"The flame of democracy was lit in this nation a long time ago. And we now know that nothing — not even a pandemic — or an abuse of power — can extinguish that flame."

The speech is scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m. ET. Watch his remarks live here.

Per the excerpts, Biden will also call on Americans to "turn the page" and focus on the "urgent work" of controlling the coronavirus pandemic and recovering the economy.

Biden's remarks come as the typically procedural electoral college vote is set to mark one of the final ministerial steps in the Democrat's White House victory against Trump.

Trump, the outgoing Republican nominee, has yet to acknowledge his defeat in the race and has for weeks waged longshot challenges to overturn Biden's overwhelming victory in both the popular and electoral vote.

Biden won the popular vote — the number of ballots Americans cast in favor of one candidate or another — by a tally of nearly seven million. He won the electoral vote, which ultimately determines the White House victor, by amassing 306 of the requisite 270 electoral votes.

His victory was fueled in large part by Americans' response to the coronavirus pandemic.

On Monday, the U.S. hit a record of 300,000 deaths from COVID-19 — a startling death toll in a pandemic that has divided the nation on political terms.

"As I said through this campaign, I will be a president for all Americans," Biden is expected to say, "I will work just as hard for those of you who didn't vote for me, as I will for those who did."

Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Amita Kelly is a Washington editor, where she works across beats and platforms to edit election, politics and policy news and features stories.
Alana Wise
Alana Wise is a politics reporter on the Washington desk at NPR.