Associated Press/Andrew Harnik
- President-elect Joe Biden thanked his Black supporters on Saturday during his victory speech, telling them, “You’ve always had my back, and I’ll have yours.”
- Black voters in key cities such as Detroit, Milwaukee, and Philadelphia were critical to Biden’s ability to win over swing states like Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania.
- Vice President-elect Kamala Harris also singled out Black voters — and specifically Black women — in her remarks, calling them “the backbone of our democracy.”
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President-elect Joe Biden used his victory speech Saturday evening to deliver an emphatic thank-you to the Black voters who overwhelmingly backed him in major cities, helping propel him to victory in crucial swing states like Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
“Especially at those moments when this campaign was at its lowest ebb, the The African American community stood up again for me,” Biden said, repeatedly slamming his fist on the podium as the crowd erupted in cheers. “You’ve always had my back, and I’ll have yours.”
Black voters, particularly in key cities such as Atlanta, Detroit, Milwaukee, and Philadelphia, were a critical factor in Biden’s success. Exit polls revealed that 87% of Black voters backed Biden compared to just 12% for President Donald Trump, though they also indicated that Trump had improved his standing among Black voters compared to 2016.
—CBS News (@CBSNews) November 8, 2020
Black voters were also invaluable to Biden earlier in the year, awarding him decisive victories in a number of primary contests.
On Saturday evening, Biden spoke to an ecstatic drive-in crowd in Wilmington, Delaware, thanking all of his supporters, calling for unity, and praising what he called “the broadest and most diverse coalition in history.”
“I’m proud of the campaign we built and ran. I’m proud of the coalition we put together,” he said. “Democrats, Republicans, independents, progressives, moderates, conservatives, young, old, urban, suburban, rural, gay, straight, transgender, white, Latino, Asian, Native American. I mean it.”
Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, who introduced Biden, specifically thanked Black women in her remarks.
Harris, who will be the country’s first female vice president, will also be the first Black and South Asian vice president.
She paid homage to the “generations of women, Black women, Asian, white, Latina, Native American women, who throughout our nation’s history have paved the way to tonight. Women who fought and sacrificed so much for equality and liberty and justice for all,” she said. “Including the Black women who are often — too often — over looked, but so often proven they are the backbone of our democracy.”
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- IT’S OVER: Biden defeats Trump as US voters take the rare step to remove an incumbent president
- Mitch McConnell insists there will ‘of course’ be a peaceful transfer of power, breaking with Trump who would not commit to one
- Kamala Harris makes history as the first female, Black, and Asian American vice president-elect
- Biden campaign on Trump’s refusal to concede: ‘The United States government is perfectly capable of escorting trespassers out of the White House’
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