Biden congratulates Trump on election win, Harris urges acceptance

US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called president-elect Donald Trump to congratulate him on his election victory, according to the White House.

“President Biden expressed his commitment to ensuring a smooth transition and emphasised the importance of working to bring the country together,” the White House said in a statement, noting that Biden will address the nation to discuss the election results and the transition on Thursday.

Biden also invited Trump to meet in the White House, Xinhua news agency reported the statement as saying, adding that the staff will coordinate on a specific date in the near future.

Biden also spoke by phone with Vice-President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate, and congratulated her on her “historic campaign”, the statement said.

Early Wednesday morning, Fox News first projected Trump would win more than 270 Electoral College votes, the threshold needed to clinch the presidency.

Speaking at his election headquarters in West Palm Beach, Florida, Trump quickly declared victory in the 2024 US presidential election, calling it “a political victory that our country has never seen before.”

The Associated Press, along with some other major US news outlets, projected Trump's victory a few hours later.

As votes continue to come in, Trump seems to have swept all the seven key swing states in this year’s presidential election. The results first became clear in North Carolina and Georgia around midnight on Election Day.

As of Wednesday afternoon, all three “Blue Wall” states - Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan - flipped to Trump, as they did in 2016.

US media reported earlier Wednesday that Harris called Trump to congratulate him on his election victory. 

Separately, Anadolu Agency reported that Harris called on her supporters to accept the election results and vowed a peaceful transfer of power to Trump.

“I know folks are feeling and experiencing a range of emotions right now. I get it. But we must accept the results of this election,” she said in remarks delivered from her Washington, DC-based alma mater, Howard University.

“Earlier today, I spoke with president-elect Trump and congratulated him on his victory. I also told him that we will help him and his team with their transition and that we will engage in a peaceful transfer of power,” she added.

She urged Democrats not to give up in the wake of Tuesday’s results but to instead “roll up our sleeves”, organise, and “stay engaged for the sake of freedom and justice and the future that we all know we can build together”.

Trump’s victory marks a historic and improbable comeback after he failed to be re-elected to a second consecutive term in 2020, one in which he claimed without substantiation that the election was rigged and tried unsuccessfully to overturn the results.

Trump will be inaugurated for a second White House term on Jan 20, 2025. Harris, as vice president, is slated to oversee the swearing-in ceremony at the Capitol.

- Bernama

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