President-elect Joe Biden speaks during an election event in Wilmington, Del., on Saturday evening. Sarah Silbiger/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Updated at 9:25 p.m. ET
President-elect Joe Biden called for healing and cooperation in a victory speech on Saturday night, striking an optimistic tone about the prospects for a renewed and reunited America.
"I sought this office to restore the soul of America, to rebuild the backbone of this nation," Biden said. "And to make America respected around the world again and to unite us here at home. It is the honor of my lifetime that so many millions of Americans have voted for that vision. And now, the work of making that vision real — it's a task, the task, of our times."
"I've long talked about the battle for the soul of America," he said. "It's time for our better angels to prevail."
Biden did not directly acknowledge President Trump's false claims to have won the election. The Associated Press and others called the election for Biden on Saturday morning.
"The people of this nation have spoken," Biden declared. "They've delivered us a clear victory, a convincing victory, a victory for we the people."
But the former vice president, who pledged throughout his candidacy that he would represent the Americans who voted for outgoing President Trump as well as those who voted for him, reiterated that promise in his address Saturday.
"Let this grim era of demonization in America begin to end here and now," he said, calling for Democrats and Republicans in Congress to cooperate with each other.
He also emphasized the vital importance of controlling the coronavirus, which is hitting new record levels, promising to bring experts on to his transition team beginning on Monday.
"I will spare no effort ... to turn around this pandemic," he said.
As a grim and difficult year draws to a close, Biden hearkened back to history with calls of American exceptionalism and laid out a hopeful vision for the future.
"Now together on eagle's wings we embark on the work that God ... called us to do," Biden said, citing a hymn he said has brought comfort to his family. "With full hearts and steady hands, with faith in America and each other, with love of country, a thirst for justice, let us be the nation that we know we can be – a nation united, a nation strengthened, a nation healed, the United States of America."
Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, who will make history as the first woman, first Black person and first Asian-American to serve as vice president, spoke Saturday evening ahead of Biden's speech. She thanked election workers as well as the voters who participated in an election with record turnout.
"You chose hope and unity, decency, science and, yes, truth," she said. "You chose Joe Biden as the next president of the United States of America."
Harris celebrated the groundbreaking nature of her victory, too: "Every little girl watching tonight sees that this is a country of possibilities."
Vice President-elect Kamala Harris speaks on stage at the Chase Center before President-elect Joe Biden's address to the nation on Saturday in Wilmington, Del. Drew Angerer/Getty Images
Biden and Harris spoke Saturday night in Wilmington, Del. Like many of his campaign stops, the event was held as a drive-in rally to reduce the risk of spreading the coronavirus. Masked supporters were cheering and waving flags from car hoods and pickup beds.
The former vice president's path to being elected the 46th president of the United States was a tumultuous one, marked by unprecedented campaign challenges because of the coronavirus pandemic and an incumbent opponent who declared a premature victory, baselessly attacked the integrity of the election and is now filing a flurry of last-minute legal actions in an attempt to deny Biden's victory.
President Trump did not speak publicly on Saturday, but in written remarks he refused to concede. In a statement, he vowed to take the election to the courts and falsely accused Biden of seeking to violate election laws. On Twitter, he inaccurately claimed victory and asserted that observers had not been allowed access to vote counts, which is false.
Some prominent Republicans have congratulated Biden and pushed back on Trump's false claims of fraud, while others have either remained silent or expressed support for Trump's legal challenges to the voting process.
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