USA TODAY SPECIAL EDITION
25
The Nation Reacts
The fountain in New York’s Washington Square Park becomes a victory party Nov. 7 after news spread that Joe Biden had claimed enough electoral votes to win the presidency. With a record number of absentee ballots cast, vote counting continued for days after the election. STEPHANIE KEITH/GETTY IMAGES
‘These are tears of joy’ Biden supporters honk horns, embrace and dance in the streets, while Trump backers insist the election must have been stolen Marco della Cava USA TODAY
In New York, car horns and shouts of joy permeated the air Nov. 7 as news spread that Joe Biden had won the presidency and Kamala Harris would be his vice president, the fi rst woman and the fi rst person of color in that role.
In downtown Chicago, hundreds gathered across from the Trump International Hotel and Tower, hugging, popping champagne and singing “We are the champions.” Meanwhile, in Lansing, Michigan, hundreds of supporters of Donald Trump gathered at the state capitol to denounce the election as rigged. After anxious days fi lled with uncertainty, legal
wrangling, street protests and unfounded claims of widespread vote fraud from the White House, Biden was unoffi cially declared the nation’s next president as the painstaking counting of votes in Pennsylvania, Nevada, Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina and Alaska drew to a close. Biden’s supporters hoped the outcome would bring renewed eff orts toward solving some of the nation’s deepest troubles, including racial injustice, immigration reform, climate change and the See REACTION, Page 26
