Americans have contemplated over the news since Tuesday: Following a tumultuous election year, the news of who will lead the country for the next four years was expected to be handed down within days.
On Saturday morning, as soon as the news buzzed on their phones, Americans gathered spontaneously on street corners and front lawns — honking their horns, banging pots and pans, starting impromptu dance parties — as an agonizingly vitriolic election and exhausting four-day wait for results came to an end.
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Click through the slideshow above to view celebrations and protests from across the country.
Democrat Joe Biden defeated President Donald Trump to become the 46th president of the United States on Saturday, positioning himself to lead a nation gripped by a historic pandemic and a confluence of economic and social turmoil.
His victory came after more than three days of uncertainty as election officials sorted through a surge of mail-in votes that delayed the processing of some ballots. Biden crossed 270 Electoral College votes with a win in Pennsylvania.
Trump refused to concede, threatening further legal action on ballot counting.
In Manhattan, celebrations were underway in Times Square, as people assembled into unplanned street parties. Click here to view a livestream of the celebrations across the country.
Trump’s supporters have for days been protesting outside of ballot-counting operations, alleging without evidence that the slow-moving results were proof of cheating.
A gathering of Trump supporters was planned in New Braunfels on Saturday morning, drawing in hundreds, many in their vehicles, for what’s been called a “Trump train.”
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