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Cheering people flooded the streets of Brooklyn as they hear Joe Biden won the key battleground state of Pennsylvania. Wochit

In New York, car horns and shouts of joy permeated the air as news spread thatDemocratic nominee and former Vice President Joe Biden had won the presidency Saturday morning and Kamala Harris would be his vice president, becoming the nation's first woman of color in that role. In downtown Chicago, hundreds of people gathered across from Trump Tower, hugging, popping champagne and singing We are the champions."And in Lansing, Michigan, hundreds of supporters of President Donald Trumptook to the Capitol stepsto protest what they consider a rigged presidential race.

After anxious days filled withuncertainty, legal wrangling,street protests and unfounded claims of voter fraud from the White House, Biden was unofficially declaredthe nation's next presidentas the painstaking counting ofvotes in Pennsylvania, Nevada, Arizona, Georgia, North Carolinaand Alaska drew to a close.

Biden's supporters hoped the outcome would bring renewed effortsto solving some of the nation's deepest troubles, including racial injustice,immigration reform, climate change and the deadly COVID-19 pandemic. Some Republican votersresolved to give Biden a try, while others were not ready to say goodbye to the Trump White House.

Inthe traditionally liberal stronghold of Boulder, Colorado, Marisole Bolanos, 38, listenedSaturday as a wave of cheers spread among the crowd at a farmers market, powered by smartphonealerts. Passing cars honked their horns and people whooped in celebration in this county where Biden took more than 77% of the vote.

These are tears of joy, she said, taking a break from ringing up corn tortillas.

Bolanos said shes been frustrated at how Trump scapegoated immigrants like herself. She came to the United States as a four-year-oldbut has been a U.S. citizen since college.

I feel like the last four years have given us a lot of division among each other. I hope we can all come together in respect for each other, to respect our differences but be a more respectful United States, she said. All that promoting hate and blaming things on immigrants? Ugh. Its a direct attack on who we are.

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In Washington, D.C., Jerry Hauser, 52, a non-profit organizer, rushed out to a street corner to celebrate with his family with noisemakers and percussion instruments. He hoped the next four years would bring, "an end to the madness if nothing else."

"It will bring progress on all the issues I care about, climate change, immigration, civil rights, healthcare, but I think more than anything, end the madness," he said.

Of Harris' historic victory, he added,"It's a huge day for our country, it's an amazing thing. It shows who we really are as a people and that we're better than we've been these last four years."

Many Trump supporters, however, were in disbelief over Biden's victory.

In Michigan,Michael Elkins, of Westland, wore an American flag suit and joined protesters in Lansing. He saidhe suspected election fraud,pointingto adebunked claim that Biden received 100%, or more than 130,000 Michigan votes, during an election update.

"If Joe Biden won legitimately, I'm OK with that," Elkinsaid. "Election integrity is a cornerstone of society that is crumbling away."

In Chicago,Lane Kreisl, 39, came out of the gym high on adrenaline and convinced the election was a fraud despite no evidence to support this theory.

Kreisl, whoserved one tour in Afghanistan and a double tour in Iraq and works in construction, didnt vote in 2016 but backedTrump this year.

My biggest thing with Trump is, he says stuff that maybe is not the most graceful, but hes been attacked for four years," he said. "If it is Biden and Harris, I hope they get treated with more respect than this president did.

Mike Quillen, who owns several restaurants in Sarasota, Florida, said he's concerned that a shift in the White House will mean higher taxes, more regulations and tougher COVID-19 restrictions on small businesses.

"A lot of the policies the Trump Administration has done is to help small business, which is the backbone of the country," Quillen said. "I'm really afraid of a one-size-fits-all" approach.

In Los Angeles County, Dan Welte, 40, who splits his time between Southern California and New Mexico, said he was disappointed Trump didn't win and had lingering concerns about howvoteswere counted.

I hope its a fair election and I hope President Biden will rule as a person who makes both sides happy, said Welte, a sales workerwho said he is registered independent, as he waited to pick up food at an IHOP restaurant. Everyone needs to have their voices heard.

Carol Fleming, 83, of San Francisco, says she burst into tears when she heard the news that Joe Biden had won the presidency. Im just so moved, we can have some normalcy again, she said.(Photo: Elizabeth Weise, USA TODAY)

The news came after a tense week that saw Americans on both sides of the political divide taketo the streets. In Michigan and Arizona, Trump supporters converged on vote counting centerswith signs and chants thatdemanded the process be stopped. In Washington, D.C., Biden supporters staged days of largely peaceful protests in front of the White House, dancing and setting off fireworks at nearby Black Lives Matter Plaza.

The Electoral College fight with some state races coming down to fewerthan 50,000 votes highlighted the deeply divided nature of the nation after four years of Republican and Democrat leaders exchanging accusations of corruption and wrongdoing and less than a year after President Donald Trump was impeached by the Democrat-led U.S. House of Representativesfor abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. The Republican-controlled Senate later acquitted Trump on both impeachment articles.

When the tension of the week finally was released with news of Biden's win, some took tosong.

Sitting outside a crepe shop in San Francisco, Carol Fleming, 83, burst into tears when she heard the news Saturday morning.

Im just so moved, we can have some normalcy again, she said. She then began singing a rendition of the song "New York, New York." Start spreading the news. she sang.

Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden hugs his wife Jill Biden after his speech during the fourth day of the Democratic National Convention, Thursday, Aug. 20, 2020, at the Chase Center in Wilmington, Del.(Photo: Andrew Harnik, AP)

At a busy intersection in the Astoria neighborhoodin New York City, a largecrowd of roughly several hundred people celebrated, with some holdingBiden-Harris signs and afew crying. At one point, a brief chant of lock him up broke out.

For Ceasar Barajas, 45, Biden's win waspersonal. His aunt in El Paso, Texas, died two weeks ago from COVID-19, and the Biden voter was hopeful that the next few years will help change government systemsthat have resulted inunequal outcomes in health and criminal justice for people of color, he says.

Barajas said thenews made him flashback tothe first time he was slammed to the ground by police. At 14, he was skipping school whenthree white officers grabbed him.The Navy veteran is a first-generation American whos from Houston, Texas. His parents came to the United States from Mexico, he said.

We still have so much work to do, he said. But this is the start.

Molly Rose, a New York City native, heardthe race had been called for Biden as she was in her apartment in Astoria. She grabbed a tambourine and ran out to the street where thecrowd had gathered.

I hope for a more progressive country, Rose, 32, who voted for Biden, said. Less racism, more science. I want more equality.

Biden's victory felt unifying, she said. I feel like Im on the right side of history.

People celebrate in reaction to Joe Biden being declared the presidential winner near the Pennsylvania Convention Center on Saturday, Nov. 7, 2020 in Philadelphia, Pa.(Photo: Michael Karas, NorthJersey.com via USA TODAY Network)

The United States and its citizens were uniquely tested this election season.

A new civil rights movement sprung up in the wake of George Floyds death at the hands of Minneapolis police earlier this year. A pandemic that flared in March gathered steam in the fall to render voting even more challenging, with COVID-19 now infecting 120,000 Americans a day as winter nears. And the resulting recession seemedto further galvanize voters.

Those physical and financial pressures conspired to drive voting to record levels, with some 100 million casting votes early and largely by mailto avoid contagion and have their voices heard.

Going into Election Day, myriad polls had Biden comfortably ahead of Trump in a number of states. But, as in2016, Trump upset all predictions of an easy win for Democrats.

Falsely declaring victory while votes are still being counted, President Donald Trump threatened to ask the Supreme Court to halt the counting of legally cast absentee ballots, which he described as a "fraud." USA TODAY

Biden wound up claiming Rust Belt states that Clinton lost four years ago. Trump took Florida, Texas and Ohio, but he struggled in states such as Arizona, where Latino voters seemingly rejected the president's tough stance on immigration and border security. Votes also eluded Trump in Georgia, thanks to massiveget-out-the-vote mobilization efforts in Black communities, including Atlanta.

By and large, rural counties buttressed Trump while urban centers supported Biden. Iowa went solidly for Trump, 53% to 45%, for example, but aglance at the states voting pattern map shows a sea of red counties interrupted by just a few pockets of powerful blue around the hubs of Des Moines and Cedar Rapids.

Americans remained torn Saturday about the election results.

A demonstrator holds up a sign while watching election returns outside the White House, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020, in Washington.(Photo: Jacquelyn Martin, AP)

In Oregon,Malcolm Menefe, a 28-year-oldPortland resident, said he did not vote in the 2020 election because,as a Black man, he feels both candidates weren't doing enough for his community.

Under Trump's presidency, he said, racial issues were put on the front page, finally. His actions were called out more. But he worries that a Biden presidency will be more of the same, just maybe more under the radar.

Across the nation, Black voters overwhelmingly picked Biden, securing his White House victory.

Sonna Singleton Gregory, a county commissioner in her fourth term in Clayton County, Georgia, said "we are ecstatic to see Joe Biden win."

"We let our voices be heard. This is a big win for Clayton County," she said.

Clayton is a predominantly black suburb in south Atlanta, where much of the Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson International sits. And it was Clayton voters who erased Trump's initial lead in Georgia with overwhelming support for Biden.

A caravan of supporters for Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden drives past supporters of President Donald Trump standing on the sidewalk next to the Versailles Restaurant on Oct. 18, 2020 in Miami, Florida.(Photo: Joe Raedle, Getty Images)

In Miami, Rocio Velazquez, a 40-year-old immigrant from Guatemala, spent the week terrified that Trump would somehow pull out a win. Velazquez, a legal immigrant in the process of becoming a U.S. citizenship, said a Biden presidency will hopefully end - or at least tamp down - the divisiveness that Trump sowed.

"I love that he's talking about representing all people, including those who didn't vote for him," said Velazquez, who works for a non-profit that advocates for children's education and health care. "This gives me hope for a more compassionate country, a more inclusive country."

Her only regret? That the COVID-19 pandemic madeit difficultto celebrate.

"I wish we were in a position where we could have a party," she said.

Renee Wilson dances with fellow gatherers in support of counting every vote Thursday, Nov. 5, 2020 in Philadelphia, Pa.(Photo: Joe Lamberti, Courier Post-USA TODAY NETWORK)

It was a week of uncertainty and fearfor many Americans. Election nightbrought hope to Trump's re-election campaign, as tallies largely reflected in-person voting, which skewed more towardRepublican voters. But it was always clear that votes mailed in weeks ago to avoid polling stations would both lean Democratic and take days to count, in part because some electionofficials, such as those in Pennsylvania, were not allowed to review the ballots until Election Day.

As that process unfolded, Trump began to see his lead dwindle ever so slowly in states such as Michigan, Georgia and Pennsylvania andimmediately called for the count to stop. His unproven claims of election fraud werecondemnedby politicians on both sides of the aisleeven before the presidentsurfaced Thursday to give a speech outside the White House laced with unfounded charges of corruption and malfeasance.

"If you count the legal votes I easily win," Trump told reporters.

Detroit Elections employees gather around looking at election results on their phone as they count absentee ballots at TCF center in Detroit, on Nov. 4, 2020.(Photo: Kimberly P. Mitchell, Detroit Free Press)

Critics decried the president's speech as an attack on democracy and urged the White House to accept the legal count.

"This is getting insane," said Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., and an Air Force veteran who had repeatedly criticized the president for his attacks on the election process.

The big three networks ABC, NBC and CBS took the unusual step ofbreakingaway from Trump's 17-minute talk, cutting toanchors who explainedwhy the president's claims of election fraud were unfounded.

As of Saturday, Biden appeared to have won the election by 5 million popular votes. More crucially,he won the Electoral College, surpassing the necessary 270 votes by taking Nevada, Arizona and Pennsylvania.

Despite the voting results, President Donald Trump tweeted Saturday, "I WON THIS ELECTION, BY A LOT!" The president's team continued to dispute the results, saying he would not concede.

In the end,some Americans were ready Saturday to simply move on.

Frank Pelanek, 41, a career firefighter and paramedic from the suburbs of Chicago, was stopped at a stop sign on his way to get coffee when his wife read him the news alert from her phone. He saidrelief washed over him, as much for the Biden win as for having the election finally called.

People celebrate in reaction to Joe Biden being declared the presidential winner near the Pennsylvania Convention Center on Saturday, Nov. 7, 2020 in Philadelphia, Pa.(Photo: Michael Karas, NorthJersey.com via USA TODAY Network)

"I've said for the last four years, there's really nothing Trump has done outside of the environmental things that I don't agree with. So," he said, "there is nothing Biden can't fix in one day with writer's cramp."

Pelanek isan independent who voted for George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004 and for Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012. This time, he cast his vote for Biden.

I've come to believe that in a more liberal society, I am still free to be conservative, but in a more conservative society, others are not free to be themselves, and that should not be tolerated, Pelanek said.

But his nervous state hadnot completely subsided. With Trump refusing to concede, Pelanek feared violent outbreaks.

In San Diego,Jacqueline Baxter, 35, a stay-at-home mom,said she expected Trump to contest the outcome -- "He's probably going to want a recount" -- and was worried his most ardent loyalists may not accept the results peacefully.

"I'm not sure how violent it could get,"said Baxter, who supported Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders.

Biden supporters, meanwhile, moved forward with their celebrations.

InOak Park, Illinois, resident and PR professional Chevonne Nash, 38, was putting her 3-month-old son down for a nap when she got the news of Biden's win on her phone. She wanted to jump up and yell in excitement but didnt want to wake her son.

I walked out of the room, and I was likeoh my god! she said. I dont think I was ready for the call to be made for some reason, even though its been days. Im surprised. Im excited. Its starting to hit me. Its starting to sink in.

Nash, who voted for Clinton in 2016 and Biden in 2020, said she hoped the new administration would restore dignity to the office and focus on improving access to health care and the quality of public education.

In Arlington, Virginia, people held Biden-Harris signs and yelled from apartment building balconies as cheers erupted in the streets and cars passed by honking.

JC Cheng, 32, stopped outside his apartment building on his way to get groceries to take pictures in his Biden-Harris shirt and mask as people celebrated. Cheng, a Taiwanese-American software engineer who led a coalition group for Asian American Pacific Islanders for Biden, said he said he was particularly proud to see Asian American turnout rise.

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The anger and the pain that weve all felt every time that you got a news notification in the past four years, its so much hope that that is coming to an end,he said.It was an amazing moment.

Contributing: Trevor Hughes in Boulder, Colorado; Dennis Wagner in San Diego; Mark Johnson in Lansing, Michigan;Chris Woodyard in Los Angeles;N'dea Yancey-Bragg in Arlington, Virginia.;Josh Salmanin Sarasota, Florida.;Jessica Guynn andElizabeth Weise in San Francisco;Claire Thornton in Washington, D.C.; Alan Gomez in Miami;Grace Hauck in Chicago;Lindsay Schnell in Portland, Oregon;Ryan Miller and Kevin McCoy in New York, andHollis Towns in Clayton County, Georgia.

Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/11/07/joe-biden-wins-presidency-america-still-divided-celebrations/6176161002/

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'These are tears of joy': Americans honk horns, dance in the streets as Joe Biden and Kamala Harris claim victory in a deeply divided nation - USA...

President-elect Joe Biden's campaign promises will confront political reality on Jan. 20.

On the campaign trail, Biden laid out a long list of promises he said he'll get done on "day one" of his administration. Among them, he pledged to put a COVID action plan in place, sign a series of executive orders, re-enter the Paris climate change accord, and send a big immigration bill to Congress.

That's a ton to do on a single day and that's not even everything he promised. Even his supporters say he's unlikely to get to everything on day one.

"You campaign in poetry and you govern in prose, and Joe Biden knows that better than anybody," said Joel Payne, a strategist who worked for Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign. "He is going to be responsive to the moment of what's going to be necessary for him to focus on."

Presidents always make lofty campaign-trail promises, and it's hardly uncommon for candidates to lay out plans or time frames that end up being unrealistic once they get into office. Biden will certainly sign a pile of executive orders on his first day; some things might take longer to follow through on than expected or wind up being too politically tricky.

Here's Insider's roundup of what Biden has promised to do on his first day in office.

Biden will take office after the coronavirus has killed more than 230,000 Americans and after the Trump administration gave conflicting signals about how to deal with the crisis.

That's why the president-elect is naming 12 people on Monday to a COVID task force, according to an Axios report.

In his closing speech to the American public right before Election Day 2020, Biden laid out his "day one" plan to combat the pandemic.

"If I'm elected president, we're going to act, on day one we're going to act to get COVID under control, on day one of my presidency I'll put in action a plan that I've been talking about for months, masking, social distancing, testing, tracing, a plans for full and fair and free distribution of therapeutics and vaccines when we get one," Biden said at a rally in Pittsburgh.

Biden's campaign website also says he'll start implementing his plan "on Day One" to get the "pandemic under control and effectively reopen the economy an approach that will both protect the health and safety of our people and boost economic activity."

Biden has promised clean energy executive orders on day one, and also plans to re-enter the Paris climate change accord that then-President Barack Obama signed but the US abandoned during the Trump era.

"On day one, Biden will sign a series of new executive orders with unprecedented reach that go well beyond the Obama-Biden Administration platform and put us on the right track," Biden's website says.

That's not all. He also promises on day one to "make smart infrastructure investments to rebuild the nation and to ensure that our buildings, water, transportation, and energy infrastructure can withstand the impacts of climate change."

Cracking down on immigration has been a central theme of Trump's administration, and Biden has promised to roll back some of his predecessor's most contentious plans. But sweeping immigration reform has eluded recent presidents from Obama to George W. Bush.

Still, Biden has promised to send immigration legislation to Capitol Hill on Jan. 20.

"I'll send a bill to Congress on day one that will create a roadmap to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented individuals already living in and strengthening the United States," Biden's campaign website says. "These are our neighbors and coworkers, and they are integral to our communities."

He has also promised to revoke Trump's controversial order restricting immigration from majority Muslim countries. "On day one, Joe Biden will rescind the un-American Muslim travel and refugee bans and will cease the immoral family separation policy," according to his campaign website.

Trump trashed norms in Washington as he stonewalled congressional oversight requests, prompted numerous complaints of Hatch Act violations that limit politicking by federal employees, and asked the Justice Department to defend him in a defamation lawsuit. And that's just the Cliffs Notes version.

Biden has promised new government reforms on day one. His plans are a direct response to the Trump administration.

"Donald Trump has presided over the most corrupt administration in modern history," according to Biden's campaign website. "The charge facing the president who follows Donald Trump is as big as it is essential: restoring faith in American government.

Biden said he'll issue an executive order that says "no White House staff or any member of his administration may initiate, encourage, obstruct, or otherwise improperly influence specific DOJ investigations or prosecutions for any reason" and that Biden will fire anyone who tries to do so.

The president-elect also promised an ethics plan "to ensure that every member of his administration focuses day-in and day-out on the best outcomes for the American people, and nothing else."

Biden chaired the Senate Foreign Relations Committee before being a point man for international affairs as Obama's vice president. Since he took office, Trump has strained relations with long-standing US allies and rejected international deals the Obama team had crafted.

From day one of the Biden administration, the president-elect has promised, "other countries will once again have reason to trust and respect the word of an American president."

Biden slammed Trump on the campaign trail, alleging that the president wanted to gut Social Security after Trump said he wanted to eliminate the payroll tax that funds the program. The White House stressed that Trump instead wanted to forgive a payroll tax holiday.

A Biden-Harris administration "will protect Social Security and increase benefits for millions of seniors. From day one, we'll work to safeguard the retirement savings and pensions that hard-working Americans have earned and deserve," Biden's campaign said.

Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will be the first woman and the first woman of color to serve in the White House. Biden's campaign promised to fill even more top slots with women and people of color, and he's pledged to appoint the first Black woman to the Supreme Court.

"Biden will start on day one of his Administration leading by example, making sure his political appointees, including his Cabinet, and our entire federal workforce look like the country they serve," according to his campaign website.

Biden will face pressure for dramatic reforms after national racial justice protests rocked the country in the wake of George Floyd's death in May. Trump and some of his allies have denied the existence of systemic racism in the country, but Biden has made racial justice a centerpiece of his campaign, arguing that "race-neutral policies are not a sufficient response to race-based disparities."

Biden said he would "begin on day one of his Administration to address the systemic racism that persists across our institutions today."

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Here's what Joe Biden promised on Day 1 of his administration - Business Insider - Business Insider

A version of this story originally appeared inBrookings' How We Rise blogand was republished with permission from Brookings Institute. Gabriel Sanchez is a Professor of Political Science at The University of New Mexico,a Non-Resident Senior Fellow for Brookings, and a principal at Latino Decisions.

Although the coronavirus was the top issue on the minds of voters this cycle, Latino voters, particularly young Latino voters, were energized by demands for social justice and discrimination directed at their community.

"The high turnout of Latino voters across the country speaks to the resilience of this community who overcame fears of potential threats to their right to vote."GabrielSanchez, UNM Political Science professor.

The Latino Decisions Election Eve Survey identified that nearly 1 in 5 Latino voters (19 percent) across the country said that discrimination and social justice was one of the top issues facing the Latino community that politicians should address. This is higher than immigration reform as a priority for Latino voters and up significantly from 2016. These issues were even more salient among Latinos under 40, 23 percent of which chose them as one of their top issues facing Latinos in 2020.

The social unrest across the country against structural racism and police brutality was a major factor in the 2020 election for the Latino electorate. This context helps explain why another 13 percent of Latino voters (18 percent among those under 40) identified police brutality / criminal justice reform as one of their top issues this election season.

Latino Decisions data has helped provide perspective on themany challenges Latinos face with the criminal justice systemthat have made this a priority for voters in an election season where this was part of the national narrative. For example, 37 percent of Latino voters in the Election Eve Survey reported that someone in their family or personal network has been unfairly stopped or harassed by police or law enforcement. AnAbriendo/Puertas Latino Decisions National Family Surveyfound that 36 percent of Latino families have experienced excessive force by police.

The Election Eve survey also found that a robust 83 percent of Latinos believe that the rise of violent white supremacists is a major threat to our country 58 percent strongly agree. This growing concern across the electorate was salient in an election whereconcerns with armed militias intimidating voterswere high. The high turnout of Latino voters across the country speaks to the resilience of this community who overcame fears of this potential threat to their right to vote.

This election season has included wide-spread protests across the country against police brutality, structural racism, and criminal justice reform. While 20 percent of all Latino voters indicated that they have attended a march or rally to support racial justice, or protest policy brutality this election season, 28 percent of Latinos under the age of 40 did so.

It is therefore clear that young Latinos had a significant impact on the election as both voters and protestors.

With this unprecedented engagement in the 2020 election, Latinos are going to be looking to the incoming administration to address the concerns that they have raised during the election season. The Election Eve Survey provides a few indicators to help identify what Latino voters policy preferences are in the area of police reform.

The Latino community is conscious of the racism that they face in the country and will be looking to the federal administration to address their growing concern with this issue. In fact, the majority of Latino voters (62 percent) believe that discrimination directed at their community has gotten worse since 2016. Although not having a President in the White House who stokes the fires of racism directed at immigrants and Latinos will be huge, it is critical to recognize that with a high percentage of the American public supporting Trumps campaigns that racialized Latinos, there is a lot of work to be done.

Originally posted here:
Yes, social justice and discrimination were driving issues for Latino voters in 2020 - UNM Newsroom

Kamala Harris becomes first woman, African American and Indian American to become vice president.

Joseph R. Biden, Jr. has been elected 46th President of the United States. He defeated the current incumbent of the White House, Donald J. Trump, according to projections from NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN and Fox News.

The race was called by networks just before noon after the former vice presidents lead in the crucial commonwealth of Pennsylvania increased to more than 0.5 percentage points.

Bidens victory in Pennsylvania, long considered the tipping-point state, put the Democrat over 270 electoral votes. With him leading in Georgia, Arizona and Nevada, Biden is on path to win 306 electoral votes, the number Trump won in 2016.

America, Im honored that you have chosen me to lead our great country, Biden tweeted at 11:52 am. The work ahead of us will be hard, but I promise you this: I will be a President for all Americans whether you voted for me or not. I will keep the faith that you have placed in me.

With Bidens victory, Kamala Harris, daughter of an Indian American mother and African American father, becomes the first woman and person of color to become the Vice President of the United States.

With his loss, Trump becomes only the fourth president in the last 100 years to lose a reelection campaign. The last incumbent who was voted out was President George H.W. Bush, who lost to Democrat Bill Clinton.

Several Indian American groups welcomed Bidens victory.

READ MORE: Road to the White House

President-elect Biden has made immigration reform a priority on his agenda, Sanjeev Joshipura, Executive Director of the nonprofit Indiaspora, told the American Bazaar. He recognizes the inspiration of the Indian American immigrant story, and what it has meant for America.

Joshipura said Indiaspora was at the forefront of the successful effort a few years ago to get an official Diwali stamp issued by the U.S. Postal Service. He added: Hopefully, we can arrange a virtual Diwali with the U.S. Vice President-elect this year!

In a statement, Neil Makhija, Executive Director of Indian American advocacy and political action committee IMPACT, pointed out the historic nature of the Biden-Harris tickets victory.

A generation of Indian Americans made this country their home because they knew it meant anything was possible for their children, he said. Today, the daughter of one of those Indian Americans proved their faith. It is with pride, hope, and enduring faith in America that we congratulate Vice President-elect Kamala Desi Harris on her historic victory.

Makhija said her election sends a message to a new generation of young Black and Brown children that they belong, and that in America, anything is possible.

He said that the election will supercharge the political engagement of the Indian American community.

In the current election cycle, IMPACT raised a $10 million. Makhija said it doubled turnout of South Asian voters in critical states, including Pennsylvania and Arizona, where our communitys engagement was enough to make the margin.

READ MORE:

Trump demands stop to vote count as Biden gains ground(November 5, 2020)

Indian Americans make a splash in yet another election cycle(November 5, 2020)

Biden on the cusp of winning the White House(November 4, 2020)

See more here:
Joe Biden elected 46th President of the United... - The American Bazaar

In September, I wrote a post captioned "Miami-Dade and the Myth of the Monolithic Latino Voter: Not surprisingly, 'Latino voters are in many ways just like everyone else' and not focused just on immigration policy". I would say that I was prescient in discussing the Latino vote and President Trump's re-election campaign, but I have been around politics for almost two decades, and I was simply reiterating what the facts were. But to understand the full picture after the fact, focus on two elections: the Florida presidential vote, and the 23rd Congressional District of Texas.

I will note, as I did in that post, that I eschew such broad demographic labels as "Latino" (or "Hispanic"), generally and especially when it comes time for elections. They only serve to divide Americans and make little sense in the rest of the world.

With respect to this latter point, if you are allowed to cast a ballot for president, you are a "citizen" (or "national", which generally means the same thing). That means you are an "American". You are motivated to cast your ballot for any number of reasons, and perhaps your ethnicity and the individual candidate's immigration policies are one of those reasons, but is likely never the only one.

As the Washington Post reported on Wednesday, almost half of the Latino voters in Florida cast their votes for Donald Trump. It essentially makes the same point that I made in the paragraph above, but with its own gloss and spin about the campaigns' outreach efforts (or lack thereof) and "disinformation and mischaracterizations".

It is true, however, as that article states, that "Latino" voters in Florida (or their families) hail largely from two specific places: Cuba and Puerto Rico. According to the Pew Research Center, "Latinos" were 17 percent of registered voters in Florida in 2020. In 2018, 29 percent of them were "Cuban" and 27 percent were from Puerto Rico. (Noting that Puerto Ricans are citizens by birth would be talking down to the reader.)

Ten percent were Mexican and 10 percent were either Colombian or Venezuelan. The latter are the fastest growing group in the Sunshine State increasing their numbers 184 percent from 2008 to 2018. One could argue that the Cuban-Americans and Venezuelan-Americans both of whom likely arrived to flee "socialist" regimes are likely to be more "conservative" than other Latinos. In this country, that label is applied to the Republican Party, and therefore it makes sense that they would pull the lever for the GOP.

The Puerto Rican population is a bit more nuanced. Forgotten in the run-up to the election is the fact that the Governor of Puerto Rico herself a Republican endorsed Donald Trump, and in no uncertain terms: "I ask all the Puerto Ricans who are listening to me to go vote ... and evaluate who has represented themselves as someone who thinks about Puerto Ricans and their needs in the most difficult moment: It's Donald Trump."

Interestingly, that fact is omitted from the Post article, which does note: "Puerto Ricans, whose numbers have grown in the state in recent years, are often assumed to be Democrats. That is not always the case among many evangelical Protestants and those who have recently moved from Puerto Rico." But it then leaves hanging why recent arrivals from Puerto Rico might be more inclined to vote for the Party of Lincoln.

Note that Jenniffer Gonzlez, the current representative from Puerto Rico in the U.S. House (technically the "resident commissioner", who can vote in committee but not on the House floor), makes no bones about the fact that she is "[a] lifelong Republican", who in fact was speaker of the commonwealth's House for a four-year term. She "easily won" reelection to the U.S. House in an otherwise hotly contested election this year.

Puerto Rican politics is nuanced, and does not break down between "Republican" and "Democrat". Instead, it is led by the "New Progressive Party" (which is more conservative, but has Democratic adherents) and the "Popular Democratic Party". There are smaller parties, as well.

Puerto Ricans who have lived longer in the United States are likely influenced in the same way by local issues as their fellow citizens are (particularly evangelicals). But, as Politico reported in September, "the conservative values and Latin traditions are more akin to the values of a Republican Party" among Puerto Rican residents, at least according to one expert. In any event "[b]oth major islandwide elected officials in Puerto Rico are registered Republicans."

Turning from Florida to a more local race, that for the congressional seat in Texas' 23rd congressional district, tells a slightly different but similar story. Texas 23 is huge, running east from the outskirts of El Paso down the Rio Grande Valley to just north of Laredo (ending at the Webb County line), and north to the edge of Odessa and the San Antonio suburbs. And, at more than 58,000 square miles, it is larger than South Carolina, West Virginia, Delaware, and Rhode Island combined.

Created in 1967, it has changed parties many times since. Texas 23 was 70.8 percent "Hispanic" in 2018, according to Ballotpedia. Some 15.1 percent of the residents of the district are foreign-born; given its proximity to the Rio Grande, most likely in Mexico.

Republican Will Hurd represents it (for the time being), as he did in the 115th Congress. He won it by about 3,000 votes in 2016 (a squeaker by any standards) and just 900 votes in 2018.

I know Hurd (he sat on the House Oversight Committee when I was a staff director for its National Security Subcommittee), who was previously an undercover officer with the CIA. To say he is smart would be an understatement he is likely the smartest member of Congress I knew based strictly on intellectual firepower. He is also the only African-American in the current GOP House delegation, and announced his retirement during the summer.

The Republicans nominated in his stead Tony Gonzales. Gonzales won in 2020 by more than 12,000 votes, capturing 50.7 percent of the electorate (a Libertarian won an additional 2.8 percent).

Gonzales is as interesting as Hurd. A Navy veteran, he rose to the rank of master chief petty officer, an "E-9" in military terms about as high as a noncommissioned officer can reach. He served in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. Gonzales is a career cryptologist.

He also holds a PhD in International Development with an emphasis on Security Studies and International Politics, and is an assistant professor at the University of Maryland, teaching counterterrorism. Did I mention that he has his own non-profit foundation? It is "focused on empowering and encourage[ing] growth and development in impoverished areas of San Antonio by uniting local businesses, schools, and families".

Gonzales is fairly conservative by any standard: He advertises himself as "100% pro-life" (he has six kids himself), and "advocates for pro-family legislative policies such as school choice, expanding the child tax credit, and supporting advanced skills to adult learners". He is also a Second Amendment supporter, "and advocate in any forum when they are infringed upon."

He also pulls no punches on immigration, stating: "Our immigration system is broken. There's no doubt in my mind that immigration reform starts with southern border security." On the last issue, he avers: "I will support significant increases in border security, with new border wall in high traffic areas, and work to shut down sanctuary cities, and modernize our entry/exit system to limit fraud." He was criticized for using "a fake U.S. Border Patrol agent" in an ad.

His (main) opponent, Gina Ortiz Jones, took a different tack in her campaign. While advocating for "Responsible Immigration Reform" (which anyone interested in immigration supports, but which means different things to different people), she stated she would "work to ensure our immigration policies focus on tapping into our country's potential not forcing vulnerable communities into the shadows."

With respect to border barriers, Ortiz Jones vowed that she would: "Ensure we do not throw billions of dollars away on an ineffective, wasteful border wall."

Lest you think that Gonzales was "safe" in a solid red district think again. The Cook Political Report a bible for political junkies stated, when the current representative announced his retirement: "Hurd is probably the only Republican capable of holding Texas's massive 23rd District."

Hillary Clinton carried it by three percentage points in 2016, and Cook moved it to "Lean Democratic" in its horse-race ratings, stating: "November 2020 will feature a much higher Hispanic turnout than that race and possibl[y] November 2018, complicating the math" for a Republican candidate. Not to criticize Charlie Cook: Ted Cruz lost there in 2018 by five percentage points.

Again, Texas 23 is a large and largely Hispanic district. And yet, a pro-life, pro-gun, border security Republican managed to do it by a larger margin than the purportedly indispensable (for the GOP, at least) Will Hurd.

Whether you prefer "Latino" or "Hispanic" as a designation (I prefer "American", as I stated), the voters in that demographic are not "monolithic", and where they fall on the issue of illegal immigration plainly varies.

Just look to Florida, and a congressional district the size of four states.

More:
The Latino Vote in Florida and One Texas District - Immigration Blog