US election live: Joe Biden wins and says ‘It’s time for America to unite’ | US news

Mexico’s president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said he would not congratulate Joe Biden yet, saying, “We want to wait for the matter of the election to be legally resolved.”

Wating is “politically prudent,” he said, adding that Trump has been respectful toward Mexico.

While AMLO describes himself as a leftist, and Trump is unquestionably right-wing, the two men do have some things in common. Further reading:

Former US national security adviser Susan Rice, Atlanta’s mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, and CNN correspondent Abby Phillips, all react with pride at Kamala Harris’ historic win.

Watch:

Bernie Sanders, the progressive senator. of Vermont who put up a strong challenge to Joe Biden in the democratic primaries before helping him campaign, has offered congratulations.

“I want to take this opportunity to congratulate my friends Joe Biden and Kamala Harris,” he said. “Because of efforts of people all across this country, including millions of progressive, grassroots activists – Black and White, Latino, Asian American and Native American who worked their hearts out, we were able to win”

“Give yourselves a pat on the back, because you deserve it,” he said. But, he added, “Our work is not done… now a whole new chapter of hard work begins.”

Here’s the scene in Wilmington, Delaware – where supporters are celebrating, and awaiting a speech from Joe Biden:

Hi there, it’s Maanvi Singh – blogging from Oakland. You can also reach out @maanvissingh.

I’ll be bringing you live updates for the next few hours. We’re expecting Joe Biden to deliver remarks in an hour.

I will be handing over to my colleague, Maanvi Singh, now. Before I do, here’s a quick recap of the past few hours and what’s ahead.

• Joe Biden is due to speak at 8pm US Eastern Time (in one hour) after winning the US presidential election, defeating Donald Trump. Biden was declared the president-elect after the AP announced he had won Pennsylvania and its 20 electoral votes, putting him over the threshold of the 270 electoral votes needed to win the White House.
• Kamala Harris will become the first woman, the first African American and the first Asian American to serve as vice president.
• Biden earlier called on the nation to unite and heal now that the election is over. “With the campaign over, it’s time to put the anger and the harsh rhetoric behind us and come together as a nation,” Biden said. “It’s time for America to unite. And to heal.”
• Trump has so far refused to concede. Shortly after Biden was declared the winner, Trump released a statement saying, “The simple fact is this election is far from over.” Although a concession is considered a hallmark of the peaceful transfer of power, Trump does not need to concede for Biden to be sworn in as president in January.
• Foreign leaders have offered their congratulations to Biden and Harris.

More reaction coming in from world leaders, including the Prime Minister of India.

There are a lot of “firsts” and “historics” going around with this election, but you may have missed this neat observation from my colleague and Guardian US senior political reporter, Lauren Gambino.

Georgia’s Secretary of State has tweeted that that county of Fulton had “discovered an issue involving reporting from their work” on Friday.

Brad Raffensperger said officials will rescan the “work”, which I assume he means ballots, although the tweet is fairly vague.

The post will no doubt attract a lot of attention. Fulton voted overwhelmingly for Joe Biden – more than 72% – and Donald Trump and his allies have been attempting to discredit those votes by making accusations of fraud while providing no evidence.

What is clear from Raffensperger tweet is that he is not alleging any foul play.

Biden is ahead in Georgia by a few thousand votes and election officials have already announced a recount. With his Pennsylvania win, Biden does not need Georgia for the presidency, which is why his win was called before the state is decided.

The Guardian’s Libby Brooks reports from Glasgow:

Scotland’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon has congratulated President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris following the US Presidential election.

Sturgeon – a long-standing critic of Donald Trump – said:

“I warmly congratulate President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris on their success. Theirs is a historic victory that will be welcomed by progressives across the globe. Women and people of colour in particular will feel inspired by the historic nature of Vice President-elect Harris’ achievement.

“I welcome the commitment that was so evident in the Biden/Harris campaign to leadership and multilateral cooperation on the many challenges faced by countries across the world, from COVID-19 to climate change.

“Scotland and America share deep and longstanding bonds of friendship, and I look forward to these being renewed and strengthened in the years ahead.”

A glum-looking Donald Trump returning to the White House today after finding out he lost the election.

Our senior political reporter for Guardian US, Daniel Strauss, is in Wilmington, Delaware ahead of Joe Biden’s rally tonight.

The drive-in event is being held in the president-elect’s hometown and is expected to be a victory speech, with calls for unity. It is scheduled to begin at 8pm Eastern Time (two and a half hours from now).

It appears that Donald Trump’s personal attorney and one of his most loyal allies, Rudy Giuliani, found out that the election was lost during a press conference earlier today.

Reporters told Giuliani US broadcast news networks had just reported a Biden victory, which he immediately dismissed.

Donald Trump appears to have logged back on to the White House wifi and has started tweeting again.

He begins by falsely repeating that he “won the election”, as well as other allegations of fraud without evidence.

He goes on to say that he received more votes than any other sitting president, which is true. However, he overestimated his vote count by a few hundred thousand, according to our tally, and refers to his votes as “legal votes”, which suggests – again without evidence – that some of Joe Biden’s are not.