Harris pays tribute to Black women in 1st speech as VP-elect
Vice president-elect Kamala Harris on Saturday paid tribute to the women, particularly Black women, whose shoulders she stands on as she shatters barriers that have kept mostly white men entrenched at the highest levels of American politics for more than two centuries.
“Tonight I reflect on their struggle, their determination and the strength of their vision to see what can be unburdened by what has been,” Harris said, wearing a white suit in tribute to women’s suffrage. She called it a testament to President-elect Joe Biden’s character that “he had the audacity to break one of the most substantial barriers that exists in our country, and select a woman and his vice president.”
“While I may be the first woman in this office, I will not be the last,” Harris said in her first post-election address to the nation.
The 56-year-old California senator, also the first person of South Asian descent elected to the vice presidency, represents the multiculturalism that defines America but is largely absent from Washington’s power centers. Her Black identity has allowed her to speak in personal terms in a year of reckoning over police brutality and systemic racism. As the highest-ranking woman ever elected in American government, her victory gives hope to women who were devastated by Hillary Clinton’s defeat four years ago.
Harris told little children to “dream with ambition, lead with conviction, and see yourselves in a way that others may not simply because they’re never seen it before.” After Biden’s speech, she was joined on stage by her family, including her two grandnieces who wore white dresses.
Suu Kyi party set to win Myanmar vote with little opposition
YANGON, Myanmar — Voting was underway in Myanmar’s elections on Sunday, with the party of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi heavily favored to retain power it had wrestled from the powerful military five years ago.
More than 90 parties are competing for seats in the lower and upper houses of Parliament, while there are also elections at the state and regional levels.
With the opposition in disarray, Suu Kyi remains Myanmar’s most popular politician. But her government has fallen short of expectations, with economic growth doing little to alleviate widespread poverty and a failure to ease tensions among the country’s fractious ethnic groups.
There are more than 37 million people eligible to vote, including 5 million first-timers. Fear of the coronavirus and safety measures put in place to contain it may hurt voter turnout. Traditional campaigning was severely limited by social distancing and quarantines in some areas.
Suu Kyi’s party, the National League for Democracy, won the last elections in 2015 in a landslide, ending more than five decades of military-directed rule in the country.
From wire sources
Analysis: Biden claims a mandate that will quickly be tested
WASHINGTON (AP) — Joe Biden’s bet on the 2020 race was a simple one: that a nation riven by deep partisanship was ready for a reset.
He knew he wouldn’t be the most electric candidate or the most compelling speaker. He knew that he was running as an old, white man in a party that is growing younger and more diverse. He knew that to win, he would need both the energy of liberals and the support of centrists, slices of the electorate with little in common beyond a shared disdain for President Donald Trump.
Biden ultimately emerged victorious, a moment of both celebration and relief for his supporters. But the results sent mixed messages about the nation’s eagerness to turn the page on one of the most polarized periods in modern American history.
Biden carried some of the key battleground states, including Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, by narrow margins. He won more votes nationwide than any presidential candidate — more than 74 million and counting — but Trump’s popular vote total also topped previous records, reflecting the president’s hold not only on his core supporters but the Republican Party at large.
With victory in hand, Biden has claimed a mandate. Whether he actually has one will soon be put to the test.
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How Biden navigated pandemic politics to win the White House
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — Joe Biden was fresh off winning the Michigan primary and effectively capturing the Democratic presidential nomination, a prize he’d sought for the better part of three decades. Instead of plotting a strategy to build momentum, he was contemplating an abrupt halt.
He gathered his senior team in a conference room on the 19th floor of his campaign’s Philadelphia headquarters, the type of in-person meeting that would soon be deemed a public health risk. A former surgeon general and Food and Drug Administration commissioner joined on speakerphone.
As the coronavirus began to explode across the United States that March, Biden asked a question that would ultimately guide the campaign’s thinking for months: “What should I be modeling?”
The health experts recommended the 77-year-old Biden step away from campaigning as soon as possible, both for his safety and that of staff and supporters. Biden agreed. He decided that he and every staff member would work from home starting that weekend. All field offices would be closed.
He wouldn’t return to in-person campaigning for 174 days.
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What’s next? Saturday’s election verdict isn’t last step
WASHINGTON (AP) — Saturday’s election verdict isn’t the last step in selecting an American president. Under a system that’s been tweaked over two centuries, there is still a weekslong timeline during which the 538-member Electoral College picks the president.
A look at the key steps:
— When American citizens vote for a presidential candidate, they really are voting for electors in their state. Those electors in most cases are committed to support the voters’ candidate of choice. The number of electors is equal to the number of electoral votes held by each state. State laws vary on how electors are selected but, generally, a slate of electors for each party’s candidate is chosen at state party conventions or by a vote of a party’s central committee.
— After Election Day, states count and certify the results of the popular vote. When completed, each governor is required by law to prepare “as soon as practicable” documents known as “Certificates of Ascertainment” of the vote. The certificates list the electors’ names and the number of votes cast for the winner and loser. The certificate, carrying the seal of each state, is sent to the archivist of the United States.
— Dec. 8 is the deadline for resolving election disputes at the state level. All state recounts and court contests over presidential election results are to be completed by this date.