Joe Biden was elected the 46th president of the US after victory in the battleground state of Pennsylvania propelled him past the 270-vote electoral college threshold, ending Donald Trump’s hopes of re-election.
Mr Biden was declared president-elect four days after polls closed, marking the conclusion of a bitter presidential race that was fought against the backdrop of a pandemic that has killed more than 228,000 Americans.
It also signalled the end of one of the most tumultuous eras in US history as Mr Trump, a New York property developer turned reality television star, took aim at the norms of American politics, pursuing a populist agenda at home and an “America First” stance abroad.
Mr Biden, a 77-year-old son of working-class Scranton, Pennsylvania, became the oldest candidate elected to the presidency. Having served for nearly four decades in the US Senate and eight years as Barack Obama’s vice-president, Mr Biden promised to unify the nation after the tumult of the Trump years.
His running mate, Kamala Harris, will be the first African-American woman and first person of Indian descent to serve as vice-president.
Mr Trump, who complained on Thursday that the election was being “stolen” and threatened more legal action, was