Obama, Bill Clinton congratulate Biden and Harris on historic victory

Former US presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton congratulated President-elect Joe Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris on their historic electoral victory in the November 3 elections

Former US presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton on Saturday congratulated President-elect Joe Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris on their historic electoral victory in the November 3 elections.

"I could not be prouder to congratulate our next President, Joe Biden, and our next First Lady, Jill Biden. I also couldn't be prouder to congratulate Kamala Harris and Doug Emhoff for Kamala's groundbreaking election as our next Vice President, Obama said in a statement.

"America has spoken, and democracy has won. Now we have a President-Elect and Vice President-Elect who will serve all of us and bring us all together. Congratulations to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris on your momentous victory! Bill Clinton said in a tweet.

Earlier, major American media outlets started calling Biden the winner after it became clear that he has taken a major lead against Republican incumbent Donald Trump in the battleground State of Pennsylvania, which has 20 electoral college votes, making him cross the benchmark of the 270 electoral college votes.

With Pennsylvania's 20 electoral votes, Biden now has a total of 273 electoral votes.

Obama, who campaigned for Biden and Harris in the last phase of the elections, in particularly in the key battleground States of Florida, Pennsylvania and Michigan, said that in this election, under circumstances never experienced, Americans turned out in numbers never seen.

"And once every vote is counted, President-Elect Biden and Vice President-Elect Harris will have won a historic and decisive victory, he said.

"We're fortunate that Joe's got what it takes to be President and already carries himself that way. Because when he walks into the White House in January, he'll face a series of extraordinary challenges no incoming President ever has a raging pandemic, an unequal economy and justice system, a democracy at risk, and a climate in peril, Obama said.

"I know he'll do the job with the best interests of every American at heart, whether or not he had their vote. So I encourage every American to give him a chance and lend him your support.

"The election results at every level show that the country remains deeply and bitterly divided. It will be up to not just Joe and Kamala, but each of us, to do our part to reach out beyond our comfort zone, to listen to others, to lower the temperature and find some common ground from which to move forward, all of us remembering that we are one nation, under God, he said.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that it marks the dawning of a new day of hope for America. A record-shattering 75 million Americans cast their ballots to elect Biden President of the United States a historic victory that has handed Democrats a mandate for action, she said.

In President-elect Joe Biden, Americans elected a leader ready on Day One to finally begin to crush the coronavirus so we can safely reopen our economy and schools, she said.

In President-elect Biden, the American people delivered a mandate for lower health costs, a mandate for creating bigger paychecks by rebuilding America's infrastructure, and a mandate for cleaner government that works for the public interest, not the special interests. And in President-elect Biden, they have elected a unifier who values faith, family and community, and who will work tirelessly to heal our nation, Pelosi said.