Addressing the nation for the first time as president-elect, Joe Biden both called for cooperation and unity while beginning to sketch out concrete policy goals he will hold as the nation’s 46th president.

Biden spoke on an unseasonably warm Saturday evening from a converted parking lot in his hometown of Wilmington, Del., hours after Pennsylvania’s 20 electoral votes put him and running mate Kamala Harris over the top allowing them to clinch the win which had been eluding them since Election Day.

“Now this campaign is over, what is the will of the people? What is our mandate? I believe it is this: America has called upon us to marshal the forces of decency, the forces of fairness, to marshal the forces of science and forces of hope in the great battles of our time,” Biden said. “The battle to control the virus. The battle to build prosperity. The battle to secure your family’s health care. The battle to achieve racial justice and root out systemic racism in this country.

“And the battle to save our planet by getting climate under control. The battle to restore decency, defend democracy, and give everyone in this country a fair shot. That is all they are asking for, a fair shot,” Biden added. “Folks, our work begins with getting COVID under control. We cannot repair the economy or relish life’s most precious moments hugging our grandchildren, birthdays, graduations, all the moments that matter most to us, until we get it under control. On Monday, I will name a group of leading scientists and experts as transition advisors to help take the Biden-Harris plan and convert it into an action blueprint that will restore it on January 20, 2021. That plan will be constructed out of compassion, empathy and concern. I will spare no effort, none, or any commitment to turn around this pandemic.”

Biden specifically reached out to those Americans who supported Donald Trump and asked that they now give him a chance.

“Folks, I am a proud Democrat. But I will govern as an American president. I will work as hard for those who didn’t vote for me as those who did. Let this grim era of demonization in America begin to end here and now,” he said. “Refusal of Democrats and Republicans to cooperate with one another is not some mysterious force beyond our control, it is a decision, a choice we make. If we decide not to cooperate, we can decide to cooperate. I believe this is part of the mandate given to us from the American people. They want us to cooperate in their interests. That is the choice I will make. I will call on Congress, Democrats and Republicans alike, to make that choice with me.”

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