Mitch McConnell acknowledges Biden as president-elect

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell acknowledged Tuesday that President-elect Joe Biden won the presidential election, breaking with President Trump and other Republicans who still haven't conceded the contest.

During a speech on Tuesday morning on the Senate floor, the Kentucky Republican said the “Electoral College has spoken,” congratulating Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris as the nation’s first female vice president.

“Six weeks ago, Americans voted in this year’s general election,” McConnell said. “The legal and constitutional processes have continued to play out since then. Yesterday electors met in all 50 states. So as of this morning our country officially [has] a president-elect and a vice-president elect.”

McConnell is the most prominent Republican leader in Congress to acknowledge Biden’s win. His remarks come after the 538 members of the Electoral College cast their ballots on Monday, confirming Biden’s victory.

Trump has yet to concede the Nov. 3 election. And as recently as Tuesday morning he was tweeting about his latest in a series of discredited allegations about ballot fraud, this time concerning voting machines in Michigan.

McConnell said Tuesday that millions of Americans hoped Trump would win, but “our system of government has processes to determine who will be sworn in on Jan. 20.”

Thumbnail credit: Tom Williams/Reuters

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