The 59th US presidential election was held on November 3, 2020. In the Republican Party, Donald Trump was the candidate. On the opposite side, Democratic Party registered
Joe Biden as a candidate.

Both candidates delivered their promises in various fields such as environment, economy, health care, foreign policies, and so on. Some policies show a distinct difference particularly in environment. Trump wants to expand non-renewable energy since he is a skeptic of climate change. During his term of office, he has committed to withdrawing from the Paris Climate Accord¹⁾, which the US will officially leave later this year. In contrast, Biden says he would immediately re-join the Paris Climate Accord if elected. He proposes banning new leases for oil and gas drilling on public lands. Yet, they made similar slogans. “Keep America Great” by Trump, “Build Back Better for a Better America” by Biden.

Joe Biden has been ahead of Donald Trump in national poll before the election was held. He has hovered around 50 percent in recent months. However, because the US election is decided by the electoral college votes, it is possible for a candidate to be defeated by the electoral college even though they won the national votes. The electoral college works in this way: The number of electors from each state is roughly compared with the size of its population. Each elector represents one electoral vote, and a candidate needs to gain a majority of the votes to win the presidency.

Finally on November 7th, Joe Biden has been virtually elected as the 46th president of USA. There was a difference of 6 million votes. However, Biden won in the battleground state of Pennsylvania to reach the 270 votes needed to secure a majority in the electoral college.

Biden had a victory speech on November 7. He said he was humbled by the trust America had placed in him and reached out to those Americans who did not vote for him. Automatically, Kamala Harris became the first woman and the first Black person to become vice president.

On the opposite side, Trump rejected the outcome, saying that tens of thousands of illegal ballots are being used to change the results in key states. Yet, that is not true according to CNN. CNN reports that in total 22 states, including the District of Columbia, counted all ballots that are postmarked on before November 3.

Joe Biden will officially take office on January 20, 2021. After the ceremony, the new president will make his way to the White House to begin his terms in office.