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- President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris have been named Time magazine’s Person of the Year for 2020.
- The pair were chosen for the honor over finalists that included President Donald Trump, the movement for racial justice, and frontline health workers with Dr. Anthony Fauci.
- Time editor-in-chief Edward Felsenthal said that Biden and Harris received for the honor “for changing the American story” and “for showing that the forces of empathy are greater than the furies of division.”
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President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris have been named Time magazine’s Person of the Year for 2020.
Biden and Harris defeated President Donald Trump in the November general election, making him only the 11th president in US history to lose a reelection bid. In winning the election, Harris became the first female, first Black, and first Indian-American vice president.
Biden, a former US Senator from Delaware and former vice president under President Barack Obama, and Harris, a US Senator from California, will be featured on the magazine’s December 21 cover.
The pair was selected over finalists that included Trump, the movement for racial justice, and frontline health workers with Dr. Anthony Fauci, the longtime director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
In 2019, Time awarded the honor to the teenage climate crisis activist Greta Thunberg.
This year marks the first time that an incoming vice president has been included on the list.
—TIME (@TIME) December 11, 2020
Time editor-in-chief Edward Felsenthal said that Biden and Harris received the honor "for changing the American story" and "for showing that the forces of empathy are greater than the furies of division."
"Person of the Year is not just about the year that was but about where we're headed," he added. "The next four years are going to be an enormous test of them, and all of us, to see whether they can bring about the unity that they promised."
During a taped segment for the magazine, Biden reflected on the country's morality.
"I'm convinced the American public is looking for the possibilities that are available out there," Biden said. "They know we're so much better than this. When I ran I said, 'This is about who we are as a nation, who we're going to be, what we want to be.' And the American people stepped up."
Harris reflected on the message from her victory speech where she discussed the historic nature of her candidacy.
"I will be the first, but I will not be the last," Harris said of the role she will assume in January 2021. "That's about legacy, that's about creating a pathway, that's about leaving the door more open than it was when you walked in."
—TIME (@TIME) December 11, 2020
Biden has continued to emphasize his message of unity despite Trump and many of his allies continuing to contest the results of the presidential election.
"I was able to, against advice from a lot of people, do the things that I was told were gonna hurt me politically," Biden said. "But I would argue that it turned out that that's what the American people were looking for: they're looking for some honesty, decency, respect, unity."
Biden easily won the Electoral College, with 306 electoral votes to 232 electoral votes for Trump. The president-elect earned over 81 million votes, the most for any presidential candidate in US history, while Trump won a little over 74 million votes. In order to win the presidency, a candidate must receive 270 electoral votes.
The president-elect reflected on the endurance of American citizens, a theme he touched on many times during his campaign.
"We're the only country in the world that has come out of every crisis stronger than we went into the crisis," Biden said.
He added: "I predict we will come out of this crisis stronger than when we went in."