US Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell on Tuesday December 15, recognized former Vice President Joe Biden as the president-elect during a 10-minute-long speech on the Senate floor.
The Kentucky Republican congratulated Joe Biden and Kamala Harris for their presidential election win, shortly after the Electoral College backed the result.
Noting Harris’ historic win as the first female vice president, McConnell said, “beyond our differences, all Americans can take pride that our nation has a female vice president for the very first time.”
Biden and McConnell served together in the Senate for years and negotiated several deals when Biden was vice president and McConnell was the GOP leader during Barack Obama’s presidency.
McConnell’s recognition of Biden came at the tail end of a long speech praising Trump’s accomplishments and after Senate Chaplain Barry Black recognized Biden and Harris as victors. McConnell called Trump an “outsider who swore he would shake up Washington and lead our country to new accomplishments both at home and abroad” and did “exactly that.”
Following Monday’s Electoral College vote, Republican lawmakers have slowly started to accept Biden as president-elect, though some lawmakers said they wanted to wait for Congress to certify the Electoral College results on January 6.
