Celebrations have broken out across American cities with pedestrians dancing in the streets, motorists honking their horns and cheers filling the air as Joe Biden is named the next president of the United States.
Biden was called the next president at 11.25 a.m. Saturday morning by television networks and the Associated Press, while Donald Trump played golf.
CNN, NBC, ABC, CBS, the AP and USA Today all made the call and Fox News followed suit 10 minutes later as votes in Philadelphia pushed his margin in the crucial swing state of Pennsylvania over the edge.
This took him to 273 electoral votes – over the 270 needed to win the White House race.
Kamala Harris, his running mate, becomes the first female vice president and the first black and Asian-American vice president in history.
Cities across the nation erupted in celebration as the news broke, ending an agonizing four-day wait since election day for the new president to be announced.
Meanwhile, Trump refused to accept the call, claiming Biden was trying to ‘falsely pose’ as the winner, vowing to keep challenging results he claims are a ‘fraud’ as his supporters rallied outside his Virginia golf course where he headed to earlier in the morning.
In New York City, cheers of celebration, clapping and car horns filled the air seconds after Biden’s victory was called.
Cheers could be heard all across Manhattan as walkers in Central Park stopped and threw their arms in the air in celebration.
Many people flocked to their balconies to join in the celebrations in the streets below.
Footage on social media revealed the moment many New Yorkers learned Biden would become the 46th president of the United States
In the Alphabet City neighbourhood, Biden supporters could be heard roaring with excitement from their apartment blocks and revellers gathered on their fire escapes with bottles of bubbly.
People flocked onto the sidewalks in Upper East Side to clap and cheer while cars drove past honking their horns.
Over in Philadelphia – where the latest votes to be counted pushed Biden to victory – people cried and embraced in the streets outside the Pennsylvania Convention Center.
Some Biden supporters danced in the streets as they couldn’t contain their emotion over the victory for the Democrat.
People in Washington choked back tears of relief and hugged each other.
