BREAKING NEWS – Joe Biden amassed 273 electoral college votes after winning Pennsylvania’s 20 electors, surpassing the 270 needed to win the White House and defeat President Donald Trump.

Biden’s victory capped one of the longest and most tumultuous campaigns in modern history, in which he maintained an aggressive focus on Trump’s widely criticized handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Biden regularly criticized Trump as unfit for office and positioned his campaign as a “battle for the soul of America.” He promised from the outset of his run to heal and unite the country if he won, and made central to his closing message a pledge to represent both those who voted for him as well as those who didn’t when he got to the White House.

As president, Biden will immediately be confronted with a bitterly divided nation in the throes of a pandemic that has already killed 236,000 Americans. Trump has exacerbated the split by minimizing the effects of the pandemic, and has not even said whether he would recognize the outcome of the election.

Biden, who will turn 78 later this month, makes him the oldest person ever elected to the presidency. Biden is scheduled to be sworn in as the 46th U.S. president January 20, 2021.

In addition to the projected electoral college vote, Biden also won the popular vote, and he set a record for winning the most votes of any candidate in U.S. history.

The Trump campaign continues to fight for the president’s re-election in court. He has filed multiple lawsuits, several of which have already been thrown out, and more are expected. His campaign has also said it would ask for a recount in Wisconsin, where Biden is the apparent winner.