US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Friday that Vice President Joe Biden would win the White House, repeatedly calling him “president-elect” as she discussed the Democratic Party’s agenda next year, Politico reports.
“This morning, it is clear that the Joe Biden-Kamala Harris ticket will win the White House,” Pelosi said in her first press briefing since the Nov. 3 election.
Pelosi spoke to reporters in the Capitol as thousands of votes were still being counted in battleground states. Biden gained the lead Friday morning in Pennsylvania, potentially clinching his path to victory, though Trump has made clear he will pursue legal challenges.
Pelosi said the outcome was “imminent,” and could be declared “momentarily.”
“It’s a happy day for our country,” Pelosi said, adding: “President-elect Biden has a strong mandate to lead.”
On Democrats’ inability to retake the Senate from Republicans, and losses in the House of Representatives, she says this: “We did not win every battle in the House. But we did win the war.”
“Be confident. Be patient,” she says to Democrats, adding: “We look forward to continued victories, and there are some out there.”
“While we prepare for the new Biden administration, we must also move swiftly forward with a new coronavirus relief bill,” she says referring to economic talks that fell through before the election.
