Western Pennsylvania officials react to Biden-Harris win

Joe Biden is the President-elect, and Kamala Harris will become the country’s first Madam Vice President. After four days of waiting and watching a race that ultimately came down to Pennsylvania, elected leaders across the state reacted to the Saturday morning news.

Biden is a Pennsylvania native, born in Scranton, and he made multiple stops across the state in the waning days of the campaign. He is just the second president to hail from Pennsylvania, with the first being James Buchanan in 1857.

Democratic U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, in an interview with the Tribune-Review on Saturday, said he congratulated Biden in a phone call earlier in the day and expressed hope for the future.

“He made a decision to do the toughest thing in all of politics, which is to take on an incumbent president and actually win the race,” Casey said. “I talked to him today and I said, ‘You did a hard, hard thing.’”

He called it a personal triumph but also a win for the nation: “It’s a way to turn the page to a time when we can disagree without demonizing each other.”

For his part, Trump has said he has no plans to concede. He called into question the integrity of the vote count in Pennsylvania with his lawyers having mounted no less than five legal challenges in the Keystone State alone.

Casey called Trump’s actions an attempt to undermine democracy.

“He’s been lying about mail-in voting for a long time. And every time he enunciates that kind of lie, he’s really insulting and smearing people who work in these county election operations who are Republican and Democrat,” said Casey. “Even leading Republicans here in Pennsylvania have said if you’re going to make a claim like this, you’re going to have to back it up with evidence. And there is no evidence. Everyone knows that.”

Gov. Tom Wolf, in a series of tweets, took similar aim at Trump’s efforts, including the flurry of lawsuits filed as Biden closed in on and eventually overtook the president’s lead in Pennsylvania. Trump has claimed victory in Pennsylvania and in the election itself on Twitter.

“Any attempts now or in the future to undermine our elections and subvert the will of Pennsylvanians must be categorically rejected,” he said.

Wolf acknowledged Biden’s Pennsylvania roots and congratulated the pair on their apparent win.

“Pennsylvania is proud to send a native son to the White House who’s never forgotten his Scranton roots,” Wolf wrote. “In Vice President-elect Harris, we’ll have a fighter against injustice prioritizing working people.”

He called for unity in the coming weeks “so we can rebuild our economy, fight the spread of COVID-19, and help all Pennsylvanians and Americans realize a vision of a better future.”

Congratulations to President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Harris.

Pennsylvania is proud to send a native son to the White House who's never forgotten his Scranton roots.

In Vice President-elect Harris, we'll have a fighter against injustice prioritizing working people.

— Governor Tom Wolf (@GovernorTomWolf) November 7, 2020

U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, a Republican, released a statement noting the “announcement by the media” is a projection, and he applauded the president and Biden on “run hard, spirited campaigns” and for their “desire to serve our nation.”

“Democracy succeeds only when all sides can trust that the election process is fair and transparent. Given the extremely close result, the American people must be assured that the process is being conducted with integrity,” he said. “This means campaign representatives must have meaningful access to observe whether the law is being followed. I strongly encourage all state and local officials to ensure that this happens as the election process is completed.”

Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Butler, issues a similar sentiment on Twitter.

“In our representative republic, it is not the media who declares the winner of elections,” he wrote. “Right now, the Trump Campaign is engaged in several court cases to determine the integrity of the vote in multiple states. None of those states have officially certified their vote counts, and investigations into voting irregularities are ongoing. The winner of the election will be determined by the law, not media projections.”

In a statement from the Pennsylvania Democratic Party, Chairwoman Nancy Patton Mills and Vice Chair Sharif Street jointly called the election of the Democratic ticket a “complete team effort by Democratic leaders across the Commonwealth.”

“Our hearts are full of gratitude toward everyone who made this moment in Pennsylvania and American history possible,” they wrote.

Rep. Conor Lamb, who The Associated Press declared the winner of his tight race for the 17th District not long after the race was called for Biden, congratulated the former vice president on Twitter.

“You won the battle for the soul of the nation,” he wrote.

Congratulations to President-elect @JoeBiden. You won the battle for the soul of the nation. pic.twitter.com/ADMZpYqEZe

— Conor Lamb (@ConorLambPA) November 7, 2020