Biden, Harris named Time magazine’s ‘Person of the Year’

President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris were named Time magazine’s Person of the Year on Thursday night, besting President Donald Trump, front-line health care workers and racial justice protesters as the year’s most influential newsmakers.

Time picked Biden and Harris over three other finalists — President Trump, front-line health care workers fighting the COVID-19 epidemic, and the movement for racial justice that grew after George Floyd’s killing at the hands of Minneapolis police officers.

The health care workers shared honors with Biden and Harris by being selected as “Guardians of the Year.”

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, was named “Guardian of the Year” as “the most visible scientific leader in the U.S. in 2020.”

But Biden and Harris broke through those directly battling the pandemic with their election win, Time’s editors decided. They have said their award is meant for the person or group that for good or ill has the most influence during the year.

The winning presidential ticket “broke former President Barack Obama’s record for the most votes ever cast” for a presidential ticket,” Time noted when it named Biden one of the finalists.

Biden, 78, and Harris, 56, won the November election with 306 electoral votes — the same number by which Trump declared himself a “landslide” victor in 2016.

Unlike Trump and running mate Mike Pence in 2016, Biden and Harris also won the popular vote, garnering a record 81.3 million votes to Trump’s 74.2 million. Biden and Harris got 51.4% of the vote to the Trump/Pence ticket’s 46.9%. The rest of the votes went to minor candidates.

“The only thing more powerful than a dragon is a dragon slayer,” Time wrote when it reported Biden’s win on Nov. 7.

“For four years, Donald Trump’s penchant for division and chaos was the dominant force in American life. In the end, after a long and excruciating battle, it was vanquished by Joe Biden’s promise of decency, unity and national healing.”

In naming Trump as a finalist for the designation, Time noted that even though he lost the election, he had an “immense” influence on 2020.

“His Administration has been highly criticized for its response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since losing the election, he’s baselessly claimed that there was fraud and falsely said that he’s the winner,” the magazine said.

Time first selected a “Man of the Year” in 1927, when the honor went to Charles Lindbergh for being the first to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.

Time changed the name of the designation to “Person of the Year” in 1999. Last year’s Person of the Year was climate activist Greta Thunberg.