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Joseph R. Biden and Kamala Harris (D) Confirmed 47th Presidency
January 20, 2021
Photo Courtesy of Gage Skidmore
At 11:48 a.m. on Jan. 20, Joseph R. Biden was sworn in as the 46th President of the United States. In his inaugural speech, he proclaimed, “This is America’s day. This is democracy’s day. A day of history and hope, of renewal and resolve.”
Notably, Vice President Mike Pence, Republican Sen. of Kentucky and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell renounced Trump’s demands for yet another recount of the election results, according to the New York Times.
“If this election were overturned by mere allegations from the losing side, our democracy would enter a death spiral,” McConnell pronounced to the Senate on Jan. 6, shortly before the riots began.
Similarly, according to National Public Radio, as Congress reconvened on the evening of Jan 6, Pence said, “To those who wreaked havoc in our Capitol today, you did not win. Violence never wins. Freedom wins. And this is still the people’s house.”
In response to Trump’s demands to recount the votes, Pence wrote in a letter to Congress, “It is my considered judgment that my oath to support and defend the Constitution constrains me from claiming unilateral authority to determine which electoral votes should be counted and which should not.”
At around 4 a.m. on Jan. 7, Pence declared Biden and Kamala Harris the winners of the presidential and vice presidential election.