US election live: Joe Biden wins and says 'It’s time for America to unite'

Mitt Romney became the first Republican senator to congratulate Joe Biden and Kamala Harris on their victory in the presidential election.

“Ann and I extend our congratulations to President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris,” Romney said in a tweet.

“We know both of them as people of good will and admirable character. We pray that God may bless them in the days and years ahead.”

Romney was of course the Republican presidential nominee in 2012, when he lost to Barack Obama and Biden.

It’s worth noting that, with Biden’s victory, control of the Senate remains up for grabs. If Democrats can win both of the Georgia runoff races in January, they will flip control of the chamber.

However, the most likely situation is that Biden will begin his presidency with a Republican-controlled Senate.

Lois Beckett reports from Lansing, Michigan:

At a small rally of Donald Trump supporters at Michigan’s state Capitol, demonstrators chanted “four more years” and “we won” after CNN, Fox and the AP had called the presidential race for Joe Biden.

“We are a stand your ground state, and we will stand our ground for our great president,” Kevin Skinner, 34, told the crowd, saying that tyranny is at the door. Skinner said he planned to get people to protest every day at the Capitol and demand a recount.

Barack Obama has offered his congratulations to his former running mate, Joe Biden, after he was declared the winner of the presidential election.

“I could not be prouder to congratulate our next President, Joe Biden, and our next First Lady, Jill Biden,” the former president said.

“I also couldn’t be prouder to congratulate Kamala Harris and Doug Emhoff for Kamala’s groundbreaking election as our next Vice President.”

Obama called on every American to “do our part” to find common ground with their fellow citizens to help the country unite.

“Our democracy needs all of us more than ever,” Obama said. “And Michelle and I look forward to supporting our next President and First Lady however we can.”

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has released a statement congratulating Joe Biden and Kamala Harris on their victory.

“The US is our most important ally and I look forward to working closely together on our shared priorities, from climate change to trade and security,” Johnson said.

The British prime minister had avoided weighing in on the election until a winner was declared, instead simply saying he trusted the integrity of America’s election systems.

Doug Emhoff, the husband of Kamala Harris, shared a photo of himself hugging the vice president-elect to celebrate her victory.

“So proud of you,” Emhoff said.

Emhoff will be America’s first-ever “second gentleman,” as Harris is the first woman to ever be part of a successful presidential ticket.

Emhoff will also be the first vice-presidential spouse who is Jewish.

As the presidential election was called for Joe Biden, Donald Trump was golfing at his Virginia club.

The AP caught a photo of Trump golfing, as he learned he was officially a one-term president:

The Guardian’s Daniel Strauss reports:

Kamala Harris has become vice-president-elect of the US, the first time in history that a woman, and a woman of color, has been elected to such a position in the White House.

Harris, a former California senator who is of Indian and Jamaican heritage, will also be the first woman of mixed race to serve as vice-president. If she became president she would be the first female president, and the second biracial president in American history, after Barack Obama.

Women have run for president or run on major party presidential tickets before, the most recent being Hillary Clinton. Carly Fiorina was named as Texas senator Ted Cruz’s running mate in the 2016 presidential election in that year’s Republican primary before Donald Trump won the party’s nomination.

Sarah Palin was the last woman to run as a vice-presidential nominee on a major party presidential ticket in a general election. Palin, while governor of Alaska, was part of the late Arizona senator John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign.

But Harris is the first woman in American history ever to run on a successful presidential ticket.

The Guardian’s Kari Paul reports from Oakland:

Loud cheers and the banging of pots and pans rang out through the streets of Oakland on Saturday at the news of Joe Biden’s election to president, just blocks away from the hospital where the vice president-elect, Kamala Harris, was born.

It was around 8.30am PT in Oakland when the Associated Press made the call that Biden had secured the final electoral votes to win the presidency, and the city awoke with cheers and honking cars.

Harris, who is the first woman and first woman of color elected vice-president, was born in Oakland in 1964 and grew up in neighboring Berkeley.

It’s official: Joe Biden has been declared the winner of the US presidential election, defeating Donald Trump.

The call came after the AP declared Biden had won Pennsylvania and its 20 electoral votes, pushing the Democrat past the 270 electoral votes needed to win the White House.

The Biden campaign has just announced the new president-elect will address the nation tonight, at 8pm ET.

Biden said in a statement released by his campaign: “With the campaign over, it’s time to put the anger and the harsh rhetoric behind us and come together as a nation.

“It’s time for America to unite. And to heal.”

The Guardian’s reporters are fanned out across the country, as celebrations break out in major cities. The blog will have reports from them and updates on the presidential transition, so stay tuned.