TOPLINE U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday hit out at China, accusing it of using  “coercion” and “intimidation” to  back unlawful claims in the South China Sea and affirmed U.S. support for allies in the region as the Biden administration shifts its attention and resources to the Indo-Pacific region to counter Beijing’s advances.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h2>



Speaking in Singapore in the middle of an important seven-day tour to Southeast Asia, Harris said that Beijing&#8217;s activities in the region continue to undermine “the rules-based order” and threaten the sovereignty of nations.



Harris, who is scheduled to visit Hanoi on Tuesday, added that the U.S. “stands with our allies and our partners” in the face of threats from China.



Harris’ trip to the region comes at an important time for the Biden administration as it begins to pivot its attention towards the Indo-Pacific and away from the Middle East.



She noted that the Indo-Pacific was “critically important” to America’s national security and prosperity.



While the vice president’s remarks were her sharpest rebuke against China so far, she appeared to acknowledge Singapore’s neutrality in the U.S.-China rivalry by noting that Washington isn’t trying to “make anyone choose between countries.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



Washington’s pivot towards the Indo-Pacific comes at a time when the Biden administration is winding down America’s decades-long presence in the Middle East with a messy exit from Afghanistan. The botched withdrawal from Afghanistan has raised several concerns among U.S. allies about its commitment to support them. Acknowledging the situation, Harris said the U.S. is evacuating as many people as possible but added that it was also imperative to “continue to advance our interests in other regions, including this region.” In her speech on Tuesday, Harris emphasized the significance of the Southeast Asia region to the U.S. both in terms of security and trade. Harris will begin the second leg of her tour in Hanoi where she is scheduled to meet top officials from the Vietnamese government.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-chief-critic">CHIEF CRITIC</h2>



On Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin accused the U.S. of doing “unscrupulous and dishonest things” in Afghanistan and called on Washington to help rebuild the country. “The United States is the root cause and the biggest external factor in the Afghan issue. It cannot just run away like this.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">FURTHER READING</h2>



<a href="https://apnews.com/article/middle-east-business-969fe25162023468754e57746d6da80d" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Harris rebukes China in major speech on Indo-Pacific</a>&nbsp;(Associated Press)



<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/kamala-harris-says-beijing-continues-coerce-south-china-sea-2021-08-24/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">U.S. VP Harris says China intimidates to back South China Sea claims</a> (Reuters)



By Siladitya Ray, Forbes Africa

President Biden Delivers Remarks On Status Of Afghanistan Evacuation

Kamala Harris Accuses China Of ‘Coercion’ And ‘Intimidation’, Vows U.S. Support For Allies In Indo-Pacific

TOPLINE After President Joe Biden was sworn into office, his administration immediately began undoing his Trump’s policies and beefing up the federal government’s response to the coronavirus through a slew of executive actions and orders.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h4>



<ul><li>Biden issued a mask and social distancing mandate on all federal lands for federal employees and contractors.</li></ul>



<ul><li>The Biden administration extended eviction and foreclosure moratoriums until March 31 and will continue to suspend student loan repayments until September.</li></ul>



<ul><li>Biden rejoined the World Health Organization and the Paris Climate Accord, both of which Donald Trump exited during his presidency.</li></ul>



<ul><li>Through an executive action, Biden revoked permits for the Keystone XL Pipeline and put a temporary moratorium on oil and gas leasing in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, moves hailed by environmental and indigenous activists.</li></ul>



<ul><li>Biden revoked Trump’s attempt to exclude non-citizens from being counted in the U.S. Census, which affects representation in Congress and the allocation of federal grant money.</li></ul>



<ul><li>Biden reversed Trump’s travel ban from several Muslim-majority countries, including Syria, Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen, and told the State Department to start allowing visa applications from these countries again.</li></ul>



<ul><li>Biden ended the National Emergency Declaration that allowed the Trump administration to divert money from the Pentagon to construct the border wall.&nbsp;</li></ul>



<ul><li>Biden sent a sweeping immigration reform bill to Congress that includes an eight-year path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants and immediate green cards for DREAMers.</li></ul>



<ul><li>Biden&nbsp;<a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2021/01/20/biden-executive-order-overturns-trump-diversity-training-ban/4236891001/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reversed&nbsp;</a>Trump’s ban on diversity training at federal agencies and federal contractors.</li></ul>



<ul><li>The 1776 Commission, the Trump’s administration’s rebuttal of the New York Times 1619 Project, was dismantled and the website was immediately taken down.</li></ul>



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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">Annnnnnd 1776 commission page is down<a href="https://t.co/tF6h1vZWMz">https://t.co/tF6h1vZWMz</a> <a href="https://t.co/N8Iqu0MY4i">pic.twitter.com/N8Iqu0MY4i</a>&mdash; Logan McDonald (@_loganmcdonald) <a href="https://twitter.com/_loganmcdonald/status/1351941117672124420?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 20, 2021</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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<ul><li>Michael Pack, who oversaw Voice Of America, Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty as CEO of the U.S. Agency for Global Media,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/biden-administration-asks-agency-for-global-media-ceo-michael-pack-to-resign" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">resigned&nbsp;</a>Wednesday at the request of the incoming Biden administration.&nbsp;</li></ul>



<ul><li>The Biden administration asked National Labor Relations Board general counsel Peter Robb, a Trump-appointee, to resign, Bloomberg Law&nbsp;<a href="https://news.bloomberglaw.com/daily-labor-report/biden-moves-to-oust-top-labor-board-attorney-robb" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>.</li></ul>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">CHIEF CRITICS</h3>



Right-wing pundits&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/dominicholden/status/1351983032673173504?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">questioned&nbsp;</a>Biden’s vow to unify the country amid the flurry of executive orders. Biden’s actions don’t “add much oomph to his ‘unity’ message,” GOP Strategist Karl Rove&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/dominicholden/status/1351983032673173504?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said&nbsp;</a>in a&nbsp;Fox News&nbsp;interview.



Republican lawmakers took aim at Biden’s priorities. Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas), an outspoken supporter of the Keystone XL Pipeline, said Biden was costing 10,000 blue-collar jobs and making the U.S. “less energy secure.”



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">FIRST DAY: <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Biden?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Biden</a> fires opening shot on Texas energy workers. ExecOrder revokes <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/KeystoneXL?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#KeystoneXL</a> pipeline permit. Kills 10,000 blue-collar jobs, many in Texas. Makes U.S. less energy secure. Russia &amp; Middle East cheering. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BidenKillsJobs?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BidenKillsJobs</a><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BidenTargetsTX?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BidenTargetsTX</a>&mdash; Rep. Kevin Brady (@RepKevinBrady) <a href="https://twitter.com/RepKevinBrady/status/1351983718131503109?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 20, 2021</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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GOP Biden&#8217;s immigration plan sparked immediate criticism from GOP members of Congress. “A mass amnesty with no safeguards and no strings attached is a nonstarter,” said Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa).



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">TANGENT</h3>



The official White House website, WhiteHouse.gov, also got some new accessibility changes. The new site has dark mode and a toggle to make the font larger.



-by Rachel Sandler, Forbes Staff

Joe Biden Sworn In As 46th President Of The United States At U.S. Capitol Inauguration Ceremony

Here Are All The Actions Biden Took On His First Day In Office

After Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol last week, Bank of America sent a memo to employees who had donated to the company’s political action committee. The note made it clear there would be financial consequences for legislators who had voted against certifying the 2020 election results. “For upcoming elections,” the message said, “We will take into account the appalling events of January 6 before making any PAC decisions regarding those members.”  



But what about consequences for the president? Bank of America, after all, has significant financial ties to Trump, serving as the biggest tenant inside 555 California Street, a San Francisco skyscraper in which the president holds a 30% stake worth an estimated $442 million. The bank’s annual rent amounts to an estimated $22 million, and Trump’s 30% share of that is roughly $6.5 million. When asked whether the bank planned to continue providing that money to the president, a spokesman didn’t have an answer. “Regarding 555 California, I would have to get back to you,” he said. “We don’t generally disclose rent payments.”



Bank of America isn’t the only company caught in an awkward position—pledging financial consequences for Trump’s acolytes while continuing to pay the president rent. Many of Trump’s tenants are locked into longstanding lease agreements, which makes severing those ties more challenging than simply pledging to withhold future political donations. Further complicating things: the president’s blue-chip tenants are largely inside 555 California Street and New York City’s 1290 Avenue of the Americas, two buildings in which he holds minority interests alongside publicly traded Vornado Realty Trust, which&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/danalexander/2019/03/07/trumps-secret-windfall-the-crown-jewels-of-his-fortune-are-2-skyscrapers-he-didnt-wantand-doesnt-control/?sh=6febfbb822e5">manages the buildings</a>&nbsp;on a day-to-day basis.



The amount of money flowing through those leases, however, is far greater than the standard political donation. Plus, the funds ultimately go to Trump personally, rather than to a campaign for his political allies. Cutting off the rental payments, in other words, would send a more significant, personal message to Trump.



But that’s not where companies are focused right now. Take Goldman Sachs. “We put a pause on all PAC activity last Thursday and are reviewing our political contributions going forward, in light of the efforts to block the results of the election,” a representative for the financial giant said in a statement. Goldman remains one of the president’s tenants at 555 California Street, paying an estimated $5.8 million of annual rent. Trump’s 30% share amounts to $1.7 million. Questioned about plans for the lease agreement, a spokesman did not have an answer. “I’ll ask,” he said.



It’s a similar story at Microsoft, which decided on Friday that it would freeze political giving through its PAC. “The PAC regularly pauses its donations in the first quarter of a new Congress, but it will take additional steps this year to consider these recent events and consult with employees,” a spokesperson said in a statement. The technology firm also did not answer whether it will be seeking to change its lease inside 555 California, where it pays an estimated $3.2 million a year—$900,000 of which is attributable to the president.



Ditto for JPMorgan Chase, which has space on the ground floor of 1290 Avenue of the Americas. “The terrible events from the last week have prompted us to pause all contributions from our political action committee and to reevaluate our PAC giving strategies,” a bank representative said in a statement. No word, however, on the rent flowing into the president’s property: “Checking on the lease,” the spokesperson said.



Morgan Stanley, which is also&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/11/business/banks-citigroup-goldman-sachs-politicians.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reportedly halting</a>&nbsp;its donations to lawmakers who did not vote to certify the election tally, rents space inside 555 California Street and pays an estimated $10 million annually ($3.1 million of which counts toward Trump’s rent roll). But the firm did not respond to requests for comment about its lease.



Blue Cross Blue Shield’s national organization said it would suspend its donations to legislators who “voted to undermine our democracy,” explaining in a statement, “While a contrast of ideas, ideological differences and partisanship are all part of our politics, weakening our political system and eroding public confidence in it must never be.” The group did not say whether the foundation of one of its companies, Blue Shield of California, would try to change its lease agreement in San Francisco. That space, inside the 555 California Street complex, comes with an estimated $2.1 million price tag per year. Trump’s share of the rent: roughly $600,000.



With additional reporting by Jemima McEvoy and Andrew Solender.



By Dan Alexander, Forbes Staff

President Trump Returns After Border Visit

Big Companies Try To Distance Themselves From Trump—While Still Paying Him Millions In Rent

TOPLINE Vice President-elect Kamala Harris’ February&nbsp;Vogue&nbsp;cover reveal has been overshadowed by reports that the magazine used a different image than the one that was agreed upon by its editorial staff and Harris’ team, along with social media criticism that the cover is unflattering and poorly done.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h4>



<ul><li>Vogue revealed two covers featuring the Vice President-elect Sunday, one described as the cover for the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CJ3moA_A-fZ/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">print issue</a>&nbsp;and another as a special&nbsp;<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CJ3mrTGAbDt/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">digital cover</a>.</li></ul>



<ul><li>However, journalists&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/yashar/status/1348145020843347970?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Yashar Ali</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;Politico’s&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/ccadelago/status/1348292702232866816?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Christopher Cadelago</a>&nbsp;reported the digital cover, featuring Harris in a powder blue suit, was mutually agreed upon to be the primary print cover but was later switched without the knowledge of Harris’ team, an unusual occurrence in the world of fashion magazines.</li></ul>



<ul><li>Instead,&nbsp;Vogue&nbsp;went with a cover photograph showing Harris wearing the trademark&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jemimamcevoy/2020/08/12/everything-you-didnt-know-about-kamala-harris/?sh=294d60fe7658">Converse Chuck Taylor</a>&nbsp;sneakers she donned on the campaign trail, standing in front of a pink and green fabric backdrop, likely a nod to the colors of her college sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha.</li></ul>



<ul><li>Despite the personal touches, the print cover was met with harsh criticism from social media users, who said the image washed out Harris’ skin tone and looked cheap and unfitting for a future vice president, and they slammed the magazine for disrespecting Harris by reportedly not using the agreed-upon image for print.</li></ul>



<ul><li>It comes in the wake of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlieporterfield/2020/12/15/anna-wintour-promoted-to-cond-nast-chief-content-officer-despite-diversity-criticism/?sh=7d2b558e7b41">backlash</a>&nbsp;against longtime&nbsp;Vogue&nbsp;editor Anna Wintour for failing to feature Black creators and foster an inclusive environment.</li></ul>



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">Vice President-elect <a href="https://twitter.com/KamalaHarris?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@KamalaHarris</a> is our February cover star! Making history was the first step. Now Harris has an even more monumental task: to help heal a fractured America—and lead it out of crisis. Read the full profile: <a href="https://t.co/W5BQPTH7AU">https://t.co/W5BQPTH7AU</a> <a href="https://t.co/OCFvVqTlOk">pic.twitter.com/OCFvVqTlOk</a>&mdash; Vogue Magazine (@voguemagazine) <a href="https://twitter.com/voguemagazine/status/1348284503081574403?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 10, 2021</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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<h4 class="wp-block-heading">KEY BACKGROUND</h4>



Wintour&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlieporterfield/2020/12/15/anna-wintour-promoted-to-cond-nast-chief-content-officer-despite-diversity-criticism/?sh=7d2b558e7b41">apologized to&nbsp;Vogue&nbsp;employees</a>&nbsp;in a staff-wide email over the summer in the midst of anti-racism protests for not finding ways to “elevate and give space to Black editors, writers, photographers, designers and other creators.” Shortly after,&nbsp;Vogue’s August 2020 cover was&nbsp;<a href="https://www.vox.com/21330898/vogue-simone-biles-vanity-fair-viola-davis-cover" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">slammed online</a>, with users saying the cover photo of champion gymnast Simone Biles, shot by famed photographer Annie Leibovitz, washed out Bile’s deep skin tone.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">FURTHER READING</h4>



<a href="https://www.vogue.com/article/kamala-harris-cover-february-2021" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris on the Road Ahead</a>&nbsp;(Vogue)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlieporterfield/2020/12/15/anna-wintour-promoted-to-cond-nast-chief-content-officer-despite-diversity-criticism/?sh=7d2b558e7b41">Anna Wintour Promoted To Condé Nast Chief Content Officer Despite Diversity Criticism</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



-By Carlie Porterfield, Forbes Staff

Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris Campaigns For GA Democratic Senate Candidates

Kamala Harris’ ‘Vogue’ Cover Spurs Outrage On Social Media

Although Donald Trump-led arguably the most Africa-adverse American administration in history, analysts warn not to expect too much from his successor, Democrat Joe Biden. A look at the likely impact of his win on the US-Africa economic dynamics.



HISTORICALLY, IT HAS NOT MATTERED MUCH for Africa whether Democrats or Republicans sit in the White House. This is largely because the United States (US) has never really had a coherent and constructive Africa policy. So, although outgoing Republican president Donald Trump led arguably the most Africa-adverse American administration in history, analysts warn not to expect too much from his successor, Democrat Joe Biden.



Biden was vice-president in the Obama administration that preceded Trump. But whereas Trump once called African countries “shitholes”, Biden at least is promising to “reengage with the world”.



“He will be more engaging with countries, including Africa,” believes Jannie Rossouw, interim head of Wits Business School in Johannesburg. “Trump really isolated the US from many regions, from very many continents, it was bad relationship all over the place.”



Judd Devermont, director of the Africa Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington DC, agrees.



“I think Biden is going to focus on rebuilding partnerships and that includes at the multilateral level to the state level, to the subnational level,” he says.



“So I think you will first see a refocus on climate change and strengthening international adoptions, which will be of benefit to Africans. It’s clear that Biden is very supportive of the Continental Free Trade Agreement. That is incredibly important. But he has also talked about the importance of subnational governance and particularly urbanization. And so I think we have the potential to see the next administration work with African countries at these multiple levels to unlock their economies.”



Devermont expects the biggest African economies – Nigeria, South Africa and Kenya in particular – to receive significant attention, while the prospects for Ethiopia also look promising.



But Biden has his work cut out for him. Domestic challenges like tackling the Covid-19 pandemic, an economic recession and reckoning with racism are likely to keep him busy during his first few months in office. When his attention finally shifts to international affairs, climate change and trade wars with China can expect to dominate the agenda.



But instead of disparaging Beijing at every turn, like Trump did, Devermont expects there will be a focus on “transparency around norms, around standards, ensuring that African economies are open to US investors. And the more negative elements of a Chinese engagement will be blunted or curbed through shared partnerships with Africans around how foreign countries should invest in their countries, how to form partnerships in their countries.”&nbsp;&nbsp;



Another expectation is that American legislation allowing sub-Saharan African countries preferential entry into the US market will be extended.



Rossouw believes that “Biden will try to find a call partner in countries in Africa, and that might be beneficial, especially for the bigger economies in Africa, such as South Africa. If Johannesburg was an independent country, it would be the ninth largest economy in Africa. So naturally, the interest will first be in the big economies and then there will be spillover effects to the smaller economies.”



Biden has in the past committed Washington to helping the continent manage the challenges of a burgeoning population. The United Nations’ projection that Africa will be home to a quarter of the world’s population by 2050 led him to suggest an urbanization initiative. This would include partnerships between African and American cities planning for growth in critical sectors like energy access, climate change, transportation and water management.



“Urbanization is the key transformation that the continent will undergo in this century and ensuring that African cities, most of whom sit on the coasts, are open for business will be a huge opportunity for US companies,&#8221; says Devermont. &#8220;I wouldn&#8217;t underestimate how important that initiative, depending on what it develops into, can be for the US-Africa economic relationship.&#8221;



Equally important is that the Biden administration reach out to companies that remain skeptical or ignorant about opportunities in Africa and address some of the risks and myths they have about investing on the continent.



Trump’s mission was to make America great but his administration largely disengaged with one of the world’s fastest-growing regions. Time will tell whether his successor fares any better. 



-By PAULA SLIER AND ALLISON GOSNEY

US dollar on the Africa map background

Will The United States Re-Engage With Africa?

Some of the world’s richest people publicly congratulated Joe Biden’s historic presidential victory over the weekend, even though billionaire Donald Trump hasn’t yet admitted defeat.



One billionaire—hedge fund cowboy Bill Ackman, whose&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/william-ackman/?sh=3e214709298d">net worth</a>&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;estimates at $2 billion—directly advised Trump to concede in a&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/billackman/status/1325225698248839168?s=21" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">tweet</a>. “There comes a time in the battle when one should fold the tent. Instead focus on your accomplishments over the last four years,” Ackman wrote Saturday. “Concede graciously and call for unity from all who have supported you.”



Other billionaires congratulated Biden on his win, including Microsoft cofounder and philanthropist Bill Gates. “I look forward to working with the new administration and leaders on both sides in Congress on getting the surging pandemic under control,” Gates&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/BillGates/status/1325138315964682246?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">tweeted</a>&nbsp;shortly after Biden was projected as the winner by the Associated Press on Saturday.&nbsp;



It’s a notable reaction from the third richest person in the world. As the coronavirus pandemic took hold, Gates, who’s currently worth $118 billion,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.gatesfoundation.org/Media-Center/Press-Releases/2020/04/Gates-Foundation-Expands-Commitment-to-COVID-19-Response-Calls-for-International-Collaboration" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">pledged</a>&nbsp;$300 million from his charitable foundation for vaccine development and other efforts. He’s also criticized the U.S. response to date,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattperez/2020/09/20/bill-gates-us-needs-to-own-up-to-the-fact-that-we-didnt-do-a-good-job/?sh=12a76b653fb8">telling</a>&nbsp;Fox News in September that “we did a very poor job” and need to &#8220;own up to the fact.”



The world’s richest person, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, also chimed in on Instagram. “Unity, empathy, and decency are not characteristics of a bygone era,” the ecommerce executive, who we estimate is&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/jeff-bezos/?sh=451ac1ea1b23">worth</a>&nbsp;$190 billion,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CHTZ-TyHqjN/?igshid=11uu42usw74ba" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">wrote</a>&nbsp;as the caption to a photo of Biden and Harris high-fiving.



A few of Biden’s billionaire donors also cheered his win. Philanthropist Laurene Powell Jobs, whose net worth Forbes estimates at nearly $20 billion, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/michelatindera/2020/10/19/at-least-67-billionaires-made-six-figure-donations-to-committees-supporting-joe-biden-in-last-3-months/?sh=5e3944951bd2">donated</a> $100,000 to his campaign. She celebrated Harris’ historic ascendency as the first woman and first Black American and Asian American person to become vice president in a Saturday tweet, describing the achievement as a “glass ceiling shattered once and for all.”



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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">We celebrate our democracy, our common humanity, and a glass ceiling shattered once and for all. <a href="https://t.co/IhvGLBcALd">pic.twitter.com/IhvGLBcALd</a>&mdash; Laurene Powell Jobs (@laurenepowell) <a href="https://twitter.com/laurenepowell/status/1325124457262850052?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 7, 2020</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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Former venture capitalist-turned-media personality&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/chris-sacca/?sh=37a2ca44220a">Chris Sacca</a>, who with his wife Crystal Sacca donated $420,000 of their estimated $1.1 billion fortune to Biden, also applauded the election’s outcome. “Joe and Kamala bring science, innovation and an understanding of the climate opportunity back to the White House,”&nbsp; Sacca&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/sacca/status/1325226113119891456?s=21" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">tweeted</a>&nbsp;Saturday, saying he gave that statement to a news organization owned by conservative media tycoon (and longtime Trump friend) Rupert Murdoch, but the news organization told Sacca they weren’t going to publish it. “I couldn’t be more bullish” about what Biden’s administration means for investors, he added.&nbsp;



“I want to congratulate @JoeBiden and @KamalaHarris on a historic win,” Illinois governor and billionaire J.B. Pritzker&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/GovPritzker/status/1325113433487003657?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">tweeted</a>, adding that he’s looking forward to working with their administration.&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;previously reported that Pritzker and his wife&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/michelatindera/2020/10/19/at-least-67-billionaires-made-six-figure-donations-to-committees-supporting-joe-biden-in-last-3-months/?sh=5e3944951bd2">donated</a>&nbsp;$1.4 million to Biden’s campaign, and that his&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/jb-pritzker/?sh=b22443b38146">net worth</a>&nbsp;is estimated around $3.5 billion.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Entertainment billionaires Oprah Winfrey and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/maddieberg/2020/09/01/from-poor-as-hell-to-billionaire-how-tyler-perry-changed-show-business-forever/?sh=6a25b7e234b5">Tyler Perry</a>&nbsp;also weighed in. Winfrey, who we&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/oprah-winfrey/?sh=8e46c155745f">estimate</a>&nbsp;is worth $2.6 billion, hailed Biden’s win as a “reset” for the “soul of America.” Perry, who&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;estimates to be&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/tyler-perry/?sh=5707ea8e13dd">worth</a>&nbsp;$1 billion,&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/tylerperry/status/1325165060008783880?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">tweeted</a>&nbsp;Saturday that “change is here,” adding, “I’m sitting here in tears!”



Trump wasn’t the only billionaire running in 2020. Climate change activist Tom Steyer and former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg also ran against Biden for the Democratic nomination. After dropping out, Steyer and his wife&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/michelatindera/2020/10/19/at-least-67-billionaires-made-six-figure-donations-to-committees-supporting-joe-biden-in-last-3-months/?sh=5e3944951bd2">donated</a>&nbsp;$640,000 to Biden from their $1.4 billion&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/thomas-steyer/?sh=396bdad073f5">fortune</a>, while Bloomberg—who spent $1 billion on his own campaign—gave&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/denizcam/2020/10/31/the-top-5-richest-backers-of-joe-biden/?sh=126cecfa6413">$15 million</a>&nbsp;of his nearly&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/michael-bloomberg/?sh=15ef5ad61417">$55 billion</a>&nbsp;fortune to various progressive organizations. Both men&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/TomSteyer/status/1325114359832473600?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">congratulated</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/MikeBloomberg/status/1325118275441881088?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Biden</a>&nbsp;on his win.



Virgin founder Richard Branson, who is British (and who we estimate is <a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/richard-branson/?sh=1a93afbd6ff5">worth</a> $4.6 billion) offered international best wishes to Biden as president-elect. “Now is the time to bring America together as a United States and start the healing,” Branson <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://twitter.com/richardbranson/status/1325163037607694338?s=20" target="_blank">tweeted</a>. “The world will be rooting for that.”



By Lisette Voytko, Forbes Staff

US-ECONOMICS-GATES

Here’s How Bill Gates And Other Billionaires Are Reacting To Biden’s Election Victory

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) broke his <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/08/politics/biden-victory-congressional-republican-reaction/index.html" target="_blank">silence</a> about the election on Monday, declining to acknowledge President Donald Trump’s loss to Joe Biden and defending Trump’s court challenges, though McConnell did not endorse outright Trump’s voter fraud conspiracy theories.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">KEY FACTS</h4>



On the Senate floor, McConnell&nbsp;<a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4922052/senator-mcconnell-president-trump-within-rights-challenge-election-results-court" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said Trump</a>&nbsp;is “100% within his rights” to open legal challenges into allegations of voter fraud, arguing the courts should weigh these accusations and Trump should not be shamed into conceding to Biden in the meantime.



McConnell said states should count all legal ballots and reject illegal ballots, echoing Trump’s baseless claim that last week’s election was riddled with illegal voting, and he said the process should be observable by all sides, possible alluding to a false claim circulating among Trump and his allies that pollwatchers were&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/tommybeer/2020/11/06/trump-and-allies-keep-claiming-republican-poll-watchers-were-banned-thats-a-lie/?sh=2fb971f244da">banned in some states</a>.



Unlike Trump and some of his allies like Rep.&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1325658048585752581" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Matt Gaetz</a>&nbsp;(R-Fla.), McConnell did not repeat any specific fraud allegations or falsely imply Trump was the rightful winner, possibly leaving an exit for himself if the president’s legal challenges are unsuccessful.



He scolded media outlets for projecting a Biden victory and said no state has officially certified its results yet, though in most recent presidential races, news outlets have traditionally called a winner and both candidates have&nbsp;<a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/4024228/what-time-do-the-losing-candidates-usually-concede-the-long-and-short-of-election-night" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">accepted the outcome</a>&nbsp;well before the weeks-long election certification process wraps up.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">CRUCIAL QUOTE</h4>



“President Trump is 100% within his rights to look into allegations of irregularities and weigh his legal options,” McConnell said&nbsp;<a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4922052/senator-mcconnell-president-trump-within-rights-challenge-election-results-court" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Monday</a>. “If any major irregularities occurred this time of a magnitude that would affect the outcome, then every single American should want them to be brought to light.”



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">TANGENT</h4>



McConnell accused Democrats of hypocrisy for demanding a concession from Trump. He pointed to the fact that Al Gore did not concede to George W. Bush until Dec. 13, 2000 — though&nbsp;<a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2017/12/13/gore-concedes-presidential-election-to-bush-dec-13-2000-287285" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">that concession was stalled</a>&nbsp;due to a recount process that sparked a Supreme Court challenge — and he suggested Democrats never accepted the results of the 2016 election. In reality, 2016 challenger Hillary Clinton&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2016/11/09/politics/hillary-clinton-concession-speech/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">delivered a concession speech</a>&nbsp;the morning after Election Day, though she still maintained later on that&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/06/nyregion/hillary-clinton-russia-hacking-election-trump.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Russian interference</a>&nbsp;was partly to blame for her loss.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">KEY BACKGROUND</h4>



Trump has not conceded to Biden yet, instead lodging baseless allegations of voter fraud and inaccurately suggesting he would have won if not for a unified Democratic effort to rig the race. His campaign has launched legal challenges in multiple states alleging voter fraud and violations of poll-watchers’ right to observe the counting process, but several of these lawsuits were swiftly rejected last week due to a lack of evidence, and most experts believe these legal efforts are&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/election-2020-what-are-the-trump-legal-claims-11604876612" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">unlikely to alter</a>&nbsp;the results of the election. Some close Trump allies like his wife Melania and son-in-law Jared Kushner have privately encouraged the president to concede,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/08/politics/jared-kushner-donald-trump-concession/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CNN reported</a>, though the White House&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2020/11/08/us/election-results/a-white-house-official-disputed-reports-that-kushner-had-advised-trump-to-concede" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">denied this claim</a>.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">BIG NUMBER</h4>



That’s the number of Republican Senators who have congratulated Biden. Moderate Sens. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Ben Sasse (R-Nev.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) have all acknowledged Biden’s win, though more doctrinaire congressional Republicans have sided with Trump and refused to accept the election’s results.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">FURTHER READING</h4>



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewsolender/2020/11/09/these-are-the-republicans-who-have-acknowledged-bidens-victory/?sh=63cbf5bacedc">These Are The Republicans Who Have Acknowledged Biden’s Victory (Forbes)</a>



-By Joe Walsh, Forbes Staff

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) Holds Media Opportunity With Newly-Elected GOP Senators

McConnell: Trump Has ‘Every Right’ To Challenge Election Loss

There’s a vignette that Senator Kamala Harris likes to tell about her mother, Shyamala Gopalan Harris. It’s a well-trodden soundbite that has proliferated into hashtags and official 2020 campaign merchandise, but the commercialization shouldn’t detract from its meaning: An immigrant from India who came to the United States with dreams of curing cancer, Shyamala raised Harris and her sister Maya to be strong Black women who are mindful of what their identities mean in American work and life. “My mother would look at me,” Harris has said, “and she’d say, ‘Kamala you may be the first to do many things, but make sure you are not the last.’”



Shyamala was right: Her daughter has been “the first” a number of times. In 2010, Harris became the first African-American and first woman to serve as California’s attorney general. In 2016, she became the first Indian-American woman to be elected to the United States Senate. In August of 2020, she became the first Black woman and first Asian-American woman to appear on the presidential ticket of a major political party.



On Saturday, November 7, the Associated Press projected that former vice president Joe Biden and his running mate, Senator Kamala Harris, won the state of Pennsylvania and have earned more than 270 electoral votes in the 2020 presidential election. Senator Harris can therefore add more firsts to her list:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jemimamcevoy/2020/11/07/kamala-harris-makes-history-as-first-female-black-asian-american-vice-president/">she is officially the first female vice president-elect&nbsp;</a>in United States history and the first person of color to earn the distinction as well.



In her first public statement after the race was called—<a href="https://twitter.com/KamalaHarris/status/1325119592130252801" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">a tweet</a>—Harris didn’t mention these firsts. “This election is about so much more than&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/JoeBiden" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">@JoeBiden</a>&nbsp;or me,” she said. “It’s about the soul of America and our willingness to fight for it. We have a lot of work ahead of us. Let’s get started.”



Harris’s presence in the 2020 race—both for as a candidate for president in the early days of the Democratic primary, and for vice president in the general election race—has been a potent reminder of what has been lacking in our nation’s highest office for more than two centuries.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">“It&#8217;s a kind of beautiful, full-circle moment for the story of America because I think women, and more specifically Black women, have done so much work—and are sort of the backbone of this country—without the acknowledgment of the work that we&#8217;ve done,” says Alia Daniels, co-founder of the global queer digital media network Revry. “And so I think being able to see someone who looks like me, in one of those positions, it&#8217;s just a level of pride that I don&#8217;t even know if I can fully express.”</blockquote>



Daniels notes that because we’ve seen women attain powerful positions in the private sector over the past few decades—consider former Pepsico CEO Indra Nooyi, or General Motors chief Mary Barra, to name a few boundary-breaking corporate leaders—it can be all too easy to take female leadership for granted. “But this is the highest position in our country that a woman has held,” she says. “There&#8217;s something to actually seeing it.”



The American public has already witnessed Harris asserting her expertise and authority on the national stage: her use of “I’m speaking” during the vice presidential debate last month was a master class in dealing with a male interrupter, and her questioning of then-U.S. attorney general Jeff Sessions and now-Justice Brett Kavanaugh in Senate hearings in 2017 and 2018 were similar showcases of feminine confidence and capability. But her impending presence in the executive branch of government has the potential to be as instructive as inspirational.



“No one can deny the power of seeing somebody who shares an identity, like your gender or your race, which are so salient in American society, certainly, in a position of power,” says Colleen Ammerman, director of the Gender Initiative at Harvard Business School. Ammerman points to research that has shown how female role models and mentors, as well as mere exposure to portraits of female leaders, can help encourage women to speak up, stand up and perhaps achieve more. “The images of leadership and power that we see are overwhelmingly white and male. Sometimes we don&#8217;t even quite notice that until we see something different,” she says.



Henah Parikh, development and communications manager at She’s the First, a nonpartisan nonprofit devoted to fighting gender inequality through education, puts it this way: “You can’t be what you can’t see.” She points to research that shows that, without female role models, girls stop believing they can be anything they want to be as early as 5 years old. Women like Harris help combat that.



“We talk a lot about these women trailblazers, like Kamala Harris who are the historic first, but they&#8217;re also paving the way for pulling other girls and women up with them,” Parikh says. “And that&#8217;s what&#8217;s so important to me and to a lot of women, but especially for me as a South Asian woman.”



Senator Harris’s election to the vice presidency comes at a moment when a pandemic has killed more than 200,000 Americans and forced thousands more out of work. Women have been disproportionately affected: According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 865,000 women dropped out of the labor force in September, compared to 216,000 men. The childcare and remote learning demands on mothers working from home stand to erase <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/diversity-and-inclusion/women-in-the-workplace#" target="_blank">close to a decade</a> of gains for women in the workplace unless spouses, employers and the government work to find solutions and provide support.



Harris alone cannot fix this. But for Aimee Koval, cofounder and president of Metis Consulting, a B-corp and certified disability-owned enterprise that provides technology and management consulting, Harris’s experience as a daughter, aunt and stepmother makes her more qualified than previous White House occupants to understand the unique challenges facing women.



“For me the big impact of choosing a woman in the White House is that that comes with a perspective that I think that we haven&#8217;t seen enough of, or enough understanding at a federal level from lawmakers who have not taken those concerns into account have not addressed issues such as childcare and the funding of schools,” Koval says.



Koval notes that fairly or unfairly, all eyes will be on Harris when it comes to these issues; this level of scrutiny and pressure is one of the well-documented downsides of being a “first” or “only” within an organization. In the federal government, where Democrats have held onto their majority in the House but control of the Senate is still unclear, women like Cori Bush—the first Black woman&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/elanagross/2020/11/04/the-firsts-of-the-us-2020-election/?sh=3309ce521c89">elected to Congress</a>&nbsp;by Missouri—and the newly-reelected members of “The Squad” (Congresswomen Ayanna Pressley, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib) can use their personal experiences and political sway to advocate for these policies, too. But the rates of women in government, even with&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/erinspencer1/2020/11/05/record-number-of-women-to-serve-in-the-117th-us-congress/">a record 131 women</a>&nbsp;so far elected to the 117th Congress, still lag that of the general public. The work is not over.



“I strongly believe that progress isn’t inevitable,” Harvard’s Ammerman says. “And I think it&#8217;s dangerous to sort of think, okay, we&#8217;ve broken one barrier and so we&#8217;ll just automatically keep going.”



Jackie Adams, coauthor of “A Blessing” and the first African-American female correspondent formally assigned to cover the Reagan and H.W. Bush White Houses for CBS News, has watched women vie for positions of power since Geraldine Ferraro was the first female vice presidential candidate on a major party ticket in 1984. Looking at the developments from the 2018 and 2020 election cycles, she finds reasons to be optimistic about female leadership beyond Harris’s fresh status as vice-president elect. “There are more women of color running for office than ever before,” she said. “I think that there is a flywheel that&#8217;s spinning and it might be pushed further ahead a little bit faster, [as] Senator Harris becomes vice president, but even if she doesn&#8217;t, it&#8217;s not gonna be stopped.”



The inspiration that Harris has already instilled in young girls is evident in the tweets and photos depicting Halloween costumes (<a href="https://twitter.com/meenaharris/status/1322297281333272576" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Converse and all)</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/ErinnFHarley/status/1313473405514125313?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1313473405514125313" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">driveway stump speeches</a>. But the significance of her election is not limited to the Gen-Z set.



“Senator Harris actually shares a birthday with my mom,” She’s the First’s Parikh says, going on to explain that both her mom and Shyamala Gopalan Harris come from South India, and both came to American with a lot to learn. Parikh describes hearing Harris talk so fondly about Shyamala and then texting her own mother.



“I said, ‘I just hope that you feel like you have seen some growth in this country, just by seeing this on television.’ Millions of Indian people around the country can relate,” she says. “It is something we&#8217;ve never ever experienced before.”



&#8211;By Maggie McGrath, Forbes Staff

kamala harris

Kamala Harris Makes History: What The First Female Vice President-Elect Means For Women

Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. is projected to be the next president of the United States based on&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/AP_Politics/status/1325112441928359939?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">election analysis</a>&nbsp;by the Associated Press, defeating incumbent President Donald Trump in what proved to be one of the most brutal campaigns in modern history, throughout which Biden vowed to heal the nation’s deep divisions and respond forcefully and responsibly to Covid-19 pandemic.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">KEY FACTS</h4>



•&nbsp;The Associated Press called the crucial battleground state of Pennsylvania for Biden on Saturday after late-counted absentee ballots gave him a come-from-behind victory, also calling Nevada for him shortly after.



•&nbsp;Biden’s path to 270 electoral votes was paved through Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan, which Trump won after decades of Democratic dominance, leaving some Democrats to question whether their path to the presidency in future elections would still run through the Midwest.



•&nbsp;But if Biden proved Democrats could win traditional Democratic states, he also blazed the beginnings of a new trail for Democrats by putting Arizona in the blue column for the first time since 1996, and he’s on track to be the first Democrat to win Georgia since 1992.



•&nbsp;The result caps off an election defined by its ugliness, with Trump launching attacks on Biden’s physical and<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewsolender/2020/08/26/trumps-latest-trolling-of-bidens-mental-state-calling-for-drug-tests-before-debates/">&nbsp;mental health</a>,<a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-election-trump/trump-calls-biden-stupid-demands-apology-for-challenging-him-on-vaccines-idUSKBN25Z0E6" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">&nbsp;intelligence</a>,<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewsolender/2020/08/28/destroyer-of-american-greatness-trump-savages-biden-as-he-accepts-gop-nomination/">&nbsp;record</a>&nbsp;and even his<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewsolender/2020/10/16/lock-up-the-bidens-trump-picks-target-for-final-stretch--his-opponents-family/">&nbsp;family</a>&nbsp;while calling for him to be<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/lisettevoytko/2019/09/25/trump-urged-ukraine-to-investigate-joe-biden-in-phone-call-transcript/">&nbsp;investigated</a>, prosecuted and<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/tommybeer/2020/10/17/trump-calls-the-bidens-an-organized-crime-family-but-here-are-his-run-ins-with-the-law/">&nbsp;imprisoned</a>&nbsp;by the federal government.



•&nbsp;Biden for his part rode a wave of anti-Trump sentiment by excoriating Trump’s record as president, most notably by&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewsolender/2020/10/23/biden-hits-trump-on-covid-if-this-is-a-success-what-does-a-failure-look-like/">seizing on</a>&nbsp;the&nbsp;<a href="https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#cases_casesinlast7days" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">232,000 U.S. deaths</a>&nbsp;from coronavirus and alleging Trump had failed to adequately respond to the pandemic.



•&nbsp;But even as he clashed with Trump, Biden pledges to voters that in the aftermath of the campaign he would seek to heal partisan wounds and govern not as a Democrat, but as “a president for all Americans,” even those who disagreed with him.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">KEY BACKGROUND</h4>



Born in Pennsylvania in 1942 and raised in Delaware, Biden attended the University of Delaware and Syracuse University Law School, briefly practicing law before entering local Delaware politics as a New Castle County Councilman. Biden was elected to the U.S. senate from Delaware in 1972, defeating a three-term Republican incumbent at age 29 to become the youngest senator in the country – so obscure on the national stage that NBC News anchor Garrick Utley mistakenly called him “<a href="https://twitter.com/AndrewSolender/status/1320076660893536260?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">James Biden</a>.” Biden served for 36 years in the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.congress.gov/member/joseph-biden/B000444" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Senate</a>, including stints as the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations and Judiciary Committees, and ran for president in 1988 and 2008 before serving as President Barack Obama’s vice president from 2009 to 2017. In addition to his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, Biden has two children, Hunter and Ashley, and seven grandchildren.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">TANGENT</h4>



Biden won<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewsolender/2020/11/03/biden-racks-up-more-republican-support-in-final-days--the-complete-list-of-his-gop-backers/">&nbsp;endorsements from hundreds of prominent Republicans</a>&nbsp;and former GOP officials, such as former Ohio Gov. John Kasich, the family of the late Arizona Sen. John McCain, GOP mega-donor Meg Whitman and former GOP presidential candidate Carly Fiorina. Even a handful of Trump officials endorsed Biden, including former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci and former Department of Homeland Security Chief of Staff<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewsolender/2020/10/29/trump-warns-bad-things-will-happen-to-treasonous-ex-official-miles-taylor/">&nbsp;Miles Taylor</a>.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">CRUCIAL QUOTE</h4>



“It&#8217;s been a long and difficult campaign, but it’s been a more difficult time for our country, Biden said in a&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1324165787515461634?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">speech</a>&nbsp;on Wednesday, before the race was called for him, calling to “put the harsh rhetoric of the campaign behind us” and “respect and care for one another, to unite, to heal, to come together,” a common theme of his campaign. “I know this won’t be easy. I’m not naive. Neither of us are. I know how deep and hard the opposing views are in our country on so many things. But I also know this as well. To make progress, we have to stop treating our opponents as enemies. We are not enemies. What brings us together as Americans is so much stronger than anything that can tear us apart.”



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">CHIEF CRITIC</h4>



“I WON THIS ELECTION, BY A LOT!” Trump&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewsolender/2020/11/07/trump-falsely-claims-he-won-by-a-lot-after-telling-biden-not-to-wrongfully-declare-victory/">tweeted</a>&nbsp;an hour before the election was called for Biden. Shortly afterwards, his campaign put out a&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/AndrewSolender/status/1325118083082702850?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">statement</a>&nbsp;claiming &#8220;the simple fact is this election is far from over&#8221; and vowing legal action.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">SURPRISING FACT</h4>



Trump is the first president to lose reelection since 1992, when Republican President George H.W. Bush lost to Democrat Bill Clinton. At 77 years old, Biden will be the oldest president in American history. Biden’s running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), will be the first woman, the first Black American and the first Asian American to serve as vice president.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">BIG NUMBER</h4>



306. That’s the number of electoral votes Biden is on track to win if he maintains his lead in Nevada and Georgia. Trump won the same exact number of electoral votes in 2016, which he described as a “<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewsolender/2020/11/06/biden-on-track-for-what-trump-once-called-massive-landslide-electoral-college-victory/">massive landslide victory</a>.”



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">WHAT TO WATCH FOR</h4>



An uncalled Senate race in North Carolina and two runoffs in Georgia set for Jan. 5 will determine whether Biden comes into office with a Democratic majority in both chambers of Congress. Given the sheer scale of his&nbsp;<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://joebiden.com/joes-vision/" target="_blank">proposals</a>&nbsp;–&nbsp;including a&nbsp;<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://joebiden.com/climate-plan/" target="_blank">$2 trillion climate plan</a>, a&nbsp;<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://joebiden.com/healthcare/" target="_blank">public health care option</a>&nbsp;and a&nbsp;<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://joebiden.com/the-biden-emergency-action-plan-to-save-the-economy/" target="_blank">second coronavirus stimulus package</a>&nbsp;–&nbsp;Democratic control of Congress would be critical for Biden to enact some of his key priorities and to get his desired cabinet secretaries and appointees confirmed, as well as to fill judicial vacancies.



-By Andrew Solender,Forbes Staff

Democratic Presidential Nominee Joe Biden Addresses The Nation As Election Count Continues In Few Key States

Joe Biden Wins Presidency After Recapturing Rust Belt States

As vice president-elect, Kamala Harris&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/maggiemcgrath/2020/11/07/kamala-harris-makes-history-what-the-first-female-vice-president-elect-means-for-women/?sh=54e951f26455">makes history</a>&nbsp;in a number of ways: She is the first woman and Asian-American to be part of a winning presidential ticket, and will be the first Black American to become vice president.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">KEY FACTS</h3>



•&nbsp;Biden and Harris secured the presidency on Saturday after an arduous four-day ballot-counting marathon against Republican incumbent Donald Trump.



•&nbsp;This makes Harris, the daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants, both of whom were civil rights activists, the first Black American, Asian American and woman of color to serve as the country’s second-in-command.



•&nbsp;Harris’ victory follows three unsuccessful campaigns from female nominees for the nation’s highest office: Hillary Clinton for president in 2016, Sarah Palin for vice president in 2008 and Geraldine Ferraro for vice president in 1984.



•&nbsp;Harris will also be the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewsolender/2020/08/12/here-are-the-firsts-kamala-harris-represents-with-vp-candidacy/?sh=6dc140b83128">first</a>&nbsp;graduate of a historically Black college or university—Howard University in Washington D.C.—to assume the position, making her and Biden the first leadership team without an ivy league degree.



•&nbsp;Harris served as California’s junior senator for four years, during which time she’s sat on the high-profile judiciary and intelligence committees.



•&nbsp;Before she was elected to the senate in 2016, Harris, a career prosecutor, served as San Francisco’s attorney general from 2004 to 2011, and then moved on to become California’s attorney general for six years starting in 2011.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">CRUCIAL QUOTE</h3>



“That I am here tonight is a testament to the dedication of generations before me,” said Harris when accepting the nomination at the Democratic National Convention. “They organized, marched, and fought—not just for their vote, but for a seat at the table.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



Biden’s selection of Harris as his running mate earlier this year drew broad praise, though some on the right criticized her for being too liberal, while some on the left criticized her as being not liberal enough. In particular, Harris’s record as a prosecutor became a source of intense public scrutiny during her own run for president this year, with critics accusing it of contradicting her role as a leading voice against police misconduct. During her first term as California’s attorney general, Harris was <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/09/us/politics/kamala-harris-policing.html" target="_blank">largely adverse</a> to prosecuting police killings, but shifted course slightly in her second term—expanding her office’s involvement in reviewing police misconduct and pushing for modest reform. Over the summer, Harris led calls and sponsored legislation for sweeping changes in policing following the deaths of numerous Black men and women in police custody.



-By Jemima McEvoy, Forbes Staff

Kamala Harris Campaigns In Pennsylvania On Eve Of Election Day

Kamala Harris Makes History As First Female, Black, Asian American Vice President

Hip hop heavyweight and unlikely presidential candidate <a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/kanye-west/#99f4e0256f16">Kanye West</a> has released a religion-steeped campaign ad that calls for voters to write his name in on their ballots and urges Americans to “revive our nation’s commitment to faith,” as West says in the spot.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">KEY FACTS</h4>



With less than a month to go until Election Day, West dropped a new nearly one-minute-and-30-second advertisement that heavily featured the themes of prayer and religion.



“We as a people will revive our nation’s commitment to faith, to what our constitution calls the free exercise of religion, including, of course, prayer,” West says in the ad. “Through prayer, faith can be restored.”



West, a devout Christian, has been open about his beliefs throughout his relatively short run for president—he even reportedly asked political to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlieporterfield/2020/09/16/kanye-west-reportedly-asked-campaign-staffers-to-refrain-from-fornicating-outside-marriage/#35d914334736">refrain from extramarital sex</a>&nbsp;while working on his campaign.



“By turning to faith, we will be the kind of nation, the kind of people, God intends us to be,” West said in the ad.



At the end of the ad, the written message to “<a href="https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/1315766834046541825?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">write in Kanye West</a>” appears to be a concession to the fact that it is mathematically impossible for him to win the election because of his campaign’s late start in July, which has allowed him to qualify for&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/elanagross/2020/09/08/kanye-west-now-on-ballot-in-12-states-after-qualifying-in-mississippi/#72023207712c">the ballot</a>&nbsp;in just a handful of states.



During an August interview with Forbes, when the fact was raised that it was virtually impossible for him to win, West replied, “I’m not going to argue with you. <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/randalllane/2020/08/06/exclusive-kanye-west-indicates-that-his-spoiler-campaign-is-indeed-designed-to-hurt-biden/#52b7744c6397">Jesus is King</a>.”



<figure class="wp-block-embed-twitter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true"><a href="https://t.co/ZURvTEW9ee">https://t.co/ZURvTEW9ee</a> we stepping out on faith <a href="https://t.co/ypQfooB35w">pic.twitter.com/ypQfooB35w</a>&mdash; ye (@kanyewest) <a href="https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/1315766834046541825?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 12, 2020</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">CRUCIAL QUOTE</h4>



“We as a people are called to a greater purpose than ourselves. We are not only a beacon to the world, but we should be servants to each other,” West said in the ad. “To encourage each other, to help each other, to lift up each other. Our fellow Americans, that we may all prosper together. We have to act on faith.”



<figure class="wp-block-embed-twitter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">Friends writing me in 🕊 <a href="https://t.co/bC4NvFBWB5">pic.twitter.com/bC4NvFBWB5</a>&mdash; ye (@kanyewest) <a href="https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/1314407219434196993?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 9, 2020</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">KEY BACKGROUND</h4>



Forbes estimates West is worth <a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/kanye-west/#99f4e0256f16">$1.3 billion</a>, thanks largely to his profitable Yeezy brand deal with sportswear giant Adidas and his separate Yeezy clothing line.



-By Carlie Porterfield, Forbes Staff

US-PEOPLE-politics-RACE-TRUMP-KANYE

Kanye West Angles For Write-In Presidential Votes With Campaign Ad Calling For Religious Revival

Former Vice President Joe Biden announced Tuesday that he is tapping his former Democratic primary opponent Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) as his vice presidential nominee, ending months of speculation surrounding the first ever female-exclusive VP selection process.



KEY FACTS



“I have the great honor to announce that I’ve picked Kamala Harris — a fearless fighter for the little guy, and one of the country’s finest public servants — as my running mate,” Biden&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/JoeBiden/status/1293280411150217219?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">tweeted</a>.



A former career prosecutor, Harris served as San Francisco district attorney from 2004 to 2011 and California attorney general from 2011 to 2017, before being elected to the U.S. Senate in 2016.



Harris quickly drew&nbsp;<a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2017/06/09/kamala-harris-2020-239318" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">headlines</a>&nbsp;for her tough lines of questioning towards Trump administration nominees and officials, such as her 2017&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mK_HmEFxCpI" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">grilling</a>&nbsp;of then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions for his frequent claims that he couldn’t recall details of his discussions with Russian ambassador Sergei Kislyak.



Harris&nbsp;<a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2019/01/21/kamala-harris-2020-campaign-1116076" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">launched</a>&nbsp;her campaign in January and was&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/15/politics/kamala-harris-democratic-frontrunner/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">instantly cast</a>&nbsp;as a leading contender for the nomination, but failed to garner broad, lasting support for her bid–including among&nbsp;<a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2019/12/04/kamala-harris-black-voters-2020-075651" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">black voters</a>–particularly sustaining damage for&nbsp;<a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2019/08/22/kamala-harris-health-care-1471421" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">stumbling</a>&nbsp;over her position on Medicare-for-All.



Harris’s most notable moment and largest polling bump of the campaign came when she&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/27/harris-attacks-bidens-record-on-busing-and-working-with-segregationists.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">clashed</a>&nbsp;with Biden at a Democratic primary debate over his record on busing in the 1970s and his “hurtful”&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/19/democrats-slam-biden-over-comments-on-segregationist-senator.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">anecdotes</a>&nbsp;about rosy relationships with segregationist senators, with Harris accusing him of opposing busing and Biden calling it a “mischaracterization” of his positions and hitting Harris’s record as a prosecutor.



But after&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnbbrandon/2019/12/03/kamala-harris-drops-out-of-presidential-race-on-twitter-meanwhile-tulsi-gabbard-does-yoga/">dropping out</a>&nbsp;in December and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sa4htbPxva0" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">endorsing</a>&nbsp;Biden in March, Harris’s public relationship with Biden rapidly improved, with Harris frequently and effusively headlining fundraising events for Biden and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/07/27/kamala-harris-biden-vp-381829" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">brushing off</a>&nbsp;concerns about their clash over busing.



“Back when Kamala was Attorney General, she worked closely with Beau. I watched as they took on the big banks, lifted up working people, and protected women and kids from abuse,” Biden&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/JoeBiden/status/1293280412144267264?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said</a>&nbsp;of Harris, adding, “I was proud then, and I&#8217;m proud now to have her as my partner in this campaign.”



Harris&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/KamalaHarris/status/1293290197103390721?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">praised</a>&nbsp;Biden as someone who can “unify the American people because he&#8217;s spent his life fighting for us,” adding, “I&#8217;m honored to join him as our party&#8217;s nominee for Vice President, and do what it takes to make him our Commander-in-Chief.”



The Trump campaign released an&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/AndrewSolender/status/1293286684898078722?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ad</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/AndrewSolender/status/1293286329267216384?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">statement</a>&nbsp;claiming Harris “ran for president by rushing to the radical left” and slammed her for joining Biden’s ticket after attacking him during the primary, labelling her “Phony Kamala.”



Some on the left took aim at Biden’s pick as well; Briahna Joy Gray, a former press secretary for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)’s 2020 presidential campaign,&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/briebriejoy/status/1293286212699136006?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">slammed</a>&nbsp;the Democratic party for running a “a ‘top cop’ and the author of the Joe Biden crime bill to save us from Trump” amid protests against police violence, asserting that it shows “contempt for the base.”



But progressive politicians, including those who ran against Harris for president and vice president, lauded the pick; Sanders&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/BernieSanders/status/1293290750982139905?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">tweeted</a>&nbsp;that Harris “understands what it takes to stand up for working people,” and Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.)&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/KarenBassTweets/status/1293281471378214912?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">called</a>&nbsp;Harris a “great choice” because of her “tenacious pursuit of justice and relentless advocacy for the people.”



More establishment Democratic politicians were likewise highly supportive of the pick, with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/TeamPelosi/status/1293282982564958208?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">saying</a>&nbsp;that Harris will “continue her legacy of trailblazing leadership to move our nation forward,” as vice president, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/chuckschumer/status/1293284297332469762?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">tweeting</a>&nbsp;that Harris has been “an outstanding Senator and will be an outstanding Vice President!”



Former President Barack Obama&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/BarackObama/status/1293295296819220481?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">tweeted</a>, “I’ve known Senator Kamala Harris for a long time. She is more than prepared for the job. She’s spent her career defending our Constitution and fighting for folks who need a fair shake. This is a good day for our country. Now let’s go win this thing.”



Harris and Biden are&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/AndrewSolender/status/1293283786604589057?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">slated</a>&nbsp;to deliver joint remarks on Wednesday in Wilmington, DE, focused on “working together to restore the soul of the nation and fight for working families to move the country forward.”



CRUCIAL QUOTE



“You can’t be successful at the highest levels of national politics for 40 years like he has without the rapid ability to turn yesterday’s rivals into today’s allies,” Harris’s former press secretary Ian Sams&nbsp;<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/kamala-harris-once-went-after-joe-biden-but-now-theres-only-bonhomie-as-the-vice-presidential-tryouts-continue/2020/06/26/9b525566-b6f9-11ea-a8da-693df3d7674a_story.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said</a>&nbsp;of Biden in June.



KEY BACKGROUND



Biden&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/lisettevoytko/2020/03/15/joe-biden-just-committed-to-picking-a-woman-as-his-vice-president/">pledged</a>&nbsp;to pick a woman in March, and his&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewsolender/2020/06/18/heres-who-joe-biden-is-considering-for-vp/">rumored shortlist</a>&nbsp;included governors, members of congress and even mayors and state legislators. He also&nbsp;<a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/06/12/875000650/pressure-grows-on-joe-biden-to-pick-a-black-woman-as-his-running-mate" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">faced pressure</a>&nbsp;to pick a woman of color like Harris, especially in the aftermath of the George Floyd protests, which ignited a national debate over race and policing. But Biden frequently said his top criteria for a running mate were that they were “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/biden-under-pressure-to-shatter-cement-ceiling-by-naming-a-black-woman-to-be-his-running-mate/2020/07/19/7dfb9dcc-c06f-11ea-9fdd-b7ac6b051dc8_story.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">simpatico with me</a>, both in terms of personality as well as substance,” and had the ability to govern if Biden, 78, were unable to perform the duties of president.



TANGENT



Kamala Harris and her husband, attorney Doug Emhoff, had a fortune of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/michelatindera/2019/08/23/heres-how-much-2020-presidential-candidate-kamala-harris-is-worth/#4e25d2293aa6">$6 million</a>&nbsp;as of August, 2019, according to&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;reporter Michela Tindera. The bulk of the money comes from Emhoff’s legal work and profits from several books authored by Harris.



CHIEF CRITIC



Despite&nbsp;<a href="https://www.politico.com/2020-election/candidates-views-on-the-issues/kamala-harris/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">advocating</a>&nbsp;firmly progressive positions during her presidential campaign like universal government health care, a $15 minimum wage, legalizing marijuana and debt-free college, the left took aim at Harris most sharply for her tenure as California attorney general. She was&nbsp;<a href="https://theintercept.com/2019/01/31/kamala-harris-and-the-myth-of-a-progressive-cop/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">slammed</a>&nbsp;by left-wing activists for contemporaneously&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article243906742.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">calling herself&nbsp;</a>the state’s “top cop,” with “Kamala is a cop”&nbsp;<a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/12/kamala-was-a-cop-black-people-knew-it-first/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">becoming</a>&nbsp;a viral meme that would come to broadly define the leftist opposition to her candidacy.



BIG NUMBER



32%.&nbsp;A&nbsp;<a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/07/15/joe-biden-vice-president-pick-poll-362900" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Politico/Morning Consult poll</a>&nbsp;of 1,992 registered voters pegged Harris at 32% favorability and 34% unfavorability. While she is well known with voters, she lacks universal name recognition, with 1 in 5 voters saying they have never heard of her and another 14% saying they have no opinion. But in the end, Harris may not have an outsized impact on the outcome in November; 54% of registered voters said Biden’s VP pick wouldn’t impact how they vote in November, while 16% said it would have a major impact and 20% said it would have a minor impact.&nbsp;



SURPRISING FACT



Harris is the first woman of color to run for either president or vice president on a major party ticket. Her election as vice president would make her the first Black American to serve in the role and the first woman or Indian-American to serve as either president or vice president.



WHAT TO WATCH FOR



The Trump campaign will doubtless use Harris’s confrontation with Biden over busing against the Democratic ticket, but Harris brings with her numerous advantages as well. Her experience as a large state attorney general and U.S. senator make it difficult to argue against her qualifications for the job, and having run for president before, she rejoins the campaign trail intimately familiar with the scrutiny and spotlight of the national political stage. In that respect, Harris may be what many have described as the “<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2020/05/04/why_kamala_harris_is_the_do_no_harm_choice_for_vp_143103.html" target="_blank">do no harm</a>” candidate, providing modest benefits to Biden with limited risk.



-Andrew Solender, Forbes Staff

Tag: Kamala Harris

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