Vice President Joe Biden Sets Up Transition Website as Victory nears

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden on Wednesday launched a transition website in a show of confidence as he nears the 270 electoral votes needed to defeat President Donald Trump.

Titled Build Back Better, the website features only a homepage topped with an image of the former vice president while a post on the page says they are preparing for the transition. “The American people will determine who will serve as the next President of the United States. Votes are still being counted in several states around the country,” it reads.

“The crises facing the country are severe — from a pandemic to an economic recession, climate change to racial injustice — and the transition team will continue preparing at full speed so that the Biden‑Harris Administration can hit the ground running on Day One.” No other information has been added to the site as of yet.

Biden has not quite clinched victory as ballot-counting continues in remaining swing states but won the battlegrounds Michigan and Wisconsin on Wednesday night. Victories in the Rust Belt states left him at 264, meaning he is now one state away from crossing the threshold and becoming president-elect.

Trump’s lead in remaining key states Pennsylvania, Georgia, and North Carolina is also diminishing as more ballots are processed, while Biden maintains his lead in Nevada by about 8,000 votes as of the time of writing.

“It is clear that we’re winning enough states to reach 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency. I’m not here to declare that we’ve won. But I am here to report that when the count is finished, we believe we will be the winners,” Biden said in a press conference with his running mate Senator Kamala Harris standing by.

Facing a narrowing pathway to reelection, Trump has refused to concede defeat. The president again declared himself the likely winner in an early-morning speech Thursday, as the counting of absentee ballots tilted results toward Biden in swing states. His campaign has filed lawsuits to stop vote counting in Michigan and Pennsylvania while demanding a recount in Wisconsin.

After setting the record for most votes ever cast for a United States presidential candidate, with more than 72 million votes, a Biden victory will see more records broken. Firstly, the former VP would become the oldest president to take office when he’s sworn in on January 20, as he turns 78 later this month, while running mate Harris will be the second non-white vice president and the first of African and Indian descent.