Biden Is Projected To Be The President-Elect. Here’s How It All Went Down.

The main thing I’m struck by in the speeches tonight is something fairly simple and obvious — the change in tone. Harris and Biden both gave standard-order political speeches. But it’s a pretty stark reminder of what this election meant for many voters, and how things will change under a Biden presidency. To state the obvious, even if the divisions and polarization remain, politics is going to feel very different come January.

A big takeaway from this speech for me was the emphasis on Harris as a part of the ticket and the new administration. This reflects the growing power of the vice presidency, a trend that’s been building since the 1970s, and also Biden’s awareness, I think, that he doesn’t totally reflect the demographics of his party in ways that have become more important in recent years.

The 2008 and 2016 acceptance speeches felt like the potential beginnings of new eras in American politics. But this feels much more like the end of a tumultuous era than a beginning. Even 1992, the last defeat of an incumbent president, felt like a potential era of change because of a new generation of leadership. But this is much more of a return to the old style, and it’s even being sold that way.