MINNEAPOLIS — At 10:27 a.m. Central Standard Time, the Twitter account for NBC News announced that former Vice President Joe Biden would carry the state of Pennsylvania, pushing him over the edge in the Electoral College and handing him a projected victory in the 2020 presidential race against incumbent Donald Trump.
The news traveled quickly through the streets of the Twin Cities, prompting both celebrations and protests.
In Minneapolis, neighbors cheered wildly and rang bells at West 40th Street and Nicollet Avenue in the King Field neighborhood, about a mile and a half from the site of George Floyd’s killing on Memorial Day. In the same area of south Minneapolis, near the Third Precinct building that was burned in the aftermath of Floyd’s death, marchers for racial justice danced, sang and celebrated the ousting of President Trump.
At the Lake Street-Marshall bridge, dividing Minneapolis and St. Paul over the Mississippi River, drivers honked incessantly as they glided through a busy intersection. Others merely gathered on their front lawns with “BIDEN-HARRIS” signs, as similar scenarios played out in neighborhoods across the metropolitan area. Even in the suburb of Edina, a neighbor scribbled on a whiteboard: “President-Elect Biden. It is done. Abide by it.”
“It’s indescribable,” Rhea Marrie said as she sprinted through her Loring Park neighborhood with Biden-Harris apparel. “I’ve been crying all morning. It has just been such a rough four years.”
Shivanthi Sathanandan, the state outreach officer for the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor party, said the projected victory was the “culmination of many, many nerve-wracking days.” After losing the state narrowly in 2016 to Hillary Clinton, the president had campaigned in Minnesota four times and even visited the state on the Friday before Election Day.
He ultimately lost to Biden by about seven points.
“I can’t tell you how many communities of color came together and organized. I had the privilege of working with a lot of those communities, and people had this energy of wanting a better tomorrow for families and our kids,” Sathanandan said, also noting the significance of Senator Kamala Harris on the ticket as she becomes the first female vice president in American history. “She is the American dream. My kids, this is going to be normal for them, to know that a woman of color can lead at the top of the ticket.”
The jubilation from Democrats, however, was met with equal frustration and even outright anger from supporters of the president. Jennifer Carnahan, the state GOP chair in Minnesota, said in a tweet that it was “premature” to call the election for Biden and slammed news organizations for making the projection.
“There are still hundreds of thousands of ballots to be counted in both states,” she said of Pennsylvania and Arizona, the latter of which was not been unanimously called. “The media is just so desperate for Biden to win that they are overlooking irregularities and transparency in our country.” Carnahan did not elaborate with specifics on those accusations, although the Trump campaign has alleged unproven fraud and brought a lawsuit in Pennsylvania to add election observers.
Several hundred supporters of President Trump also protested the election on the steps of the state capitol and the governor’s mansion on Saturday afternoon, echoing the president’s unverified allegations. At the capitol, former Republican Congresswoman Michele Bachmann claimed voter fraud specifically in Minnesota, drawing a harsh response from the Secretary of State.
Chad Rafdal, who wore a “We The People” shirt to the capitol, said he joined the protest because he doesn’t trust the projected outcome of the election.
“It’s very important to me, and I brought my 7-year-old son up here today, so they can see all these patriots and understand, we’re not going to stand for it,” Rafdal said. “Bunch of upset patriots that the election is being stolen, and it’s being allowed. At this point, it’s not about the candidates, it’s about the integrity of our country.”
Rhea Marrie, the Biden-Harris supporter who celebrated in Loring Park and also worked on Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign, said she’s bothered by the president’s refusal to concede.
“It just shows the tone of what the country has been feeling for the last four years,” Marrie said.
James Dixon, a North Dakota resident visiting Minneapolis for the weekend, said he wants the Biden-Harris team to help bridge the nation’s divide.
“I hope that we can get a sense of unity, like we used to have in this country,” Dixon said. “We need to realize that even though we’ve got people on the other side of the political spectrum, they’re not really our enemies.”