McConnell recognizes Biden as president-elect

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell recognized Joe Biden as the president-elect for the first time on Tuesday.

The Kentucky Republican also acknowledged Sen. Kamala Harris as vice president-elect during a Senate floor speech one day after the Electoral College certified his victory.

"Six weeks ago the — Americans voted in this year’s general election. The legal and constitutional processes have continued to play out since then," he said. "Yesterday electors met in all 50 states, so as of this morning our country has officially a president-elect and a vice president-elect. Many millions of us hoped that the presidential election would yield a different result, but our system of government has processes to determine who will be sworn in on January 20."

"The Electoral College has spoken. So today I want to congratulate President-Elect Joe Biden," McConnell added. "The president-elect is no stranger to the Senate. He’s devoted himself to public service for many years. I also want to congratulate the vice president-elect, our colleague from California, Senator Harris. Beyond our differences, all Americans can take pride that our nation has a female vice president-elect for the very first time."

Certified state vote tallies gave Biden 306 votes and President Trump 232. A joint session of Congress will vote on certification of the results on Jan. 6, the last step before Inauguration Day on Jan. 20. Trump refuses to concede the election. The president and his allies have pursued dozens of legal challenges to stop Biden from becoming the next president, which have largely been unsuccessful.