If you ask a group of friends exactly when Joe Biden was elected, you’re probably going to get three different answers. Someone will say November 3rd. Another person will insist it was the 7th. A real history buff might even throw out December 14th or January 6th.
Honestly? They’re all kinda right.
Election "Day" in America hasn't really been a single day for a long time, and the 2020 cycle was the most extreme example we've ever seen. Between the pandemic, the mountain of mail-in ballots, and the literal storming of the Capitol, the "when" of it all got pretty messy.
The Night Nobody Knew Anything
Technically, the 2020 election took place on November 3, 2020. That was the Tuesday when millions of Americans stood in socially distanced lines or dropped off their final ballots.
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But if you were watching the news that night, you didn't see a winner. You saw a lot of red on the map early on—the "Red Mirage" that experts like Nate Silver and the folks at Decision Desk HQ had been warning about for weeks. Because Republicans were more likely to vote in person and Democrats were more likely to use mail-in ballots (which take longer to count in states like Pennsylvania), it looked like Trump was leading in places he was actually losing.
It was a weird, tense night. Most of us went to bed not knowing who the next president would be.
When the Call Finally Came
The moment most people remember as "when Biden was elected" happened on the morning of Saturday, November 7, 2020.
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At approximately 11:25 AM ET, the Associated Press and major networks like CNN and NBC called Pennsylvania for Joe Biden. Those 20 electoral votes pushed him past the 270 threshold. I remember people literally running into the streets in some cities. It felt official, but in the eyes of the law, it was still just a projection by news organizations.
The Legal and Constitutional "Wins"
The U.S. doesn't actually elect a president through the popular vote. We use the Electoral College, which has a very specific, almost archaic schedule. To really answer when Biden was elected from a legal standpoint, you have to look at these dates:
- December 14, 2020: This is when the electors met in their respective states. They cast 306 votes for Joe Biden and 232 for Donald Trump. This was the moment it became legally "official" in terms of the ballots cast by the people who actually choose the president.
- January 6-7, 2021: This was supposed to be a boring procedural day where Congress counts the votes. Instead, we got the Capitol riot. After the building was cleared, Congress stayed up until the early hours of January 7th to finally certify the results. Vice President Mike Pence officially declared Joe Biden the winner at 3:41 AM.
- January 20, 2021: Inauguration Day. This is when the power actually shifts. Biden took the oath of office at 11:49 AM, slightly ahead of the traditional noon schedule.
Why Does the Timing Still Matter?
We’re still talking about this because the gap between November 3rd and January 20th created a vacuum. In that space, a lot of misinformation grew. People like Rudy Giuliani were filing lawsuits in swing states, claiming the "election was stolen" because the count changed after Election Night.
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But here’s the thing: the count didn't "change." It just finished.
In states like Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, the Republican-led legislatures had actually forbidden election workers from starting the count of mail-in ballots until Election Day itself. That’s why it took four days to get to that Saturday morning "call."
Actionable Insights for Future Elections
Knowing the timeline of the 2020 election isn't just a history lesson; it's a blueprint for what to expect in 2024 and beyond. If you want to be an informed voter, keep these three things in mind:
- Ignore the "Midnight Map": The results you see at 12:00 AM on Election Night are almost never the final results. Wait for the "Late Blue" or "Late Red" shifts depending on how each state processes mail-in versus in-person votes.
- Verify the Source: Don't rely on a single tweet or a random "leak." Wait for the Associated Press or established "Decision Desks" that have a track record of calling races based on statistical math, not vibes.
- Watch the Certification Dates: The real "end" of an election isn't the victory speech. It's the safe harbor deadline in December and the Congressional certification in January. These are the legal safeguards of the process.
The next time someone asks when Biden was elected, you can tell them the whole story. It wasn't a moment; it was a grueling, two-month-long marathon.