**Biden wins electoral college, Trump’s legal challenges fail**
**President-elect Joe Biden secured the electoral college votes needed to formally become the next president of the United States on Monday, even as President Donald Trump continued to make baseless claims of widespread voter fraud and mounted legal challenges to the results.
Biden received 306 electoral votes, surpassing the 270 needed to win the presidency, according to the Associated Press. Trump received 232 electoral votes.
The electoral college vote is the final step in the presidential election process. Each state’s electors are chosen by the popular vote in that state, and they then cast their votes for president and vice president.
Trump has refused to concede the election, and he has made numerous unsubstantiated claims of widespread voter fraud. He has filed lawsuits in several states, but none of them have been successful.
On Monday, the Supreme Court rejected a lawsuit filed by Texas that sought to overturn the election results in four battleground states. The court said that Texas did not have standing to sue, because it had not suffered any harm from the alleged voter fraud.
Trump’s legal challenges have been widely criticized by election experts, who say that there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud. The lawsuits have also been unsuccessful in court, with judges dismissing them for lack of evidence.
Despite Trump’s continued claims of fraud, the election results are clear. Biden won the popular vote by more than 7 million votes, and he won the electoral college by a comfortable margin.
Biden is scheduled to be inaugurated as the 46th president of the United States on January 20, 2021.
**Reaction**
The news of Biden’s electoral college victory was met with relief by many Americans who had grown weary of Trump’s baseless claims of voter fraud.
“This is a victory for democracy,” said former President Barack Obama. “The American people have spoken, and they have chosen Joe Biden to be their next president.”
Trump’s supporters, however, were disappointed by the news. They believe that Trump was the rightful winner of the election, and they are angry that he has been denied a second term.
“This is a stolen election,” said one Trump supporter at a rally in Washington, D.C. “We will never accept Biden as our president.”
It is unclear what Trump will do next. He has said that he will continue to fight the election results, but it is unlikely that his legal challenges will be successful.
**Significance**
Biden’s victory is a significant moment in American history. He is the oldest person to be elected president, and he is the first Catholic to hold the office since John F. Kennedy.
Biden’s presidency is expected to be a departure from Trump’s. Biden has promised to restore normalcy to the White House and to heal the divisions that have plagued the country in recent years.
It remains to be seen whether Biden will be able to fulfill his promises. But his victory is a sign of hope for many Americans who are looking for a change in leadership.
**Additional resources**
* [Electoral College results](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/12/14/us/politics/electoral-college-results.html)
* [Supreme Court rejects Texas lawsuit](https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf/20a88_l4l9.pdf)
* [Biden’s victory speech](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/14/us/politics/biden-victory-speech.html).
