San Francisco, CA — Mayor London N. Breed today issued the following statement following the election of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as the next President and Vice President of the United States.

“Joe Biden ran on the simple but powerful idea that we should strive to be a united country, not a divided one. As president, he has promised to represent everyone, not just those who voted for him, and he will put the needs of the American people first. I am so proud that this country chose leadership, decency, and compassion in our next President. 

With this election, we also made history by choosing Kamala Harris as our Vice-President. For the first time, millions and millions of Americans chose a black woman to help lead this country. The pride I feel as a black woman is hard to put into words. Kamala Harris is a friend and mentor, but most importantly, she is an inspiration to so many of us all across this country. While Kamala’s path to Washington has been her own unique journey, she is just as sure bringing the hopes and dreams of so many little girls with her. I only wish my grandmother, a daughter of slaves and sharecroppers, a woman who raised me to believe that we can all work to make the world a better place, were still alive to see this day. 

These results have shown us how close these elections are, and how much every single vote matters. All across this country, more people than in any other election in our history took to the cast their vote to fight for our democracy. We overcame decades of sinister efforts to suppress the vote. We overcame the cynicism that too often dissuades people from voting because they think their voice doesn’t matter. With this election, we have shown not only that our voices matter, but they have the power to change the course of history. 

We’ve got a lot of work to do, and we have hard days ahead of us, but tomorrow will be a little lighter and the days to come will be a whole lot brighter. Today, I have real hope for the future of our country.”

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