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Leaders, officials react to results

Local political and civil rights leaders reacted to the announcements on Saturday of a presidential victory by former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Kamala Harris.

Carlee Ranalli, founder of Democrats of the Cove, said she was “really excited,” about the announcement, though recognized the official counts weren’t completely settled yet. “It feels like a 98% victory,” she said.

Ranalli founded the Democrats of the Cove in August as a private Facebook group for community members to feel safe expressing their political opinions in a “heavily Republican area.”

The group has grown to more than 500 people, including Republicans and independents who share some beliefs with Democrats, Ranalli said.

During the last few months, members of the group shared campaign literature in the community, pooled money for advertising and joined the Blair County Democratic Party in phone banking.

Gillian Kratzer, Blair County Democratic Party chair, said her and Ranalli’s groups reached people in parts of the county they usually weren’t in touch with — people who were “tired of being quiet.”

“It’s been an incredibly long year, and I cannot count the amount of people who worked incredibly hard for this moment,” Kratzer said. “But the work doesn’t stop here, this is just the beginning.”

Ranalli said she was pleased to see the first woman of color on her way to becoming vice president of the United States.

Blair County NAACP President Don Witherspoon said his organization tries to stay nonpartisan, but did call Harris’ expected ascent to the White House “great.”

“I was excited when we elected Barack Obama as the first African American president,” he said. “Kamala Harris will be representing African Americans across the country.”

Donna Cohen, president of the Blair County Federation of Democratic Women, said she is excited to see the nation’s first female vice president.

“I’ve been following her for a while and I think she’s going to be fantastic,” she said.

Cohen said time will tell the impact, but sees it “opening up a lot of doors,” with even more women becoming involved in politics in the future.

“Maybe the world will be different then,” she said.

Jim Foreman, Blair County Republican Committee chairman, said he was pleased with voter engagement and turnout in the county, which he called “fundamentally important” regardless of political party.

He said with record turnout of voters and the newly implemented mail-in voting process, it’s important that all citizens “know and accept that this is a fairly-executed election.” He said that the process now is of challenging and/or validating various types of votes cast and when they were cast.

“Given the unknown disposition and reconciliation of mail-in voting and it’s timing, it would be presumptive for either party to yet declare themselves president-elect,” he said.

Witherspoon said he hopes a healing process will begin for the country and that the new administration will make strides in fighting racial injustices and the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The race being as close as it is shows how much work we need to do to build unity and move the country forward,” Ranalli said.

Responses of elected officials

Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., on Saturday congratulated Biden and Harris via Twitter.

“It’s now time to unite and heal our Nation so we can build back better,” he said.

Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., stressed that the announcement by The Associated Press and other media outlets is a “projection.”

“A final outcome will be reached when the election process concludes, which is after all legal votes have been counted, litigation is resolved and any recounts are completed,” he said via Twitter.

Local elections officials in the state must certify results by no later than the second week after election day, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Pennsylvania does not have a deadline for contested results.

Rep. John Joyce, R-13th District, had not commented specifically on Saturday’s announcements, but urged Gov. Tom Wolf and his administration to “follow the law and ensure that Pennsylvanians have a free, fair and legitimate election.”

The Trump campaign had pending lawsuits in the state as of Saturday. A federal judge dismissed one lawsuit requesting Philadelphia election officials stop counting ballots. A state judge ruled in the campaign’s favor of allowing closer observation of vote counting, but Philadelphia election officials appealed the decision.

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