Cities erupt in celebration after Biden named winner

People react as media announce that Democratic U.S. presidential nominee Joe Biden has won the 2020 U.S. presidential election, in, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S., November 7, 2020. REUTERS/Rachel Wisniewski

Jeremy HerbCNN

(CNN) — President-elect Joe Biden’s victory over President Donald Trump sparked celebrations in cities across the country, including many of the places that swept Biden into the White House.

After CNN and other news organizations projected Biden as the winner Saturday morning when he won Pennsylvania, Biden supporters flooded into the streets.

In Washington, DC, a crowd packed into the streets in front of the White House at Black Lives Matter Plaza, within seconds of the race being called. The streets nearby filled with people shouting, banging pots and pans, and singing, “Nah nah nah nah, hey hey hey, goodbye.”

The celebratory crowd in the blocks around the White House created a traffic jam, with people sitting on top of cars and drivers holding their fists out the window. One person wearing an American flag as a cape walked toward Black Lives Matter Plaza with a hand-written posterboard that read, “The nightmare is over.”

Trump, however, was not at the White House on Saturday morning — he was at his golfing at his club in Virginia when CNN and other networks called the race.

In Philadelphia, which was key to Biden’s decisive Pennsylvania win, cars honked, people waved Biden flags and a large crowd gathered outside of Philadelphia’s City Hall. It was unseasonably warm, and people were pouring into the streets with everything from coffees to brunch cocktails. Most were wearing masks.

“Biden town!” a woman yelled out of a car headed down Broad Street in the city’s downtown area. There was a constant stream of cars driving by honking, with people fist-pumping out the windows.

People took turns taking their picture under a “Good Things Happen in Philadelphia” banner.

Robert Nunez, riding in his car with his family, stood through the sunroof yelling in celebration. “The four-year nightmare is over,” said Nunez, who said he cried when he found out the Trump presidency was coming to an end.

The crowd that gathered outside City Hall began marching in the direction of Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence and Constitution were signed.

“We’re just really excited about a new transition in the country,” said Beth Lapiene, a Temple University law school student who was among the revelers outside of City Hall in Philadelphia. “We’re really excited about Kamala Harris.”

She said the last few days of waiting for results were “anxiety-provoking” and she didn’t get a lot of school work done.

Her fellow law student, Daniel Gordon, 24, chimed in, “I was praying not to get cold-called in class.”

A chorus of horns filled Broad Street, right outside of the Pennsylvania Convention Center. As morning turned into afternoon, the once quiet street, which only saw occasional joggers and people going for coffee or bunch was soon filled with horns and groups of people erupting in cheers.

“I’m so happy. I don’t know what to do,” said one woman near the Convention Center, with tears streaming down her face.

At a red light, a man in a hatchback honked his horn and screamed, “We made America great again!” Another person drove by blaring “Philadelphia Freedom” from his car.

In New York City, a crowd gathered outside of the Trump International Hotel and Tower, chanting: “No More Trump!” In Times Square, a man was playing “Hail to the Chief” on the trombone. In Brooklyn, a man was dancing atop a car going down Fulton Street.

In Chicago, growing crowd gathered to celebrate outside Trump Tower. There was cheering and ringing bells while cars honked driving by, some people hanging out their car windows with Biden-Harris signs.

A crowd also gathered at Freedom Park in Atlanta. Olivia Buckmon, a Dekalb, Georgia, resident, said she screamed when she heard the news this morning, saying she didn’t think Georgia would turn blue “until Stacy Abrams,” who nearly won the governorship in 2018.

Outside Biden’s headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware, a crowd was quickly growing beyond the security perimeter. There were people of all ages cheering, singing and honking their horns, and the crowd joined together to sing “God Bless America.”

This story is breaking and will be updated.

The-CNN-Wire

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