New York : President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris have been named Time magazine's Person of the Year for 2020. The pair were chosen over finalists including President Donald Trump, the movement for racial justice, and frontline health workers with Dr. Anthony Fauci. Time's editor-in-chief, Edward Felsenthal, said Biden and Harris received the recognition "for changing the American story" and "for showing that the forces of empathy are greater than the furies of division."
Biden and Harris defeated President Donald Trump in the November general election, making him only the 11th president in US history to lose a reelection bid. In winning the election, Harris is set to become the first female, first Black, and first Indian American vice president. Biden, a former US senator from Delaware who served as vice president under President Barack Obama, and Harris, a US senator from California, will be featured on the magazine's December 21 cover.
"Person of the Year is not just about the year that was but about where we're headed," the editor added. "The next four years are going to be an enormous test of them, and all of us, to see whether they can bring about the unity that they promised."During a taped segment for the magazine, Biden reflected on the US's morality. "I'm convinced the American public is looking for the possibilities that are available out there," Biden said. "They know we're so much better than this. When I ran I said, 'This is about who we are as a nation, who we're going to be, what we want to be.' And the American people stepped up."
Harris reflected on the message from her victory speech in which she discussed the historic nature of her candidacy. "I will be the first, but I will not be the last," Harris said of the role she'd assume in January. "That's about legacy, that's about creating a pathway, that's about leaving the door more open than it was when you walked in."
