After a long night of close calls, the people of America have decided to re-elect Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States.
Obama was officially declared the winner of the election at approximately 8:13 p.m. PST after various news outlets including CNN and Fox News reported Obama won California and the swing state of Ohio.
As of Tuesday night, Obama garnered 303 electoral votes out of the necessary 270 and 50 percent of the popular vote, defeating Republican opponent Mitt Romney, who only received 206 electoral votes and 49 percent of votes nationwide.
Addressing a crowd of supporters chanting “four more years,” Obama gave his victory speech in his hometown of Chicago. The president thanked the American voters for their participation as well as the Romney campaign for a hard-fought election.
“We are an American family, and we all rise and fall together as one nation and as one people,” he said. “We have picked ourselves up, and we have fought ourselves back … the best is yet to come.”
President Obama encouraged bipartisanship among politicians in order to face the many problems that the nation faces.
“I believe we can seize this future together because we are not as divided as our politics suggest or as cynical as our pundits believe,” he said. “We are, and forever will be, the United States of America.”
Romney conceded defeat at about 10 p.m. PST and gave his concession speech to supporters at his campaign headquarters in Boston, Mass. Romney congratulated Obama on his re-election and thanked his wife Ann and Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan.
“I have just called President Obama to congratulate him on his victory,” Romney said. “This is a time of great challenges for America, and I pray that the president will be successful in guiding our nation.”
In California, polls closed at 8 p.m. while students and Berkeley citizens still lined up outside polling stations held at the campus residence halls.
“It is nerve-wracking but exciting because it’s the first time I’m able to see the outcome of the things I voted on,” said UC Berkeley junior Kenzie Mittelman.
