Joe Biden and Kamala Harris named TIME's 2020 person of the year

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US President-elect Joe Biden and Vice-president elect Kamala Harris have been named TIME magazine's 2020 "Person of the Year". Photo Courtesy: TIME Magazine/Camila Falquez
  • The duo made history on November 7 when they beat Donald Trump in a bitter election.

  • The publication has been selecting a Person of the Year for the past 92 years.

  •  Biden became the oldest American president while Harris became the country's first female, first Black, and first South Asian vice-president-elect.


TIME magazine has named United States President-elect Joe Biden and Vice-President-elect Kamala Haris as 2020 Person of the Year.

The duo made history on November 7 when they beat Donald Trump in a bitter election. Biden became the oldest American president while Harris became the country's first female, first Black and first South Asian vice-president-elect. 

"Biden had the vision, set the tone and topped the ticket. But he also recognised what he could not offer on his own, what a 78-year-old white man could never provide: generational change, a fresh perspective, and an embodiment of America's diversity," reads the TIME article.

"For that, he needed Kamala Harris: California Senator, former district attorney and state attorney general, a biracial child of immigrants whose charisma and tough questioning of Trump Administration officials electrified millions of Democrats."

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Explaining the reason for choosing Biden and Harris over others, the publication said that both leaders were selected "for changing the American story, for showing that the forces of empathy are greater than the furies of division, for sharing a vision of healing in a grieving world."

“Together, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris offered restoration and renewal in a single ticket. And America bought what they were selling: after the highest turnout in a century, they racked up 81 million votes and counting, the most in presidential history, topping Trump by some 7 million votes and flipping five battleground states,” it added.

The publication has been selecting a Person of the Year for the past 92 years. Last year, climate activist Greta Thunberg was named Person of the Year, becoming the youngest person in history to receive the recognition.