Barack Obama hails Joe Biden's win - but Michelle warns Democrats they MUST win over 'tens of millions of people who voted when for the status quo when it mean supporting lies, hate chaos and division'
Former President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama sent out heartfelt messages to President elect-Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.
'I could not be prouder,' Obama said, of the election of Biden and Harris, calling Harris' ascent to the vice presidency 'groundbreaking.'
Obama asked that Americans please, 'give him a chance and lend him your support.'
The former FLOTUS warned Americans not to get complacent.
'It’s a first step,' Michelle Obama said. 'Voting in one election isn’t a magic wand, and neither is winning one,' she said.
She pointed to the 70-plus million Americans who voted to keep President Donald Trump in office.
'Let's remember that tens of millions of people voted for the status quo, even when it means supporting lies, hate, chaos, and division,' the former FLOTUS said.
Former President Barack Obama congratulated his former vice president, President-elect Joe Biden, along with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris in a statement Friday
Michelle Obama congratulated President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris but also told Americans not to be complacent
The major networks called the presidential race before noon Saturday for President-elect Joe Biden (left) and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris (right)
Michelle Obama sent out a long Twitter thread congratulating Joe Biden (left) and Kamala Harris (right)
Michelle Obama was one of the key Democratic figures who didn't hit the campaign trail in the final moments of the 2020 campaign.
Instead, former President Barack Obama did solo swings to key states like Pennsylvania, which Biden won, and Florida, which the president-elect lost.
Among his notable lines, the former president said that Trump was 'jealous of COVID's media coverage.'
The former first lady did, however, deliver a highly impactful speech to voters at the August virtual Democratic National Convention.
Michelle Obama said Friday that 'after we celebrate' - making the aside, 'and we should all take a moment to exhale after everything we've been through - 'we've got a lot of work to do to reach out to these folks in the years ahead and connect with them on what unites us,' she said of Trump's voters.
She reminded Biden-Harris supporters that the 'path to progress will always be uphill.'
'We'll always have to scrape and crawl up toward that mountaintop,' she said.
'And two years from now, four years from now, there will once again be no margin for error,' Michelle Obama added, pointing to the 2022 midterm election and the 2024 presidential election that will follow.
President Barack Obama sent out a statement congratulating President-elect Joe Biden, who served as vice president in his administration
She saw her own husband lose the House and the Senate over his eight years in office, making it more difficult to get an agenda done. Democrats also lost droves of legislators at the state level during the Obama years.
'So it’s up to us to stay engaged and informed, to keep speaking out and marching on,' she said. 'We’ve got to vote in even greater numbers in the upcoming Senate runoffs in Georgia - and every state and local election going forward.'
Both Senate races in Georgia resulted in a run-off and will decide whether Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell remains in control.
'We’ve got to promise each other that our focus in this election won’t be an anomaly, but the rule,' Michelle Obama said. 'That’s how we can not only feel this way right now, but in the months and years ahead. It’s the only way we’ll build a nation worthy of our children.'
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