During CNN’s election coverage on Saturday, Biden Deputy Campaign Manager Kate Bedingfield said that Biden “was really moved by” and “was really humbled and really gratified to see” people taking to the streets to celebrate.
CNN Chief Political Correspondent Dana Bash asked, “I noticed, at the beginning of his speech, I don’t know if it was an ad-lib or what, but he made mention of what we just reported on from cities across the country, the people spilling into the streets, celebrating. Was he expecting that? What was his reaction behind the scenes?”
Bedingfield responded, “No, he certainly wasn’t expecting it, but he was incredibly encouraged and gratified and humbled to see it. He was really moved by it. We’ve been really excited, and inside the campaign, it’s obviously incredibly thrilling to see this kind of excitement and energy and outburst and for everyone to feel so joyful about the fact that we are now going to finally turn the page on this presidency, that we’re going to move forward in the spirit of unity, and that we’re going to put the ugliness of the campaign season behind us and get to the hard tasks in front of us. But the fact that we’re seeing people pouring out into the streets spontaneously, all day, to celebrate, it’s just an incredibly exciting moment for the country, and the president-elect was really humbled and really gratified to see it.”
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