ATLANTA — A former President is sending his congratulations to the man now next in line to the Oval Office.
President Jimmy Carter, Georgia's only president, shared the sentiments to now President-Elect Joe Biden and Biden's running mate, Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris.
"Rosalynn joins me in congratulating our friends," Carter said in a statement. "We are proud of their well-run campaign and look forward to seeing the positive change they bring to our nation."
Carter, the 39th president of the United States, had solidly supported fellow Democrat Biden through the presidential campaign, growing more critical of the Trump Administration's perceived efforts to suppress the vote in the run-up to the election.
In the days following the Nov. 3 election day, Carter's organization, the Carter Center, urged both presidential candidates and Democrat and Republican party leaders to call for "calm and patience" while votes were still being counted.
"It is especially important that our political leaders model peaceful participation and avoid using polarizing rhetoric or spreading unsubstantiated claims," the organization, which has observed more than a hundred global elections, urged.
Though votes were still being counted days after the election, news outlets projected on Saturday that Biden would win more than the necessary 270 electoral votes for the White House. Projected wins in Pennsylvania and Nevada brought him to a total of 290.
Vote counting was still underway in Georgia, with most of the outstanding votes lingering in the more populous metro Atlanta counties that lean Democratic. Biden, however, was leading in the state by about 7,000 votes - historically significant for a state that has overwhelmingly supported Republican candidates for president (though it did vote for Carter, who is from Georgia).