Celebrations break out across America as Joe Biden is named the next president of the United States

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Celebrations have broken out across American cities with pedestrians dancing in the streets, motorists honking their horns and cheers filling the air as Joe Biden is named the next president of the United States.

Biden was called the next president at 11.25 a.m. Saturday morning by television networks and the Associated Press, while Donald Trump played golf.

CNN, NBC, ABC, CBS, the AP and USA Today all made the call and Fox News followed suit 10 minutes later as votes in Philadelphia pushed his margin in the crucial swing state of Pennsylvania over the edge.

This took him to 273 electoral votes – over the 270 needed to win the White House race. 

Kamala Harris, his running mate, becomes the first female vice president and the first black and Asian-American vice president in history. 

Cities across the nation erupted in celebration as the news broke, ending an agonizing four-day wait since election day for the new president to be announced.

Meanwhile, Trump refused to accept the call, claiming Biden was trying to ‘falsely pose’ as the winner, vowing to keep challenging results he claims are a ‘fraud’ as his supporters rallied outside his Virginia golf course where he headed to earlier in the morning.   

In New York City, cheers of celebration, clapping and car horns filled the air seconds after Biden’s victory was called. 

Cheers could be heard all across Manhattan as walkers in Central Park stopped and threw their arms in the air in celebration. 

Many people flocked to their balconies to join in the celebrations in the streets below.

Footage on social media revealed the moment many New Yorkers learned Biden would become the 46th president of the United States. 

In the Alphabet City neighborhood, Biden supporters could be heard roaring with excitement from their apartment blocks and revelers gathered on their fire escapes with bottles of bubbly. 

People flocked onto the sidewalks in Upper East Side to clap and cheer while cars drove past honking their horns. 

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s office tweeted footage of New Yorkers celebrating, writing: ‘THIS is what Democracy looks like.’ 

In Brooklyn, hundreds gathered in the streets cheering and clapping as people in cars waved Biden-Harris signs.

Over in Philadelphia – where the latest votes to be counted pushed Biden to victory – people cried and embraced in the streets outside the Pennsylvania Convention Center.

Some Biden supporters danced in the streets as they couldn’t contain their emotion over the victory for the Democrat.   

People in Washington choked back tears of relief and hugged each other.  

As the result came in, a group of people along Black Lives Matter plaza in Washington DC erupted in cheers. 

Hundreds gathered outside the White House holding up Biden campaign signs and shouting ‘he’s gone’ while fireworks could be heard in the distance.

At Dupont Circle, a street party broke out with hundreds playing music, singing, dancing and marching toward the seat of government where there will soon be a new president.  

Biden tweeted soon after he was announced the winner: ‘I will be a President for all Americans – whether you voted for me or not. I will keep the faith that you have placed in me.’ 

Cries of celebration could be heard coming from the Delaware hotel where Biden’s aides have been staying.  

‘Worth every minute,’ of the wait, a Biden aide told Reuters as staff exchanged elbow bumps and air hugs in the hotel lobby.

In Atlanta, where votes are still being counted but will no longer change the election result – shouts, fireworks and cheers erupted as news spread. 

While Biden’s win sparked instant street celebrations across the nation, Trump and his supporters were reeling from the news. 

Trump refused to accept the call, claiming that Biden was trying to ‘falsely pose’ as the winner, vowing to keep challenging results he claims are a ‘fraud’ and creating the potential for weeks of chaos and constitutional crisis.

Trump has no immediate plans to invite Biden to an Oval Office meeting, a tradition between outgoing and incoming presidents, CNN reported. 

Then-President Barack Obama hosted Trump for such a meeting on Thursday, November 10, 2016, two days after that year’s presidential election. 

Trump’s campaign issued a statement in his name claiming Biden was not the winner and that it would fight on with legal efforts to challenge the votes – which so far have badly faltered.

‘We all know why Joe Biden is rushing to falsely pose as the winner, and why his media allies are trying so hard to help him: they don’t want the truth to be exposed,’ the statement said.

‘The simple fact is this election is far from over. Joe Biden has not been certified as the winner of any states, let alone any of the highly contested states headed for mandatory recounts, or states where our campaign has valid and legitimate legal challenges that could determine the ultimate victor. Legal votes decide who is president, not the news media.’