THE MAYOR of Philadelphia has called on Donald Trump to concede the election to Joe Biden.
Mayor Jim Kenney urged the President to throw in the towel as his Democratic presidential rival’s lead continues to grow in the key swing state of Pennsylvania.
Trump had initially enjoyed a substantial lead of around 600,000 votes before mail-in and absentee ballots saw Biden overtake him.
In the wake of the turnaround the President launched legal action to have vote-counting stopped in the crucial election battleground amid accusations of “fraud”.
However, Mayor Kenney has rebuffed such claims and has instead urged the President to follow the example set by previous candidates and concede with grace.
“What the President needs to do, frankly, is put his big boy pants on," the Irish-American politician said.
“He needs to acknowledge the fact that he lost and he needs to congratulate the winner — just as Jimmy Carter did, just as George HW Bush did, just as Al Gore did — and let us move forward as a country.
“That’s my feeling, I doubt he’ll listen to me but that’s it.”
Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney: “While some, including the president, continue to spew baseless claims of fraud – claims for which his team has not produced one iota of evidence – what we have seen here in Philadelphia is democracy, pure and simple.” pic.twitter.com/8ElwinuRS8
— NBC News (@NBCNews) November 6, 2020
Mayor Kenney dismissed any suggestion of fraud, noting that not “one iota of evidence” has yet been produced to prove the allegations being made by the Trump campaign.
“This is not about a victory for a single candidate or a single political party. This is truly a victory for our democracy. That may sound cliche but today it is oh-so-true. The votes will continue to be counted until every valid mail-in ballot, absentee ballot and provisional ballot is counted,” Kenney said.
“While some, including the president, continue to spew baseless claims of fraud – claims for which his team has not produced one iota of evidence – what we have seen here in Philadelphia is democracy, pure and simple.”
He added: “Our founding fathers who conceived this system just a fifteen-minute walk down the street, I know would be proud. 230 years after the constitutional convention, we stand at this conventional centre and proclaim “The system still works, the people have spoken”.
“And God willing, we will have a peaceful transition of power in January.”
