It's a day many Democratic New Yorkers have looked forward to for the last four years.
Cheering, crying and clapping was heard throughout the city moments after the Associated Press projected that Joe Biden will win Pennsylvania, surpassing the 270 electoral votes threshold he needs to be elected president.
“I think it was a well-deserved win, I’m really happy for the country that we can heal and move on from this,” one woman told Roger Clark at Times Square.
“I feel like we’ve been in a bad place for four years and now it’s a chance to turn things around,” another woman said.
People began celebrating outside the Stonewall Inn soon after the news became official and continued to do so into the night.
"This is the heartbeat of America in New York City. You see every single person, every race, gender, nationality represented in this exact place here at Stonewall," said one person outside the inn. "There's nowhere else in the world I would personally want to be. I love my city. We've been through so much here, right? These streets have seen so much in the last few months, in the last few years. There's nowhere else I would want to be than here."
Sen. Charles Schumer tweeted video of him holding up his phone so that Biden could hear cheering in Brooklyn.
He was also seen singing "Georgia on My Mind."
In Astoria, Schumer held a Biden/Harris sign, and led the crowd there in a chant to say goodbye to Donald Trump.
The crowds in Astoria were overjoyed by the news.
"A lot of happiness, almost like the feeling of acceptance between everyone of different nationalities, origins and colors," said one New Yorker. "And everyone is really happy and having really nice times."
"I've been laughing and crying, alternatively, for like the last three hours, and sometimes at the same time, said another."
"And our niece, my brother's daughter, gets to wake up in a country, her first memory of her vice president will be a Black woman of Jamaican descent, just like her," said a third.
Mayor Bill de Blasio told NY1 he will join the many New Yorkers celebrating Biden’s projected victory.
“I'm going to be out there experiencing this and joining my fellow New Yorkers in this incredible celebration,” he said.
In a phone call with NY1, he said he was on the porch at Gracie Mansion when he heard the news.
“I was on the porch at Gracie Mansion and I was in the middle of a phone call and I started to hear people literally cheering, ringing bells, all sorts of stuff, and quickly checked and saw the results were in. And now I came to Brooklyn, and people are honking their horns and cheering in the streets and laughing. It's just beautiful, it’s a beautiful day for New York City,” the mayor said.
De Blasio, who briefly ran in the Democratic primary for president himself, said he’s pleased with the projected results, and believes Joe Biden can help New York get back on its feet from the coronavirus pandemic. De Blasio said he’s already speaking with Biden’s campaign about economic relief for New Yorkers.
“I’m hearing a very clear message that they're going to go for a major stimulus, and they know that that's what the country needs and that's what can turn us around,” the mayor said. “He knows how to get something through the U.S. senate. I’m really confident he's going to get a major stimulus done, and that's what's going to be the key to New York City’s recovery”
The mayor also believes Biden will be able to unite the country and make battling the coronavirus a top priority.
“I have no doubt he will finally give us what we've been needing and what we never got from Donald Trump: a clear, single, national vision of how to address the coronavirus.”
Meanwhile, Trump supporters who spoke with NY1 called for unity after the election.
"I am sorry that he did not get elected," said one Trump supporter. "However, I'm going to wish Biden all the help he needs to be a good president, and I hope that's what turns out."
"If that's what it's gonna be, that's what it's gonna be," said another. "We're all human beings at the end of the day, and we just have to learn to live together."