'It's been a long four years': Celebrations erupt in NYC after Biden is announced the winner

A singed MAGA hat littered the Great White Way on Saturday in New York City, where tens of thousands took to streets, parks, plazas, apartment windows, car horns and kitchen pots to celebrate Democrat Joe Biden’s defeat of Republican President Donald Trump.

Bottles of sparkling wine were popped and poured for strangers dancing and cheering in Washington Square Park. Handmade signs in Union Square Park bade farewell to the Trump presidency: "Bye Cheeto," read one, with "No one mourns the wicked" written on the other side. A busker in Tompkins Square Park led a sing-along of Queen.

"We are the champions. No time for losers. 'Cause we are the champions," hundreds sang, some waving American flags and bandannas to the beat.

With the news, places that have been destinations of discord, protest and lament since Trump was elected in 2016 were transformed into sites of jubilation, partying and celebration.

Although most people were masked, the celebrations appeared to violate government guidelines to avoid mass gatherings and keep social distance of at least 6 feet during the pandemic.

They began soon after 11:25 a.m., when The Associated Press called the election for Biden, after four days of counting.

In New York City, Trump’s hometown, about 73% of voters picked Biden and running mate Sen. Kamala Harris, and about 26% went for Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, according to unofficial results from the city Board of Elections.

Trump last year moved his residence to Palm Beach, Florida, explaining: "They haven't treated me properly." In a presidential debate last month, he referred to New York City as a "ghost town."

Relief in Times Square

Soon after the call for Biden, the news transfixed pedestrians on the street, glaring at their cellphones. People in passing cars shouted the news.

John Simpson, 32, of Sunnyside, Queens, sat Saturday afternoon in front of Times Square's giant neon American flag. A Biden-Harris mask covered his nose and mouth, and a fabric Old Glory was caped on his back.

"It’s been a long four years, and it’s been a long week, and it’s been a long year, and all of that stress and all of that tension just had to be let out by everyone here in this city and we deserve a celebration," said Simpson, a city planner who worked Tuesday in Philadelphia helping the campaign by knocking on 100 doors.

Of the flag, he said: "It’s nice to be able to bring it out proudly again and know that this country belongs to all Americans, not just some. ... We're going to have sane leadership again and leadership who is compassionate, empathetic, will listen to experts and scientists, and not insult our biggest allies and pal around with fascist dictators."

Maisie Karlin, 23, of Manhattan's Upper East Side, stood by the Washington Square Park fountain, passing a bottle of sparkling wine back and forth with her boyfriend and celebrating the end of the 45th presidency and the dawn of the 46th.

Lamenting that "Donald Trump kind of made an embarrassment out of us," she also said she wants the United States to rejoin the Paris climate accord, from which Trump pulled the nation; and corporations to be taxed "at a more equitable rate," among other policy changes.

"We finally start to come together as a nation again," she said, adding: "There's not somebody leading the country that wishes to divide its own people." As she spoke, thousands nearby sang Steam's "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye."

Looking ahead

Ella Gudwin, 46, of Greenwich Village, made a sign of red, white and blue a few minutes before coming to the park: "We won" above "Democracy!" "It was a bit of a nail-biter, so we can all be really happy about the outcome," she said of the election. First order of business she'd like to see Biden tackle: the pandemic, which as of Saturday has infected at least 9.8 million Americans and killed 237,000 of them, according to Johns Hopkins University's COVID-19 tracker.

"Let's get the pandemic under control," she said, then onward with fixing the immigration system, addressing climate change, and more.

In Union Square Park, a man elicited cheers when he feted Biden’s running mate: "Give it up for the first Black female vice president!"

In midtown Manhattan, Dave Singh of Garden City, a 22-year-old senior at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, sat in his Audi SUV on 35th Street and Sixth Avenue, a Biden-Harris mask covering his face and a Biden flag hanging out the rear passenger-side window. He was chatting with his Trump-supporting friend, originally from New Hyde Park, on FaceTime, about the election.

"He’s not happy at all," said Singh, who told a reporter, "I think the country is gonna be headed in a better direction."

Outside an upscale furniture store on Park Avenue South, plywood covering the storefront remained intact, the kind nailed up in some parts of the city in the run-up to the election following warnings by the NYPD that unrest could erupt over the results.

A pedestrian shouted outside at a security guard: "You can take the plywood down now!"

With Michael O'Keeffe

By Matthew Chayes

matthew.chayes@newsday.comchayesmatthew

Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.