JOE Biden has officially sealed the Democratic nomination and is set to face Donald Trump in the 2020 election battle.
The news was announced on Friday night.
The former vice president has effectively been his party’s leader since Bernie Sanders ended his campaign in April.
But Biden pulled together the 1,991 delegates needed to become the nominee after seven states and the District of Columbia held presidential primaries Tuesday.
The Democrat reached the threshold three days after the primaries because several states, overwhelmed by huge increases in mail ballots, took days to tabulate results.
Biden now has 1,993 delegates, according to the Associated Press, with contests still to come in eight states and three US territories.
The hopeful spent 36 years in the Senate before becoming Barack Obama’s vice president.
This is the 77-year-old's third bid for the presidency and his success in capturing the Democratic nomination was driven by strong support from black voters.
On Wednesday, a new poll showed that Biden has taken an 11-point lead over Trump in the race for US president.
The democrat currently has the support of 52 percent of registered US voters, while 41 percent support the republican, according to data published by Monmouth University.
Biden's lead has steadily widened since March, when he had 48 percent of support compared to Trump's 45 percent.
The poll revealed voters' slipping confidence in the president's ability to handle the post-pandemic economic recovery.
It also conveys the lack of confidence in the Trump administration's response to the nationwide protests spurred by the death of George Floyd.
A third of voters say race relations will be a major factor in who they'll cast their ballots for in November.
"The race continues to be largely a referendum on the incumbent. The initial reaction to ongoing racial unrest in the country suggests that most voters feel Trump is not handling the situation all that well," said Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute.
The poll of 742 registered voters was conducted by phone from May 28 to June 1.
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