Joe Biden and Kamala Harris named Time 'Person of the Year'

Democratic president-elect and vice president-elect chosen for impact on US politics

US president-elect Joe Biden and vice president-elect Kamal Harris have been chosen as Time magazine's 2020 'Person of the Year', the publication announced on December 10, 2020. AFP

The US president-elect Joe Biden and vice president-elect Kamala Harris have been chosen as Time magazine's 2020 "Person of the Year".

The Democratic pair were chosen ahead of three other finalists: frontline health care workers and US health expert Anthony Fauci, the racial justice movement, and President Donald Trump who Mr Biden defeated in November's election.

Time's magazine cover has a picture of Mr Biden, 78, and Ms Harris, 56, with the subtitle "Changing America's story".

In the accompanying article, the magazine noted that "together, they offered restoration and renewal in a single ticket. And America bought what they were selling".

Mr Biden beat Mr Trump by 306 electoral college votes to 232 to end the real estate tycoon-turned-politician's presidency after one term.

The former vice president received roughly seven million more votes than his Republican adversary, who is yet to concede, claiming widespread fraud of which there is no evidence.

Time praised the Democratic ticket for ousting an incumbent president for the just the 10th time in US history.

"Biden and Harris had to revive the party's fading strength with white voters without college degrees; energise its emerging base of diverse, urban young voters; and motivate the hordes of angry suburbanites, particularly college graduates and women, who had fled the Trump-era GOP," it wrote.

When asked by Time what he would like people to say about him after four years in the White House, Mr Biden replied: "That America was better off and average Americans are better off the day we left than the day we arrived. That's my objective."

Ms Harris said in an interview with Time that Mr Biden's administration would have to tackle a host of issues from the White House, including the pandemic, an "economic crisis" and a "long overdue reckoning on racial justice".

"We have to be able to multitask, just like any parent or any human being does," she said.

Time's Person of the Year award – handed out annually since 1927 – honours the person or people who most impacted the news, for better or worse, during the calendar year.

Earlier on Thursday, Time named basketball superstar LeBron James Athlete of the Year for his achievements on and off the court.

The 35-year-old Los Angeles Lakers player was honoured for battling voter suppression among black Americans in a year when he won his fourth NBA title.

K-Pop sensation BTS was named Entertainer of the Year.

Teenage climate change activist Greta Thunberg was Time's Person of the Year last year, while Mr Trump won in 2016.