Minutes after Joe Biden had been declared the next president of the United States, people in Washington DC began to flood the streets.

Streams of people - banging pans, honking horns, clutching signs - moved to the city's Black Lives Matter Plaza, swarming the barricaded border of the White House to celebrate.

The collective jubilation makes sense here: 93% of voters in Washington this year cast their ballot for the Democratic ticket.

Among those celebrating is Ken Wright, who is brandishing a "Former Republicans for Biden" sign. He says he is confident that the next president will embrace Republican voters.

"Biden is about compromise, Trump was not. I'm very optimistic that Biden's going to do what he's always done," he said.

"I think this atmosphere proves that the country can ease now back into some regularity," said Vincent Moten, holding the hand of his partner, Derrick Petit.

"Now that we're here, the idea is what can we do to come together. Let's agree on some baseline stuff - I'm a human, so I should have the rights that you have and then start from there."

For Anisley Valdas, 32, the key to moving forward is to understand where Trump voters are coming from, "why people feel angry, why people feel disenfranchised".