US Election 2020 Results
Democratic Presidential candidate Joe Biden has expressed confidence that he will win the election and has enough states in the bag to reach the magic number of 270 electoral votes. His statement came as he was projected to win the critical battleground states of Michigan and Wisconsin, taking his tally to 253. He also holds narrow leads in swing states of Nevada and Arizona, while President Donald Trump leads in Pennsylvania, Georgia and North Carolina.
Biden’s victory in the two swing states is a big setback to Trump, as these were states he had managed to win four years ago. Wisconsin has 10 electoral votes, while Michigan has 16. “When the count is finished, we believe we will be the winners,” Biden said in his hometown of Wilmington, as he stressed that “every vote must be counted,” contravening President Trump, whose campaign has asked a court to suspend the tabulation of votes in Michigan and Pennsylvania, claiming lack of transparency, and has sought a recount in Wisconsin.
Biden has also won at least three of four of Maine’s electoral votes, according to projections, to widen his slim lead over Trump in the race to reach 270 votes needed to win the presidential election. In an incredible reversal of fortunes, the former vice-president has also taken a sudden lead in Michigan. Biden’s campaign has said its legal teams are “ready to deploy” if Trump presses ahead with his “outrageous” threat to move the Supreme Court to stop election counting. In a statement, Biden campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon called Trump’s statement that he will “be going to the US Supreme Court” and that he wants “all voting to stop” “outrageous, unprecedented and incorrect”.
Trump and Biden are now focused on the three Northern industrial states — Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania — that could prove crucial in determining who wins the White House. Four years after Trump became the first Republican in a generation to capture that trio of states, they were again positioned to influence the outcome of the presidential election. Trump earlier won prezed-satte Florida and Biden won Arizona, another key battleground, which expanded his possible pathways to victory.
Speaking amid a nail-biter of an election, Joe Biden earlier said it was not over till every vote was counted and they believed that they were on track to win polls. Addressing a crowd in Delaware, Biden said: “We feel good about where we are. We’re on track to win this election. It’s not over till every vote, every ballot is counted. We are confident about Arizona, that’s a turnaround, and still in the game in Georgia. We’re gonna win Pennsylvania, but it will take time to count votes.” His statement drew a reaction from President Donald Trump who said he would address people tonight. “We are up BIG, but they are trying to STEAL the Election. We will never let them do it. Votes cannot be cast after the Polls are closed!,” he tweeted. However, his tweet was red-flagged and hidden by Twitter as ‘misleading’.
Joe Biden has taken the lead over his Republican counterpart with 220 votes, while Donald Trump is just 7 votes behind him at 213. Voters under 30 years old across the Midwest are swinging toward Joe Biden, according to preliminary exit polling by CNN. Biden earned support from around 6 in 10 voters under 30 years old in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Trump earned support from about 1 in 3 voters under 30 years old, the early exit polls show. Hillary Clinton won young voters in all three states by single digits in 2016, while Biden currently leads by significantly more than that. White voters with a college degree are also shifting slightly toward Biden, according to the early exit polls. Biden captured a double-digit lead with the group in Michigan and Pennsylvania; Clinton didn’t win this group in either state in 2016. Early returns could suggest a strong night for either President Trump or former Vice President Joe Biden but this year more than most, it’s important to emphasize that these returns are early.
And the mail-in votes, a larger portion of votes in this pandemic year, could prove decisive in each of these states. In Florida in 2018, mail-in votes made the governor’s race tighten substantially in the days after Election Day. In Arizona, another close battleground state, the 2018 Senate race saw a decisive lead change after Election Day and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, a Democrat, won the race.
Democratic candidate Joe Biden today said if he was elected to power, “there will be no red states or blue states, just the United States”. Republican incumbent President Donald Trump and Biden on Tuesday ended their most divisive and bitter election campaign with fervent appeals on social media to the undecided Americans to vote for them as they pledged to take the country out of the woods. The November 3 presidential election has been billed as one of the most divisive in recent American history. The election is already setting records for turnout, and perhaps no two candidates are more at odds over the future of the country and the direction they want to take it in.
Trump, 74, toured the key voting battlegrounds of Wisconsin, Michigan, North Carolina and Pennsylvania on Monday while his 77-year-old rival campaigned in Pennsylvania and Ohio, urging Americans to back them in the race for the White House. “To all of our supporters: thank you from the bottom of my heart. You have been there from the beginning, and I will never let you down. Your hopes are my hopes, your dreams are my dreams, and your future is what I am fighting for every single day!” Trump tweeted past mid-night. “A vote for Sleepy Joe Biden is a vote to give control of government over to Globalists, Communists, Socialists, and Wealthy Liberal Hypocrites who want to silence, censor, cancel, and punish you. Get out and VOTE #MAGA tomorrow!” the president wrote in another tweet, attacking Biden.
The Republican Party in a tweet said, “Let’s Make America Great Again and re-elect our fantastic president! We made history together four years ago, and tomorrow we’re going to make history once again,” the ruling party said. Biden, the former US vice president, said he was “running as a proud Democrat, but I will govern as an American president.” “I will work with Democrats and Republicans, and I’ll work as hard for those who don’t support me as for those who do.
“Because that’s the job of a president,” he wrote. He pointed out that under President Trump, over “230,000 Americans have died from COVID-19, 30 million people have lost hours, paychecks, or jobs and nearly one in five small businesses have closed.” “Are you better off than you were four years ago?” Biden asked the voters.
If elected as president, Bien said he will rebuild the infrastructure, combat climate change and create millions of good-paying and union jobs. “It’s time to build back better together,” Biden said.
National polls suggest a firm lead for Biden in Tuesday’s election. But his lead is narrower in the handful of states that could decide the result.
Nearly 99 million people have already cast their ballots in early voting, putting the country on course for its highest turnout in a century. To be elected president, a candidate must win at least 270 votes in what is called the Electoral College. Each US state gets a certain number of votes partly based on its population and there are a total of 538 up for grabs on Tuesday.
The election comes amid the raging coronavirus pandemic. The US has recorded more cases and more deaths than any other country worldwide, reporting more than 81,000 new infections on Sunday alone. The US has reported over 231,500 deaths and more than 9,292,000 confirmed cases, according to Johns Hopkins COVID-19 tracker, making the country the worst-hit nation from the deadly virus.
The US economy saw record-breaking 33 per cent growth in the third financial quarter of this year, following a record 31 per cent contraction in the second quarter due to the huge damage inflicted by the pandemic.
What’s Happening in Arizona’s Key Maricopa County?
The Guardian reports that sheriff’s deputies have been stationed inside an elections center as a group of protesters gathered outside. Voting has been going on in the district and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s lead has continued to shrink in Arizona. Several protesters could be seen donning ‘Make America Great Again’ caps and a few were holding signs alleging fraud in the counting, according to The Guardian.
Biden Re-establishing ‘Blue Wall’ in Race for Presidency | Democrat Joe Biden was inching closer to the 270 Electoral College votes needed to carry the White House, pocketing victories in the blue wall battlegrounds of Wisconsin and Michigan, and narrowing President Donald Trump’s path. With just a handful of states still up for grabs, Trump tried to press his case in court in some key swing states, It was unclear if any of his campaign’s legal maneuvering over balloting would succeed in shifting the race in his favor. Two days after Election Day, neither candidate had amassed the votes needed to win the White House. But Bidens victories in the Great Lakes states left him at 264, meaning he was one battleground state away any would do from becoming president-elect, AP reports.
Biden’s Lead Continues to Shrink in Arizona | “You have to count all the votes and it takes time…,” says CNN’s Chris Cuomo and adds that the state of Arizona is still up for play. Meanwhile, Arizona’s Maricopa County will announce its next batch of ballot results closer to 1:30 a.m. ET/11:30 p.m. MT, a spokesperson told CNN. “Staff at the @maricopacounty Elections Department will continue our job, which is to administer elections in the second largest voting jurisdiction in the county. We will release results again tonight as planned. We thank the @mcsoaz for doing their job, so we can do ours,” Maricopa County Elections Department tweeted.
The Electoral College Map According to CNN | Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is ahead in the presidential race with 253 electoral votes while Trump has, so far, secured 213 electoral votes. CNN says that it’s still too close to call the results in these six states — Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania. However, according to AP, Biden is just one state away from win with 264 electoral votes in his bag,
The Polls Underestimated Donald Trump — Again. Nobody Agrees on Why | As the results rolled in Tuesday night, so did a strong sense of déjà vu. Pre-election polls, it appeared, had been misleading once again. While the nation awaits final results from Pennsylvania, Arizona and other key states, it is already clear — no matter who ends up winning — that the industry failed to fully account for the missteps that led it to underestimate Donald Trump’s support four years ago. And it raises the question of whether the polling industry, which has become a national fixation in an era of data journalism and statistical forecasting, can survive yet another crisis of confidence, NYT reports. In some states where polls had projected Trump losing narrowly — like Ohio, Iowa and Florida — he had already been declared the winner by a comfortable margin by late Tuesday evening. And in states that had seemed more than likely to go for Joe Biden, like Michigan and Nevada, the result was too close to call last night. Read more.
We Feel ‘Impenetrable’ to Potential Trump Lawsuit: Nevada Attorney General | Arizona’s Democratic attorney general Aaron Ford told CNN:”We feel quite invulnerable, if you take a look at the track record we’ve already established against Mr. Trump.” He added that President Trump had already sued the state around three times. “Each time my office has been able to work with our local district attorney … and defeat those lawsuits,” Ford was quoted as saying. It was earlier reported that President Trump’s campaign is considering taking legal action in Arizona and Nevada as votes are still being counted, two sources told CNN.
Pennsylvania County Finishes Counting Mail-in and Absentee Votes | Allegheny County, home to Pittsburgh, says it has finished tabulating mail-in and absentee ballots. County spokesperson Amie Downs told CNN that it tabulated 313,072 absentee and mail-in votes. Downs said the county will resume tabulating several precincts’ worth of in-person votes later Thursday morning.
Fox’s Arizona Call for Biden Flipped the Mood at Trump Headquarters | With Florida looking red early on Tuesday night, President Donald Trump and his advisers thought they were witnessing a repeat of election night 2016, when a victory in Florida foreshadowed a victory overall. The mirage of victory was pierced when Fox News called Arizona for former Vice President Joe Biden at 11:20 p.m., with just 73% of the state’s vote counted, New York Times reported.
US Democrats, Seeking Gains in State Governments, Lose Ground Instead | Democrats entered the 2020 U.S. elections looking to roll back much of the commanding presence Republicans had in state governments, but instead wound up losing ground as votes were counted. Republicans won majorities in both chambers of the New Hampshire State House and took back the Montana governor’s mansion, which had been held by a retiring Democrat. Greg Gianforte’s win in Montana over Democrat Mike Cooney gave Republicans 27 of the country’s 50 governorships. Republicans will wind up with at least the 59 state legislative chambers they held going into Election Day, but the final tally depends on Arizona where the results are still incomplete.
About 14,000 Ballots Left to Count in Georgia’s Fulton County | Fulton County elections director Richard Barron told CNN his staff and volunteers have about 14,000 mail-in ballots left to be counted, adding they have been counting at a rate of about 3,000 ballots per hour. His team, many of whom have been working since 8 a.m. ET, have so far counted 127,948 ballots and adjudicated 123,716, he added.
Tight Competition, Trump’s Vote Margin Further Narrows in Georgia | Vote margin narrows further between Trump and Biden in Georgia, down to 23,000. A total of 127,019 absentee ballots were processed. The DeKalb county’s final tally was roughly 83% for Biden and 16% for Trump.
The votes were briefly added to his unofficial totals on an election map because of a typo in a small Michigan county that was caught and corrected in roughly half an hour.
Where Does the Vote Count Stand in Pennsylvania? With 71% of mail-in ballots counted in Pennsylvania, officials still need to count 7,63,000 of the 2.6 million cast, according to the state’s official website. Major updates are expected from both Philadelphia County, the largest in the state, and Allegheny County, home to Pittsburgh, before the night is over. In Philadelphia County, a major Democratic stronghold, 120,000 mail-in ballots remain uncounted. Seventy percent of those ballots were cast by registered Democrats while 20% were cast by registered Republicans.
Counts Close in Pennsylvania, Georgia & Arizona; Biden Narrows Gap | The counts are close in Pennsylvania, Georgia and Arizona, as officials continue tabulating ballots. Trump is leading in Pennsylvania and Georgia, but Biden is narrowing the gap. The AP and other news organizations, including Fox News declared Biden the victor in Arizona yesterday – a remarkable win for the Democrat in a traditionally Republican bastion. But as the state processed more ballots today, Biden’s lead has shrunk to 79,000 votes. ‘ v:shapes=”
President Donald Trump carried all three of the so-called “Blue Wall’’ states in 2016 and they are pivotal battlegrounds again this year.
Deputies Stationed Inside Elections Centre As Protestors Gathered Outside | In Maricopa county, Arizona, sheriff’s deputies have stationed inside an elections center while protestors crowded outside. Vote counting is ongoing in this key district, as Joe Biden has maintained a narrowing lead in Arizona. Local reporters noticed some protestors were armed. Many wore “Make America Great Again” hats and some carried signs baselessly alleging fraud. The Associated Press and other news organizations including Fox News declared Biden the victor in Arizona yesterday, but Trump has been inching closer to a tie.
Why Georgia Matters? There are 16 electoral votes at stake in Georgia and there is no winner from the state yet. So far Joe Biden is leading the race for the presidency with 253 electoral votes. President Trump has 213 electoral votes. The candidates each need 270 electoral votes to win the presidency.
DeKalb County in Georgia Finishes Counting, Biden Leads | DeKalb County, Georgia, a large Democratic stronghold just outside Atlanta, finished counting its last absentee ballots just after midnight. A total of 127,019 absentee ballots were processed. The county’s final tally was roughly 83% for Biden and 16% for Trump. Fulton County, Georgia’s most populated county, meanwhile is still counting votes. At last check, 17,000 votes remained uncounted in that county.
What is Happening in these States?
Pennsylvania | Here Trump leads Biden by 164,000 votes, with uncounted ballots remaining in Democrat-leaning Philadelphia county.
Georgia | Trump is leading by about 28,000 voters – with counting ongoing.
Arizona | Biden is leading by 79,000 votes – but Trump has been narrowing the gap.
Indian-origin Millionaire Thanedar Elected to Michigan State Legislature in US | Kachru Houston: Shri Thanedar, an Indian-origin millionaire businessman who ran for Governor two years ago, has been elected to the House of Representatives in Michigan with 93 per cent votes. Thanedar, 65, also a scientist, raised a record-breaking USD 438,620, primarily from his own wealth, in the state House primary against six other opponents of the Democratic Party. The former gubernatorial hopeful cashed in on his high name familiarity after he moved from Ann Arbor to Detroit after losing the 2018 primary. His campaign two years ago featured a heavy dose of “Shri for We” television ads. He won from the 3rd District of Michigan with 93 per cent of the total votes.
Georgia’s most populated county will continue to count the votes through the night, tallying the last tranche of the remaining absentee ballots, CNN reports. Notably, officials in Fulton County momentarily considered restarting the count on Thursday, but county spokesperson Regina Waller told CNN that workers would continue counting until the process was finished was complete. According to CNN, latest check, 17,000 Fulton County votes were yet to be counted.
Over 90,000 Ballots are Still Uncounted in Georgia: State Official | There are approximately 90,735 ballots still outstanding in Georgia, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s office told CNN. His office won’t be providing additional updates today detailing how many remaining votes there are to count across the state.
‘Stop the Steal’ Protestors Clashed with ‘Count the Vote’ Protestors | Trump supporters and right-wing “Stop the Steal” protestors clashed with “Count the Vote” protestors outside the Clark County Election headquarters in Las Vegas. Donald Trump and Joe Biden are running neck and neck in Nevada as officials continue to tabulate vote counts. Biden leads by less than one point, and the state could decide this election.
Trump Maintains a Lead in Pennysylvania, Biden Needs 59% Votes to Turn State Blue | As many as 89% of votes in Pennysylvania are in and Trump is maintaining a lead over his rival. However, there are still 7,65,000 uncounted votes in Pennsylvania. Joe Biden needs to win 59% to 61% of these to turn the state blue while Trump needs 39% to 41% of the uncounted votes to win, CNN reports.
Biden Maintaining Lead in Arizona | New results from Maricopa County are beginning to come in, with Biden maintaining a lead. This is just the beginning in Arizona, as 600,000 votes are still outstanding.
Philadelphia City Officials Still Counting Ballots, No Timeline | Philadelphia city officials said the city was still counting ballots in Tuesday’s presidential election and did not give a timeline on when they expect results. City Commissioner Lisa Deeley said roughly 141,000 out of 351,069 mail ballots have been counted. She said city officials were “segregating” ballots received after polls closed.
The Trump campaign, whose path to victory was narrowing, said that it would seek a recount in Wisconsin and then announced that it had taken legal action seeking to halt the vote count in Michigan,…
Georgia Could be Next Trump Target for Recount | A source familiar with the matter told CNN that if Georgia is close, “of course” the Trump camp will ask for a recount if he loses. It’s currently a 33,000 vote margin and there’s around 90,000 remaining to be counted.
