Joe Biden, the Democratic presidential candidate for the United States, continued his slow but steady march toward the White House on Wednesday when President Donald Trump launched a multi-pronged effort to prolong the outcome through recount demands in Wisconsin and demands to halt. or challenge the votes. in Michigan, Pennsylvania and, just when the race seemed tight, Georgia.
Biden picked Michigan, the second of the Blue Wall states Trump had won in 2016, raising his electoral college vote count to 264, just six short of the 270 threshold, down from Trump’s 214. president in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Georgia on the AP tracker.
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The Democrat was well positioned to end the race if only Nevada won, with six electoral college votes. Or he could just wait for Pennsylvania to count all of its initial votes, most of which were Democrats and in sufficient numbers to outnumber the president, whose lead in Georgia was also shrinking, presenting Biden with another path to 270.
“After a long night of counting, it is clear that we are winning in enough states to reach the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency,” Biden said in a short speech in Wilmington, Delaware, with vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris alongside. next to him. But he added that “I was not here to declare that I have won.”
“I’m here to report that when the count is over, I think I will be the winner.”
The Democrat also made it clear that he was not going to shy away from a fight with Trump to make sure all the votes were counted. “Now every vote must be counted. No one is going to take away our democracy. Not now. Never.”
This was in stark contrast to President Trump’s untimely victory last night at a stage where he was generally ahead on the electoral map, but with millions of votes pending that had not been counted. He then also revealed his plan to take the battle to court in a clear sign that he suspected his chances for re-election had faced increasing odds.
Shortly after resuming the count on Wednesday morning, Biden began to bridge the gap between himself and Trump in the Blue Wall states, soon leading Trump in Wisconsin and Michigan, and the AP called Arizona for him. Suddenly the race seemed to wane.
The Trump campaign later announced that it was calling for a vote recount in Wisconsin, citing “reports of wrongdoing.” He followed up with the announcement of a lawsuit in Michigan to stop the count until the campaign had “meaningful access” to the count locations.
And then came the lawsuit in Georgia, a Republican-ruled state, shortly after it announced new tally numbers that showed a narrow run. This lawsuit claimed that a Republican observer had seen 53 ballots (yes, only 53) added to the tally stacks after the close of voting.
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