2020 US Election: Roughly one third of the Senate is up for grabs.
Polls in U.S. battlefield states began closing on Tuesday, bringing the contest between President Donald Trump and Joe Biden to an exciting conclusion, following a contest fought under unprecedented pandemic conditions. global and the most deeply divided electorate in decades.
At 7:00 pm (0000 GMT), voting ended in Indiana, Kentucky, South Carolina, Virginia, Vermont and also Georgia, a previously rock-solid Republican state that Biden’s Democrats hope to change.
The first results are coming in, and the US media is projecting victories for the Republican incumbent so far in Indiana, Kentucky and West Virginia, all the states he won in 2016. Biden has captured Vermont and Virginia.
So far, that gives Trump 24 electoral votes to 16 for Biden. The magic number is 270. Observers hope that the disputed race for the White House will be reduced to a handful of key states on the battlefield.
Parts of Florida, an even bigger voter prize that routinely sees razor-edge elections, also closed at 7:00 p.m. The polls in the rest of the state and also in Pennsylvania, another zero point in the presidential races of the United States, closed at 8:00 pm (0100 GMT).
What was not immediately expected was a final verdict on whether Trump gets another four years or whether Biden removes him from the White House.
Barring upheaval in key states, that may not happen until all the swing states have counted their votes, something that in Pennsylvania’s case could easily drag on to at least Wednesday.
This year’s count has been slowed by the unprecedented use of mail-in ballots in response to coronavirus fears. More than 100 million Americans had already cast their votes before Election Day.
The 74-year-old Trump expressed his confidence as the evening approached, tweeting in all his capital letters: “WE SEE VERY GOOD ALL OVER THE COUNTRY. THANK YOU!”
WE ARE VERY GOOD THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY. THANKS!
– Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 3, 2020
He was watching the results roll in at the White House, surrounded by staff. It was unclear if he would speak to the public at some point, but he said early Tuesday that he was not yet “thinking of a concession or acceptance speech.”
“Winning is easy,” he said. “Losing is never easy, not for me.”
Biden, huddled with his family at their home in Delaware, also said voting patterns during the day seemed to favor his side.
“What I hear is that there is an overwhelming turnout. And an overwhelming turnout, particularly from young people, from women, and an overwhelming turnout from African American voters, particularly in Georgia and Florida, over 65,” he told reporters.
“The things that are happening bode well for the base that has been supporting me.”
Election in dispute?
Trump has repeatedly refused to confirm that he will accept the election results, a first for a US president. He argues, without offering evidence, that the large number of mail-in ballots could be used to rig the polls against him.
In the run-up to Election Day, Trump was especially focused on Pennsylvania, which allows ballots postmarked on Election Day to be counted, even if they arrive later.
“The whole world is waiting,” Trump said early Tuesday.
“You can’t delay these things for many days,” he said, disturbingly adding that “a lot of bad things can happen.”
“We should have the right to know who won on November 3,” he said.
However, he did dampen fears that he will try to declare victory prematurely, telling Fox News that he will only declare “when there is victory.”
“There is no reason to play,” he said.
‘Scary’
Americans couldn’t be more divided on Trump.
For some, it represents a breath of fresh air that brought their entrepreneurial instincts to shake the Washington establishment. For the other half of the country, he is a corrupt leader who ruined America’s reputation abroad and fueled dangerous racist and nationalist sentiments at home.
In Miami, Juan Carlos Bertran, a 60-year-old Cuban-American mechanic, said that Trump “seems better to me for the country’s economy.”
“Now I have two jobs,” he said. “Before I only had one.”
But while voting in New York, Megan Byrnes-Borderan, 35, said that Trump’s threats to question the election results in court were “terrifying.”
“I think Trump will go through all the difficulties to try to win the election,” he said.
Another New York voter, Justin Rodriguez, 32, said he was voting for Biden. “I really don’t like the tension,” he said. “I think Trump has brought a lot more tension than we usually have.”
Fearing riots, store owners boarded up windows in Washington and other major cities.
Covid issue
Biden has pointed to widespread public disapproval of Trump’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has killed more than 230,000 Americans.
Trump, who quickly recovered from his own attack with the virus in October, is betting that Americans want to leave the crisis behind and reopen the economy entirely. Biden, by contrast, preaches caution and accuses the president of having abandoned his basic responsibilities.
“We end the chaos! We end the tweets, the anger, the hatred, the failure, the irresponsibility,” Biden said at a rally on the eve of the election in Cleveland, Ohio.
Covid-19 fears fueled the large influx of early voters, encouraged by Biden. Trump has responded by holding dozens of mass election rallies without social distancing, underscoring his message that it is time to move on.
Roughly a third of the Senate is up for grabs, and Republicans risk losing their 53-47 majority.
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