The Associated Press has not declared a winner in the battleground state of Pennsylvania because more than 1.5 million votes remain to be counted in the contest between President Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden. Pennsylvania is among a handful of battlefield states in which Trump and Biden are narrowly fighting as they seek the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency.
Trump, who had a 675,000 vote lead early Wednesday, prematurely declared victory in the state.
“We are winning Pennsylvania by a huge amount. We have uploaded 690,000 votes in Pennsylvania. These are not even close. It’s not like, ‘Oh, it’s close,’ ”Trump said during an appearance at the White House.
However, the vast majority of the votes that remain to be counted there were cast by mail, a form of voting that Biden has won by a wide margin. That’s likely because Trump has spent months claiming without evidence that voting by mail would lead to widespread voter fraud.
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Democrats had long viewed Pennsylvania as part of their “blue wall,” a trifecta that also includes Wisconsin and Michigan, which for years had served as a bulwark in presidential elections. In 2016, Trump each won by less than one percentage point.
Biden, who was born in Scranton, claims the status of a favorite son in the state and has long toyed with the idea that he was the “third senator” from Pennsylvania during his decades representing neighboring Delaware. He has also campaigned extensively in the state from his home in Delaware.
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