Donald Trump threatens to make the Supreme Court stop counting; Mr. Biden expresses optimism that he will reach the magic figure of 270; counting of mailed votes continues in key states.
With mailed votes still counting in key ‘battlefield states’ through the night of November 3, neither US President Donald Trump nor Democratic candidate Joe Biden emerged victorious after a fierce election. for the presidency of a deeply conflictive and polarized country.
On Wednesday morning, Americans – some clouded-eyed, some frustrated, some resigned, and some hopeful – braced for days of uncertainty and legal battles over results.
Results of the American elections | live updates
The country is in the middle of a terrible pandemic with about 2.35,000 deaths and high levels of unemployment.
Although local governments and the private sector prepared for civil unrest before Election Day, no major incidents of violence were reported.
Participation record
Turnout was expected to be 65%, the highest in more than 120 years according to the election data tracker, the US Elections Project.A record of more than 100 million Americans voted early, including by mail.
Despite both candidates still having a chance to win all 270 of the 538 Electoral College votes needed to win, Trump prematurely and falsely declared victory at 2.30am Wednesday.
“This is a fraud against the American public. This is a shame for our country. We were preparing to win this election, “Trump said, adding that he would go to the Supreme Court to stop” voting. ” [counting].
Biden expressed optimism that he could still win the race. “I’m here to tell you tonight, we believe we are on our way to winning this election,” he told supporters in Wilmington, Delaware, on Tuesday night.
Follow trends and results live on our interactive map here.
“As I’ve said all along, it’s not my place or Donald Trump’s to declare who has won this election,” Biden said.
“That is the decision of the American people.”
Also read: What could happen if the result of the US elections is disputed?
Biden’s campaign manager, Jen O’Malley Dillon, sent an email shortly before 4 a.m. Wednesday, saying that Biden’s camp would counter any legal challenge to the count by Trump.
The battle for the White House was still in progress near noon Wednesday, and results for key key states have yet to be announced. The Associated Press declared Mr. Biden the Arizona winner at 2.50am Wednesday (while some other agencies continued to feature Mr. Biden at the helm, but did not call the state).
Trump held onto Florida, a state the winner has chosen in the last six presidential elections. Democrats invested heavily in campaigning in Florida and hoped to win their 29 Electoral College votes. With his loss, the journey to 270 became more difficult for Biden.
An election official creates a duplicate absentee ballot, which is evaluated by two officials for consistency, after the original is rejected by the sorting machine at a central counting facility on Election Day in Kenosha, Wisconsin, USA. On November 3, 2020. | Photo credit: REUTERS
In addition to doing well with white voters in the state, Trump was backed by Latinos, including Cuban Americans and Puerto Ricans according to exit polls. While Biden won Miami-Dade County, where there is a concentration of Latinos, Trump ate his share of the vote there.
Trump also held back Ohio and Iowa. He finished strong in Texas, which Democrats hoped to win based on the fact that about 60% of the Red State electorate cast early votes; Democrats tend to vote early compared to Republicans, who tend to vote on Election Day. However, the state had not significantly expanded voting by mail.
Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, “Blue Wall” states that walked away from Democrats in 2016 and brought Trump to the White House, were still up for grabs as of mid-morning (Washington time) on Wednesday. In the early afternoon, with a lead of about 20,000, Mr. Biden appeared to be on track to win Wisconsin with his 10 electoral votes. The Trump campaign announced that they would seek a recount in the state.
Both candidates intensively wooed voters in Pennsylvania in the final week of the campaign, with their sights set on the state’s 20 Electoral College votes. The state is a mix of rural areas that support Trump and urban and suburban areas where Democrats are strong. The president had a very small majority over Hillary Clinton in 2016, changing a state that had voted Democrats since 1998.
On Wednesday, Trump outscored Biden in Pennsylvania by nearly 10 percentage points at the time of writing. However, hundreds of thousands of votes were still being counted; the state has until the end of Friday to complete the count.
In Michigan, with 94% of the scrutiny done and ballots sent by mail still being counted, Biden got ahead of Trump, winning 49.3% of the vote versus 49.6% of Trump’s votes versus the of Trump. 48.7% at the time of presentation of this report. The president had changed this long-time blue status in 2016, but Biden had the lead in the state in opinion polls as of Tuesday.
“Most likely, Biden won, we just have to finish counting all the legally cast votes,” said Michael McDonald, a professor of political science at the University of Florida who leads the US Election Project. The Hindu by email on Wednesday morning. The Hindu He had asked McDonald what it would take for Biden or Trump to win.
Republicans will likely retain the Senate and Democrats, the House
All 435 seats in the United States House of Representatives, currently controlled by Democrats, were ready for re-election. Democrats were expected to retain control of the House, which they took away from Republicans in the 2018 midterm elections. At the time of this report, Republicans had invested 7 seats, a net gain of 5, and Democrats had invested 2 seats.
In the 100-member United States Senate, where the Republican Party has a 53-47 majority, 35 seats were available for re-election. Republicans are expected to maintain control of the Senate, with Democrats trading two seats (Colorado, Arizona) for a net gain of one seat, while Republicans trading one seat (Alabama).
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