US elections: Donald Trump v Joe Biden – the race to be president

Joe Biden said in a television speech that he has amassed more than 74 million votes.

His team was on track to be the first Democrat to win Arizona for the first time in 24 years.

“We are going to win this race,” Biden said.

He spoke about Trump’s claims of election manipulation and attempts to stop the vote counting.

“Your vote will be counted. I don’t care how much people try to stop it. I will not let it happen. People will be heard,” he said.

“Our journey is toward a more perfect union and it continues to move forward. In America, we have strong opinions, we have strong disagreements, and that’s okay.

“Strong disagreements are inevitable in a democracy. Strong disagreements are healthy. They are a sign of vigorous debate of deeply held views, but we must remember that the purpose of our politics is not totally implacable in war.

“No, the purpose of our policy, the nation’s job is not to fan the flames of conflict but to solve problems.

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“Guarantee justice, give everyone a fair chance and improve the lives of our people. We can be opponents but not enemies, we are Americans.”

Biden said he will be the first Democrat to win Arizona in 24 years and the first in Georgia in 28 years.

He also asked for patience since votes are not counted.

“We have rebuilt the blue wall in the middle of the country that collapsed just a few years ago. Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, the heart of this nation,” he said.

“I know that watching these vote counts on television moves very slowly and is as low as possible, it can be overwhelming.

“But never forget, the counts are not just numbers, they represent votes and voters.

“Men and women exercising their fundamental rights to have their voices heard. And what is clear every hour is that a record number of Americans of all races, creeds and religions chose change over more of the same.”

Biden had leads in Pennsylvania, Nevada and Georgia, putting him in a stronger position to capture the 270 Electoral College votes needed to take the White House. The winner will lead a country facing a number of historic challenges, including the growing pandemic and deep political polarization.

The focus is on Pennsylvania, where Biden leads Trump by more than 16,000 votes, and Nevada, where he leads by about 22,000. Americans spent a third full day after the election not knowing who will run them for the next four years. The lengthy process added to anxiety for a nation whose racial and cultural divisions were fueled during the heated campaign.

The Trump campaign remains silent, a dramatic difference from yesterday, when he held a morning conference call to project confidence and held a series of hastily organized press conferences to announce litigation in key states.

A handful of states remain: Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Nevada are too early to call. In all four states, the margins between Trump and Biden are too narrow and the number of ballots left to count is too great to declare a winner.

In Pennsylvania, officials were unable to begin processing mail-in ballots until Election Day under state law. In Nevada, there were a series of provisional votes cast by voters who registered on Election Day, and officials had to verify their eligibility. And the counts could start in both Pennsylvania and Georgia.

With his path to reelection rapidly narrowing, Trump tested how far he could go by using the trappings of presidential power to undermine confidence in the vote.

On Thursday (US time), he filed unsubstantiated allegations of election fraud to falsely argue that his rival was trying to seize power. It was an extraordinary effort on the part of a sitting American president to cast doubt on the democratic process.

“This is a case where they’re trying to steal an election, they’re trying to rig an election,” Trump said from the podium in the White House meeting room.

He took to Twitter late on Friday to promise more legal action, tweeting: “Joe Biden should not unfairly claim the president’s office. I could make that claim too. Legal proceedings are just beginning!”

In fact, Trump claimed he won, late on election night. He also tweeted that he had “such a huge lead in all of these states until late on election night, only to see the clues miraculously disappear as the days went by,” although it was well known that votes cast before the day of the elections were still legally counted.

Biden spent Thursday trying to ease tensions and project a more traditional image of presidential leadership. After participating in a press conference on the coronavirus, he declared that “every ballot must be counted.”

“I ask everyone to stay calm. The process is working,” Biden said. “It is the will of the voters. Nobody, nobody else, elects the president of the United States of America.”

Trump’s erroneous assertions about the integrity of the election challenged Republicans now faced with a decision to break with a president who, although his grip on his office tightened, garnered sky-high approval ratings from rank-and-file members of the Republican Party. . That was especially true for those considering their own presidential race in 2024.

Maryland Republican Governor Larry Hogan, a potential presidential hopeful who has often criticized Trump, said unequivocally: “There is no defense for the President’s comments tonight that undermine our Democratic process. The United States is counting the votes, and we must respect the results as we always have. before. “

But others were more contentious on behalf of the president. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, in an interview with Fox News, falsely insisted that Trump “won” the election and claimed that illegal votes were being counted.

“All who are listening, do not shut up, do not be silent about this. We cannot allow this to happen before our eyes,” he said. “Join us and let’s stop this.”

Senator Josh Hawley also supported Trump’s claims, tweeting “If the last 24 hours have made anything clear, it’s that we need new electoral integrity laws NOW.”

The Trump campaign engaged in a number of legal activities, saying it would seek a recount in Wisconsin and that it had filed lawsuits in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Georgia.

But the judges of the three states quickly rejected the legal actions. Instead, a federal judge who was asked to stop the counting of votes in Philadelphia forced the two sides to reach an agreement without an order on the number of observers allowed.

“Really, can’t we just be responsible adults here and come to terms?” said an exasperated United States District Judge Paul Diamond during an emergency hearing Thursday night. “The whole thing could [soon] be debatable. “

The Trump campaign said it was confident the president would finally win a victory in Arizona, where votes are still counting, including in Maricopa County, the most populous area of ​​the state. The AP has declared Biden the winner in Arizona.

An official winner has yet to be declared.