Biden poised to win White House after divisive election

WASHINGTON, United States – Democrat Joe Biden came close to winning the White House after taking the lead in the potentially decisive state of Pennsylvania, as President Donald Trump showed no signs of being about to back down in the disputed race.

Trump’s Republican Party moved to escalate the fight before the Supreme Court and the president himself vowed to challenge the results by citing “illegal ballots,” while not repeating his inflammatory claim that the Democrats were trying to “steal” the vote.

Pennsylvania, and its 20 electoral votes, would be enough for Biden, 77, to exceed the magic number of 270 votes in the Electoral College, which determines the race for the White House.

In a show of confidence in the Democratic field, Biden was planning a speech to the nation Friday night from his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware, where a large outdoor stage had been set up in preparation.

With 96 percent of the votes counted in Pennsylvania, Biden had opened a 14,500-vote lead over the Republican incumbent, according to state election results.

Biden currently has at least 253 electoral votes and leads in three other states, Arizona, Georgia and Nevada, where the ballots for Tuesday’s hard-fought election continue to be counted.

In an extraordinary 17-minute appearance at the White House on Thursday, Trump made unsubstantiated allegations of voter fraud and claimed that he, not Biden, had won the race.

“They are trying to steal the election,” Trump said.

The 74-year-old president appeared to adopt a softer tone in a statement on Friday, but continued to threaten to challenge the results in court.

“This is no longer a one-time election,” Trump said.

“It’s about the integrity of our entire electoral process,” he said, vowing to exhaust all legal avenues to ensure that “all legal ballots must be counted and all illegal ballots must not be counted.”

“I will never stop fighting for you and our nation.”

– ‘To unify’ –

If Biden’s victory is confirmed, the former Delaware senator would be sworn in on January 20, 2021 as the 46th president of the United States.

Her running mate, California Sen. Kamala Harris, 56, would be the first black woman to become vice president and the first of South Asian descent.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the top Democrat in Congress, said Biden would help unite the country after Trump’s polarized presidency.

“Joe Biden is a unifier because he is determined to bring people together,” Pelosi said.

Trump’s statement came several hours after his campaign attorney general, Matt Morgan, said the election “is not over.”

“The false projection of Joe Biden as a winner is based on results in four states that are far from final,” Morgan said.

Morgan alleged that ballots had been “incorrectly” cast in Georgia, where a recount was expected, and Nevada, and claimed Republican vote counting observers had been denied access in Pennsylvania.

The Biden campaign responded to the Trump campaign with a statement tinged with sarcasm.

“As we said on July 19, the American people will decide this election,” he said. “And the US government is perfectly capable of escorting intruders out of the White House.”

With a Biden victory increasingly likely, the US Secret Service increased its protective bubble around the former vice president, sending an additional squad of agents to his campaign headquarters in Wilmington, The Washington Post reported.

– ‘Far from ending’ –

Amid mounting concerns about the possibility of unrest if Trump refuses to budge, attention turned to the reaction of his Republican Party.

Pennsylvania Republicans asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday to stop counting late ballots in the state.

The latest appeal of an emergency court order asked the court to freeze the processing of thousands of mailed ballots, most believed to favor Biden, which arrived after Election Day Tuesday, which Republicans say they should be disqualified.

Mail-in ballots have tended to lean heavily towards Democrats, who used them more than Republicans for fear of exposure to Covid-19 in crowded polling stations.

Meanwhile, several prominent Republicans rallied behind Trump.

“Far from over,” Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the House Republican minority leader, tweeted. “The Republicans will not back down from this battle.”

“I think everything should be on the table,” Sen. Lindsey Graham said when asked if the Pennsylvania Republican-led legislature should refuse to certify the results.

Other top Republicans denounced Trump’s comments, including Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, the only Republican member of the Senate to vote to convict the president at his impeachment earlier this year.

“The president has the right to request recounts, to request an investigation of alleged wrongdoing where there is evidence,” said Romney.

“You are wrong to say that the elections were rigged, corrupted and stolen; doing so damages the cause of freedom here and around the world, weakens the institutions that lie at the base of the Republic and recklessly ignites destructive and dangerous passions.”

Republican Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania also distanced himself from Trump’s comments, telling the “Today” show that “the allegations of large-scale fraud and election theft are simply not substantiated.”

The powerful leader of the Republican majority in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, made a nuanced statement.

“This is how this should work in our great country: Every legal vote must be counted,” McConnell said. “Any ballot sent illegally should not do so.

“All parties must come to observe the process. And the courts are here to enforce the laws and resolve disputes. “

In addition to Pennsylvania, Biden has also leapt ahead of Trump in a once-reliable Republican Georgia, with an advantage of about 1,600 votes.

Biden has a 40,000-vote lead in Arizona, which Trump won in 2016, and a 20,000-vote lead in Nevada.

The victories in Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and Pennsylvania would give Biden 306 of the 538 Electoral College votes, the exact number Trump won in his surprise victory over Hillary Clinton.

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