The race for the White House still hangs in the balance as votes continue to be counted in several key battleground states. Thursday could offer some fresh clarity—with new tallies expected in races that will decide whether President Donald Trump remains in office, or is replaced by Joe Biden.
However, legal challenges by the Trump campaign, along with individual state deadlines mean final results could still be days away.
In Nevada the Associated Press has said the race is too early to call, state election officials said results were expected starting at 9 a.m. local time (12 p.m. ET). Officials in Clark County, where Las Vegas is located, said an updated tally of uncounted ballots would not be released until Thursday. Counties have until Nov. 12 to finish the count, and mail-in ballots received or postmarked on Election Day and provisional ballots still need to be counted.
Biden had been expected to carry the state, though he was leading by just 0.64 percentage points with an estimated 75% of the vote counted early Thursday.
Biden saw his lead tighten in Arizona overnight with the release of new results, and officials in Maricopa County, home to Phoenix, say they will release another round of tallies Thursday at 7 p.m local time (9 p.m. ET). The AP declared that Biden flipped the state, which has reliably voted Republican in national elections for decades, though his margin was slim—2.35 percentage points—with 88% of the votes in.
About 200 pro-Trump protesters gathered at a counting site in downtown Phoenix Wednesday night, demanding that votes tallies be released and counting continue, according to the Arizona Republic.
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Trump currently leads in Georgia by 22,500 votes—less than 0.5 percentage points— with 98% of the vote counted. The Secretary of State is expected to provide updates at a 10:30 a.m. ET press conference. Trump has claimed victory in the Peach State, though the AP has not called him a winner. Some 78,000 absentee votes remained to be counted as of Wednesday night, with most from urban counties, according to an estimate by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Pennsylvania—this biggest Electoral College prize remaining—had received more than three million mail-in ballots. Officials can still receive and count ballots until Friday, as long as they are postmarked by Nov. 3, according to the AP. Trump currently leads by 164,000 votes—2.6 percentage points, with 89% of the vote counted.
On Wednesday, the AP called both Wisconsin and Michigan for Biden, as the Democratic nominee flipped the pair of key Midwestern battleground states that Trump rode to the presidency in 2016. The Trump campaign has already said it would request a recount in Wisconsin and filed suit to halt the count in Michigan, claiming it was denied access to observe the opening of ballots.
A victory in Nevada will give Biden 270 electoral votes, according to the AP; a win in North Carolina, Georgia or Pennsylvania would also put Biden over the line. Trump leads Biden in those three states, though margins in Pennsylvania and Georgia will likely narrow as more mail-in votes, which tend to skew towards the Democrats, are counted.
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On Wednesday, the President continued his false and misleading attacks on the electoral process. He wrote on Twitter: “Last night I was leading, often solidly, in many key States, in almost all instances Democrat run & controlled. Then, one by one, they started to magically disappear as surprise ballot dumps were counted.”
On late Wednesday afternoon, Biden addressed the county from Wilmington, Del. “And now, after a long night of counting, it’s clear that we’re winning enough states to reach 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency,” said Biden. “I’m not here to declare that we won. But I am here to report that when the counting is finished, we believe that we will be the winners,”
Following Biden’s Wednesday afternoon address, Trump tweeted: “We have claimed, for Electoral Vote purposes, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (which won’t allow legal observers) the State of Georgia, and the State of North Carolina, each one of which has a BIG Trump lead. Additionally, we hereby claim the State of Michigan if, in fact,…..there was a large number of secretly dumped ballots as has been widely reported.”
Lower down the ballot, House Democrats were on pace to hold their majority in the House. Tantalizingly close Senate races proved slippery for Democrats, who netted seats in Colorado and Arizona but lost one in Alabama. Republicans fended off challenges in Texas and South Carolina—expensive races that bled cash from other contests. Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa, a Republican who entered office with the promise to “make ‘em squeal,” and has since become an ally of President Donald Trump, also won a second term.
Americans have relied more heavily on absentee and mail-in-voting this election because of the coronavirus pandemic, which has made voting access an even bigger issue than normal. Election experts have stressed the importance of patience when waiting for the official vote count of all the races. The final results are determined by state and local election officials.
Democrats and Republicans have already filed hundreds of election-related lawsuits over whose votes count and how hard it is to access the polls.
Pro-Trump protesters shout opposite demands at vote counts in 2 states
Tensions flared in states where votes continue to be counted, but Trump supporters had opposing demands in Michigan and Arizona.
In Arizona some 200 protesters gathered at the Maricopa County election center yelled: “Stop the steal!” and “Fox News sucks!” in response to the network’s projection Tuesday night that Biden had won Arizona. (The AP, which TIME uses, also called Arizona for Biden, though hours later.)
“We’re not going to let this election be stolen. Period,” said Republican Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar, who joined the crowd, the AP reported.
Biden has a lead in the state, and AP has projected him to win, but the race has tightened as more votes come in.
Meanwhile, pro-Trump protesters who converged on a vote-counting center in Detroit shouted: “Stop the count!” and “Stop the vote!” The AP has declared that Biden won Michigan, but the Republican campaign has filed suit in an attempt to stop the count.
Officials in states across the nation have said every lawful vote would be counted.
Democratic Sen. Gary Peters wins in Michigan
Sen. Gary Peters won re-election to the U.S. Senate, defeating Republican businessman John James. It was one of the state’s most competitive races in decades.
The Republican incumbents lead in races in North Carolina and Georgia that remained too close to call late Wednesday. A second Georgia Senate race, for Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler’s seat, is headed for a runoff election in January.
International observers slam Trump
International election observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, here at the Trump Administration’s invitation, slammed Trump for making “baseless allegations of systemic deficiencies … on election night” that “harm public trust in democratic institutions,” Michael Georg Link, special coordinator for the mission told reporters in Washington.
The observer mission’s chief, Polish Amb. Ursula Gacek, added that voting went smoothly, “despite the pandemic, many legal and technical challenges, and deliberate attempts by the incumbent to weaken confidence in the election process.” Of Trump’s insistence that some of the ballots had gone missing, Gacek said in answer to TIME that they investigated allegations by “any candidates who raised concerns” but did not find evidence of “systemic wrongdoing.”
The OSCE mission’s preliminary report on the polls found fault with both presidential candidates for their “animosity and heated rhetoric,” but reserved particular concern for the incumbent, noting his “use of discriminatory and pejorative statements against individuals on the grounds of their gender and origin.”
A European official involved in the process tells TIME they realize the criticism will likely produce angry blowback from Trump, but that they felt they had to point out behavior they found damaging to U.S. democracy. The official spoke anonymously to discuss internal OSCE deliberations.
Biden flips Michigan: AP
The Associated Press called Michigan for Biden early Wednesday evening, handing the Democratic nominee a key 16 electoral votes that left him just six electoral votes shy of the 270 required to win the presidency. Nevada, where Biden led Trump by less than 1% on Wednesday and is still too close to call, has six electoral votes up for grabs.
Wayne County, home to Detroit and its surrounding suburbs, helped Biden flip Michigan back to the Democrats. He’s winning Michigan by about 70,500 votes; Trump won Michigan by some 10,704 votes in 2016. Biden exceeded Trump’s count in Wayne County by more than 300,000; he exceeded his lead in Michigan Wednesday as more mail-in votes were tabulated throughout the day. Before 2016, Michigan was a reliably blue stronghold: Democrats had won the state every year since 1992. Rebuilding a “blue wall” in the Upper Midwest was key to Biden’s chances; winning a foundational state like Michigan could carry Biden to victory.
Biden flips Wisconsin: AP
Biden has won the crucial battleground state of Wisconsin, and its 10 electoral votes, according to the Associated Press. Wisconsin is the second state Biden has been able to flip from Trump’s 2016 control—Arizona was the other—per the AP, and the calls boost Biden’s chances of winning the presidency.
The margin of victory for Biden was extremely small: The former Vice President is leading by 0.624 of a percentage point out of nearly 3.3 million ballots counted, per AP. The result has already been challenged by the Trump campaign (more on that below).
Wisconsin had voted for Democrats in every Presidential election since 1988, but Trump was able to eke out a win over Hillary Clinton by fewer than 23,000 votes in 2016.
Trump campaign ramps up fight against election result
Before the Associated Press even called the Wisconsin race for Biden, Bill Stepien, Trump’s 2020 campaign manager, was already questioning the results. “Despite ridiculous public polling used as a voter suppression tactic, Wisconsin has been a razor thin race as we always knew that it would be. There have been reports of irregularities in several Wisconsin counties which raise serious doubts about the validity of the results. The President is well within the threshold to request a recount and we will immediately do so.”
It was not immediately clear which, if any, irregularities Stepien was referring to. “It looks like Wisconsin will be close enough so that if the Trump forces want to have a recount there they can” says Paul Smith, Vice President for Litigation and Strategy at the Campaign Legal Center. “Though not nearly close enough to make a recount likely to succeed.” Smith also mentioned Pennsylvania and Nevada as states that could see a recount.
Meanwhile, the Trump campaign also announced a lawsuit against Michigan, another key battleground state. The campaign claims that it “has not been provided with meaningful access to numerous counting locations to observe the opening of ballots and the counting process.” Michigan Secretary of State Joceyln Benson addressed the media earlier Wednesday and detailed the tallying process, explaining that ballots continue to be counted in the state’s largest cities, including Detroit and Flint.
Republican Sen. Susan Collins wins reelection
Republican Sen. Susan Collins has won her fifth Senate term, according to the Associated Press, fending off a challenge from Democratic nominee Sara Gideon, who called Collins earlier in the day to concede the race.
Collins’ victory makes it more unlikely that Democrats will win a Senate majority in 2021. With 97% of precincts reporting as of Wednesday afternoon, Collins won 51% of the vote, per AP.
The states to watch as votes are counted
All eyes are now on five key states Wednesday as Americans seek clarity on Tuesday’s historic presidential race: Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.
On Wednesday, Biden held very narrow leads in two of those key battleground states—Michigan and Nevada—according to the Associated Press. If Biden sweeps those races, he will earn the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency. The AP called another closely watched race, Wisconsin, midday Wednesday.
President Trump’s path to reelection is narrowing. In order to hold onto the presidency, he must maintain his current leads in Georgia, Pennsylvania and North Carolina, while also overcoming the deficits in either Nevada or Michigan. Outstanding absentee votes in urban centers like Clark County (Las Vegas) and Wayne County (Detroit) are expected to lean toward Biden.
Trump made more baseless allegations about voter fraud in key states in a false and misleading tweet on Wednesday morning: “Last night I was leading, often solidly, in many key States, in almost all instances Democrat run & controlled. Then, one by one, they started to magically disappear as surprise ballot dumps were counted.”
Biden flips Arizona: AP
Biden has won Arizona—the first state to switch parties from 2016—according to a call from the Associated Press.
Arizona has traditionally been a Republican stronghold but a strengthening Latino vote—in part—has called the state’s traditional political leanings in question, leaving its 11 electoral votes up for grabs. The win widens Biden’s path to victory with Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and Georgia still up for grabs.
The Trump Administration’s restrictive immigration policy, separation of families, as well as racist insults have made him relatively unpopular among many Latinos.
Clinton lost by about 91,000 votes in 2016—per the AP. Biden leads with 51.8% of votes, compared to 46.9% for Trump.
Senate looks safer for Republicans
Despite an early loss for incumbent Sen. Cory Gardner of Colorado, the embattled Republican Senate majority appeared safer the further from poll closing the count came.
Sen. John Cornyn of Texas held off a Democratic challenger, as did Sen. Lindsey Graham in South Carolina. Later in the night, Iowa Republican Sen. Joni Ernst claimed victory, as well. In Montana, Sen. Steve Daines fended off a challenge from Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock.
Democrats were down one seat, with a loss in Alabama for incumbent Sen. Doug Jones to Tommy Tuberville. Efforts to oust McConnell came up short, and Sen. Susan Collins of Maine appears on safer ground.
They did gain ground in Arizona. Astronaut Mark Kelly, the husband of Rep. Gabby Giffords, defeated Sen. Martha McSally.
At a net change of one, Democrats were looking at pickup opportunities in North Carolina and Georgia. But if Trump wins the White House, that would leave a 50-50 Senate that would be in Republican control, since Vice President Mike Pence breaks ties.
Even without final results, it looks like the Senate starting in January will be incredibly tight. That foreshadows a contentious 117th Congress that could be replete for infighting or dealmaking, depending on which party prevails in the still-ongoing White House race.
Trump claims victory in must-win Florida, Ohio and Texas
Trump claimed victory in the wee hours in three battleground states that were must-wins for the President.
Most notably, the AP called a Trump victory in Florida, the president’s home state (A Florida win for Biden would have all but guaranteed his win).
The Trump campaign has had a visible presence in Florida as they aimed to secure its 29 electoral votes. In recent weeks, Trump, who changed his residency from New York in 2019, cast a ballot for himself and hosted several rallies in the state, which has come under scrutiny for its relatively lax coronavirus controls and surging case count.
With 99% of precincts reporting votes, 51.3% of voters went for Trump, while 47.8% went with Biden. In 2016, Trump’s win in Florida was an early indicator that the election was going to be tighter than expected. Clinton lost to Trump by some 113,000 votes.
In Ohio and Iowa, Trump cruised to victory with leads of about 7 percentage points—despite some pre-election polls showing them within striking distance for Biden.
Texas, normally reliably Republican, went for Trump shortly after 1 a.m. on Tuesday, though Biden was able to reduce Trump’s 9-point margin from 2016.
However, the President failed to pick up a state he had suggested could be within his grasp. The AP called Minnesota’s 10 electoral votes for Biden. Minnesota was a close race in 2016—with Clinton winning by less than 45,000 votes—but has largely stayed Democratic over the years; no Republican presidential candidate has won Minnesota since 1972.
Biden: ‘We believe we’re on track to win’
Biden’s brief remarks on election night projected optimism and urged patience as both campaigns awaited final results from most of the key states that will decide the outcome of the presidential election. “We believe we’re on track to win this election,” Biden said at an outdoor event in Wilmington Delaware, as an audience of cars honked their applause. “We knew because of the unprecedented early vote, the mail-in vote, that it’s gonna take a while, that we’re gonna have to be patient until the hard work of tallying votes is finished.”
“It ain’t over until every vote is counted,” he said. “But we’re feeling good about where we are.”
As of roughly 12:40 a.m. Eastern Time, when Biden made his remarks, votes were still being counted in Georgia, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, four states that form his path to victory.
“We’re feeling really good about Wisconsin and Michigan. And by the way—it’s gonna take time to count votes, we’re gonna win Pennsylvania.” he said. “As I’ve said all along, it’s not my place or Donald Trump’s place to declare who’s won this election, that’s the decision of the American people. But I’m optimistic about this outcome.”
“Keep the faith, guys,” he ended. “We’re gonna win this.”
1 of 2 Georgia Senate races headed for runoff
The outcome of at least one of the two hotly contested Georgia Senate races will remain unclear for a good while longer. Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler will face off against Democrat Raphael Warnock in a January runoff after a close special election, which involved a broad field of candidates that prevented anyone from getting a majority of votes outright. With 97% of precincts reporting, Warnock banked 31.7% of votes, followed closely by 26.5% for Loeffler and 20.5% for Republican Doug Collins. (State law requires that a winner receive at least 50% of the vote.)
Loeffler was appointed to her seat by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp following the resignation of Johnny Isakson. She’s been campaigning as a staunch supporter of Trump, recently telling reporters that she was “not familiar” with the Hollywood Access tape in which Trump brags about sexually assaulting women (the tape was top news when it came to light during the 2016 presidential campaign).
Ballot initiatives: Voters opt to legalize marijuana in 4 states
Voters across the country cast votes on scores of ballot initiatives at the polls. More than 120 initiatives address issues ranging from drug legalization and taxation to the minimum wage and abortion.
We already know the results on some of the initiatives. In California, the highly controversial Proposition 22 passed, meaning app-based workers, like delivery or rideshare drivers, can be classified as independent contractors instead of employees, letting companies offer them fewer benefits.
Voters in Arizona, Montana, New Jersey and South Dakota voted to legalize recreational marijuana. Oregon moved to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of nearly all drugs—including methamphetamine, cocaine and LSD.
Florida voters passed Amendment 2 to raise the minimum wage to $15 by 2026. Louisiana passed Amendment 1 to add language to the state’s constitution saying that it does not protect abortion as a right, while Colorado defeated Proposition 115, a measure to prohibit abortions after 22 weeks unless the mother’s life is in danger.
In Mississippi, voters chose to replace their state flag, which displayed the Confederate symbol, with a new flag that features a magnolia and the phrase, “In God We Trust.”
The results of several other initiatives are still outstanding.
California also voted on whether to overturn a ban on affirmative action, and whether to pass legislation to end cash bail.
Several states have tax-related items on the agenda. Illinois will decide whether to amend the state constitution to allow for graduated income tax. California’s Proposition 15 would relax tax limits on commercial properties, which would generate billions of dollars in additional tax revenue for local governments.
Puerto Rico, which does not currently vote for U.S. President, asked voters: “Should Puerto Rico be admitted immediately into the union as a state?” (Congress would then have to decide to admit a new state.)
First transgender state senator elected in Delaware
Transgender activist Sarah McBride made history Tuesday. She won her Delaware state Senate race—as expected in a strongly Democratic district—making her the nation’s first openly transgender state senator. “I hope tonight shows an LGBTQ kid that our democracy is big enough for them, too,” McBride tweeted on Tuesday night.
This isn’t the first time McBride, 30, has stood as a symbol of increasing trans visibility. In 2016, she was the first openly trans person to speak at a national party convention.
A longtime advocate for LGBTQ rights, McBride was endorsed by the Human Rights Campaign—for which she’s been a spokesperson—as well as Emily’s List. Her campaign collected more than $270,000 in donations by early October, the AP reported.
A largely peaceful day at the polls despite threats
Fears over widespread violence and voter intimidation at the polls failed to materialize. “No doubt we were bracing for the worst and have been pleasantly surprised to see elections in many parts of the country move rather smoothly and successfully,” Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, told reporters.
The voting rights group said it had fielded 30,000 calls on its election protection hotline Tuesday asking for legal advice about problems they faced. Militia and extremist groups’ threats of violence at polling places did not materialize. However, Clarke listed several individual reports of intimidation, including an armed man wearing a Trump hat who was ultimately arrested in Charlotte, N.C.; an armed man waving a Trump flag near a polling location in Baker, La.; two white men who identified themselves as “deputies” and were questioning voters outside a polling site in central Hillsborough County, Fla.
“The isolated incidents of voter intimidation have been problems we cannot ignore,” Clarke said. “They have not been widespread and systematic. But they have been far greater in numbers than what we have seen in recent elections and are a reflection of the dark times that we are in as a nation.”
McConnell prevails in Kentucky
Mitch McConnell is going back to the Senate, prevailing in his re-election bid early in the night. What’s unclear is this: will he be the Majority Leader or the Minority Leader come January?
The AP made the call soon after polls closed as his colleagues from New Hampshire to Oklahoma won another six-year term. Tennessee’s Senate seat will remain in Republican hands as Bill Hagerty will follow Lamar Alexander after the senior Republican retires next year.
Republican who expressed support for QAnon elected to House
Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene, who previously expressed support for unfounded QAnon conspiracy theories, has been elected to the U.S. House in Georgia’s deeply conservative 14th district, according to the AP.
(QAnon theories baselessly claim that President Trump is fighting to stop a “deep state” cabal of Satan-whopping pedophiles running a global sex-trafficking ring.) Greene, who ran unopposed for her seat, has since distanced herself from comments connecting her with QAnon.
Greene has also drawn attention for Islamophobic comments—including suggesting Muslims do not belong in government—and earned the attention of Trump, who tweeted that she was a “future Republican star.”
— With reporting by Charlotte Alter, W.J. Hennigan, Lissandra Villa, Amy Gunia, Madeleine Carlisle, Sean Gregory and Kimberly Dozier
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