Christian Headlines is live blogging the results of the 2020 Presidential Election.
1:00 pm: As of 1 p.m., Biden led in all four states at issue: Pennsylvania (12,497), Georgia (1,564), Arizona (43,779) and Nevada (20,352).
9:31 am: Biden took the lead in Pennsylvania Friday morning. As of 9:31 a.m. Eastern, Biden led by 5,587 votes.
Nov 6, 2020 - 8:27 am: Biden took the lead in Georgia Friday morning and led by 1,097 votes as of 8:28 a.m. Eastern. Trump led in Pennsylvania by 18,049 votes. In Arizona, Biden led by 47,052 votes, and in Nevada by 11,438 votes. Trump needs to win Pennsylvania and Georgia to win a second term, as well as either Arizona or Nevada.
1:46 pm: NPR reports there are 50,000 uncounted ballots in Georgia, 348,000 in North Carolina, 386,000 in Nevada and 875,000 in Pennsylvania.
1:21 pm: President Trump leads in Georgia by 13,540 votes and in Pennsylvania by 114,011 votes. In Arizona, Biden leads by 68,390 votes and in Nevada by 11,438 votes. All four states are still counting outstanding ballots. Election experts say Biden likely will surpass Trump in Pennsylvania and might pass him in Georgia.
10:01 am: The Trump campaign is expected to announce a lawsuit in Nevada today, alleging at least 10,000 people “voted in the state, despite no longer living there,” Fox News reported. Biden’s current lead in the state is 7,647. Even if Trump won Nevada and its six electoral votes, he likely would still need to hold Pennsylvania to win a second term.
Nov 5, 2020 - 8:45 am: Biden’s lead in Arizona shrank to 68,390 Wednesday night. But President Trump’s lead in Pennsylvania (now 164,414) and Georgia (now 18,588) also shrank. Trump needs to win all three states to win a second term. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported there are 51,000 untallied absentee ballots in Georgia – most of them from areas won by Biden. On Wednesday, Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar said there were 260,000 mail ballots cast in 2016 and there were “10 times [that] number” in 2020, meaning there are more than 2.5 million mail ballots in Pennsylvania. Due to state law, election officials did not start opening mail ballots and counting them until Election Day. Some counties began that process the day after.
4:11 pm: Biden spoke just after 4 p.m., saying, “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. I’m not here to declare that we’ve won, but I am here to report when the count is finished, we believe we’ll be the winners.”
3:35 pm: The Trump campaign is optimistic it will win Arizona, thanks to outstanding ballots. Fox News’ John Roberts tweeted this afternoon that Trump “Campaign advisor Jason Miller says there are 605,000 outstanding day-of ballots in Arizona. Miller says POTUS needs 57.73% of remaining day-of vote — far less than he has been getting. The Trump campaign predicts they will declare victory in AZ by Friday.” If Trump carries Arizona, he would still need to hold Georgia, Pennsylvania and North Carolina to win a second term.
3:04 pm: The Trump campaign is filing suit in Michigan, claiming the campaign “has not been provided with meaningful access to numerous counting locations to observe the opening of ballots and the counting process, as guaranteed by Michigan law.” It asks for the counting to be halted until access is granted. The Trump campaign also is requesting a recount in Wisconsin, where Biden was declared the winner leading by about 21,000 votes.
2:43 pm: With Biden having been declared the winner in Wisconsin and Trump trailing by 37,350 votes in Michigan, the president’s best path to re-election might involve winning Pennsylvania and Georgia and coming back in Arizona. (See 12:30 p.m. update, below.) As of 2:43 p.m. Eastern, Trump led in Pennsylvania by 451,993 votes and in Georgia by 79,509 votes. He trailed in Arizona by 93,518 votes.
1:27 pm: Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey said in a tweet that with “hundreds of thousands of votes still outstanding, it's important that we be patient before declaring any races up or down the ballot.” Biden led by roughly 93,000 votes at 1:27 p.m.
12:30 pm: Arizona, previously called by Fox News for Biden, could be back in play. U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar, a Republican from Arizona, tweeted this morning: “Heads up: Arizona is still in play. About 20% of the vote to be counted mainly from rural – heavily Trump-areas. Trump is down 10,000 votes and closing.” Jeff Dufour of National Journal tweeted that 86 percent of Arizona’s vote – and not the 95-plus percent that previously was reported – had been counted. “This gives some credence to the Trump camp's argument in a call with reporters that it expects to pull ahead in Arizona because most of the outstanding vote is in Trump-friendly territory,” Dufour wrote. A Trump win in Arizona would expand his path to re-election. If he wins Arizona, then he would need only to hold Pennsylvania, Georgia and North Carolina to win.
11:45 am: Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said about 250,000 ballots in Georgia are left to be counted. He said he hopes to have the counting done by the end of the day. As of 11:45 a.m., Trump led in Georgia by 101,837 votes.
11:44 am: Wisconsin Elections Commission Administrator Meagan Wolfe told NBC News that “all of the ballots have indeed been counted.” Biden leads there by 20,697 votes, according to NBC News’ tally.
11:40 am: Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said “tens of thousands of ballots are outstanding and need to be tabulated.” Biden led Trump at 11:40 a.m. by 34,769 votes.
10:49 am: Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar said Wednesday morning there were 260,000 mail ballots cast in 2016 and there were “10 times the number” in 2020, meaning there are more than 2.5 million mail ballots in Pennsylvania. Counties, she said, are “approaching 50 percent” being done counting the mail ballots.
As of 10:49 a.m. Eastern, Trump led in Pennsylvania by 542,774 votes. Trump needs to win Pennsylvania, Michigan, North Carolina and Georgia to win a second term.
As of 10:49 a.m. Eastern, Biden led in Michigan by 9,620 votes.
Biden currently has 238 electoral votes while President Trump has 213.
Nov 4, 2020 - 10:22 am: A presidential race that many political pundits thought would end in a Democratic landslide is too close to call.
President Trump outperformed public polling once again Tuesday, easily winning a trio of states (Florida, Ohio and Texas) that were tight in public surveys and running neck and neck with Democratic nominee Joe Biden in three other states (Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin) that Trump often trailed in by wide margins in pre-election surveys.
The surprising Election Night had a resemblance to 2016, when Trump shocked the nation and defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton by sweeping the Midwest, and even to 2000, when Republican George W. Bush and Democrat Al Gore ended in a virtual tie in Florida in an election that went to a recount. (Bush eventually won.)
But with 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency, Trump’s path to victory on Wednesday was narrow. The president, who already had won enough states to give him 213 electoral votes to Biden’s 224, held a slight lead in three states – Georgia, North Carolina and Pennsylvania – that would give him 267 electoral votes, just short of enough votes to win a second term. Trump was barely trailing in a fourth state (Michigan).
In Georgia, Trump led by 103,705 votes with 92 percent of the votes counted.
In North Carolina, his lead was 76,737 with 95 percent of votes in.
In Pennsylvania, his lead was 618,840, with 75 percent of votes counted.
In Michigan, Biden led Trump by 6,942 with 89 percent of votes counted.
A Biden victory in any one of those four states would give him the White House.
The race also was tight in Wisconsin (a Biden lead of 20,697 with 97 percent of votes counted), Arizona (Biden lead of 130,665 with 82 percent of votes in) and Nevada (Biden lead of 7,647 with 86 percent of the vote counted). All three were trending Democratic.
As of 8 a.m. Eastern, the Betfair political betting market said Biden had a 76.9 percent chance of winning the presidency.
Trump’s chances of winning Michigan, Wisconsin or Pennsylvania were hampered by two factors: 1) most outstanding ballots are mail ballots and, 2) Democratic voters were twice more likely than Republicans this year to vote by mail. Trump’s Election Night lead in all three states was based on Election Day voting, which Republican voters favored.
Unlike Florida – which allows mail-in ballots to be prepared for counting ahead of Election Day – state laws in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania prevent the opening of mail-in ballots until the day of the election.
In the nationwide popular vote – which does not determine the winner – Biden led by only two points: 50.2 percent to 48.2 percent with 86 percent of the vote counted. Leading up to Election Day, Biden led by an average of 7 points at RealClearPolitics.com.
This is a developing story.
Photo courtesy: ©Getty Images/Joe Raedle/Staff, Getty Images/Scott Olson/Staff
Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
