Presumptive President-elect Joseph R. Biden is projected to defeat President Trump in the 2020 election and become the 46th president of the United States.
The Associated Press called the race for Mr. Biden on Saturday morning, four days after an Election Day that capped a bruising presidential race held amid the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic.
The president was at his golf club in northern Virginia when the race was called for Mr. Biden.
In a tweet Saturday morning, the president said, “I WON THIS ELECTION, BY A LOT!”
In a speech Friday night in Delaware, Mr. Biden didn’t officially declare victory but said the numbers were pointing toward a win for him.
“What’s becoming clear each hour is that a record number of Americans of all races faiths, religions, chose change over more of the same,” Mr. Biden said. “They have given us a mandate for action on COVID, the economy, climate change, systematic racism.”
The AP awarded Pennsylvania and its 20 Electoral College votes to the former vice president, pushing him above the 270 electoral votes needed to win the White House.
With 99% of the expected vote in, Mr. Biden had a 49.7% to 49.2% lead in Pennsylvania, a margin of about 34,000 votes.
There were still some questions as to whether Mr. Trump could catch up in Arizona, but Pennsylvania pushed Mr. Biden over the top regardless of what happened out west.
Mr. Biden sat at 284 electoral votes to Mr. Trump’s 214, according to the AP’s latest projections.
Mr. Biden had a 50.5% to 47.7% lead over Mr. Trump in the national popular vote, a margin of more than 4 million votes, with counts still being tabulated from coast to coast.
Despite Mr. Biden’s claims of a mandate, Democrats fell short in a number of high-profile U.S. Senate races and divided government could continue next year.
As Mr. Biden appeared to be on the cusp of clinching the election, Mr. Trump’s campaign said the process was not over.
Mr. Trump had said “legal” ballots should be counted and “illegal” ballots should not be counted.
“We will pursue this process through every aspect of the law to guarantee that the American people have confidence in our government,” the president said in a statement on Friday. “I will never give up fighting for you and our nation.”
Pennsylvania statehouse Republicans had said Friday afternoon that as many as 100,000 provisional ballots still needed to be reviewed and that the process for those could stretch into next week.
“It’s my own personal belief that no results should be announced until the count is finalized,” said House Speaker Bryan Cutler of Lancaster County.
Early Friday, Mr. Biden overtook Mr. Trump in Georgia and Pennsylvania as ballots from more heavily Democratic areas were counted.
Outstanding mail and absentee ballots have generally favored Mr. Biden in the key states, though Mr. Trump has gained ground in Arizona since Tuesday.
The president said on Twitter Friday that Mr. Biden should not “wrongfully claim the office of the President.”
The Trump campaign has initiated various election-related legal challenges in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Nevada and Michigan and has vowed to pursue a recount in Wisconsin.
The AP and multiple networks called Michigan and Wisconsin for Mr. Biden on Wednesday.
Those states, plus Pennsylvania, were critical flips for Mr. Trump in his 2016 win.
“We’ve rebuilt the blue wall in the middle of the country that crumbled four years ago: Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin — the heartland of this nation,” Mr. Biden said Friday.
The Trump campaign said the AP and Fox News were too quick to project that Arizona’s 11 electoral votes would fall to Mr. Biden.
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Home>>Theatre>>Presumptive President-elect Joseph R. Biden is projected to defeat President Trump in the 2020 election and become the 46th president of the United States.
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