For the latest updates, click here for Thursday’s live blog.
Joe Biden won the state of Wisconsin, 10 electoral votes, and Michigan, 16 electoral votes, on Wednesday, as the nation’s attention focused on the northern industrial states — Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania — and the southwest — Nevada and Arizona — which will prove crucial in determining who wins the White House.
The Associated Press called Wisconsin for Biden after election officials in the state said all outstanding ballots had been counted, save for a few hundred in one township and an expected small number of provisional votes.
Trump’s campaign requested a recount, thought statewide recounts in Wisconsin have historically changed the vote tally by only a few hundred votes.
Trump’s campaign also filed lawsuits Wednesday in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Georgia, laying the groundwork for contesting battleground states as he slipped behind Biden in the hunt for the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win the White House.
The new filings, joining existing Republican legal challenges in Pennsylvania and Nevada, demand better access for campaign observers to locations where ballots are being processed and counted, and absentee ballot concerns, the campaign said.
Neither candidate has the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win the Oval Office. And as votes continued to trickle in, it’s possible the American people could be hours or even days away from knowing who will lead their nation.
The Biden campaign is signaling confidence they will meet the 270 mark in the coming days, but there is simply too much uncertainty at the moment to clearly predict a winner, and the cloud of litigation hangs over the entire contest.
Trump cried foul over the election results, falsely calling the process “a major fraud on our nation.” But there’s no evidence of foul play in the cliffhanger. He vowed to take the election to the Supreme Court, and received criticism from conservative pundits after making his comments. The Biden campaign said it would fight any such efforts to stop the counting of votes.
“If the president makes good on his threat to go to court to try to prevent the proper tabulation of votes, we have legal teams standing by ready to deploy to resist that effort,” Biden Campaign Manager Jen O’Malley Dillon said in a statement. “And they will prevail.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is discounting the president’s claim he won the election, saying the vote count is not concluded.
‘Claiming you’ve won the election is different from finishing the counting,” McConnell said.
“You should not be shocked that both sides are going to have lawyers there,” he added. “The courts will decide disputes. That’s the way we do it in this country.”
Here’s how the AP counts votes and calls races.
No state reports final results on election night. And no state is legally expected to.
Who will win? Votes still being counted. Here’s what’s next.
You might hear a lot of bogus claims online. Here are some common false ones about voting.
Latest 2020 election updates here (all times EST):
12:05 a.m.: Trump supporters converge on vote centers in Michigan, Arizona
Dozens of angry supporters of President Donald Trump converged on vote-counting centers in Detroit and Phoenix as the returns went against him Wednesday in the two key states, while thousands of anti-Trump protesters demanding a complete tally of the ballots in the still-undecided election took to the streets in cities across the U.S.
“Stop the count!” the Trump supporters chanted in Detroit. “”Stop the Steal,” they chanted in Phoenix.
The protests came as the president insisted without evidence that there were major problems with the voting and the ballot counting, and as Republicans filed suit in multiple states over the election.
The Phoenix protesters filled much of the parking lot at the Maricopa County election center, where sheriff’s deputies were guarding both the outside of the building and the counting inside. Read more here. —Associated Press
10:42 p.m.: Riot declared in Portland as protesters smash windows
A riot was declared in Portland, Oregon, and protesters took to the streets in Seattle on Wednesday as people demanded that every vote in Tuesday’s election be counted. Hundreds were protesting in both cities against President Donald Trump’s court challenges to stop the vote count in battleground states.
The Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office at about 7 p.m. declared a riot after protesters were seen smashing windows at businesses. In the interest of public safety, Gov. Kate Brown activated the use of the state National Guard to help local law enforcement manage the unrest, according to the sheriff’s office.
Brown said previously she would keep state troopers, sheriff’s deputies and police officers under a unified command into Friday in Portland to handle protests amid uncertainty over the winner of the U.S. presidential election.
The Oregon National Guard had been on standby. Brown’s order places law enforcement agencies under the joint command of the Oregon State Police and Multnomah County Sheriff’s Department, which allows those agencies to use tear gas if necessary to quell unrest. Mayor Ted Wheeler, who is also police commissioner, banned the use of tear gas by Portland police earlier this fall after concerns about an overly aggressive response to the unrest.
More of the story here. —Associated Press
10:38 p.m.: Police: At least 20 arrests at post-election protest in NYC
At least 20 people were arrested Wednesday night at a post-Election Day protest in New York City after police say piles of trash were set on fire and bottles were hurled at officers.
The arrests happened after hundreds of marchers demanding the counting of every presidential election vote converged on Manhattan’s Washington Square Park, where a smaller group started rallying against police misconduct.
Some of the people arrested were fighting with officers while others were blocking traffic, police said. The police department tweeted photos of several trash fires. Bystander video showed officers in helmets and tactical gear swarming protesters.
“We support everyone’s right to self-expression, but setting fires puts others at risk and will not be tolerated,” the NYPD’s tweet said. “We are working to de-escalate the situation… to prevent further damage from occurring.”
—Associated Press
10:30 p.m.: Protesters in Portland, Seattle: ‘Count Every Vote’
Protesters took to the streets in Portland, Oregon and in Seattle on Wednesday demanding that every vote in Tuesday’s election be counted. Hundreds of people were protesting in both cities against President Donald Trump’s court challenges to stop the vote count in battleground states.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown said Wednesday she will keep state troopers, sheriff’s deputies and police officers under a unified command for an additional 48 hours in Portland to handle protests amid uncertainty over the winner of the U.S. presidential election.
More of the story here. —Associated Press
10:24 p.m.: Fox’s Arizona call for Joe Biden flipped the mood at Trump campaign headquarters
With Florida looking red early on Tuesday night, President Donald Trump and his advisers thought they were witnessing a repeat of election night 2016, when a victory in Florida foreshadowed a victory overall.
Inside the East Room, the mood was upbeat as hundreds of people, including Cabinet secretaries, ambassadors and former officials who have remained loyal to Trump, mingled and dined on sliders and french fries. Officials who had been pessimistic about the president’s reelection chances suddenly started to picture four more years in power.
That mirage of victory was pierced when Fox News called Arizona for former Vice President Joe Biden at 11:20 p.m., with just 73% of the state’s vote counted.
More of the story here. — New York Times
10: 45 p.m.: Armed agents are allowed in ballot-counting locations around the country, Justice Dept. tells prosecutors
The Justice Department told federal prosecutors in an email early on Wednesday that the law allowed them to send armed federal officers to ballot-counting locations around the country to investigate potential voter fraud, according to three people who described the message.
The email created the specter of the federal government intimidating local election officials or otherwise intervening in vote tallying amid calls by President Donald Trump to end the tabulating in states where he was trailing in the presidential race, former officials said.
More of the story here. — New York Times
9:01 p.m.: Hundreds march in Chicago demanding all votes be counted
As the nation awaited the final results of the presidential election, Englewood resident Shasta Jones stood among hundreds of people in Daley Plaza Wednesday night and held up a sign protesting Republican efforts to stop the vote count.
“It’s the whole reason I’m here,” said Jones, standing with other face-masked protesters on an unseasonably warm November night in the Loop. “I’m a mother, and this situation weighs heavy on me. And at the same time, it also drives me.
“I want my children to be safe. I want them to be healthy. I want a future for them that’s fair,” she said.
Speakers addressed many of the issues that defined the presidential campaign, including systemic racism, police brutality and President Donald Trump’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. The stakes, they said, were too high to allow Trump to halt the counting of legally cast ballots in Michigan and Pennsylvania.
“We won’t stop until every vote is counted,” said Erica Bland-Durosinmi, executive vice president of SEIU Healthcare.
More of the story here. — Stacy St. Clair, Elyssa Cherney and Jeremy Gorner, Chicago Tribune
8:24 p.m.: A handful of pivotal states remain in play. Here’s why.
A handful of pivotal states remained in play Wednesday in the tightly contested U.S. presidential race.
Here, The Associated Press reviews them and examines the reasons why they could still go to either Republican Donald Trump or Democrat Joe Biden.
— Associated Press
8:02 p.m.: Trump’s Election Day surge powered by small-town America
President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign long maintained there were thousands of new supporters tucked into rural, red pockets of the country who would come out and vote for the president when asked.
On Election Day, it put up some proof.
More of the story here. — Associated Press
7:33 p.m.: Trump backers demand Michigan vote center ‘Stop the count!’
Dozens of supporters of President Donald Trump chanting “Stop the count!” descended on a vote-tallying center in Detroit on Wednesday, as Americans on both sides of the political divide vented their anger and frustration over the undecided presidential contest at scattered protests around the country.
The Detroit protests started shortly before The Associated Press declared that former Vice President Joe Biden had won Michigan.
Video shot by local media showed angry people gathered outside the TCF Center and inside the lobby, with police officers lined up to keep them from entering the counting area. They chanted “Stop the count!” and “Stop the vote!”
Earlier, the Republican campaign filed suit in a bid to stop the count, demanding Michigan’s Democratic secretary of state allow in more inspectors. Trump has repeatedly insisted without evidence that there are major problems with the voting and the counting.
More of the story here. — Associated Press
7:22 p.m.: Election splits Congress, GOP is bolstered as Democrats falter
The election scrambled seats in the House and Senate but ultimately left Congress much like it began, deeply split as voters resisted big changes despite the heated race at the top of the ticket for the White House.
It’s an outcome that dampens Democratic demands for a bold new agenda, emboldens Republicans and almost ensures partisan gridlock regardless of who wins the presidency. Or perhaps, as some say, it provides a rare opening for modest across-the-aisle cooperation.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi was on track to keep control of the Democratic House, but saw her majority shrinking and her leadership called into question. Republicans’ control of the Senate tilted their way as GOP senators fended off an onslaught of energized challengers, though a few races remained undecided Wednesday.
More of the story here. — Associated Press
7:14 p.m.: Trump campaign sues in 3rd state, Georgia
President Donald Trump’s campaign and the Georgia Republican Party have filed a lawsuit against the Chatham County Board of Elections asking a judge to order the county to secure and account for ballots received after 7 p.m. on Election Day.
State party Chairman David Shafer said in a statement Wednesday night that they planned to sue in a dozen counties.
The lawsuit alleges that a Republican observer watched a poll worker take unprocessed absentee ballots from a back room and mix them into processed absentee ballots waiting to be tabulated.
In Georgia, ballots must be received by 7 p.m. on Election Day in order to count. Chatham County contains Savannah and leans Democratic.
Georgia is among a handful of states that The Associated Press has not called. In the race to the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency, Democrat Joe Biden currently has 264 while Trump has 214.
— Associated Press
7:01 p.m.: More Nevada results due Thursday as Biden leads slightly
Early results showed Joe Biden with a slim lead over President Donald Trump in Nevada, but it was too early to declare a winner in the race Wednesday with a large number of ballots yet to be counted.
The top elections official in the most populous county said more results will be released Thursday morning that include mail-in ballots received on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Biden was leading Wednesday afternoon by less than 8,000 votes.
— Associated Press
6:55 p.m.: Democrats win big in Arizona, now a former GOP stronghold
Democrats have been asking the question for a long time: Is this the year Arizona turns blue? In 2020, the answer was “yes.”
Joe Biden won Arizona’s 11 electoral votes for president and Mark Kelly won a seat in the U.S. Senate, ushering in an era of Democratic leadership not seen Republicans dominated the 1952 election in the state.
Whether Democrats would also dominate lower on the ballot was less clear — with key races for the U.S. House, the state Legislature and the state utility regulator up in the air but within reach for Democrats.
But Arizona voters decided to legalize recreational marijuana sales four years after rejecting it, going against the Republican political establishment opposed to having the state join other U.S. states with legal weed.
Voters also appeared poised to approve a tax increase for the wealthy to pay more to fund financially hurting schools. That was a strong rebuke for Republican Gov. Doug Ducey and the state’s business community that spent millions campaigning against the tax.
The outcome delighted Democrats and was sure to bring a reckoning for Republicans who have enjoyed decades of dominance in Arizona politics.
“Now people recognize that Arizona is in play, will always be in play,” said U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego, a Phoenix Democrat who comfortably won reelection.
— Associated Press
6:30 p.m.: Post-election vote tallying raises fresh security concerns
Election Day came and went without any overt signs of foreign interference affecting the vote, but that doesn’t mean the risk has faded.
A prolonged vote-tallying period in swing states raises the prospect of multiple security concerns, including foreign or domestic disinformation campaigns that could sow doubt in the process as well as actual digital manipulation of vote tabulation. There have been no indications, nevertheless, of any foreign activity that could alter the vote count or stop votes from being tallied.
A look at some of the potential problems in the days ahead here. — Associated Press
5:59 p.m.: Joe Biden wins Michigan
Joe Biden has carried Michigan and its 16 electoral votes, further dismantling Donald Trump’s Rust Belt wall of support that helped deliver him the presidency four years ago.
The flip from red back to blue was a huge blow to Trump, whose victories in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania in 2016 sent him to the White House. Biden also carried Wisconsin, though Pennsylvania hasn’t been called yet.
Biden’s victory in Michigan pushes him to 264 Electoral College votes, six short of the 270 needed to win the White House. Trump is at 214 electoral votes. Nevada, which has six electoral votes, is among the states Democrat Hillary Clinton won in 2016 that hasn’t yet been called.
— Associated Press
5: 46 p.m.: Scattered protests in US cities, but no wide unrest seen
Scattered protests took place from Washington, D.C., to Washington state as votes were counted, but there were no signs of widespread unrest or violence linked to the U.S. election.
The outcome of the hard-fought contest for the presidency remained undecided Wednesday, stirring worries that prolonged uncertainty could yet spark conflict.
But demonstrations overnight and on Wednesday in cities including Seattle, Philadelphia, Washington and New York remained largely peaceful.
— Associated Press
5:39 p.m.: Oregon leads the way in decriminalizing hard drugs
In a first in the nation, Oregon has rejected charging drug users with criminal offenses, with voters passing a ballot measure that decriminalizes possession of heroin, methamphetamine, LSD, oxycodone and other hard drugs.
“Today’s victory is a landmark declaration that the time has come to stop criminalizing people for drug use,” said Kassandra Frederique, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, which was behind the measure. “Measure 110 is arguably the biggest blow to the war on drugs to date,”
The measure completely changes how Oregon’s justice system treats those who are found with personal-use amounts of the hard drugs.
Instead of going to trial and facing possible jail time, a person would have the option of paying a $100 fine or attending new “addiction recovery centers” funded by millions of dollars of tax revenue from Oregon’s legalized, regulated marijuana industry.
The passage of the measure makes Oregon, which in 1973 became the first state to decriminalize marijuana possession, a pioneer in America in trying the same with hard drugs. The measure takes effect 30 days after Tuesday’s election, but the punishment changes don’t take effect until Feb. 1. Addiction recovery centers must be available by Oct. 1.
— Associated Press
5:31 p.m.: Claim that Sharpie pens ruin Arizona ballots misses the mark
As states across the U.S. release vote totals for the presidential election, some social media users are falsely claiming that ballots are being invalidated in Arizona. The supposed culprit: Sharpie markers.
In what’s come to be known as #Sharpiegate, social media posts suggest that election officials in Maricopa County provided voters with Sharpie pens, which interfered with ballots being recorded, specifically those for President Donald Trump.
Arizona election officials say that voting with a Sharpie would have no impact on the votes being recorded by tabulation machines, and if there was an issue, there is a process that would keep the ballots from being canceled out.
Here’s a look at the facts:
CLAIM: Votes were eliminated in Arizona because people were made to use Sharpie pens to mark their ballots. This caused the tabulation machine to cancel the vote.
THE FACTS: As Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden was declared the winner of the presidential vote in the Republican stronghold of Arizona, social media posts circulated falsely suggesting that votes for Trump were canceled because people were told to use Sharpies to fill out their ballots.
Arizona election officials confirmed that Sharpies were used in voting, but they said that would not invalidate a ballot. The Maricopa County Elections Department tweeted on Election Day that voting centers use Sharpies so that ink does not smudge when ballots are counted.
Arizona election officials confirmed that Sharpies were used in voting, but they said that would not invalidate a ballot. The Maricopa County Elections Department tweeted on Election Day that voting centers use Sharpies so that ink does not smudge when ballots are counted.
“New offset columns on the ballots means bleed through won’t impact your vote!” they tweeted in an informational video.
— Associated Press
5:26 p.m.: In blue and red states, milestone wins for LGBTQ candidates
Across the nation, LGBTQ candidates achieved milestone victories in Tuesday’s election, including the first transgender person elected to a state Senate, and the first openly gay Black men to win seats in Congress.
The landmark wins came not in only blue but also red states such as Tennessee, where Republican Eddie Mannis, who is gay, and Democrat Torrey Harris, who identifies as bisexual, won seats in the state House to become the first openly LGBTQ members of that legislature.
According to the LGBTQ Victory Fund, which recruits and supports LGBTQ candidates, that leaves only Alaska, Louisiana and Mississippi as states that have never elected an LGBTQ legislator.
“Torrey and Eddie sent a clear message that LGBTQ candidates can win in a deep red state while being their authentic selves,” said the Victory Fund’s president, former Houston Mayor Annise Parker. “Their presence in the state legislature can dilute the most toxic anti-LGBTQ voices and lead to more inclusive legislation.”
More of the story here. — Associated Press
5:04 p.m.: Trump team wants more Michigan vote inspectors
President Donald Trump’s campaign has accused a Michigan election official of failing to ensure that challengers and bipartisan observers watch the processing of absentee ballots.
The Republican campaign filed a lawsuit Wednesday seeking to stop the count, which was mostly centered in Detroit, until Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson allows more inspectors. There was no immediate response from a Court of Claims judge.
The Associated Press has not yet called Michigan.
Trump’s allies chanted, “Stop the count!” inside TCF Center, where ballots were being handled. The Detroit elections department was expected to finish counting absentee ballots by Wednesday evening.
Democratic Attorney General Dana Nessel says, “Michigan’s elections have been conducted transparently, with access provided for both political parties and the public, and using a robust system of checks and balances to ensure that all ballots are counted fairly and accurately.”
More than 3 million absentee ballots were cast in Michigan in the first major election since a new law made them available to any voter. But local election clerks couldn’t start counting them until after polls closed Tuesday.
— Associated Press
4:58 p.m.: Pennsylvania chips away at 1M vote count amid Trump lawsuit
Election workers across Pennsylvania chipped away at more than 1 million uncounted mail ballots Wednesday as the nation awaited results in a presidential battleground whose trove of 20 electoral votes remained the largest prize yet to be called for President Donald Trump or native son Joe Biden.
Amid legal action from the Trump campaign that Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf condemned as “disgraceful,” workers in counting rooms throughout the state processed unending streams of paper ballots — removing them from their envelopes, flattening them and feeding them into scanners — as Pennsylvania gradually counted a vote that could prove decisive.
State officials counseled patience even as they said a winner might not be known for days.
“The delay that we’re seeing is a sign that the system is working,” said Wolf, pledging that all of the votes were “going to be counted accurately and they’re going to be counted fully.” He said that “every Pennsylvanian can have confidence in the outcome of this election.”
— Associated Press
4:53 p.m.: Wall Street shrugs off election limbo
The fate of the U.S. presidency remains undecided as neither President Donald Trump or Democratic challenger Joe Biden has secured the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win. But after a tumultuous overnight session in global markets where Trump prematurely declared victory, Wall Street acted as if the occupant of the White House might be secondary.
— Associated Press
4:37 p.m.: Why AP called Wisconsin for Joe Biden
Democrat Joe Biden has flipped the state of Wisconsin, a crucial presidential battleground that President Donald Trump carried by less than a percentage point in 2016.
The Associated Press called the race for Biden after election officials there said all outstanding ballots had been counted, except for a few hundred in one township and a small number of provisional ballots around the state. The former vice president’s lead there is now so great that there is no way the remaining votes would allow Trump to catch up.
Trump’s campaign has requested a recount, which a trailing candidate is allowed to do under state law if a race is within 1 percentage point. Statewide recounts in Wisconsin have historically changed the vote tally by only a few hundred votes. Biden leads by .624 percentage points out of nearly 3.3 million ballots counted.
“The President is well within the threshold to request a recount and we will immediately do so,” Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien said in a statement.
More of the story here. — Associated Press
4:32 p.m.: Trump makes inroads with Latinos in key states
The U.S. presidential election highlighted sharply different views on the ongoing public health crisis, a stubborn economic downturn and racial inequality. But it also showed that candidates can’t always take traditional supporters for granted, according to AP VoteCast, a national survey of the electorate.
A majority of Latino voters largely supported Democrat Joe Biden nationally. But President Donald Trump was able to cut into that support in some competitive states, like Florida and Nevada, revealing important shifts among Latino voters from many different cultural backgrounds.
More of the story here. — Associated Press
4:11 p.m.: Many Trump voters skeptical of vote count
Trump supporters were more likely to distrust the vote-counting process, though voters for both candidates had their doubts. About 7 in 10 voters were confident that votes would be counted accurately, though only about a quarter of voters were “very confident.” Almost 8 in 10 Biden voters were confident, compared with about 6 in 10 Trump supporters.
Trump voters felt more confident about another democratic institution that has already played a role in this year’s election — the Supreme Court. The high court, along with lower courts, handled lawsuits in recent weeks about the count of mail-in ballots in several states. That was before conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett filled her seat on the Supreme Court after the Republican-controlled Senate sped through her confirmation just before the election.
About 9 in 10 Trump voters were at least somewhat confident in the high court to be fair and impartial in its decisions, compared with about half as many Biden voters.
More of the story here. — Associated Press
4:01 p.m.: Trump, Biden coalitions show race, class divide
Americans sorted themselves into two distinct camps of voters in Tuesday’s presidential election, exposing the clear and entrenched partisan divisions that separate voters by gender, class and race.
Despite a once-in-a-century pandemic and a weakened economy, some 76% of U.S. voters said they knew all along who they would support — and they constituted the bulk of the supporters for both President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden, according to AP VoteCast, an expansive survey of the voters nationwide. Trump weighed heavily on voters’ minds as they made their choice — two-thirds said their decision was driven by their opinion of the untraditional president, either for or against.
More of the story here. — Associated Press
3:49 p.m.: Trump sues in Pennsylvania, Michigan; asks for Wis. recount
The Trump campaign said it filed lawsuits Wednesday in Pennsylvania and Michigan, laying the groundwork for contesting the outcome in undecided battleground states that could determine whether President Donald Trump gets another four years in the White House.
Suits in both states are demanding better access for campaign observers to locations where ballots are being processed and counted, the campaign said. The campaign also is seeking to intervene in a Pennsylvania case at the Supreme Court that deals with whether ballots received up to three days after the election can be counted, deputy campaign manager Justin Clark said.
The campaign said it is calling for a temporary halt in the counting in both states until it is given “meaningful” access in numerous locations and allowed to review ballots that already have been opened and processed. Trump is running slightly behind Democratic nominee Joe Biden in Michigan. The president is ahead in Pennsylvania but his margin is shrinking as more mailed ballots are counted.
There have been no reports of fraud or any type of ballot concerns out of Pennsylvania. The state had 3.1 million mail-in ballots that take time to count and an order allows them to be counted up until Friday if they are postmarked by Nov. 3.
The campaign also said it would ask for a recount in Wisconsin, a state The Associated Press called for Biden on Wednesday afternoon. Campaign manager Bill Stepien cited “irregularities in several Wisconsin counties.”
The actions came as elections officials counted votes in several undecided states that are crucial to the outcome of the presidential election.
— Associated Press
3:34 p.m.: Trump camp says it’s suing to stop Pa. vote count over lack of ‘transparency’
The Trump campaign said Wednesday that it is suing to stop the vote count in Pennsylvania over what it says is a lack of transparency and is seeking to intervene in a Supreme Court case.
— Associated Press
2:46 p.m.: AP calls Wisconsin and its 10 electoral votes for Biden; Michigan lawsuit filed by Trump
The Trump campaign filed a lawsuit Wednesday in Michigan state court demanding access to locations where ballots are being counted in one of the undecided states that could determine whether President Donald Trump gets another four years in the White House.
The campaign said it is calling for a temporary halt in the counting until it is given “meaningful access” in numerous locations and allowed to review ballots that already have been opened and processed. Trump is running slightly behind Democratic nominee Joe Biden in Michigan.
The campaign also said it would ask for a recount in Wisconsin, a state The Associated Press called for Biden on Wednesday afternoon. Campaign manager Bill Stepien cited “irregularities in several Wisconsin counties.”
Statewide recounts in Wisconsin have historically changed the vote tally by only a few hundred votes.
The actions came as elections officials counted votes in several undecided states that are crucial to the outcome of the presidential election.
The former vice president’s campaign meanwhile welcomed the ongoing vote count and a Biden campaign attorney said they are ready for any legal fight. And Michigan Democrats said the suit was a longshot.
Lonnie Scott, executive director of Progress Michigan, a liberal advocacy group, said Trump only filed the suit to stop The Associated Press and other media outlets from calling the race for Biden.
“This is a Hail Mary,” he said.
Earlier Wednesday, Trump said he’ll take the presidential election to the Supreme Court, but it’s unclear what he meant.
—Associated Press
1:50 p.m.: Republican Sen. Susan Collins, under fire during Trump era, wins reelection
Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine has won the hardest-fought race of her career, turning back a challenge by Democrat Sara Gideon and surviving to serve a fifth term.
Collins, one of four candidates on the ballot, won a majority of first-place votes. That meant no additional tabulation rounds were necessary under Maine’s ranked-choice voting system.
Gideon has conceded, telling supporters on Wednesday that she called Collins and congratulated her on the win.
Collins long touted herself in the fiercely independent state as a bipartisan centrist who’s willing to work with both parties to get things done.
But opponents accused her of being an enabler of President Donald Trump, citing her votes to confirm Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and for tax cuts that critics said favored the rich.
Democrats had a disappointing night in the battle for Senate control, but it was too soon for Republicans to take a victory lap Wednesday, although they brushed back multiple challengers to protect their now teetering majority.
More on this story here. —Associated Press
1:50 p.m.: Trump wins Maine district, adds an electoral vote to his tally
President Donald Trump has won one of Maine’s four electoral votes, just as he did in 2016.
Trump carried the state’s 2nd Congressional District, the more rural and conservative of Maine’s congressional districts.
While Democrat Joe Biden easily carried the state itself, Maine is one of only two states that divides its electoral votes.
Biden won the 1st Congressional District and the statewide tally, good for three electoral votes. Trump’s victory in the 2nd Congressional District means he wins one electoral vote.
Maine split its electoral votes four years ago, awarding three to Democrat Hillary Clinton and one to Trump.
2016 marked the first time in state history that Maine divided its electoral votes.
—Associated Press
1:03 p.m.: Unofficial Wisconsin vote is in and Biden leads, but Trump wants a recount
President Donald Trump’s campaign manager Bill Stepien says the president plans to “immediately” request a recount in the battleground state of Wisconsin, where the race remains close.
In Wisconsin, if a race is within 1 percentage point, the trailing candidate can force a recount.
Stepien says in a statement Wednesday: “The President is well within the threshold to request a recount and we will immediately do so.”
—Associated Press and Chicago Tribune staff
1:02 p.m.: Mitch McConnell says it will take time to count votes
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is discounting President Donald Trump’s early claim that he’d already won the election, saying it’s going to take a while for states to conduct their vote counts.
The Kentucky Republican and Trump ally said Wednesday that “claiming you’ve won the election is different from finishing the counting.”
McConnell also says he is untroubled by Trump’s vows to contest the vote count in key states, telling reporters in Louisville that “you should not be shocked that both sides are going to have lawyers there.”
He added that “the courts will decide disputes. That’s the way we do it in this country.”
Early Wednesday, Trump said, “We will win this, and as far as I’m concerned we already have won it.”
But the outcome is still unclear in key states Trump would need if he is to win against Democrat Joe Biden.
—Associated Press
11:19 a.m.: From marijuana to cocaine and heroin, push to relax nation’s drug laws have big victories on state ballots
A nationwide push to relax drug laws took a significant step forward Tuesday as five more states legalized marijuana for adults and voters made Oregon the first state to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of street drugs such as cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine.
The Oregon drug initiative will allow people arrested with small amounts of hard drugs to avoid going to trial, and possible jail time, by paying a $100 fine and attending an addiction recovery program. The treatment centers will be funded by revenues from legalized marijuana, which was approved in Oregon several years ago.
The proposal was endorsed by the Oregon Democratic Party, as well as some nurses and physician associations. The Oregon Republican Party had denounced the drug decriminalization measure as radical, and some prosecutors called it reckless.
Oregon voters also approved a measure making the state the first to legalize the therapeutic use of psychedelic mushrooms.
Voters in New Jersey and Arizona approved measures legalizing marijuana for adults age 21 and older. The Arizona measure also allows people convicted of certain marijuana crimes to seek expungement of their records.
South Dakota on Tuesday became the first state where voters authorized both recreational marijuana and medical marijuana via two separate initiatives in the same election. The legalization of recreational marijuana was approved by voters in Montana, and medical marijuana won approval in Mississippi.
A decade ago, recreational marijuana was illegal in all 50 states. Voters allowed it in Colorado and Washington in 2012, sparking a movement that already included 11 states and Washington, D.C., heading into Tuesday’s elections. Supporters hope additional victories, especially in conservative states, could build pressure for Congress to legalize marijuana nationwide.
More on this story here. —Associated Press
10:00 a.m.: Biden holds slim lead in Michigan and Wisconsin — but race too close to call
The nation awoke to uncertainty Wednesday, as Joe Biden captured a slim lead in Michigan and began slowly closing the gap with President Trump in other key battlegrounds as election officials warned it could be days before the outcome of the presidential race is clear.
As the vote count resumes under the specter of an exhausting legal brawl, the fate of the election rests on a couple million uncounted ballots in a handful of states including Nevada, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and Georgia.
Hours after Trump tried to declare victory in the early morning by falsely claiming that he had built an insurmountable lead, the slow counting of mail votes and in-person ballots in Democratic Party strongholds showed the race in those places is very much a toss-up.
Michigan and Wisconsin officials expressed confidence that most of their count would be completed Wednesday, but in other states, including the key battleground of Pennsylvania, the tallying could stretch on for days.
In Michigan, Biden captured a slim lead of approximately 10,000 votes as tallies were updated from the state’s major metropolitan areas, which were believed to lean Democratic. Election officials said hundreds of thousands of outstanding ballots from the state’s largest cities would likely be reported by the end of the day.
Wisconsin was another toss-up, with Biden amassing a lead of 20,000 votes by early morning and state Democratic Party leaders expressing optimism the lead would only grow.
Pennsylvania also hung in the balance, with the 700,000-vote lead Trump amassed when he tried to claim victory threatened by the 1.4 million mail-in ballots that had yet to be counted. More than 270,000 of them are from Philadelphia, which is expected to heavily favor Biden.
Pennsylvania officials have said they expect most votes to be counted by the end of the week. Elections analysts see strong potential for Biden to eke out a win in the state.
—Jennifer Haberkorn and Evan Halper, Los Angeles Times
9:19 a.m.: Voting is done, but votes are still being counted. Here’s what’s next.
President Donald Trump says he’ll take the presidential election to the Supreme Court, but it’s unclear what he means in a country in which vote tabulations routinely continue beyond Election Day, and states largely set the rules for when the count has to end.
“We’ll be going to the U.S. Supreme Court — we want all voting to stop,” Trump said early Wednesday.
But the voting is over. Period. It’s only counting that is taking place across the nation. No state will count absentee votes that are postmarked after Election Day.
Democratic challenger Joe Biden’s campaign called Trump’s statement “outrageous, unprecedented, and incorrect.”
“If the president makes good on his threat to go to court to try to prevent the proper tabulation of votes, we have legal teams standing by ready to deploy to resist that effort,” Biden Campaign Manager Jen O’Malley Dillon said in a statement. “And they will prevail.”
Election law expert Richard Hasen wrote in Slate on Sunday that “there has never been any basis to claim that a ballot arriving on time cannot be counted if officials cannot finish their count on election night.”
Ohio State University election law professor Edward Foley wrote on Twitter Wednesday: “The valid votes will be counted. SCOTUS would be involved only if there were votes of questionable validity that would make a difference, which might not be the case. The rule of law will determine the official winner of the popular vote in each state. Let the rule of law work.”
In any event, there’s no way to go directly to the high court with a claim of fraud. Trump and his campaign could allege problems with the way votes are counted in individual states, but they would have to start their legal fight in a state or lower federal court.
There is a pending Republican appeal at the Supreme Court over whether Pennsylvania can count votes that arrive in the mail from Wednesday to Friday, an extension ordered by the state’s top court over the objection of Republicans. That case does not involve ballots already cast and in the possession of election officials, even if they are yet to be counted.
The high court refused before the election to rule out those ballots, but conservative justices indicated they could revisit the issue after the election. The Supreme Court also refused to block an extension for the receipt and counting of absentee ballots in North Carolina beyond the three days set by state law.
Even a small number of contested votes could matter if either state determines the winner of the election and the gap between Trump and Biden is so small that a few thousand votes, or even a few hundred, could make the difference.
—Associated Press
8:19 a.m.: News organizations rebuke Trump’s claim he’s won the election and tweet — with no evidence — alleging theft
In a stunning scene in the middle of the night, news organizations rebuked President Donald Trump after he falsely said on live television that he had won reelection even as votes were still being counted.
With reporters and supporters gathered at the White House at 2:20 a.m. Eastern, the president said it was “a major fraud on our nation” that he hadn’t been declared the winner. “As far as I’m concerned, we already have won this,” he said.
The words were barely out of his mouth before television anchors rushed to refute him.
CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell said Trump was “castrating the facts” by “falsely claiming that he has won the election and disenfranchising millions of voters whose ballots have not been counted.”
“Donald Trump is losing right now both in the popular vote and the electoral vote and there are many states left to be called,” ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos said.
Said NBC News’ Savannah Guthrie, “The fact of the matter is we don’t know who won the election.” Guthrie had interrupted Trump’s speech to tell viewers that several of Trump’s statements were not true.
The Associated Press said that at the time of Trump’s statement, its count had Trump winning 213 electoral votes to Democrat Joe Biden’s 225. The AP has determined that it’s too early to declare a winner in several states, including Pennsylvania, Georgia and Michigan.
It was an explosive moment after a frazzled nation had sat through hours of uncertainty. Media outlets had warned for weeks that Americans would have to be patient waiting for a decision in the bitter campaign between Biden and Trump, and repeatedly drove that point home through their election night coverage.
Biden had spoken to supporters at 12:42 a.m. in Delaware, expressing confidence in his campaign and saying he wanted to see every vote counted.
“Keep the faith, guys, we’re going to win this,” Biden said.
Trump had immediately responded with a tweet saying “we are up BIG, but they are trying to STEAL the election. We will never let them do it.”
The president’s address, after he was ushered to a podium to the sound of “Hail to the Chief,” received criticism in what are normally friendlier outlets.
“This is an extremely flammable situation and the president just threw a match into it,” said Fox News Channel’s Chris Wallace.
His Fox colleague, former George W. Bush administration aide Dana Perino, said, “he just went a step too far.” Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro tweeted that it was “deeply irresponsible” for Trump to claim victory.
The president’s team was angry at Fox News Channel for striking out ahead of other news organizations in declaring that Biden had defeated Trump in the battleground state of Arizona. It would have been the first state to flip parties from 2016, and was crucial in the path to 270 electoral votes and victory.
Fox’s Bret Baier, noting the network was taking “incoming,” put decision desk chief Arnon Mishkin on the air. He explained that with the bulk of uncounted votes in Arizona cast early and thus more likely for Biden, Trump would not be able to catch up to the Democrat’s lead in that state.
“I’m sorry, but we’re not wrong in this particular case,” Mishkin said. The AP eventually called Arizona for Biden at 2:52 a.m.
More on this story here. —Associated Press
8:07 a.m.: Biden campaign vows to contest Trump’s assertion he will go to Supreme Court and ‘all voting should stop’
Joe Biden’s campaign says it will fight any efforts by President Donald Trump’s campaign to go to the U.S. Supreme Court to prevent ballots from being tabulated.
In a statement sent before 4 a.m. Wednesday, Biden campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon called Trump’s statement that he will “be going to the U.S. Supreme Court” and that he wants “all voting to stop” “outrageous, unprecedented and incorrect.”
“If the president makes good on his threat to go to court to try to prevent the proper tabulation of votes, we have legal teams standing by ready to deploy to resist that effort. And they will prevail,” O’Malley Dillon said.
The Associated Press has not declared a winner in the presidential race. There are still hundreds of thousands of votes left to be counted, and the outcome hinges on a handful of uncalled battleground states.
—Associated Press
5:17 a.m.: Biden has slim lead in Nevada, but race too early to call
Early results showed Joe Biden with a slim lead over President Donald Trump in Nevada, but it was too early to declare a winner in the race Wednesday with a large number of ballots yet to be counted.
The Nevada Secretary of State’s Office said a new batch of results would be released Thursday after 9 a.m. Mail-in ballots received on Election Day had not yet been counted, along with any mail ballots postmarked no later than Nov. 3 that arrive over the next week and any provisional ballots.
The number of outstanding mail ballots is difficult to estimate, the elections office said, because Nevada opted to automatically mail ballots to all active registered voters this year and it’s hard to predict how many will choose to return them.
No Republican presidential candidate has carried Nevada since 2004 but the state has remained a battleground. Trump fell just shy of winning Nevada and its six electoral college votes four years ago and this year he campaigned hard in the state hoping for better luck.
Democrats and Joe Biden’s campaign said that while they have been successful in recent elections in Nevada, they weren’t taking anything for granted this year.
4:15 a.m.: Biden, Trump locked in tight battle in Wisconsin
President Donald Trump and Joe Biden were locked early Wednesday in a razor-thin race in Wisconsin as vote-counting stretched into the predawn hours and the nation’s eyes turned to the same Midwestern battlegrounds that decided the election four years ago.
With nearly all votes counted, Biden had a lead of less than three-tenths of a percentage point over Trump, a margin narrow enough to allow Trump to request a recount if it stands.
More than 1.9 million people voted early, either by mail or in person, because of the coronavirus pandemic. That flood of ballots extended the counting past 4 a.m. Wednesday. Those ballots take longer than a regular ballot to process, and the counting could not begin until the polls opened Tuesday, delaying the reporting of results.
After totals from the city of Milwaukee and Milwaukee County were added, Biden was ahead of Trump by fewer than 8,000 votes out of nearly 3.2 million cast.
Trump led earlier in the night, fueled by in-person voting results, but the 169,000 outstanding ballots from Milwaukee and ballots from other cities broke heavily for Biden. There were still a few thousand other votes waiting to be counted, primarily from the city of Green Bay.
“When all votes are counted, we’re confident that Joe Biden will win Wisconsin,” tweeted Ben Winkler, chairman of the state Democratic Party. —Associated Press
4 a.m.: News organizations rebuke Trump on election results claim
In a stunning scene in the middle of the night, news organizations rebuked President Donald Trump after he falsely said on live television that he had won reelection even as votes were still being counted.
With reporters and supporters gathered at the White House at 2:20 a.m. Eastern, the president said it was “a major fraud on our nation” that he hadn’t been declared the winner. “As far as I’m concerned, we already have won this,” he said.
The words were barely out of his mouth before television anchors rushed to refute him.
CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell said Trump was “castrating the facts” by “falsely claiming that he has won the election and disenfranchising millions of voters whose ballots have not been counted.”
“Donald Trump is losing right now both in the popular vote and the electoral vote and there are many states left to be called,” ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos said.
Said NBC News’ Savannah Guthrie, “The fact of the matter is we don’t know who won the election.” Guthrie had interrupted Trump’s speech to tell viewers that several of Trump’s statements were not true.
The president’s address, after he was ushered to a podium to the sound of “Hail to the Chief,” received criticism in what are normally friendlier outlets.
“This is an extremely flammable situation and the president just threw a match into it,” said Fox News Channel’s Chris Wallace.
His Fox colleague, former George W. Bush administration aide Dana Perino, said, “he just went a step too far.” Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro tweeted that it was “deeply irresponsible” for Trump to claim victory.
The president’s team was angry at Fox News Channel for striking out ahead of other news organizations in declaring that Biden had defeated Trump in the battleground state of Arizona. It would have been the first state to flip parties from 2016, and was crucial in the path to 270 electoral votes and victory.
Fox’s Bret Baier, noting the network was taking “incoming,” put decision desk chief Arnon Mishkin on the air. He explained that with the bulk of uncounted votes in Arizona cast early and thus more likely for Biden, Trump would not be able to catch up to the Democrat’s lead in that state.
“I’m sorry, but we’re not wrong in this particular case,” Mishkin said. The AP eventually called Arizona for Biden at 2:52 a.m. —Associated Press
3:13 a.m.: Biden campaign says it will fight any Trump efforts to stop vote counts in court
Democrat Joe Biden’s campaign says it will fight any efforts by President Donald Trump’s campaign to go to the U.S. Supreme Court to prevent ballots from being tabulated.
In a statement sent before 4 a.m. Wednesday, Biden campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon called Trump’s statement that he will “be going to the U.S. Supreme Court” and that he wants “all voting to stop” “outrageous, unprecedented and incorrect.”
O’Malley Dillon says the Biden campaign has “legal teams standing by ready to deploy to resist that effort.” And she says, “They will prevail.”
The Associated Press has not declared a winner in the presidential race. There are still hundreds of thousands of votes left to be counted, and the outcome hinges on a handful of uncalled battleground states.
2:30 a.m.: Iowa Republican Sen. Joni Ernst holds off challenger
Republican Joni Ernst won reelection to her Iowa U.S. Senate seat Tuesday after an expensive and at times bruising race against Democrat Theresa Greenfield.
Voters gave another term to Ernst following a campaign that featured a blizzard of television ads and three heated televised debates. The two candidates had more than $170 million in spending on media as parties and interest groups poured money into the race, one of the costliest in the nation.
“The election is over and it’s time to start the healing,” Ernst said after taking the stage at a downtown Des Moines hotel to chants of “Joni.” “There is far more than unites us than divides us.”
It was a more intense race than in 2014, when Ernst breezed into office with an 8-point victory thanks in part to an image molded by television ads of her riding a motorcycle, shooting a handgun and promising to make big-spenders in Washington “squeal.” The squeal ad in particular vaulted Ernst to national attention, as she walked through a barn while noting she “grew up castrating hogs on an Iowa farm” and was ready to cut pork. The ad was interspersed with scenes of pigs and the sounds of squeals.
2:15 a.m.: Democrat Mark Kelly wins US Senate race in Arizona
Democrat Mark Kelly has won the Arizona Senate seat once held by John McCain.
The former astronaut defeated Republican Martha McSally, who was appointed to the seat by Gov. Doug Ducey after McCain’s death in 2018.
The contest is a special election to finish McCain’s term, so Kelly could be sworn in as early as Nov. 30, when the results are officially certified.
Kelly flew combat missions for the Navy during Operation Desert Storm before becoming a test pilot and later an astronaut. He flew four missions to the International Space Station.
He is the husband of former Democratic U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot in the head and wounded in an attempted assassination during a constituent event in Tucson in 2011.
Kelly earlier in the night all but declared victory, saying: “I’m confident that when all the votes are counted, we’re going to be successful in this mission.”
McSally was not expected to speak Tuesday night.
Her spokeswoman, Caroline Anderegg, had said it was too early to know who won.
“This race is not over,” she said in a statement posted on Twitter.
2:12 a.m.: Biden takes Minnesota: AP
Joe Biden carried Minnesota on Tuesday, dashing President Donald Trump’s hopes of becoming the first Republican to carry the state since Richard Nixon in 1972, while Sen. Tina Smith fended off GOP challenger Jason Lewis and GOP challenger Michelle Fischbach upset veteran Democratic U.S. Rep. Collin Peterson.
Biden captured Minnesota despite a strong push from Trump, who nearly took Minnesota four years ago and talked repeatedly about doing it this year. Trump held several rallies in the state, targeting rural and northern Minnesota where his following was strongest. But Biden benefited from a passionate Democratic turnout in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area. Two dueling visits by both candidates on the same days in the final weeks highlighted Minnesota’s battleground status.
2:09 a.m.: Biden wins Maine’s popular vote, at least 3 electoral votes: AP
Democrat Joe Biden has surged to a statewide victory in Maine, winning at least three of the state’s four electoral votes in his bid to unseat President Donald Trump.
Biden collected a majority of first-place votes in the 1st Congressional District and in the statewide tally, good for three electoral votes. It was too early to call the winner of the 2nd Congressional District’s electoral vote.
Four years ago, Maine split its electoral votes, when Trump also was awarded one vote to Hillary Clinton’s three after he won the rural, conservative district. 2016 marked the first time in state history that Maine divided its electoral votes.
Maine is one of only two states that divide their electoral votes. The other is Nebraska.
The race marked the first time ranked choice voting was used in a presidential contest. But the election system’s provisions — for additional voting rounds, last-place candidate eliminations and reallocations of votes to ensure a majority winner — didn’t come into play this time.
1:55 a.m.: Biden wins Arizona, flipping battleground state for Democrats, AP reports
Democrat Joe Biden has won Arizona and its 11 electoral votes, flipping a critical battleground state that Donald Trump won four years ago and that could help determine which candidate wins the presidency.
The victory by Biden was a huge blow to Trump’s chances for reelection. Arizona has backed a Democratic presidential candidate only once in the last 72 years.
Biden’s campaign had focused on Arizona as part of its expanded battleground map through the Sun Belt, citing demographic changes, new residents and realignment away from Republicans among key suburban voters.
Arizona is among the more than half a dozen states that will help determine which candidate gets the 270 electoral votes to capture the White House.
Biden’s massive advantage in campaign cash allowed him to put Trump on defense across the country and work to build an unstoppable lead in the Electoral College. —Associated Press
1:44 a.m.: Trump vows to take election to Supreme Court
President Donald Trump, in an early morning appearance at the White House, made premature claims of victories in several key states and said he would take the election to the Supreme Court. It was unclear exactly what legal action he might try to pursue.
Several states allow mailed-in votes to be accepted after Election Day, as long as they were postmarked by Tuesday. That includes Pennsylvania, where ballots postmarked by Nov 3. can be accepted if they arrive up to three days after the election.
Trump cried foul over the election results, calling the process “a major fraud on our nation.” But there’s no evidence of foul play in the cliffhanger.
The night ended with hundreds of thousands of votes still to be counted, and the outcome still unclear in key states he needs if he is to win against Democrat Joe Biden.
Nevertheless, he has cast the night as a disenfranchisement of his voters. He said: “We will win this and as far as I’m concerned we already have won it.”
Trump says: “We’ll be going to the U.S. Supreme Court — we want all voting to stop.” In fact, there is no more voting — just counting.
1:40 a.m.: Georgia’s Loeffler in Senate runoff; Perdue’s race uncalled
With both Senate seats up for grabs, Georgia voters sent one race to a January runoff between Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler and Democrat Raphael Warnock. It remained too early to call GOP Sen. David Perdue’s reelection race early Wednesday because of uncounted ballots in metro Atlanta.
Georgia was the only state with both its senators on the ballot Tuesday, with control of the Senate in the balance.
Perdue led unofficial returns as he sought a second term against Democrat John Ossoff. But Ossoff still hoped to pick up votes in populous metro Atlanta counties that lean Democratic.
The tight statewide election results extended to the presidential race in Georgia, where it remained too early to call whether President Donald Trump or Democrat Joe Biden won the state’s 16 electoral votes.
Loeffler and Warnock were the top two finishers in a crowded field that also included Republican Rep. Doug Collins. But neither was able to get the 50% threshold needed in order to win outright. —Associated Press
1:30 a.m.: GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham defeats challenger Jaime Harrison, calls win ‘an answer to a lot of prayers’
Republican Lindsey Graham of South Carolina has secured a fourth term in the U.S. Senate, defeating Democratic challenger Jaime Harrison in a race that mustered astounding fundraising, captured national attention and represented the toughest reelection fight of Graham’s 25-year congressional career.
“This victory is an answer to a lot of prayers,” Graham told supporters Tuesday night in Columbia. “To those of you who have been following this race from afar, I hope you got the message. If you don’t get this message, it’s hopeless.”
The competition between Graham, 65, and Harrison, 44, turned into South Carolina’s most expensive race ever, with both candidates posting record fundraising that has surpassed $200 million total and continued to grow in the race’s closing days. Harrison raised $57 million in the third quarter alone, shattering all quarterly Senate fundraising records. He became the first U.S. Senate candidate to ever amass a war chest of more than $100 million over the course of the race.
Read more here. —Associated Press
1:25 a.m.: Biden wins 1 of 4 Maine electoral votes
Democrat Joe Biden has won at least one of Maine’s four electoral votes in his bid to unseat President Donald Trump.
Biden won the state’s 1st Congressional District, good for one electoral vote.
Maine’s statewide vote, which is worth two electoral votes, and the state’s 2nd Congressional District haven’t yet been called.
Maine split its electoral votes four years ago, awarding three to Democrat Hillary Clinton and one to Trump. Trump won the 2nd Congressional District, the more rural and conservative of Maine’s congressional districts.
It marked the first time in state history that Maine divided its electoral votes.
Maine is one of only two states that divides its electoral votes. The other is Nebraska. — Associated Press
1:27 a.m.: Trump wins 4 of 5 Nebraska votes; Biden gets 1
President Donald Trump has won four of Nebraska’s five electoral votes, while Democrat Joe Biden has won one electoral vote from the state.
The 1st Congressional District was called for Trump early Wednesday. He also won the 3rd Congressional District earlier, as well as the statewide vote. Trump gets one electoral vote for each congressional district, plus two electoral votes for winning the statewide vote.
Biden’s win in the 2nd Congressional District, which includes Omaha, is a flip from 2016, when Trump narrowly won it against Democrat Hillary Clinton.
While Trump easily carried the state itself, Nebraska is one of only two states that divides its electoral votes.
In 2016, Trump won all five of Nebraska’s electoral votes. — Associated Press
1:22 a.m.: Biden wins Omaha-area district, a flip from ’16
Democrat Joe Biden has won Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District, which includes Omaha. That flips a district that Donald Trump won in 2016.
Nebraska, one of two states that divides its electoral votes, has five total electoral votes up for grabs. On Tuesday, Trump won the statewide vote, which is good for two electoral votes. He also won the 3rd Congressional District, which nets him a third vote.
Biden earns one electoral vote for winning Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District. Nebraska’s 1st Congressional District hasn’t yet been called.
In 2016, Trump narrowly won Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District over Democrat Hillary Clinton. — Associated Press
1:12 a.m.: Twitter hides election-related post from Trump
Twitter is hiding an election-related post by President Donald Trump, warning that its content is disputed and could be misleading.
Trump stated without evidence early Wednesday that Democrats were trying to “steal” the election. He also falsely said votes cannot be cast after polls are closed.
States allow voters to cast ballots if they are in line when polls close. Some states also allow mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day but received later to be counted.
Trump’s tweet came after his Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, delivered remarks as the race was too early to call in key battleground states.
Biden told his supporters to be patient while all the votes are counted.
Twitter says placing a warning on the tweet is in line with its “Civic Integrity Policy.” The tweet is still visible after clicking through the warning. — Associated Press
1:06 p.m.: Trump wins Texas despite Democrats’ efforts
President Donald Trump has won Texas and its 38 electoral votes despite a furious, late push by Democrats to turn America’s biggest red state blue.
An avalanche of early votes fed Democrats’ high hopes of ending decades of losses in Texas, where polls showed Joe Biden running unusually close. But Trump carried Texas for a second straight year.
Trump won Texas by 9 percentage points in 2016 and all but took a win here for granted. He didn’t swing through Texas for campaign rallies or swamp television airwaves, and his conservative allies on the ground scoffed at Biden’s chances as a far reach.
Trump sought to make an issue out of Biden’s answer during their final presidential debate that Biden would “transition away from the oil industry” if elected president. Texas is among the swing states with voters who depend on the oil industry to make a living. — Associated Press
12:59 a.m.: Biden wins at least 1 electoral vote from Maine
Democrat Joe Biden has won at least one of Maine’s four electoral votes in his bid to unseat President Donald Trump.
Biden won Maine’s 1st Congressional District, good for one electoral vote. The statewide vote, which is worth two electoral votes, and the 2nd Congressional District, which is worth one electoral vote, still have not been called.
Maine split its electoral votes four years ago, awarding three to Democrat Hillary Clinton and one to Trump, who won the more rural and conservative of Maine’s congressional districts.
It marked the first time in state history that Maine divided its electoral votes.
Maine is one of only two states that divides its electoral votes. The other is Nebraska. — Associated Press
12:55 p.m.: Trump plans to make statement early Wednesday
President Donald Trump says he’s planning to make a statement early Wednesday morning as the race remains too close to call.
Neither Trump nor Democrat Joe Biden has reached the 270 Electoral College vote threshold.
Trump is insisting by tweet that “Votes cannot be cast after the Poles are closed!” even though, in multiple states, ballots can be counted if they arrive after Election Day.
Many of the battleground states have yet to be called, including Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas and Wisconsin.
Trump won Florida, Iowa and Ohio, while Biden carried New Hampshire and Minnesota. It takes 270 electoral votes to win the presidency. — Associated Press
12:51 a.m.: Biden tells supporters to ‘keep the faith’
Joe Biden is asking his supporters to “keep the faith” as the counting goes on in the drawn-out U.S. presidential election.
The Democratic presidential candidate emerged Wednesday after midnight to speak on the election results that have left the outcome in the balance. He spent the evening watching the returns come in from his home in Wilmington, Delaware, then drove downtown by motorcade to make his statement outside the Chase Center.
He told a gathering of supporters that his hopes for victory remain high despite the uncertainty and cautioned them that it could take a day or longer to know who won.
He told them: “Your patience is commendable.”
Hours after the polls have closed across America, however, the result is up in the air.
A number of key states still have hundreds of thousands of ballots outstanding, after a large influx of mail ballots have slowed down the count in states across the nation. — Associated Press
12:35 p.m.: Trump wins Florida, biggest battleground prize
President Donald Trump has won Florida and its 29 electoral votes, the biggest prize among the perennial battlegrounds and a state crucial to his reelection hopes.
A victory in Florida means reelection is within Trump’s grasp. A loss in the state would have made it nearly impossible for Trump to reach the 270 electoral votes needed to retain the White House.
Democrat Joe Biden’s campaign had hoped the devastating toll of the coronavirus pandemic, particularly among older adults, would put him in a strong position in a state popular with retirees.
Trump moved his official residence to his Palm Beach estate Mar-a-Lago from New York last year.
Trump narrowly beat Democrat Hillary Clinton in the state in 2016. — Associated Press
12:25 a.m.: Biden set to speak shortly on election results
Democrat Joe Biden will speak shortly on the election results, as many of his key states remain too close to call.
The Biden campaign gathered the press pool that covers him in Wilmington, Delaware, for an early Wednesday morning statement but offered no further guidance.
Biden has spent the night watching the returns come in from his home, while reporters waited near the Chase Center in downtown Wilmington for potential remarks.
Biden began his day early Tuesday with a handful of campaign stops across the all-important state of Pennsylvania as voters went to the polls.
Hours after the polls have closed across America, however, the result of the presidential election remains unclear. A number of key states still have hundreds of thousands of ballots outstanding, after a large influx of mail ballots have slowed down the count in states across the nation. — Associated Press
12:21 a.m.: Donald Trump wins Iowa and Montana
President Donald Trump has won Iowa and Montana.
The Republican nominee on Wednesday was awarded six electoral votes from Iowa and three electoral votes from Montana.
Trump won Iowa by more than 9 percentage points four years ago against Democrat Hillary Clinton, but his support eroded significantly over his handling of the coronavirus pandemic and the overall direction of the country.
Trump rallied in Iowa in the final stretch of the campaign, going so far as to announce he would be awarding the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Iowa wrestling legend Dan Gable. In an appeal to the state’s farmers, he told them he was responsible for $28 billion in aid designed to help offset damage stemming from his trade war with China. — Associated Press
12:19 a.m.: Trump wins Ohio, holding on to battleground
President Donald Trump has won Ohio and its 18 electoral votes, holding on to a battleground state where the race against Democrat Joe Biden had tightened in recent months.
The Republican nominee comfortably carried the Midwestern state four years ago, but polls heading into the final weeks showed Biden well within range, forcing the president to spend more time in the state than anyone expected.
In 2016, Trump saw notable support from blue-collar manufacturing and mining communities disenchanted with his opponent, Democrat Hillary Clinton, and buoyed by the Republican’s promise to bring back jobs to their hard-hit communities.
Biden saw the gap as overly daunting early on but seized an opening in the closing months amid Trump’s softening support among college-educated suburban women. The campaign responded with a summer ad blitz and string of in-person campaign appearances. — Associated Press
12:06 a.m.: Joe Biden wins Hawaii
Democrat Joe Biden has won the state of Hawaii.
He was awarded its four electoral votes on Tuesday.
Hawaii is a reliably Democratic state and last went for a Republican presidential candidate in 1984, when it was won by Ronald Reagan. — Associated Press
12:05 a.m.: Joe Biden wins Connecticut’s 7 electoral votes
Former Democratic Vice President Joe Biden defeated Republican President Donald Trump in Connecticut on Tuesday, garnering all seven of the state’s electoral votes. — Associated Press
12 a.m.: Biden wins California, Oregon, Washington state while Trump wins Idaho
Democrat Joe Biden has won California, Oregon and Washington state, while President Donald Trump has won Idaho.
California, Oregon and Washington are all liberal states, while Idaho is conservative.
California has 55 electoral votes, the biggest haul of any state. It’s also the home of Biden’s running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris. She served as the San Francisco district attorney and the state’s attorney general before winning election to the Senate in 2016.
Biden nets 74 electoral votes for the three Western states, while Trump takes four electoral votes from Idaho. — Associated Press
11:54 p.m.: Biden wins New Hampshire, holds onto state that Trump narrowly lost in 2016
Democrat Joe Biden has won New Hampshire and its four electoral votes, holding on to a state that President Donald Trump only narrowly lost in 2016.
The state was considered a 2020 battleground despite not going for a Republican presidential candidate since George W. Bush in 2000.
Four years ago, Democrat Hillary Clinton won the small state over Trump by roughly 2,700 votes. That’s less than 1% of the 732,000 ballots cast, and it was the second-closest margin of victory in the country.
Biden didn’t fare as well in New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation Democratic primary in February. He finished a dismal fifth, behind Bernie Sanders, Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar and Elizabeth Warren. But his candidacy took off after a commanding win later that month in the South Carolina primary, leading to the exits of several of his competitors. — Associated Press
11:27 p.m.: AP says Florida too early to call for presidential race
Trump and Biden were locked in a tight race in Florida, and it was too early for The Associated Press to call the perennial battleground state.
Florida has a history of close elections, including the state’s 2018 governor’s race, which went to a recount. The AP was waiting on more votes to be counted in south Florida, including Miami-Dade County, the largest county in the state. Read more here. —Associated Press
11:08 p.m.: Donald Trump wins Utah
President Donald Trump has won the state of Utah.
The Republican nominee on Tuesday was awarded its six electoral votes.
Utah hasn’t supported a Democratic presidential candidate since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964.
Trump won Utah in 2016, but independent candidate Evan McMullin had a strong showing in the state owing to widespread distaste of both Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton. McMullin captured more than 20% of the vote. — Associated Press
10:51 p.m.: Missouri NAACP wants investigation of replica noose by polls
The Missouri NAACP on Tuesday called for a federal investigation and the removal of a replica hangman’s noose on display near voting booths in southwest Missouri.
The replica noose is display in a hallway of the Stone County building in downtown Galena with several voting booths nearby. Stone County Clerk Cindy Elmore has said the noose was covered up Friday following complaints from the Missouri Democratic Party.
Missouri NAACP President Rod Chapel said the noose has been historically used to discourage Black people from voting over the threat of lynchings. He said the U.S. Department of Justice should investigate.
More of this story here. — Associated Press
10:44 p.m.: When will we know the results of the presidential race? It may be a long night — or more
There’s a fair chance Americans won’t know the winner of Tuesday’s presidential election while it’s still Tuesday — or maybe even Wednesday.
The main reason? Many states have made it easier to request a mail ballot amid the coronavirus pandemic and concerns about crowded polling places. But mail ballots generally require more time to process than ballots that are cast in person.
More of this story here. — Associated Press
10:36 p.m.: Authorities prepared for Election Day unrest
Elected officials and authorities in the Pacific Northwest have prepared for potential unrest as protests in Portland, Oregon, Seattle and in smaller cities were expected on Election Day.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown has the National Guard on standby as Oregon’s largest city has seen near nightly protests since the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May.
Hundreds of people were marching through Portland Tuesday evening, chanting among other things, “This is what democracy looks like.” Organizers said the demonstration would be peaceful, and that regardless of the presidential election result, they would continue demonstrating in support of racial justice, KPTV reported.
— Associated Press
10:32 p.m.: Donald Trump wins Missouri
President Donald Trump has won the state of Missouri.
The Republican nominee on Tuesday was awarded its 10 electoral votes.
In 2016, Trump beat Democrat Hillary Clinton in the state by 18 percentage points.
— Associated Press
10:28 p.m.: AOC breezes to victory over GOP challenger, retains Bronx, Queens hold
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez retained her congressional seat Tuesday night, handily defeating GOP challenger John Cummings by 40%.
According to the final state Board of Elections tally, AOC brought in 73,768 votes to Cumming’s 30,403.
More of the story here. — Michael Gartland, New York Daily News
10:14 p.m.: Trump vs. Biden: All eyes on Midwest ‘Blue Wall’ battlegrounds
With a record number of early ballots cast and Americans lining up across the nation to vote amid a pandemic, all eyes have turned to key Midwest battleground states as the polls close.
The Associated Press called deep blue Illinois for Democratic former Vice President Joe Biden and reliably red Indiana for Republican President Donald Trump early in the evening, but the presidential outcome in Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Iowa is far less certain.
Four years ago, Trump’s razor-thin upset wins in Wisconsin and Michigan helped him break through the Democrats’ “blue wall” and delivered him the presidency. He entered Election Day trailing in both states, with FiveThirtyEight’s polling average showing Trump down 8 points in Wisconsin and Michigan.
But Trump never led a Wisconsin poll four years ago and led in few Michigan ones. Pollsters, however, expect their surveys to be more accurate this time around, with less volatility in the electorate, fewer undecided voters and a better understanding of Trump’s strong support among noncollege-educated white voters.
More of the story here. — Bill Ruthhart, Chicago Tribune
10:06 p.m.: No quick decision on Vegas-area mail ballot appeal in Nevada
Republicans and President Donald Trump’s campaign gained no quick decision Tuesday in a Nevada Supreme Court appeal aimed at stopping the count of mail-in ballots in the Las Vegas area — a Democratic stronghold in an otherwise red GOP state.
Justices did not stop Election Night counting, calling instead for written filings to be completed next Monday on an issue that could affect reporting the vote in Clark County and Nevada, a presidential battleground with six electoral votes at stake.
A hearing date was not immediately set.
The Trump campaign and GOP say they want campaign-enlisted count-watchers to be allowed wider range to see operations at the busy Clark County elections office in suburban Las Vegas.
“We are fighting for transparent and open elections,” Trump Nevada campaign co-chairman Adam Laxalt said.
The state Democratic Party accuses Republicans and the Trump camp of “continued attempts to undermine the election process” in Nevada’s most diverse area.
“We expect this desperate appeal to be swiftly denied,” Democratic party spokeswoman Molly Forgey said.
— Associated Press
10:01 p.m.: John Hickenlooper defeats GOP Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner as Dems seek to flip Senate
John Hickenlooper, the former governor of Colorado, defeated Republican Sen. Cory Gardner in Tuesday night’s election, bolstering Democrats’ hopes of flipping control of the Senate.
The Associated Press called the race for Hickenlooper less than hour after polls closed in Colorado.
“Thank you, Colorado! Serving you is the honor of my life, and I can’t wait to be your Senator,” Hickenlooper tweeted.
More of the story here. — Chris Sommerfeldt, New York Daily News
10 p.m.: Republican Lindsey Graham wins reelection in South Carolina
Republican Lindsey Graham of South Carolina has secured a fourth term in the Senate, defeating Democrat Jamie Harrison.
Some polling in the campaign’s closing weeks showed a head-to-head race, and Harrison’s massive fundraising broke records. But Graham mustered support across South Carolina, where all statewide offices are held by Republicans and support for President Donald Trump remains strong.
Harrison portrayed Graham as too willing to acquiesce to Trump. Graham maintained that he felt it in his constituents’ best interests that he align with the president, who has remained popular in South Carolina.
If Harrison had won, South Carolina would have been the first state in U.S. history to be simultaneously represented by two Black senators.
— Associated Press
9:55 p.m.: McBride elected as country’s first transgender state senator
Democrat Sarah McBride won a state Senate race on Tuesday in Delaware, and would become the first openly transgender state senator in the country when sworn in.
McBride defeated Republican Steve Washington to win the seat that became open following the retirement of the longest-serving legislator in Delaware history.
She won in a heavily Democratic district stretching from northern Wilmington to the Pennsylvania border, and joins several other transgender legislators around the country but will be the first transgender state senator.
“I think tonight’s results demonstrate what I’ve known my entire life, which is that the residents of this district are fair-minded, and they’re looking at candidates’ ideas and not their identity,” McBride said Tuesday night. “It is my hope that a young LGBTQ kid here in Delaware or really anywhere in this country can look at the results and know that our democracy is big enough for them, too.”
McBride interned at the White House under former President Barack Obama and made history at the 2016 Democratic National Convention as the first openly transgender person to speak at a major party convention.
— Associated Press
9:53: p.m.: Many voters, few glitches, some suits as Pennsylvania votes
The waning hours of Election Day brought little immediate closure to the campaign season in Pennsylvania but produced a quick succession of legal action as Donald Trump and Joe Biden fought tooth-and-nail for the key battleground state.
Republicans and a voter outside Philadelphia filed a federal lawsuit accusing Montgomery County officials of illegally processing mail-in ballots before Tuesday for the purpose of allowing voters to fix problems with their ballots.
A federal judge in Philadelphia set a hearing for Wednesday morning on the Republican bid to stop the count of 49 ballots that were amended and returned in the suburban county.
The state’s high court has not prohibited counties from allowing voters to fix their ballots, said Kelly Cofrancisco, a county spokesperson.
And in a lawsuit filed Tuesday night in a statewide appellate court, Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania and five other plaintiffs want to block counties from allowing voters whose mail-in ballots were disqualified to be able to cast a vote by provisional ballot.
The lawsuit said the state Supreme Court has already ruled that state law provides no such avenue for a voter to fix a disqualified vote. In Oct. 21 guidance to counties, state elections officials said a voter whose mail-in or absentee ballot was rejected could still vote in person by a provisional ballot.
It was not immediately clear how many voters had cast such a ballot, or which counties were allowing the practice.
— Associated Press
9:40 p.m.: Joe Biden wins Colorado
Democrat Joe Biden has won the state of Colorado.
He was awarded its nine electoral votes on Tuesday.
The state, which went for Democrat Hillary Clinton four years ago, has trended sharply to the left since President Donald Trump’s 2016 election.
The state also has a competitive Senate race between Republican incumbent Cory Gardner and the state’s former governor John Hickenlooper. Gardner is considered one of the nation’s most vulnerable senators.
— Associated Press
9:31 p.m.: Georgia Republican who supports QAnon wins US House seat
Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene, who expressed racist views and support for QAnon conspiracy theories in a series of online videos, has won a U.S. House seat representing northwest Georgia.
Her candidacy was bolstered by President Donald Trump, who has called her a “future Republican Star.”
Greene was heavily favored in the conservative district even before Democratic challenger Kevin Van Ausdal suddenly dropped out in September, saying he was moving out of state.
Greene is a businesswoman and political newcomer who’s gained large followings on social media in part by posting incendiary videos and comments.
Greene has claimed in online videos that Black and Hispanic men are being held back by “gangs and dealing drugs,” alleged an “Islamic invasion” of government offices and accused Jewish billionaire George Soros of collaborating with Nazis.
More of the story here. — Associated Press
9:13 p.m.: President Trump wins statewide popular vote in Nebraska
President Donald Trump on Tuesday won deeply conservative Nebraska, which hasn’t seen its statewide popular vote go to a Democrat since Lyndon B. Johnson carried the state in 1964. But that doesn’t mean Trump is guaranteed all five of the state’s electoral votes.
Democratic challenger Joe Biden is hoping to peel off at least one electoral vote in Nebraska — one of only two states that allows its electoral votes to be split.
The former vice president has a chance of winning in the state’s 2nd Congressional District, which encompasses Omaha and several suburbs. Polling has shown a competitive race between Biden and Trump in the district, while the president is far ahead statewide.
Since adopting the system in 1991, Nebraska has split its electoral votes only once: In 2008, when Democrat Barack Obama won the 2nd District on his way to the presidency.
Trump supporters who spoke to The Associated Press on Tuesday tended to cite his performance in his first term for their decision.
“I went ahead and voted for Donald Trump because I believe he is honest, and he gets things done and he delivers,” said Lisa Schneider, a 59-year-old homemaker in Omaha. “And most of all, he loves our country.”
Christine Reisser, 56, is a retired teacher in Omaha who said she supported Trump because she wants him to continue doing what he has been doing for the past four years.
“He’s going to keep our way of life intact,” Reisser said.
— Associated Press
9:08 p.m.: Joe Biden wins in New Mexico
Biden’s statewide election victory on Tuesday without a campaign visit to New Mexico extends a string of victories for Democratic presidential candidates in the heavily Latino and Native American state.
Trump dispatched federal agents to Albuquerque amid his criticism of local Democratic leaders for their handling of crime and public safety issues in the months leading up to the election.
Hillary Clinton won the state in 2016 with a plurality as Libertarian presidential candidate and former Gov. Gary Johnson syphoned away 9% of the votes.
— Associated Press
9:02 p.m.: Trump wins 5 more states, Biden adds 2 states
President Donald Trump has won Louisiana, Nebraska, Nebraska’s 3rd Congressional District, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming, while Democrat Joe Biden has won New Mexico and New York.
Nebraska, one of two states that divides its electoral votes, has five total electoral votes up for grabs. Trump won the statewide vote, which is good for two electoral votes. He also won the 3rd Congressional District, which nets him a third vote.
Nebraska’s 1st and 2nd congressional districts haven’t yet been called.
Trump nets 20 electoral votes from his wins in Louisiana, Nebraska, Nebraska’s 3rd, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming, while Biden takes 34 electoral votes for winning New Mexico and New York.
— Associated Press
9:01 p.m.: Pennsylvania emerges as online misinformation hotspot
A single voting machine jammed for just minutes Tuesday morning at a precinct in Joe Biden’s hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania — but misleading posts on Facebook and Twitter claimed multiple machines there were down for hours.
Pennsylvania emerged as a hotspot for online misinformation on Election Day. Facebook and Twitter scrambled to take down false posts about polling locations in Scranton, Philadelphia and beyond to minimize the spread of misinformation and prevent it from sowing doubt about the election process.
Misleading claims about voting in the key battleground state were shared thousands of times on Facebook and Twitter — even reaching their way to the Twitter feed of the president’s son, Donald Trump Jr.
“The fact that we are unlikely to know the result of that pivotal race tonight means that any incidents will receive disproportionate attention because there won’t be a resolution to the race,” said Emerson Brooking, a disinformation fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab, a Washington think tank.
Results in the closely watched state might be delayed because of the surge of mail-in ballots this year, even though that delay doesn’t indicate a problem with the vote.
More of the story here. — Associated Press
8:56 p.m.: Trump wins Indiana as it stays in GOP presidential column
Indiana has gone for President Donald Trump again as the state remained in the Republican presidential column.
The home state of Vice President Mike Pence wasn’t in much doubt as Democrat Joe Biden’s campaign paid little attention to the state that has gone for Republican candidates in 12 of the last 13 presidential elections.
Trump won Indiana by 19 percentage points in 2016 over Hillary Clinton. Although Republicans admitted his popularity had dropped in some areas.
— Associated Press
8:45 p.m.: Joe Biden wins Maryland, which has not voted for a Republican presidential candidate in 32 years
Democrat Joe Biden won Maryland’s 10 electoral votes as expected Tuesday. The state has not voted Republican in a presidential election in 32 years.
The election provided a referendum of sorts on state Republicans’ views of President Donald Trump after one term in office.
In 2016, Trump collected 943,169 votes in Maryland, amounting to 33.9%. Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton got 1.7 million — 60.3% — in the state, in which Democrats have an overwhelming voter registration advantage.
Maryland has not voted for a Republican presidential candidate since 1988, when the state went for Republican George H.W. Bush over Michael Dukakis.
More of the story here. — Jeff Barker, Baltimore Sun
8:42 p.m.: Postal Service says it can’t meet judge’s ballot order
The U.S. Postal Service on Tuesday said it could not meet a federal judge’s order to sweep processing centers for undelivered mail-in ballots, arguing that doing so would disrupt its Election Day operations.
U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan of Washington, D.C., gave the agency until Tuesday afternoon to search 27 facilities in several battleground areas for outstanding ballots and send out those votes immediately.
The order came after weeks of bruising court decisions for an agency that has become heavily politicized under its new leader, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy. DeJoy, a major GOP donor, made a series of controversial policy changes in the summer that delayed mail nationwide, fueling worry about the service’s ability to handle the unprecedented crush of mail-in ballots. At the same time, President Donald Trump has baselessly attacked mail voting as fraudulent throughout his campaign.
In its response to the judge’s order, the Postal Service said it had already conducted rounds of morning checks at all its processing hubs. Further, the agency said has been performing daily reviews of all 220 facilities handling election mail and planned another sweep hours before polling places closed Tuesday.
— Associated Press
8:38 p.m.: California officials investigate report of fake polling site, complete with ‘I Voted’ stickers
Officials in Orange County, California, said Tuesday that they were investigating reports that someone established a fake voting center in Westminster, accepted ballots and handed out phony “I Voted” stickers.
Registrar of Voters Neal Kelley said the incident was under investigation by his office and the Orange County district attorney’s office, so he couldn’t comment further. At about 3 p.m., he said officials were “on scene and active right now.”
More of the story here. — Adam Elmahrek, Los Angeles Times
8:32 p.m.: Donald Trump wins Arkansas
President Donald Trump has won the state of Arkansas.
The Republican nominee on Tuesday was awarded its six electoral votes.
Arkansas is a reliably Republican state that hasn’t gone for a Democratic presidential candidate since Bill Clinton in 1996.
— Associated Press
8:11 p.m.: McConnell reelected to 7th term
Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has won a seventh term in Kentucky.
The 78-year-old McConnell defeated Democrat Amy McGrath, a retired Marine combat pilot who challenged him as a political outsider. McConnell is the longest-serving Republican leader in Senate history.
As President Donald Trump’s top ally on Capitol Hill, McConnell led efforts to defend the president during his impeachment acquittal in the Senate. He also worked with Trump on a tax overhaul and orchestrated Senate confirmation of more than 200 judicial appointments, including Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court.
McGrath also lost a race for a House seat in 2018.
More of the story here. — Associated Press
8:03 p.m.: Presidential race called in several states
Donald Trump wins Alabama.
Donald Trump wins Oklahoma.
Donald Trump wins Mississippi.
Donald Trump wins South Carolina.
Donald Trump wins Tennessee.
Joe Biden wins Maryland.
Joe Biden wins Connecticut.
Joe Biden wins Delaware.
Joe Biden wins Illinois.
Joe Biden wins Massachusetts.
Joe Biden wins Rhode Island.
— Associated Press
7:36 p.m.: Joe Biden wins Virginia
Democrat Joe Biden defeated Republican President Donald Trump in the race for president in Virginia on Tuesday.
The state contributes 13 votes to the Electoral College; it takes 270 votes to win the presidency.
Trump made noise about carrying Virginia, doing a quick campaign rally at the Newport News airport in September that drew thousands of supporters. Overall, though, the state was not a focus of either campaign.
While Virginia was considered a swing state as recently as 2012, it has trended sharply toward Democrats over the past decade, especially in the populous northern Virginia suburbs. Republicans have not won statewide in Virginia since 2009. Last year, Democrats took control of both houses in the state’s General Assembly.
Republicans last won the presidential election in Virginia in 2004, when President George W. Bush defeated challenger John Kerry.
Still, Trump made Virginia’s Democratic governor, Ralph Northam, a frequent target of his attacks. In an October interview after he was diagnosed with the coronavirus, Trump defended his stance against wearing masks by contrasting himself with Northam, a medical doctor who also contracted the virus.
“Look, you have the governor of Virginia, he wore a mask all the time — you’d never see the guy without a mask — he catches it,” Trump said.
In another interview, the president went so far as to claim that Northam “executed a baby,” incorrectly twisting Northam’s own mangled explanation of his view on late-term abortions.
— Associated Press
7:35 p.m.: Donald Trump wins West Virginia
President Donald Trump has coasted to victory in West Virginia, taking its five electoral votes.
The Republican nominee defeated Democrat Joe Biden on Tuesday in a reliably conservative state.
The last Democrat to win a presidential race in West Virginia was Bill Clinton in 1996.
Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton in West Virginia four years ago by 42 percentage points, one of his highest margins of victory in the nation. Many in the state credit him for his conservative populism and promises to help the declining coal industry, even as few expected he could bring back jobs in a dying field.
— Associated Press
7:23 p.m.: Trump campaign wants voting extension in Nevada
The Trump campaign and Nevada Republicans are asking a state court judge to extend voting by one hour at 22 Las Vegas-area locations, citing reports that those sites did not open on time Tuesday morning.
An Election Day lawsuit filed in Clark County District Court was getting an immediate hearing before Judge Joe Hardy.
Polls are scheduled to close at 7 p.m. Pacific time, but election officials keep sites open until the last person in line at that time can vote.
Clark County has 1,150 precincts bunched into 125 voting centers in and around Las Vegas.
The lawsuit filed against Clark County Registrar of Voters Joe Gloria points to a Twitter message posted by the Nevada Secretary of State elections division at 7:22 a.m. referring to several polling locations having technical problems that delayed opening.
The message urged people in line to be patient, saying the sites would open soon.
The Trump campaign and Nevada GOP have been involved in several legal fights in Nevada, including an appeal on Tuesday to the Nevada Supreme Court, seeking to stop the mail-in ballot count in Democratic-leaning Las Vegas.
— Associated Press
7:07 p.m.: Trump wins Kentucky, Biden carries Vermont
President Donald Trump has won Kentucky, and Democrat Joe Biden has carried Vermont.
They are the first two states called in the 2020 presidential election.
Kentucky is reliably conservative, while Vermont is considered one of the most liberal states.
Trump wins eight electoral votes from Kentucky, while Biden takes three for winning Vermont.
— Associated Press
6:34 p.m.: Trump calls into radio shows before polls close
President Donald Trump called into talk radio shows in the battleground states of Pennsylvania and Wisconsin just hours before polls closed.
Trump projected confidence Tuesday that he will win key states like North Carolina and Florida and said he’s expecting a “great” evening.
He was set to call into conservative host Mark Levin’s show minutes after the first two interviews, but Levin abruptly said Trump would not be appearing. Levin said he was told the president couldn’t come on the show but gave no further details.
Trump told Wisconsin host Vicki McKenna that he is expecting a strong night based on lines of people waiting to vote. Trump has sown doubts about mail voting, without evidence, and is expecting most of his supporters to turn out on Election Day.
At the same time, his campaign was hosting a call with reporters in which they projected confidence but predicted a tight race that would come down to turnout.
— Associated Press
6:07 p.m.: GOP maneuvers to challenge battleground absentee ballots
Republicans are keeping their legal options open to challenge absentee ballots in Pennsylvania, if the battleground state could swing President Donald Trump’s reelection. A top Democratic lawyer says the suits are meant to sow doubt about the results and lack merit.
Two federal lawsuits aim to prevent absentee votes from being counted. The GOP already has laid the groundwork at the Supreme Court for an effort to exclude ballots that arrive after polls close Tuesday. Trump has railed over several days about the high court’s pre-election refusal to rule out those ballots.
“You have to have numbers. You can’t have these things delayed for many days and maybe weeks. You can’t do that. The whole world is waiting,” Trump said Tuesday at his campaign headquarters.
In a lawsuit filed Tuesday, Republicans and a local voter accused county officials in suburban Philadelphia of improperly sorting deficient ballots before Tuesday to give voters a chance to fix problems. The suit comes after county Republicans noted a pile of ballots set aside, during a walk-through of operations at the county courthouse in Norristown on Sunday.
Neither suit will matter in the long run unless the gap between Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden is so small that a few thousand votes, or even a few hundred, could make the difference.
Biden legal team attorney Bob Bauer said in a call with reporters on Tuesday that many lawsuits fronted by the GOP the around the country were designed only to get attention and to arouse unnecessary concern in voters, unsupported by any true legal basis.
“They’re designed to generate the appearance of a cloud over the election,” he said.
— Associated Press
6:05 p.m.: Big prime-time ratings for Fox News week before election
Two of Fox News Channel’s three prime-time opinion hosts — Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham — reached their biggest weekly audiences ever during the week leading up to Election Day.
The third host, Sean Hannity, had his second-best week, with only his coverage of the 2020 Republican National Convention topping it, the Nielsen company said.
With news ratings up overall, President Donald Trump could take heart that Fox News, the network that most appeals to his fans, outdrew MSNBC and CNN combined in prime time as Election Day drew near.
— Associated Press
5:32 p.m.: Early voting shattered, Wisconsin may hit record turnout
After shattering early voting records, Wisconsin voters from the rural north to the urban southeast came out in force on an unusually warm Election Day, even as coronavirus cases reached new heights and political tensions ran high in the battleground state.
There were few reports of major problems, as more than 2,400 polls opened Tuesday as planned. Members of the Wisconsin National Guard, dressed in civilian clothes, helped fill about 200 gaps in poll workers statewide.
Behind the scenes, work started as polls opened at 7 a.m. to count the more than 1.9 million absentee ballots that arrived before Election Day. Milwaukee offered a live video stream of its efforts to process ballots in that Democratic stronghold, work that election officials did not expect to be complete until early Wednesday.
“The day started out smoothly, and it is continuing to run smoothly,” Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said Tuesday afternoon.
More of the story here. — Associated Press
5:22 p.m.”: Mail-in ballots flagged for rejection hit 21,000; Black, Latino voters rejected at higher rate
In Nevada, about 4,000 votes cast by mail so far won’t be counted unless voters can explain discrepancies between their ballot signatures and registration forms.
In Florida, the same is true for nearly 4,000 voters in three populous counties.
And in North Carolina, nearly 8,000 mail-in ballots have been flagged for rejection, many because they lack a witness signature.
As electoral workers begin processing votes across the country this Election Day, more than 60 million will be mail-in ballots that can be rejected if they have not been properly submitted. The rejection rate reached 1.4% in the 2018 general election and 1% in 2016, which proved decisive in some close races.
More of the story here. — Matt Stiles, Maya Lau and Laura J. Nelson, Los Angeles Times
4:59 p.m.: FBI investigates anonymous robocalls warning voters to ‘stay home’
Voters across the U.S. received anonymous robocalls in the days and weeks before Election Day urging them to “stay safe and stay home” — an ominous warning that election experts said could be an effort to scare voters into sitting out the election.
The FBI is investigating calls that seek to discourage people from voting, a senior official at the Department of Homeland Security told reporters Tuesday. Authorities wouldn’t offer details.
More of the story here. — Associated Press
4:50 p.m.: Stocks rally worldwide on Election Day; S&P 500 climbs 1.8%
Stocks powered higher Tuesday as investors hope the end of a bruising U.S. presidential campaign may soon lift the heavy uncertainty that’s sent markets spinning recently.
The S&P 500 rose 58.92 points, or 1.8%, to 3,369.16 for its second straight healthy gain. The rally was widespread and global, with Treasury yields, oil prices and stocks around the world all strengthening.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 554.98, or 2.1%, to 27,480.03, and the Nasdaq composite added 202.96, or 1.9%, to 11,160.57.
More than anything, what investors hope for from the election is a clear winner to emerge, even if it takes some time for all the votes to be tallied. Whether that’s President Donald Trump or former Vice President Joe Biden is less important, because history shows stocks tend to rise regardless of which party controls the White House.
— Associated Press
4:11 p.m.: Man accidentally shoots himself in hip outside Pennsylvania polling place
A man who arrived at his polling place in Pennsylvania to vote Tuesday morning accidentally shot himself in the hip area while in his car, Northampton County Executive Lamont McClure confirmed.
“The gentleman was emptying his sidearm so that he would not have a loaded weapon in the polling place,” McClure said.
McClure said the man called 911 and drove himself to the hospital.
More of the story here. — John Harris, The Morning Call
3:55 p.m.: Biden predicts victory in battleground Pennsylvania, says ‘it ain’t over till it’s over’
Joe Biden struck a confident tone in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, telling a crowd of supporters that he’s sure to win the battleground state.
The Democratic nominee first stopped by working-class Scranton in the morning and scrawled, “From this house to the White House with the grace of God,” on his childhood home.
Later Tuesday, he urged supporters in deep-blue Philadelphia to put him over the top in the state, which many analysts say could determine the election.
More of this story here. — Dave Goldiner, New York Daily News
3:55 p.m.: Long lines, enthusiasm but no large-scale intimidation or harassment reported
Voters marked the end of a fraught U.S. election season at the polls Tuesday, casting the last of what will likely be a record number of ballots in the midst of a global pandemic that upended long-established election procedures, prompted an unprecedented surge in mail ballots and triggered hundreds of lawsuits.
No major problems were reported, and fears of large-scale voter intimidation or harassment had not materialized by midday. Officials have already warned that counting ballots could take days due to an avalanche of mail votes that take more time to process and could result in another round of court battles.
President Donald Trump has already threatened legal action to prevent the counting of ballots that arrive after Election Day, which some states allow.
Minor problems occur every election, and Tuesday was no different. There were long lines and sporadic reports of polling places opening late, along with equipment issues in counties in Ohio, Texas and Georgia. This was all expected given voter enthusiasm, the decentralized nature of U.S. elections and last-minute voting changes brought on by the pandemic. There were also reports, as there are every election, of efforts to discourage people from voting that surfaced in robocalls in Michigan and Iowa. The FBI was investigating.
“We have not seen anything significant where it comes to voter intimidation or harassment. We are seeing enthusiastic partisan supporters in some places, but we are not seeing the kind of concerns that we may have had in the run-up to today,” said Suzanne Almeida, interim executive director of Common Cause Pennsylvania.
More on this story here. —Associated Press
3:51 p.m.: COVID-19 hospitalizations surge as the pandemic shadows the election
Americans went to the polls Tuesday under the shadow of a resurging pandemic, with an alarming increase in cases nationwide and the number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 reaching record highs in a growing number of states.
While daily infections were rising in all but three states, the surge was most pronounced in the Midwest and Southwest.
Missouri, Oklahoma, Iowa, Indiana Nebraska, North Dakota, Colorado and New Mexico all reported record high hospitalizations this week. Nebraska’s largest hospitals started limiting elective surgeries and looked to bring in nurses from other states to cope with the surge. Hospital officials in Iowa and Missouri warned bed capacity could soon be overwhelmed.
“It’s very serious that we have 400 people gathered in one space at the height of the pandemic here in Wisconsin. So, we’ve tried to take every measure to limit the movement throughout the room as possible,” said Claire Woodall-Vogg, the election commission director of the city of Milwaukee, where poll workers were spread out into 12 different pods to limit contact.
More on this story here. —Associated Press
3:27 p.m.: Kamala Harris does last-minute campaigning in Detroit
Sen. Kamala Harris is in battleground Michigan, where Trump won in 2016, to get out the vote on Election Day.
She touched down in Detroit, a majority Black city, about six hours before polls were to close. As Joe Biden’s running mate, Harris has focused heavily on motivating Black voters to turn out. She told reporters she’s in Michigan so Detroit voters know “that they are seen and heard by Joe and me.”
Asked how confident she was, Harris said, “Listen, the day ain’t over.”
“I’m just here to remind people to vote because the election is still happening right now. It’s not over,” she said.
Polls in Michigan close at 8 p.m.
—Associated Press
3:23 p.m.: Amid unease over the word ‘plantation,’ Rhode Islanders voting on state name change
A statewide referendum that would shorten Rhode Island’s official name is on the ballot for Tuesday’s election in the Ocean State.
Rhode Island was incorporated as The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations when it declared statehood in 1790, and voters are being asked to strip the “and Providence Plantations” wording. Although the word “Plantations” in Rhode Island’s name doesn’t specifically refer to a place where slaves labored, the measure’s backers say it’s offensive at a time when the nation is confronting racial injustice.
More on this story here. — Associated Press
2:50 p.m.: North Carolina to keep 4 sites open longer, delaying results
The North Carolina State Board of Elections voted Tuesday to keep four polling places open longer because they opened late, which is expected to delay statewide reporting of results.
The longest extension was 45 minutes for a site in Sampson County. That means the state can’t publicly report any statewide results until 8:15 p.m.
The state’s more than 2,600 polling places are otherwise scheduled to close at 7:30 p.m. But state elections officials said in a news release last week that if hours are extended at any polls, they wouldn’t publicly post any results until all polls are closed.
Board Chair Damon Circosta confirmed at the meeting Tuesday that the extended hours would delay public release of results.
The polling places that opened late include one site in Cabarrus County, one in Guilford County and two in Sampson County. The delays were at least partly due to issues with printers or other electronic equipment. The extensions, which only apply to the individual precincts and not other sites in those counties, range from 17 minutes to 45 minutes and match the extra time it took to get them open.
Board Executive Director Karen Brinson Bell said at a news conference in the morning before the vote was held that it’s not unusual to extend polling place hours on Election Day.
—Associated Press
2:40 p.m.: Trump greets staff at campaign headquarters: ‘Winning is easy. Losing is never easy.’
Supporters cheered and applauded President Donald Trump at his campaign headquarters, where he visited Tuesday to thank dozens of staffers working to get him reelected.
Trump predicted his victory, but acknowledged he could lose.
“I think we’re going to have a great night, but it’s politics and it’s elections and you never know,” Trump said.
He said his campaign was doing well in states like Florida, Arizona and Texas. He noted the importance of winning Pennsylvania.
“Winning is easy. Losing is never easy,” he said. “Not for me it’s not.”
The president went to the Republican National Committee’s annex in Arlington, Virginia, just outside Washington after days of grueling campaigning on the road.
“After doing that many rallies, the voice gets a little choppy,” Trump said with his now-gravely delivery.
Trump said success will bring unity. He listed what he believes are his accomplishments with the coronavirus and the economy.
More than 100 staffers, almost all wearing masks, lined up against the back wall of the operations center to hear from their candidate. Some masks were emblazoned with “Trump” and “MAGA” for Trump’s “Make America Great Again” campaign slogan.
—Associated Press
2:33 p.m.: AP tally shows a huge surge in early voting
The latest tally of early voting in the U.S. shows that almost 102 million Americans cast their votes before Election Day, an eye-popping total that represents 73% of the total turnout of the 2016 presidential election.
The Associated Press tally reveals that the early vote in several states, including hotly-contested Texas and Arizona, has already exceeded the total vote of four years ago.
Early voting — whether in-person or by mail-in or absentee ballot — has swelled during the COVID-19 pandemic. The greatest gains have been witnessed in Kentucky, where almost 13 times as many voters cast their ballots early as in 2016.
—Associated Press
2:07 p.m.: Judge orders sweep of postal facilities for leftover ballots
A federal judge has ordered U.S. Postal Service inspectors to sweep postal facilities on Tuesday in several locations — including in six battleground states — to ensure that any mail-in ballots left behind are immediately sent out for delivery.
The last-minute order on Tuesday by Judge Emmet G. Sullivan in Washington, D.C., directs the law enforcement arm of the Postal Service to inspect facilities in central Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Detroit, Atlanta, Houston, south Florida, Arizona and a few other locations between 12:30 p.m. and 3 p.m. Eastern time.
The order is part of one of several lawsuits against the Postal Service over cost-cutting measures that slowed mail delivery this year and raised concerns that mail-in ballots would not be delivered on time.
Recent data has shown that on-time mail delivery in some parts of the country has dropped to levels lower than in July, when millions of Americans went days, even weeks, without mail.
The order focuses on postal districts that have struggled to deliver ballots on time in recent days. It also centers on states that will not count ballots received after Election Day.
More of this story here. — Maya Lau And Laura J. Nelson, Los Angeles Times
12:57 p.m.: House Democrats predict pick-ups in ‘deep-red districts’
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she’s “absolutely certain” that Democrats will “solidly hold” onto their House majority.
On an Election Day conference call with reporters, the California Democrat said “this election is about nothing less than taking back the soul of America, whether our nation will follow the voices of fear or whether we will choose hope.”
Pelosi and Rep. Cheri Bustos say the party is reaching deep into Trump country to win seats. Bustos is chair of the campaign arm for House Democrats, who are well-positioned to try to add longtime GOP seats in Long Island, Arkansas, Indiana and rural Virginia.
Bustos says Democrats “are going to see some wins in those deep-red districts.”
Pelosi says she’s confident Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden will win the White House from President Donald Trump.
—Associated Press
12:50 p.m.: Ron DeSantis, Republican governor of Florida, predicts Trump win in Sunshine State
Gov. Ron DeSantis returned to the friendly hosts of “Fox & Friends” on Tuesday morning to predict a Florida victory for President Donald Trump over former Vice President Joe Biden.
“I think it looks really good for the president,” he said, adding that Trump was in a “much better position than he was in ’16,” when he narrowly defeated Hillary Clinton in the Sunshine State.
DeSantis predicted that a “huge turnout” among Republicans on Election Day would put Trump over the top, citing strong numbers in South Florida.
He acknowledged that more Democrats had voted early or by mail than Republicans but said the turnout Tuesday would erase that advantage.
He did not, however, mention the 2 million no-party or small-party voters who had voted early or by mail, which some polls suggest are leaning more toward Biden this election cycle compared with more support for Trump in 2016.
The FiveThirtyEight.com poll average on Tuesday had Biden up in Florida with 48.8% of the vote to Trump’s 46.6%, within the margin of error.
DeSantis is a staunch ally of Trump, who endorsed him for governor on Twitter during the Republican primary of 2018. The governor has appeared and spoke at Trump campaign rallies in Florida over the past few weeks.
—Mark Skoneki, South Florida Sun Sentinel
12:25 p.m.: Surprising, expensive Senate contest in South Carolina
After a monthslong deluge of advertising, attacks and animosity, voters are choosing between Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham and Democratic challenger Jaime Harrison in South Carolina’s most expensive Senate contest.
Seeking his fourth term, Graham on Tuesday has faced his most stalwart general election opponent to date in Harrison, a fundraising powerhouse and associate Democratic National Committee chairman who also chaired the state Democratic Party and worked as a lobbyist.
The contest has been propelled by an onslaught of spending from both candidates and a slew of third-party groups. orshou
Graham told The Associated Press on Saturday that he also has raised about $100 million, and his third-quarter haul of $28 million represented a quarterly record for any GOP Senate candidate.
Having defeated all previous opponents by double-digit margins, Graham acknowledges, “This is the biggest challenge that I have ever faced,” with some polls showing a neck-and-neck contest.
The astronomic money has amounted to constant digital and broadcast advertising, as well as mailers. Harrison has used some of his copious cash to try to steer conservative voters toward Bill Bledsoe — a Constitution Party candidate who dropped out to endorse Graham, but whose name remains on ballots — in an attempt to cleave votes from the Republican. Bledsoe has asked Harrison to “cease and desist” from what he calls dishonest “dirty tricks” advertising.
More on this story here. —Associated Press
12:20 p.m.: Eyes on Texas as Republican stronghold enters toss-up territory
Texas was unusually shaky ground for Republicans on Tuesday as a record surge of voters in America’s biggest red state, typically among the worst for turnout in the U.S., lined up to decide the most unpredictable election here in decades.
The high stakes in Texas rippled beyond whether President Donald Trump was genuinely at risk of becoming the first Republican presidential nominee since 1976 to lose the Lone Star State. Democrats, shut out of power in the Texas Capitol for a generation, were also within reach of seizing the majority in the state House chamber for the first time in nearly 20 years — an outcome that would mark a new era in what has been America’s foremost factory of conservative legislation.
Republican Sen. John Cornyn was also taking seriously a challenge from Democrat MJ Hegar in what was coming down to a second surprisingly close U.S. Senate race in Texas in as many years. Even progressive congressional challengers who back the Green New Deal were presenting serious challenges to longtime GOP incumbents in districts that run through some of Texas’ most conservative counties.
Nearly 10 million Texans cast ballots in person or by mail during the three weeks of early voting, surpassing the number of ballots cast in the 2016 election. Elections experts predicted the number of votes could surpass 12 million, which would amount to more than 70% turnout — a striking level for a state that was among the worst for turnout in 2016.
The avalanche of votes reflected high enthusiasm and signs that Texas, where Republicans have coasted in lopsided elections for decades, was rapidly transforming into a battleground.
The road to Election Day in Texas was littered with legal battles over voting access in the middle of a pandemic. Whereas the vast majority of states are allowing widespread mail-in voting because of coronavirus fears, Texas is only one of five that refused, choosing instead to expand early voting by one week.
On Monday, a federal judge rejected a last-ditch effort by GOP activists to toss out nearly 127,000 votes in Houston that were cast at drive-in polling centers. Later Monday night, a federal appeals court panel denied the group’s request to halt drive-thru voting in Harris County on Election Day.
Polls suggested a closer-than-normal race in Texas — which Trump won by 9 points in 2016. He didn’t campaign in Texas down the stretch, focusing instead on tossup battles in Florida, Arizona and Pennsylvania.
Democrat Joe Biden did not campaign in Texas either — frustrating Texas Democrats who pleaded with the former vice president to make a bigger push with his chances here looking remarkably viable. While vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris devoted one of the race’s final days to a swing through Texas, Biden left the heavy lifting to millions of dollars that Democrats poured into down-ballot races to oust vulnerable GOP state lawmakers and members of Congress.
Democrats need to flip just nine seats to take control of the state House for the first time since 2002.
—Associated Press
11:35 a.m.: Michael Cohen, former Trump lawyer, says he voted for Biden in New York
Michael Cohen is trying to say sorry with his ballot.
The former Trump fixer posted a photo of himself Tuesday after voting against his ex-boss near his home on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.
“Guess what I did this morning … bright and early? #VOTE,” Cohen tweeted, tagging Democratic candidate Joe Biden and running mate Kamala Harris.
Cohen also used the hashtag #meaculpa and #disloyal, presumably to express his regret for once supporting the president.
The disgraced lawyer, who looked like he hadn’t shaved in a couple of days, was once one of Trump’s most-trusted acolytes.
On the even of the 2016 election, Cohen admitted to paying off two women to keep them quiet about alleged affairs with Trump.
Cohen later dramatically turned on Trump and claimed he helped him commit numerous crimes.
He was sentenced in 2018 to three years in federal prison after pleading guilty to tax evasion and campaign finance violations.
He was released due this May over fears of coronavirus and is serving the rest of his sentence under house arrest.
More on this story here. — Dave Goldiner, New York Daily News
11:20 a.m.: ‘Scranton Joe’ goes home — which just happens to be in a key swing state
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has returned to his roots on his final day of campaigning with a visit to his childhood home in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
Biden arrived at the small, white two-story house to a hero’s welcome of more than 100 people cheering across the street. Biden greeted the crowd and said, “It’s good to be home!”
Biden lived in the home until he was 10 years old. On Tuesday, he walked up the front steps and chatted with the current owners before going in with his granddaughters. When Biden came out, he said the current residents had him sign their wall.
Biden then walked across the street to greet the crush of supporters, who cheered his name and applauded.
Pennsylvania is key to Biden’s White House hopes. He plans to visit Philadelphia later.
—Associated Press
11:13 a.m.: First lady votes in Florida near Mar-a-Lago
First lady Melania Trump voted Tuesday morning in Palm Beach, casting her ballot at the Morton and Barbara Mandel Recreation Center.
She entered the polling station about 10 a.m. and was the only person in her entourage not wearing a mask. It was not clear whether she put on a mask inside. She left with Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Wendy Sartory Link, who was wearing a mask.
President Donald Trump made history on Oct. 24 when he became the first sitting U.S. president to vote in person in Florida.
He early voted at Palm Beach County’s main library, which is across the street from his golf club. He wore a mask in the polling place.
Unlike when he voted four years ago in New York City, his wife did not join him. Campaign officials said a “lingering cough” from her bout with COVID-19 had kept her from the campaign trail around the time of Trump’s visit to Florida.
Asked why she didn’t vote with her husband, Trump said, “It’s Election Day, so I wanted to come here to vote today for the election.”
Both she and the president registered as Florida voters last year, changing their residence from New York City to their home in Mar-a-Lago.
Last month, Link said voters without masks will be allowed to cast ballots only if they cite a medical problem or some other exemption under the county’s mask law. If voters show up to the polls and say they’re exempt from wearing a mask, they’ll be taken at their word, Palm Beach Mayor David Kerner said.
More on this story here. —Skyler Swisher, South Florida Sun Sentinel
10:20 a.m.: Michigan Senate race probably requires Trump to avoid blowout in state he won in 2016
John James is aiming to be the first Michigan Republican to win a U.S. Senate seat in a quarter-century. Sen. Gary Peters is eyeing a second term, which would extend Democrats’ decades-long dominance in the state’s Senate races.
Tuesday’s expensive, heavily contested election also will help shape which party controls the Senate.
Peters, 61, is one of two Democrats running for reelection in a state Donald Trump won in 2016 — a presidential battleground no less and a rare place on the Senate map for Republicans to play offense in 2020. James, a Black businessman and Iraq War veteran, is waging a stiff challenge. But his fate — and Peters’ — is also intertwined with the top-of-the-ticket showdown between the president and Democrat Joe Biden.
If Trump loses Michigan, he’ll need to avoid a blowout for James, 39, to have a shot.
The low-key Peters, a former congressman, state senator, lottery commissioner and investment adviser, has emphasized his bipartisanship and ranking as an effective senator, saying more of his bills were signed into law by Trump than any other Senate Democrat. He has also criticized James’ opposition to the federal health care overhaul and noted James backed Trump “2,000%” during his first campaign — a 2018 loss to Sen. Debbie Stabenow.
The dynamic James, who would become Michigan’s first African American senator, has highlighted his leadership of his family’s automotive logistics company in Detroit and his service in combat after graduating from West Point. His campaign has given 5% of donations to charity.
Republicans have taken just one of Michigan’s last 15 Senate races, in 1994, when Spencer Abraham won an open seat.
—Associated Press
10:10 a.m.: Feds monitoring vote outside D.C., say no major problems seen
Federal authorities are monitoring voting and any threats to the election across the country at an operations center just outside Washington, D.C., run by the cyber-security component of the Department of Homeland Security. Officials there said there were no major problems detected early Tuesday but urged the public to be wary and patient.
U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency director Christopher Krebs said from the center there was “some early indication of system disruption,” but he did not elaborate. He says he has “confidence that the vote is secure, the count is secure and the results will be secure.”
Krebs says officials have seen attempts by foreign actors “to interfere in the 2020 election.” But he says officials “have addressed those threats quickly” and “comprehensively.”
Krebs says Election Day “in some sense is half-time.” He says, “There may be other events or activities or efforts to interfere and undermine confidence in the election.” He asks all Americans “to treat all sensational and unverified claims with skepticism and remember technology sometimes fails.”
—Associated Press
9:25 a.m.: Sports arenas, like the United Center in Chicago, serving as polling places with the space for COVID protocols
Before the sun could rise, Nakiea Love sat on a concrete block outside the United Center. Love, who couldn’t sleep Monday night, got dressed around 4 a.m., hoping to be the first person in line to vote.
And that she was.
Love said she was unsure of where to vote near her South Side home, so to avoid any confusion, she decided to travel to one of the city’s two super sites, where she heard “any and everyone” could vote.
Armed with a Dunkin Donuts’ iced coffee, Love, 34, said this election is one of the most important of her lifetime.
“It’s just been a lot,” she said. “It’s been a lot going on. I think it’s been a lot of issues that need to be addressed.”
Inside the United Center, an hour before polls opened, election judges, security and poll workers prepared for the day. By 6 a.m., a line of socially distanced hopeful voters wrapped around the United Center’s south end.
The Chicago arena, home to the Bulls and Blackhawks, is one of a number of pro and college sports stadiums being used as a polling place across the country. Amid a flurry of athlete activism and with the indoor space to keep voters and election workers effectively distanced, many are serving in the role for the first time.
But, as with all things political, it’s not without opposition, controversy and gamesmanship, especially in battleground states.
—Javonte Anderson and Chicago Tribune staff
8:55 a.m.: Biden visits son’s grave as Trump calls Fox News to start Election Day
Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, started the day with a stop at St. Joseph’s on the Brandywine in Wilmington, Delaware, with two of his grandchildren in tow. After a brief church visit, the four walked to his late son Beau Biden’s grave, in the church cemetery. Beau, a former Delaware attorney general, died of brain cancer in 2015 and had encouraged the former vice president to make another White House run.
President Donald Trump made a morning appearance on “Fox & Friends,” where he predicted he will win by a larger electoral margin than he did in 2016. He also complained about Fox airing Biden’s speeches and said the United States was a harder nation “by far” to deal with than Russia, China or North Korea in his role as president.
“When there’s victory. If there’s victory … there’s no reason to play games,” Trump said about declaring himself the winner of the election.
The president, who returned to the White House after 3 a.m. on Tuesday following a busy day of campaigning, also planned to visit his campaign headquarters in Virginia. He invited hundreds of supporters to an election night party in the East Room of the White House.
The hard-fought campaign left voters on both sides eager to move on.
“I just want it to be done,” said Starlet Holden, a 26-year-old medical biller from New York City, who planned to vote for Biden but spoke for many on both sides of the campaign.
—Associated Press and Chicago Tribune staff
8:55 a.m.: Battle for control of Senate figures to be close, uncertain as GOP forced to play some defense down the stretch
Control of the Senate is a razor-close proposition in Tuesday’s election, as Republicans fight to retain their majority against a surge of Democratic candidates confronting the president’s allies across a vast political map.
Both parties see paths to victory, and the outcome might not be known on election night.
From New England to the Deep South, the Midwest to the Mountain West, Republican senators are defending seats in states once considered long shots for Democrats. Washington’s handling of the COVID-19 crisis, the economic fallout and the nation’s uneasy mood are all on the ballot. Stunning amounts of cash have been flowing to Democrats from millions of Americans apparently voting with their pocketbooks; Republicans are tapping deep-pocketed donors to shore up GOP senators.
Securing the Senate majority will be vital for the winner of the presidency. Senators confirm administration nominees, including the Cabinet, and can propel or stall the White House agenda. With Republicans now controlling the chamber, 53-47, three or four seats will determine party control, depending on who wins the presidency because the vice president can break a tie.
The campaigns are competing across an expansive Senate map as Democrats put Republicans on defense deep into Trump country.
What started as a lopsided election cycle with Republicans defending 23 Senate seats, compared with 12 for Democrats, quickly became a starker referendum on the president and his party.
Some of the nation’s most well-known senators in states like South Carolina, Maine and North Carolina are in the fights of their political lives.
More on this story here. —Associated Press
7:30 a.m.: All eyes on Pennsylvania, where a drawn-out legal fight may await
Pennsylvania voters are poised to play a crucial and perhaps decisive role in choosing the next president as Donald Trump and Joe Biden headline a statewide election in which millions of ballots have already been cast.
Polls opened Tuesday against the backdrop of a pandemic, a police shooting and civil unrest in Philadelphia, and the potential for a drawn-out legal fight over late-arriving mail-in ballots. Election officials cautioned the winner might not be known for days as counties begin tabulating more than 2.4 million votes that arrived by mail.
Photos posted on social media showed long lines forming at many polling places.
Trump, the Republican incumbent who scored a surprise victory in Pennsylvania four years ago, and Biden, the Democratic challenger and native son, have frequently visited the battleground state, each seeing victory here as crucial to their chances of winning the White House. Biden planned a campaign stop Tuesday in Scranton, where he spent part of his childhood, before heading to Philadelphia.
Trump has tried to sow doubt about the fairness of the election, saying the only way Democrats can win Pennsylvania is to cheat. Without evidence, he said late Monday that a court decision to allow Pennsylvania to count mailed ballots received up to three days after the election will allow “rampant and unchecked cheating” and will induce street violence.
State election officials have pushed back strongly, pledging a safe and secure election. Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, promised accurate results, “even if that takes a little longer than normal.” Democrats accused Trump of waging a campaign of voter intimidation and suppression.
—Associated Press
6:50 a.m.: 2 New Hampshire towns cast votes after midnight and it was a split decision
Two tiny New Hampshire communities that vote for president just after the stroke of midnight on Election Day have cast their ballots, with one of them marking 60 years since the tradition began.
The results in Dixville Notch, near the Canadian border, were a sweep for former Vice President Joe Biden who won the town’s five votes. In Millsfield, 12 miles to the south, President Donald Trump won 16 votes to Biden’s five.
Normally, there would be a big food spread and a lot of media crammed into a small space to watch the voting, Tom Tillotson, town moderator in Dixville Notch, said last week. But that’s no longer possible because of the coronavirus pandemic. It’s also hard to observe the 60th anniversary of the tradition, which started in November 1960.
“Sixty years — and unfortunately, we can’t celebrate it,” he said.
The third community with midnight voting, Hart’s Location, suspended the tradition this election because of coronavirus concerns. It decided to hold voting from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday. The White Mountains town started the early voting in 1948 to accommodate railroad workers who had to be at work before normal voting hours. It eventually stopped in 1964 and brought it back in 1996.
—Associated Press
6:45 a.m.: Iran’s supreme leader uses Trump’s words to mock US election
Iran’s supreme leader mocked America’s presidential election Tuesday in a televised address, quoting President Donald Trump’s own baseless claims about voter fraud to criticize the vote as Tehran marked the 1979 U.S. Embassy hostage crisis.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei reiterated a long-standing Iranian position that it didn’t matter whether Trump or Joe Biden wins the vote, but the stakes couldn’t be higher for the Islamic Republic.
Another four years could see Trump’s maximum-pressure campaigns further expand as it crushes the Iranian economy and stops Tehran from openly selling its crude oil abroad. Biden meanwhile has said he would consider re-entering Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, providing possible relief to the beleaguered Iranian rial.
“If you look at their own situation, it’s interesting to watch. The incumbent president, who is supposed to hold the elections, says this is the most-rigged U.S. election throughout history,” Khamenei said, not acknowledging that individual U.S. states run the vote. “Who says this? The sitting president who is arranging the elections himself. His opponent says Trump intends to widely cheat. This is American democracy.”
—Associated Press
