Joe Biden has drawn closer to clinching the presidency after winning the critical swing states of Michigan and Wisconsin, according to projections.
He only needs to claim the electoral votes of one of the remaining uncalled swing states — Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina and Pennsylvania — to secure the 270 needed to win the election.
The result is still close but here’s what we know so far:
- Joe Biden has won the most votes of any presidential candidate in US history, while Donald Trump has surpassed the number of votes he won in 2016.
- Biden has taken the battleground states of Wisconsin and Michigan from Trump. He also took Arizona from Trump in the first swing of the night.
- Trump retained Florida, a “must-win” for his re-election that narrowed Biden’s path to victory, as well as Ohio.
- The Trump campaign has said it will “immediately” request a recount of the vote in Wisconsin.
- Biden and Trump have both addressed the nation, with the president claiming without evidence that there had been a “fraud on the American nation” and urging voting to stop, which it already has. Biden, too, said he believed he was on course to win.
Of the swing states that were likely to decide the outcome of the election, Trump was declared the victor in Florida, seen as one of the crucial states with its 29 electoral votes. But Biden has gained ground since Tuesday night, winning the first swing state of the night: Arizona. He later added Wisconsin and Michigan to the key states he “flipped”.
Biden told supporters he is “on track to win” the election and said his campaign was “feeling good about where we are”.
“Keep the faith, guys, we are going to win this,” he said.
“I am here to tell you tonight we believe we are on track to win this election.”
The sitting president was also tweeting soon after, airing his claim that “we are up BIG, but they are trying to STEAL the Election”. Twitter flagged the tweet as containing content that is “disputed and might be misleading about an election or other civic process”.
He went further during a televised address when he falsely claimed victory in the election, even though not all the votes legitimately cast have been counted and the result is not clear.
Speaking in the White House in the early hours of Wednesday morning, Trump claimed without evidence: “We did win this election.”
Trump had appeared ahead early on in what was for him the must-win state of Florida, with part of his strength there coming from an improved performance relative to 2016 in the state’s counties with large Latino populations.
Texas and Ohio have also been called for Trump. If Georgia does stay in Trump’s column, focus will move to the states that secured Trump’s unexpected win in 2016.
His victory was predicated on narrowly winning “safe” Democrat states in the Mid-West and dismantling the so-called “blue wall”. Some 79,646 votes made up Trump’s combined margin of victory in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin in 2016.
Trump’s early election night lead largely represented votes cast on Tuesday, which heavily tilt Republican this year. Democratic voters largely chose to vote absentee, so their ballots are being counted on Wednesday in Michigan and Wisconsin and through Friday in Pennsylvania.
Both Biden and Trump have already earned more votes (69,632,790 at the time of writing to Biden, and 67,213,703 to Trump) than their parties did in 2016. Former candidate Hilary Clinton won the 2016 popular vote with 65,853,514.
Biden was projected early Wednesday to win Arizona, the first state to flip parties from the 2016 presidential election and a critical win that narrowed Trump’s path to victory. Biden also leads in Nevada with outstanding absentee ballots still to be counted in heavily Democratic Clark County.
Trump still holds leads in Georgia, North Carolina and Pennsylvania, but uncounted absentee ballots are likely to erode that lead in Georgia and erase it in Pennsylvania.
But these three states don’t matter if Biden wins Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin, as he looks likely to do.
As of 5pm GMT on Wednesday, if no more votes were counted, Trump would lose reelection.
How have the swing states gone?
A handful of states were always going to play a crucial role in determining the outcome of the election.
Of the decided states, Wisconsin, Michigan and Arizona (all won by Biden) represent a change from the 2016 election.
For a full look at what’s happening with the swing states, here’s our run-down for Brits.
Trump’s lawyers are now likely to swoop into the crucial states to contest and discount validly cast votes. The election may then move to the uncertain terrain of the courts now stacked with Trump appointees, including three on the Supreme Court ― Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett.
This turn of events began as Trump’s victories in Florida and Texas eliminated the chances for an early, blowout win for Biden. Democratic chances of winning control of the Senate also took a blow. (Democrats are set to keep control of the House of Representatives, blocking total GOP control of the federal government.)