The day after the election still hasn’t produced a definitive presidential winner, but it has spawned at least two of what could be a waterfall of lawsuits challenging vote counting and election results.
Joe Biden appears to have the best track to reach the required 270 electoral votes to win the White House after he was declared the apparent winner in Wisconsin and Michigan and has maintained a lead in normally red state Arizona.
The states still up for grabs one day later are Pennsylvania, Nevada, Georgia and North Carolina. Arizona election officials expect to complete vote-counting today. Final results in Pennsylvania, Nevada, Georgia and North Carolina will take longer, possibly until Friday.
Lawyers for the Trump campaign, including Rudy Giuliani, are seeking to halt vote-counting in Pennsylvania and Michigan and a recount in Wisconsin. Trump is leading in Pennsylvania, but there are as many as 250,000 uncounted ballots from Philadelphia and other urban areas that could cancel that lead. Biden has accumulated a 60,000-vote lead in Michigan. Biden’s 20,000-vote margin in Wisconsin is less than 1 percent, which makes a candidate-paid recount legally permissible. The margin is roughly the same as Trump’s 2016 victory in Wisconsin.
The post-election tension was heightened by Trump falsely claiming on Tuesday night he had won and his tweets, including one alleging a “surprise ballot dump” that boosted the tally in Michigan for Biden, whose lead grew to 60,000. Twitter hid the tweet.
The post-election tension was heightened by Trump falsely claiming on Tuesday night he had won and his tweets, including one alleging a “surprise ballot dump” that boosted the tally in Michigan for Biden, whose lead grew to 60,000. Twitter hid the tweet.
Biden in his statements attempted to encourage calm and confidence in the outcome. He noted the Biden-Harris ticket earned 70 million votes, which he said was the largest number of votes for any presidential candidate in American history.
While the presidential contest remained in vote-counting limbo, Democratic aspirations to take back control of the Senate appear dashed. Democrats defeated GOP incumbents in Colorado and Arizona, but their incumbent in Alabama lost. Democratic Wisconsin Senator Gary Peters has eked ahead of his Republican challenger. Maine Senator Susan Collins, North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis and Iowa Senator Joni Ernst who were viewed as vulnerable are enroute to winning their re-election bids, as did South Carolina’s Lindsey Graham and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Control of the House was never in question, but Republicans made a surprise showing that will narrow Democratic control by five or six votes from the current 232-seat majority. Democrats lost seats in South Florida, Staten Island, Iowa, New Mexico and Minnesota.
In one of the nation’s most hotly contested races, Republican Washington Congresswoman Jaime Herrera-Beutler has won her rematch with Democratic challenger Carolyn Long.
Oregon Congressman Peter DeFazio staved off an aggressive, well-funded challenge by Republican and Dancing with the Stars celebrity Alek Skarlatos. Tacoma Mayor Marilyn Strickland won the open Washington 10th Congressional District seat vacated by fellow Democrat Denny Heck, who was elected lieutenant governor. GOP State Senator Cliff Bentz is headed to DC after winning Oregon’s sprawling 2nd Congressional District, succeeding fellow Republican Greg Walden who chose not to seek re-election. Washington and Oregon congressional incumbents won re-election.
Mississippi voters, by a nearly 70 percent majority, approved a new state flag to replace a flag that included the confederate flag.
