No Election Winner Yet As Vote Shows Tight Race Between Joe Biden & Donald Trump

Ted Johnson and Dominic Patten
·3 min read
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The 2020 presidential race will go on at least a little bit longer, as vote counts in key swing states showed a very tight race between Joe Biden and Donald Trump.

“We knew this was going to go long, but who knew it was going to go into maybe tomorrow morning, maybe longer,” Biden told supporters tonight in Delaware. “I’ll tell you tonight we are on track to win this election …we’re going to have to be patient,” he added in the brief remarks.

Apparently digging in for a long haul fight, Trump will be speaking soon too, the incumbent announced over social media. Indicative of how off the rails things were leaning, the POTUS tweet had laughable spelling errors and very serious and potentially dangerous claims of election theft – which was flagged by Twitter for being misleading:

Blowing all notion of a clear win for either the former Veep or the ex-Celebrity Apprentice host, the results have been a nail biter, only adding to a year that has been full of electoral anxieties. Biden counted on a heavy vote among older voters, women and voters of color, but also Republicans disenchanted with the ex-Celebrity Apprentice host’s character and performance over the past four years.

With the Trump team fuming over Fox News Channel calling Arizona for Biden earlier tonight, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin as well as North Carolina and Nevada remain out of either camp’s tally. Leaving the world’s leading democracy on edge, those battlefield states could still be counting ballots up to the end of the week. The earliest results from the Keystone State aren’t likely to be finalized until noon EST on Wednesday, according to officials there.

Right now, with 270 need to win, the AP have 223 electoral votes for Biden to 174 for Trump. CNN, NSNBC and FNC all have different results, with all admitting the flux that exists in counting the votes and how many are outstanding. For instance, Fox News has Biden at 237 electoral votes to Trump at 213.

In the ongoing bitterly contested race, Trump made an issue of Biden’s age and mental agility. At 77, Biden would be the oldest person elected president. Four years ago, Trump was the oldest person elected to a first term.

The close results reflected a deeply divided electorate, amplified on social media and cable news networks. As Trump fomented some of the divisions throughout what was a law and order campaign, Biden cast himself as a uniter and healer. From the start to the end, he emphasized how his race was a battle for the soul of the nation, meant to counter the chaos of the Trump years.

The protracted results mean that a winner may not be declared at the earliest until mid-day Wednesday or even later. In 2020, that’s apparently a function of so many mail-in and early votes being cast, largely because of concerns over exposure at polling places because of the coronavirus pandemic.

All of which means, when you add in the likely court battles, this is nowhere near over.

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