Live election updates: Joe Biden wins Pennsylvania, securing the presidency
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CHICAGO (NewsNation Now) — Joe Biden wins Pennsylvania, securing the necessary Electoral College votes to clinch the presidency, according to the Associated Press who called the Keystone State for Biden on Saturday.
Biden defeated President Donald Trump to become the 46th president of the United States.
NewsNation will continue to provide live Election 2020 updates as ballots are tallied and states report results. It’s standard practice to continue tabulating votes after Election Day.
Get live election results now on NewsNationNow.com and the free NewsNation Now app.
At the top of the ticket is the U.S. presidency, all 435 U.S. House seats, 35 U.S. Senate seats and 11 gubernatorial races.
As of Sunday morning, President Donald Trump has 214 Electoral College votes to Democratic nominee Joe Biden’s 290.
All updates in eastern standard time.
7:07 p.m. – Trump campaign announces Rep. Doug Collins to lead Georgia recount effort
President Donald Trump’s campaign announced Sunday that Rep. Doug Collins (GA-9) will lead the campaign’s recount team in Georgia, where a recount will begin as soon as the canvassing has concluded.
“We are concerned about the lack of transparency in the tabulation process, especially given the reports of irregularities and improper ballot harvesting in Georgia. In order for Americans to have full faith and confidence in our elections, every legal vote must be counted and every illegal or fraudulent vote must be excluded. We look forward to guaranteeing that our elections are safe and secure, just as we look forward to President Trump winning Georgia.”
Matt Morgan, Trump 2020 general counsel
Rep. Collins said the campaign is confident they will find “evidence of improperly harvested ballots and other irregularities that will prove that President Trump won Georgia fairly again on his way to re-election as President.”
8:00 p.m. – President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris address the nation
President-elect Joe Biden addressed the nation from Wilmington, Delaware with Dr. Jill Biden, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and Doug Emhoff.
Biden said Saturday that becoming the president-elect is the honor of his life.
The President-elect said now is the time to heal in America. Biden said he hopes to unite the nation and “make America respected around the world again.”
He pledged his support to all American people and vowed to always work in their best interests.
Vice President-elect Harris echoed the president-elect’s sentiments on uniting the country and forging a brighter future.
“You chose hope, unity, decency, science, and, yes, truth,” Harris said. “No matter who you voted for, I will strive to be the Vice President that Joe was to President Obama — loyal, honest, and prepared, waking up every day thinking of you and your families.”
You can watch the full address in the player below:
5:57 p.m. – Trump campaign files lawsuit on rejected votes in Arizona
The Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee filed a lawsuit Saturday in Arizona alleging that Maricopa County incorrectly rejected votes cast by in-person voters on Election Day.
“Poll workers struggled to operate the new voting machines in Maricopa County, and improperly pressed and told voters to press a green button to override significant errors. The result is that the voting machines disregarded votes cast by voters in person on Election Day in Maricopa County.”
Matt Morgan, Trump 2020 campaign general counsel.
The suit asks for the manual inspection of purportedly overvoted ballots that were cast in-person, the same way that elections officials examined overvoted ballots that were mailed in or dropped off.
2:30 p.m. – President Trump arrives back at the White House
President Donald Trump has returned to the White House after losing his reelection bid.
Trump’s motorcade returned from his golf club in Virginia Saturday afternoon. Trump released a statement earlier in the day.
1:30 p.m. – Protests and celebration erupt throughout the country, Biden widens lead
Crowds gathered outside of Trump Tower in Chicago to celebrate Joe Biden’s win. In Colorado, President Trump supporters gathered outside of Colorado Springs to hold a “Stop the Steal” procession.
As of 1:40 p.m. EST, Biden had a lead of .51% over Trump in Pennsylvania. A recount is automatic in Pennsylvania if the margin of victory is less than or equal to 0.5 percentage point.
12:30 p.m. Biden to address the nation tonight from Delaware
President-elect Joe Biden is expected to address the nation from Wilmington, Delaware at 8 p.m. EST with Dr. Jill Biden, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and Doug Emhoff. NewsNation will livestream the event.
12:15 p.m. Biden wins Nevada
Joe Biden wins Nevada, according to the Associated Press. The Silver State offers 6 votes. This brings Biden’s total electoral votes to 290 and President Donald Trump’s to 214.
11:55 a.m. – President-elect Joe Biden releases statement
The president-elect issued the following statement after the race and presidency were called for him:
“I am honored and humbled by the trust the American people have placed in me and in Vice President-elect Harris.
PRESIDENT-ELECT JOE BIDEN
In the face of unprecedented obstacles, a record number of Americans voted. Proving once again, that democracy beats deep in the heart of America.
With the campaign over, it’s time to put the anger and the harsh rhetoric behind us and come together as a nation.
It’s time for America to unite. And to heal.
We are the United States of America. And there’s nothing we can’t do, if we do it together.”
11:50 a.m. – Trump releases statement in response to Biden’s win
Democratic challenger Joe Biden nets 284 Electoral College votes to win the presidency, according to the Associated Press Saturday morning.
President Donald Trump issued the following statement in response:
“We all know why Joe Biden is rushing to falsely pose as the winner, and why his media allies are trying so hard to help him: they don’t want the truth to be exposed. The simple fact is this election is far from over. Joe Biden has not been certified as the winner of any states, let alone any of the highly contested states headed for mandatory recounts, or states where our campaign has valid and legitimate legal challenges that could determine the ultimate victor. In Pennsylvania, for example, our legal observers were not permitted meaningful access to watch the counting process. Legal votes decide who is president, not the news media.
“Beginning Monday, our campaign will start prosecuting our case in court to ensure election laws are fully upheld and the rightful winner is seated. The American People are entitled to an honest election: that means counting all legal ballots, and not counting any illegal ballots. This is the only way to ensure the public has full confidence in our election. It remains shocking that the Biden campaign refuses to agree with this basic principle and wants ballots counted even if they are fraudulent, manufactured, or cast by ineligible or deceased voters. Only a party engaged in wrongdoing would unlawfully keep observers out of the count room – and then fight in court to block their access.
“So what is Biden hiding? I will not rest until the American People have the honest vote count they deserve and that Democracy demands.”
PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP
11:30 a.m. Biden wins the White House
WASHINGTON — Democrat Joe Biden defeated President Donald Trump to become the 46th president of the United States on Saturday as called by the Associated Press. The Associated Press has not called Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina and Nebraska.
11:27 a.m. Joe Biden wins Pennsylvania, securing the necessary Electoral College votes to clinch the presidency
WASHINGTON — Joe Biden wins Pennsylvania, securing the necessary Electoral College votes to clinch the presidency, according to the Associated Press who called the Keystone State for Biden on Saturday.
10:36 a.m. Trump falsely tweets he won the election
WASHINGTON — The president tweeted again Saturday morning writing he “won this election, by a lot!”
Twitter quickly added a warning to the president’s tweet that read: “Officials sources may not have called the race when this was Tweeted.”
The Associated Press still has not called the presidential race because it is too early to call. You can read more information about how AP calls races here.
This is not the first time the president has falsely claimed victory. He prematurely claimed victory in several key states, which had not finished counting ballots or been called by The Associated Press, during the early hours of Wednesday.
9:30 a.m. – Trump campaign to speak in Philadelphia
PHILADELPHIA— President Trump tweeted that a campaign press conference will be held at 11:30 a.m. EST Saturday in Philadelphia.
Trump did not speak Friday night but Biden delivered remarks in Delaware. Watch Biden’s full remarks from Friday night.
At the press conference, Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani said the campaign will begin prosecuting their case of fraud against the state of Pennsylvania Monday.
The video of the press conference is in the player below:
7:00 a.m. – The day ahead and where we stand this morning
WASHINGTON — The fourth day of waiting continued Saturday as battleground states counted votes overnight across the country. The delay in producing a verdict can be attributed to high turnout, a massive number of mail-in ballots and slim margins between the candidates.
The states that have not been called by the Associated Press are: Georgia, North Carolina, Alaska, Pennsylvania and Nevada.
Biden has a lead in Georgia, Pennsylvania and Nevada whereas Trump has the lead in North Carolina and Alaska.
More votes are expected to come down from Pennsylvania on Saturday. There is an intense focus on Pennsylvania, where Biden led Trump by more than 28,000 votes Saturday morning.
Nevada is expected to release another batch of ballots in Las Vegas’ Clark County at noon (ET) on Saturday. The county is expected to be done counting this weekend. It is Nevada’s most populous county, accounting for 75% of the state’s population. As of 7 a.m. ET Biden had a lead of more than 22,000 votes over the president.
In Georgia, Biden had a narrow lead over Trump by a little more than 4,000 votes with 99% of the vote counted.
Trump had a lead of more than 54,00 votes over Biden in Alaska with half of the votes counted.
In North Carolina, the president held a sizable lead over his Democratic challenger by more than 75,000 votes.
Another batch of votes are expected on Saturday at 11 a.m. (ET) in Maricopa County, Arizona. The Associated Press has already called that race to Biden.
While, Trump’s campaign has already called for a recount in Wisconsin, but several closely contested states in the presidential election may re-tally their votes if totals fall within a certain margin. Here are key rules that determine how seven battleground states handle recounts.
1 a.m. – Protests continue in Arizona
PHOENIX — Pro-Trump protesters — some of them carrying rifles and handguns — rallied outside vote-tabulation centers in a few cities around the country Friday night into Saturday morning, responding to Trump’s groundless accusations that the Democrats were trying to steal the election.
Roughly 100 Trump supporters gathered for a third straight day in front of the elections center in Phoenix, where hundreds of workers were processing and counting ballots.
Past Election 2020 Live Blogs:
- Highlights from Election Day 2020
- Election updates from Nov. 3 and 4
- Election updates from Nov. 5
- Election updates from Nov. 6
How NewsNation will report election results
NewsNation’s television broadcast and digital properties will rely on The Associated Press for all vote counting and race calls. NewsNation chose to rely on the AP because they call races based on the facts.
“AP does not make projections or name apparent or likely winners,” said David Scott, a deputy managing editor who helps oversee AP’s coverage of elections. “If AP cannot definitively say a candidate has won, we don’t speculate.”
According to the AP, a race is only called when they “conclude that the trailing candidate will not catch the leader.” In fact, AP did not call the closely contested race in 2000 between George W. Bush and Al Gore, standing by its assessment that the margin in Florida made it too close to call. You can read more information about how AP calls races here.
We may not know who won the presidential election on Tuesday night. The biggest factor that may slow things down this year is the millions of Americans who voted by mail rather than risk being in a crowd during the coronavirus pandemic. In general, mail ballots take longer to count.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.