Oregon State Police arrest a protester in Portland, Ore., Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2020, following Tuesday’s election. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
Here’s what’s happening Thursday in Election 2020.
TODAY’S TOP STORIES:
ON THE BRINK: Joe Biden needs to clinch just one more battleground state to defeat President Donald Trump. The Democrat already has won the fiercely contested prizes of Michigan and Wisconsin, part of the “blue wall” that slipped away from Democrats four years ago. Two days after Election Day, neither candidate has amassed the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win the White House. But Biden’s victories in the Great Lakes states have him at 264, meaning he is one battleground state away from becoming president-elect.
TRUMP SUES: Trump’s campaign put into action the legal strategy the president had signaled for weeks: attacking the integrity of the voting process in states where the result could mean his defeat. Democrats scoffed at the legal challenges in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Georgia. The filings demand better access for campaign observers to locations where ballots are being processed and counted, and raise absentee ballot concerns. The flurry of court action did not seem obviously destined to impact the election’s outcome.
AMERICA PROTESTS: Dozens of angry supporters of Trump converged on vote-counting centers in Detroit and Phoenix as returns went against the president in the two key states, while thousands of anti-Trump protesters demanding a complete count of the ballots in the still-undecided election took to the streets in cities across the U.S. The protests came as the president repeatedly insisted without evidence that there were major problems with the voting and the ballot counting, and as Republicans filed suit in multiple states, preparing to contest election results.
SOUL SEARCHING: The presidential election postmortem underway in Florida is especially wrenching for Democrats. The second-guessing has begun amid another high-profile loss at the ballot box. Some Democrats unsurprised by their loss in the state to Trump say Biden’s weakness with the Hispanic community, particularly in the Miami area, may be a symptom of deeper problems.
QUOTABLE: “I will govern as an American president. There will be no red states and blue states when we win. Just the United States of America.” — Joe Biden after the Democrat pushed closer to the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win the White House.
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