Live | US election 2020 live updates: Biden needs 1 state to win as Trump faces tough battle
Votes are still being counted in, among others, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Georgia and Nevada
Poll watchers are eagerly awaiting calls on those states, as a win in any one of those four would push Biden over the finish line
All times are Eastern Time (UTC-5, HKT-13). Infographic above uses AP for its statistics; live blog pulls data from multiple sources.
The US presidential election hinges any one of four battleground states, bringing the contest down to the wire a full day after polls closed.
Wisconsin and Michigan were called in favour of President Donald Trump’s challenger, Democrat Joe Biden, giving the former vice-president a substantial boost towards the 270 electoral votes he needs to take the White House.
Votes are still being counted in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Georgia and Nevada — and poll watchers are eagerly awaiting calls on those states, as a win in any one of them would push Biden over the finish line. Votes are still being counted in other states, including Alaska, which is widely assumed to be in the bag for Trump — and its three electoral votes wouldn’t give Biden a win in any case.
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9:40AM
Pennsylvania governor calls Trump’’s legal move ‘simply disgraceful’
From James Wilkinson
Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf has called US President Donald Trump’s attempt to stop the counting of ballots in the state “wrong” and “against the most basic principles of our democracy”. Trump, who is trying to stave off a possible win by Democratic rival Joe Biden in the state — a win that would give Biden the 270 votes he needs to win — filed the suit on Wednesday.
Wolf, also a Democrat, called the president’s legal move “simply disgraceful” and vowed that his government would “fight every attempt to disenfranchise voters”.
“Let me be clear: in Pennsylvania every vote will count,” he said.
Nevada could put Biden over the top, but results won’t be known for many hours
From John Carter
Joe Biden now has 264 electoral votes according to the Associated Press, just six votes short of the 270 needed to win the presidential election (that electoral vote count includes Arizona, which some US networks have not yet called for Biden). Nevada, and its six electoral votes, could hold the key for Biden.
The former vice-president currently leads Trump in the state, but only by about 8,000 votes with 86 per cent of the vote counted. If Trump wins, that could put him on a strong path to reclaiming the presidency if he wins battleground Pennsylvania — and claims North Carolina and Georgia as expected.
Nevada state election officials are due to resume their vote count on Thursday morning their time, or about midday EST (1am Hong Kong time on Friday). Assuming the release of new vote tallies that comes several hours later shows Biden with a strong lead, networks could then declare him the winner of the election.
Four Senate races still undecided
From Jacob Fromer
Along with the presidency, control of the US Senate is up for grabs, and one day on from Election Day it remains unclear whether Republicans will retain control or Democrats will take over.
Democrats have picked up two seats so far, ousting Republican incumbents Martha McSally in Arizona and Cory Gardner in Colorado. Republicans have retaken a seat in Alabama from Democrat Doug Jones.
Four US Senate races remain undecided for now, and control of the chamber could still go to either party.
The outstanding races are in Alaska, North Carolina and two in Georgia — all with Republican incumbents.
At least one of the Georgia races is already set to go to a separate runoff election in January, with Senator Kelly Loeffler to face Democratic rival Raphael Warnock.
As of now, both the Republicans and Democrats have secured 48 Senate seats in the next Congress, which begins in January.
In the event of a tied vote, the vice-president — either the Republican Mike Pence or the Democrat Kamala Harris — will cast the deciding vote.
8:05PM
Twitter adds warnings to series of election tweets by Donald Trump
From Ian Young
Twitter is closely scrutinising posts by Donald Trump and has placed warnings or restrictions on at least six of the US president’s tweets since election night.
Five Tweets have been overlaid with the warning that their content “is disputed and might be misleading”, while another message, in which Trump claimed victory in three undecided states, bears a message that the races have not been officially called.
Trump’s messages also include unsubstantiated claims about “secretly dumped ballots” and officials making votes “disappear”. He also declared it “VERY STRANGE” that Biden had closed the gap in many states.
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Some of the tweets by Donald Trump that were overlaid with warnings. Photo: Twitter screenshot
7:48PM
Biden’s Wisconsin win is a hot topic on Weibo
From Wendy Wu
Joe Biden’s victory in Wisconsin, which puts the Democratic candidate closer to winning the US presidency, is the top trending topic in China’s Twitter-like Sina Weibo as the country wakes up to the latest developments in the race.
Some social media users are mocking and scorning Donald Trump’s narrowing chance of re-election.
“Trump’s re-election, if possible, would be the greatest contribution to the world,” wrote one Weibo user sarcastically. “You have to hold on!”
“Oh boy. What excitement! I can’t help refreshing Weibo every two minutes to see any update,” another netizen said.
Other commenters are pondering the
US-China relations
hip with Biden as US president.
“Biden will help to repair the global image of the US, may lead to solidarity between the US and Europe — which could not be a good thing for China,” another Weibo user said.
7:26PM
Trump lashes out at legal team on Twitter as Biden gains ground
From Owen Churchill
US President Donald Trump, whose path to the White House is narrowing, is now lashing out at his own team, publicly questioning his own lawyers’ requests for “meaningful access” to vote counting locations.
As Trump looks to have lost Michigan and Wisconsin and is losing momentum in Pennsylvania, his campaign is suing states to cease the tabulation of absentee ballots until it is granted access to the counting locations.
“Our lawyers have asked for ‘meaningful access’, but what good does that do?” Trump tweeted. “The damage has already been done to the integrity of our system, and to the Presidential Election itself. This is what should be discussed!”
Trump’s unilateral claims of vote counting fraud has been slammed by politicians of both parties, including Republican Maryland governor Larry Hogan, who called Trump’s claims during Tuesday night’s contentious White House address “outrageous and uncalled for”.
7:22PM
As Biden count surges in Georgia, Trump campaign files suit
From Owen Churchill
Interest is growing around the vote count in Georgia, where Joe Biden is making up ground as mail-in ballots continue to be tabulated — and Donald Trump’s campaign and the state Republican Party have taken action against it.
Associated Press reports that the Trump campaign and state party have initiated a lawsuit against the election board in Georgia’s Chatham County, requesting that a judge secure and account for any ballots that were received after 7pm ET on Election Day.
AP quotes Georgia Republican Party chairman David Shafer as saying that lawsuits are planned for a dozen counties.
Biden currently trails Trump in the southeastern battleground state by more than 50,000 votes, but according to CNN’s tally, an estimated 185,000 ballots are yet to be processed and are said to be from the metro Atlanta area, which is considered strong Biden territory.
Biden needs around two-thirds of the remaining ballots — well within his grasp based on how the mail-in votes have skewed — to win the state and its 16 Electoral College votes, which could secure the presidential election for him.
7:18PM
Biden-Harris transition website ‘is now online’
From Ian Young
Democrat Joe Biden has yet to claim victory in the US presidential race, but his campaign appears to have launched a transition website, according to reporters for US outlets including The Washington Post and CBS News.
The site,
buildbackbetter.com
, consists of a single page featuring a photo of Biden in profile, against a blue background and the headline “Biden-Harris Transition”.
A single paragraph of text says: “The American people will determine who will serve as the next President of the United States. Votes are still being counted in several states around the country. The crises facing the country are severe — from a pandemic to an economic recession, climate change to racial injustice — and the transition team will continue preparing at full speed so that the Biden‑Harris Administration can hit the ground running on Day One.”
There is a link to a version of the page in Spanish.
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A screenshot of buildbackbetter.com, which appears to be a presidential transition website for Joe Biden. Photo: buildbackbetter.com
7:08PM
The campaign’s coronavirus postscript: US breaks 100,000 new cases in one day
From Jacob Fromer
From mail-in ballots to virtual political conventions to a death toll that has passed 233,000, Covid-19 has been a constant and disruptive presence in this year’s campaign.
So why should the first day after the election be any different?
Using its own data tracking system, The Washington Post reports that the US has registered 100,000 new coronavirus cases in one day for the first time today. That brings the paper’s total of confirmed cases in the US to at least 9,479,000.
The paper says that those 100,000 came as 17 states on Wednesday reported record numbers of patients hospitalised with Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus — a reminder that whichever candidate’s term begins in January, he will face an enormous task in stopping the spread of coronavirus in America.
6:57PM
Video: Trump-supporting crowds outside Michigan ballot count
From James Wilkinson and Bonnie Au
Crowds of supporters of US President Donald Trump have been filmed surrounding the ballot counting office in Detroit, Michigan, calling for an end to the count as police hold them back. Michigan, which Trump won in a shock victory in 2016, has been called for Democratic contender Joe Biden, posing a major setback to the president’s efforts to retain office.
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02:01
Biden claims Michigan win as votes still counting, Trump seeks to halt the count
Biden claims Michigan win as votes still counting, Trump seeks to halt the count
6:36PM
China sees a Biden presidency as ‘the least bad option’
From Jun Mai
As many wake in Beijing on Thursday morning, at least some early risers wonder how the
US-China relations
hip will look like in the next four years with a President Joe Biden.
“It’s clear that Biden has identified China as the US’s competitor, and Russia as a threat,” said Lu Xiang, a US specialist with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
“It’s the least bad option for China at the moment, and one that China can accept.”
In contrast to Donald Trump’s China policy, Biden has listed climate change, global health and non-proliferation as areas in which Washington should seek Beijing’s cooperation, he added.
“Biden’s domestic advantage is his decency in both domestic and foreign policies,” said Lu. “No matter what his policies will be like, he is at least a decent person and one China could sit down with and talk to.”
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07:32
US presidential elections 2020: Still too close to call
US presidential elections 2020: Still too close to call
There have been fears that Trump, if he loses his re-election bid, might take extreme foreign policy actions to deflect domestic controversies — possibly looking for new ways to confront China.
But Lu said those chances are low.
“It’s possible” that Trump and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo “will continue the hawkish talk” about Beijing, Lu says, “but I don’t see other key officials, like the defence secretary, following him on extreme actions”.
“Those officials also need to think of their personal futures.”
Since Trump has already announced plans to challenge vote counts in several states, Lu says that Beijing will probably wait until the dust settles before it formally congratulates either candidate.
“But there might be private communications before that,” Lu says.
6:19PM
Wisconsin voters fear post-election violence — but not from neighbours
From James Wilkinson
Residents of the battleground state of Wisconsin have told the Post’s Mark Magnier that
the tense election atmosphere could ignite into violence
- but they can’t agree on where the sparks will come from.
5:56PM
Trump tweets earn Twitter warnings after he claims three states’ electoral votes
From Ian Young
President Donald Trump is saying in a Twitter post that he has “claimed” the Electoral College votes of Pennsylvania, Georgia and North Carolina — despite vote-counting that continues in those states.
Twitter has added a warning to the post that “official sources may not have called the race when this was tweeted”.
A subsequent post by Trump claims without evidence that “there was a large number of secretly dumped ballots”. Twitter administrators have overlaid that post with a message that the content of the tweet “is disputed and might be misleading”.
5:38PM
Fact check: Trump’s allegations of voter fraud
From James Wilkinson
Is this election subject to voter fraud? The Post’s Owen Churchill
fact checks the president’s accusations
.
4:43PM
Biden: ‘It’s clear when it’s finished, we will be the winners’
From Jodi Xu Klein and Mark Magnier
Joe Biden, in a brief speech that builds on his comments late on election night, says that “democracy is very much alive”.
“Here, the people rule,” he says.
With the electoral map moving in his direction, Biden predicts that he will win the hard-fought presidential election — while stopping short of declaring victory outright.
Even as news organisations call the crucial midwestern states of Wisconsin and Michigan for him, putting him closer to the 270 electoral votes he needs for the presidency, Biden claims that “It’s clear we’ve reached 270”.
“I am not here to declare we won. But it’s clear when it’s finished, we will be the winners,” he says.
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02:07
‘We will be the winners,” says Joe Biden
‘We will be the winners,” says Joe Biden
“And most importantly, we won the majority of the American people,” he says, adding that he and Senator Kamala Harris, his running mate, are “on track to win more votes than any other ticket in the history of America”.
Biden’s comments come as President Donald Trump’s campaign has announced plans to contest several state races in the United States Supreme Court, citing irregularities.
As he has frequently on the campaign, in his speech Biden appeals for unity in the deeply divided and partisan nation and vowed to be a president for all Americans.
“To make progress, we have to stop treating our opponents as enemies. We are not enemies,” Biden says.
“We the people will not be silenced. We the people will not be bullied. We the people will not surrender. My friends, I’m confident we’ll emerge victorious.”
4:42PM
Wisconsin election official says election recount would show ‘solid system’
From James Wilkinson and Mantai Chow
As US President Donald Trump calls for a recount in Wisconsin, state elections administrator Meagan Wolfe has defended the “meticulous” and “solid” system in the state, saying that a recount would only show how accurate the original count was.
It would appear that Democratic contender Joe Biden has beaten President Donald Trump in the state by just over 20,000 votes. Trump beat 2016 opponent Hillary Clinton in the state by a similar gap. A recount that year added just 131 votes to Trump’s total in the state.
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01:30
Wisconsin election official says recount would show ‘solid system’
Wisconsin election official says recount would show ‘solid system’
4:30PM
North Carolina updated totals to land next week, says NBC
From Jacob Fromer
North Carolina says it won’t have updated voting totals until next Thursday, Nov. 12, says NBC.
The state is still considered too close to call — in the presidential race and also the Senate race between incumbent Republican Thom Tillis and Cal Cunningham. Trump and Tillis are leading in both races as of right now.
4:20PM
CNN, NBC call the state of Michigan for Joe Biden
From Jacob Fromer
CNN and NBC call the state of Michigan for Joe Biden, another critical win for the Democratic candidate in the Midwest, and another pickup of a state that Trump won four years ago.
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00:57
Biden campaign: ‘We believe we are on a clear path to victory’
Biden campaign: ‘We believe we are on a clear path to victory’
4:14PM
NBC reports protesters try to stop the vote count in Detroit
From Ian Young
NBC is reporting that protesters seeking an end to the vote count in Detroit have converged on the convention hall where the tally is taking place.
Joe Biden has overtaken Donald Trump in the rust-belt state of Michigan, leading 2.67 million votes to Trump’s 2.61 million with an estimated 95 per cent of the vote counted.
4:10PM
Trump campaign says it is suing to stop vote count in Michigan, Pennsylvania
From Jacob Fromer
As Joe Biden continues to hold a lead in Michigan and may be on the verge of closing the gap in Pennsylvania, the Trump campaign says it is suing to stop more votes from being counted in both states.
The campaign says it wants to be allowed access to sites where ballots are being counted. The Biden campaign attorney says they are ready for any legal fight, Associated Press reported.
Last month, the US Supreme Court declined to consider a separate Republican attempt to block Pennsylvania from counting ballots that are postmarked by Election Day but received in the mail up to three days after.
3:15PM
Beijing keeps an eye on the US election
From Jun Mai
Beijing is closely watching the US presidential race from afar.
“We have colleagues who will keep an eye on the race around the clock,” said an official with a Communist Party department in Beijing, who declined to be identified because the person is not authorised to speak on the issue publicly. “They have prepared a few reports in advance for different outcomes.”
The reports will be submitted to higher offices once the results becomes clear, but will not be made public.
It is typical for Chinese officials across different departments to write mountains of reports to submit to higher offices. But only a small percentage of those reports will actually be read by its targeted audience among the top decision-makers.
2:47PM
Trump’s post-election marching orders
From Laura Ma
Politico’s Nancy Cook details Trump’s strategy for
contesting election results
.
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US President Donald Trump gestures after speaking in the East Room of the White House early on Wednesday. Photo: AFP
2:28PM
Trump supporters promote theories about voter fraud online
From Eduardo Baptista
Conservative Trump supporters are promoting theories about voter fraud on Twitter, despite the social media platform’s interventions to stop the spread of misinformation.
As the counting of mail-in votes continues to push Biden past Trump in battleground states, Sean Davis, a founder of conservative magazine The Federalist, posted on Twitter suggesting something afoul was at play with the mail-in ballot counts in Michigan and Wisconsin, where Biden is now leading. His post was blocked by Twitter but he later shared the link to an article on The Federalist’s website.
A hashtag, #StopTheSteal, promoted by some conservative posters, has been gaining traction with regard to the vote in Arizona, which Fox News and AP have already called for Biden.
The theory-peddling has also reached conservatives overseas. Eduardo Bolsonaro — son of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and a close ally of former Trump adviser Steve Bannon — shared Davis’s contentions to his Twitter following in Portuguese, racking thousands of retweets.
2:20PM
Wisconsin electoral votes will go to Biden, says CNN
From Jacob Fromer
Wisconsin’s 10 electoral votes will go to Joe Biden, CNN is reporting.
The midwestern state is a crucial pickup for the the Democratic candidate after Trump pulled a stunning upset there four years ago, and brings Biden’s total electoral votes now to 248. Either candidate needs 270 to win the presidency.
2:05PM
Georgia’s top election official seeks a final vote count by end of day
From Jodi Xu Klein
Georgia’s top election official says that the state still has about 200,000 ballots left to count, and that he seeks a final count by the end of the day.
The outstanding ballots are mostly from counties around metro Atlanta, where Biden has performed well. Trump leads Biden by about 83,000 votes as of 1:55pm ET, The New York Times reports.
Brad Raffensperger, Georgia’s secretary of state, says he is pushing counties to complete their tabulations by the end of the day.
“My team has sent reminders to counties to get all, let me repeat, all of our results counted today. Every legal vote will count,” Raffensperger says.
Even if some counties cannot finish by that deadling, Raffensperger says it would be helpful if “we get the numbers so small that then there’s no question of who actually the winner is”.
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01:35
Street parties held in US capital and Miami as voters await presidential election results
Street parties held in US capital and Miami as voters await presidential election results
Fulton County, which includes most of Atlanta, resumed counting at 8:30am ET this morning after the process was disrupted by a pipe that burst in the election offices last night. Another 15,000 absentee ballots must be processed in Cobb County, also in metro Atlanta.
Raffensperger says it is usual that ballots aren’t completely counted until after Election Day such as those sent by military people and citizens living overseas.
In addition to the presidential vote, Georgia was the only state to have two US Senate seats up for election, both held by Republicans.
In the first, the incumbent David Perdue soundly defeated the Democrat, Jon Ossoff; in the second, the Democratic candidate, Raphael Warnock, was leading the incumbent Kelly Loeffler, but the two will face a runoff election on January 5.
1:31PM
Republican senator from Maine re-elected
From Jacob Fromer
Senator Susan Collins, a Republican, has won a tightly contested race in Maine, and her Democratic opponent, Sara Gideon, has called to concede.
The race was high on the Democrats’ list for a pickup, and Collins’ victory diminishes their hopes of retaking control of the Senate.
1:18PM
Trump camp wants Wisconsin recount
From Jodi Xu Klein
Claiming “reports of irregularities in several Wisconsin counties” that raise “serious doubts about the validity of the results”, Donald Trump’s campaign manager says the president will request a recount.
A Wisconsin official defends the state’s process for vote counting and says any suggestions of fraud “is insulting” to the Elections Commission.
“The tabulation is being done transparently and legally,” says Meagan Wolfe, the Elections Commission administrator. “There is no opportunity to add additional votes. There is no opportunity to count a ballot that didn’t go through the meticulous process. Anybody is welcome to watch that process; some were even live-streaming the process last night.”
According to the state law, a recount can be requested if the margin of victory is less than 1 per cent. As of 12:48pm ET, Biden is leading Trump by 0.6 per cent, 49.4 per cent to 48.8 per cent, about 20,000 votes, The New York Times reports.
All but one township with 300 voters has submitted results, says Wolfe, and all other ballots have been counted.
12:35PM
Biden adds 3 of Maine’s Electoral College votes
From Robert Delaney
Joe Biden is the winner of three of Maine’s four electoral votes and Donald Trump claims one vote, AP reports. Nebraska and Maine are the only two states to split their Electoral College votes.
12:23PM
More votes to come in Arizona
From Jacob Fromer
Arizona’s top election official says there are still hundreds of thousands of ballots left to count in the state, where Joe Biden is currently in the lead. Fox News and Associated Press have already called the state for Biden, but other outlets have held back. Katie Hobbs says to expect much of the vote count to come in by the end of the day.
Mark Kelly, a former Nasa astronaut, has already been deemed the winner of the state’s US Senate election — a gain for the Democrats in the traditionally Republican state.
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Former Nasa astronaut Mark Kelly has been deemed the winner of Arizona’s US Senate election. Photo: Reuters
12:05PM
Michigan unofficial results expected by end of day, says official
From Jodi Xu Klein
Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson says the state is in the middle of the first tabulation that should finish later today, with unofficial results expected by the end of the day.
An official result is expected by Friday.
“We are focused on counting every single ballot. Every ballot in [Michigan] will be counted,” Benson said.
Large jurisdictions including Wayne county, where Detroit is, and Kent county, are still being counted.
The number of outstanding ballots is still greater than the gap between Trump and Biden, said Benson.
Biden leads Trump by 35,000 votes as of 11:35 am ET, with 92 per cent of votes in, according to The New York Times.
11:58AM
Biden camp confident even if Wisconsin recounts
From Robert Delaney
Biden campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon says a Wisconsin recount is possible. “If the vote is within 1 per cent, which it is, then the loser can request a recount,” she tells reporters. “I think they probably have to fund it or something is added to it, so it’s certainly possible. We are going to win Wisconsin, recount or no recount. We are ahead. We have a very clear sense of the votes that are there, the votes that are in, what’s left outstanding … and we’re very confident that Wisconsin is ours and we will continue to stay ahead there.”
11:46AM
Biden victory is imminent, campaign manager says
From Robert Delaney
“Joe Biden is on track to win this election, and he will be the next president of the United States,” his campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon, tells reporters after asserting, based on the campaign’s data, that Biden’s leads in Michigan, Wisconsin, Michigan and Nevada will continue to grow and that he will pull ahead of Trump in Pennsylvania once all votes are counted there “over the course of today and tomorrow”.
With Biden’s victory in Arizona, he could lose Michigan or Wisconsin, states where he holds narrow leads, or Pennsylvania, and still win the White House, Politico reports.
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00:57
Biden campaign: ‘We believe we are on a clear path to victory’
Biden campaign: ‘We believe we are on a clear path to victory’
11:14AM
Counting tactics are legal and normal, Biden camp says
From Robert Delaney
Biden campaign adviser Bob Bauer says at a press briefing Wednesday morning: “It is far from abnormal and certainly not inconsistent with law and indeed required by the Constitution that the count continue until all the votes are counted. Nothing could be more fundamental than this basic proposition that President Trump attacked last night.”
Bauer accused Republicans aligned with the Trump campaign of filing lawsuits in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin to halt early counting and delay any results until after Election Day. “They were looking to logjam that process, and they did that with the precise effort to set up the claim that the president was making yesterday that somehow that there was some large number of ballots that were suspiciously uncounted,” Bauer said.
11:10AM
Pennsylvania official urges patience during ballot count
From Jodi Xu Klein
A Pennsylvania official urges patience and says the state is determined to count the ballots accurately.
Mail-in ballots in the state are between 2.5 million and 3 million, ten times the number of such ballots cast in 2016, says Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar.
About 50 per cent of the absentee ballots have been counted.
The later-arriving ballots will be counted as long as they arrive by Friday, November 6 at 5pm ET, with a stamp on or before Election Day, said Boockvar.
Biden still trails Trump in the state, but the gap has shrunk further to 540,000 from 700,000 earlier this morning, according to CNN. The Democratic candidate has so far won 70 per cent of the mail-in ballots that have been processed.
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02:22
Pennsylvania wakes up to election cloud as vote counting still underway
Pennsylvania wakes up to election cloud as vote counting still underway
11:06AM
Michigan edges toward Biden column
From Jacob Fromer
Joe Biden’s lead in Michigan is still growing, according to Associated Press. He is now ahead of Donald Trump by about 32,000 votes.
According to the Detroit Free Press, the swing state still has more than 80,000 votes left to count. Many of those ballots are from the heavily Democratic city of Detroit, which is expected to vote in large numbers for Biden.
10:50AM
Trump campaign shows signs it will fight election outcome
From Jacob Fromer
As Joe Biden’s position in some of the battleground states improves, the Donald Trump campaign is showing increasing signs that it will fight the outcome of the election.
Trump’s campaign manager implied that the Wisconsin race, where Biden now leads by fewer than 21,000 votes, and where ballots are still being counted, may go to a recount.
He and Senator Marco Rubio, a Trump ally, have both made oblique references to “legally cast” ballots today — a sign they may try to challenge the integrity of ballots in some locations where the results close.
And Trump just tweeted for the first time this morning to suggest that the ongoing tally of mail-in ballots is a sign of fraud — an unfounded claim he has repeated for months. (Twitter has hidden the tweet and labeled it “disputed”.)
While media outlets call results and the candidates themselves may declare victories, results are certified only through a process known as the canvass, wherein each vote is certified, first by local counties and then by each state’s central election authority. This process can take days or weeks.
10:37AM
Brazilians and their president keep eye on US results
From Eduardo Baptista
As Donald Trump’s lead in battleground states shrinks, Brazilians are starting to wonder how their right-wing president, Jair Bolsonaro, known as the “Trump of the Tropics”, might react to a Joe Biden administration.
Bolsonaro has drawn controversy for much of the same reasons as his American counterpart, from playing down Covid-19 to denying climate change. Last month, he told White House national security adviser Robert O’Brien that he hoped to attend Trump’s second inauguration.
Marcos Caramuru de Paiva, Brazil’s ambassador to China from 2016 to 2019, said a Trump loss would be a blow to the credibility of Bolsonaro’s brand of politics. “Bolsonaro would lose his mirror,” he said.
Bolsonaro and his closest political allies have at times mimicked the White House in pursuing a hawkish stance on China. Bolsonaro’s son Eduardo drew Beijing’s ire when he called Covid-19 the “Chinese virus”, a term frequently used by Trump.
Caramuru de Paiva said that should Trump win, Bolsonaro would be pressured to drive Brazil away from China, currently the South American nation’s largest trading partner.