Donald Trump claimed the election was a ‘fraud on the American people’ and that he was going to the Supreme Court to stop all vote-counting immediately in a White House statement at 2.30am.
He effectively made his own declaration of saying: ‘Frankly we did win this election.’
He set the stage for a titanic struggle with Joe Biden over the millions of ballots which are still to be counted and which might not be fully counted until as late as Friday.
Biden had been first to speak, just after midnight, saying ‘it ain’t over till every vote is counted,’ in an address from Wilmington, Delaware.
Trump tweeted immediately to accuse Biden of fraud and say he was ‘winning BIG‘ and would make his own statement.
https://youtu.be/mM2oJQN270o
‘Votes cannot be cast after the Poles are closed!‘ he tweeted from the White House residence – spelling polls incorrectly, but making clear that the battle will be over late-arriving mail-in ballots.
The outcome of the election had effectively ground to a halt just after midnight with Donald Trump on 213 electoral college votes and Joe Biden on 224, and seven battleground states too close to call.
Biden’s failure to land a knockout blow by taking Florida, Ohio or Texas means that the race comes down to Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin – the ‘blue wall’ which Hillary Clinton lost in 2016.
But it will take days to determine the results from those states, setting the scene for a battle which was headed to the courts.
The Democrats were handed Arizona by Fox News in a call which the White House was disputing. If it holds, it gives Biden a precarious path to victory through two of the three states.
Both he and Trump are now effectively in a stalemate which can only be ended by the lengthy process of counting mail-in ballots.
‘We feel good about where we are, we really do. I’m here to tell you tonight, we believe we’re on track to win this election,’ Biden, alongside wife Jill, told supporters gathered outside the Chase Center. He pointed to the gain of Arizona and Minnesota, which NBC News said was leaning Biden minutes before he came onstage.
‘And we’re still in the game in Georgia, although that’s not one we expected,’ Biden said. ‘We feel real good about Wisconsin and Michigan. And, by the way, we’re going to win Pennsylvania,’ he said, getting copious honks from his drive-in crowd.
Biden said he was ‘encouraged,’ especially, by turnout in Philadelphia, which is adjacent to Wilmington.
‘Look, we could know the results as early as tomorrow morning. It may take longer as I’ve said all along,’ he said. ‘It’s not my place or Donald Trump’s place to call who wins this election, that’s the decision of the American people.’
‘I am optimistic about this outcome,’ he said.
Right before he exited he told the crowd that he and his running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris, would be talking tomorrow.
As Biden was pulling in, the jumbotrons, which were playing MSNBC, announced that President Donald Trump had officially won Florida – the first sign Tuesday that the U.S. was in for a long night.
Big swaths of potentially Democratic votes were outstanding in places like Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, Detroit and Atlanta when Biden appeared.
After 1am, Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional district – which is worth one electoral vote – was called for Biden.
Trump’s team had determined that his support in the eastern area of the state was wobbly, with the president holding a rally in Omaha on October 27. That event made news when hundreds of the president’s supporters were left outside for hours in the cold when shuttle buses couldn’t reach the event site.
The gain for Biden is notable because it will prevent a 269-269 tie between the two presidential candidates. In 2016, Trump won all three of Nebraska’s Congressional districts and thus all of its five electoral votes.
