Associated Press
Joe Biden’s campaign says he will give a speech during prime time Friday.
The Democratic presidential candidate’s campaign announced that he would be making an address but did not say where or what he plans to say.
Biden is on the cusp of winning the presidency on Friday as he opened up narrow leads over President Donald Trump in the critical battlegrounds of Georgia and Pennsylvania.
Those put Biden in a stronger position to capture the 270 Electoral College votes needed to take the White House. The winner will lead a country facing a historic set of challenges, including a surging pandemic and deep political polarization.
Trump remained in the White House residence Friday morning as his campaign insisted the election wasn’t over. Biden was at his home in Wilmington, Delaware, as the vote count continued.
The focus on Pennsylvania, where Biden led Trump by more than 9,000 votes, and Georgia, where Biden led by more than 1,500, came as Americans entered a third full day after the election without knowing who will lead them for the next four years. The prolonged process added to the anxiety of a nation whose racial and cultural divides were inflamed during the heated campaign.
With his pathway to reelection appearing to greatly narrow, Trump was testing how far he could go in using the trappings of presidential power to undermine confidence in the vote.
On Thursday, he advanced unsupported accusations of voter fraud to falsely argue that his rival was trying to seize power in an extraordinary effort by a sitting American president to sow doubt about the democratic process.
“This is a case when they are trying to steal an election, they are trying to rig an election,” Trump said from the podium of the White House briefing room.
By Friday morning, Biden overtook Trump in the number of ballots counted in the battleground Georgia, a must-win state for Trump that has long been a Republican stronghold. Biden as of 4:40 a.m. Thursday morning had a 917-vote advantage.
The contest is still too early for The Associated Press to call. The networks haven’t called it either. But notably both the AP and Fox News called Arizona, and Georgia would put Biden over the top if they project a Democratic win there. Pennsylvania would put Biden ahead of 270 electoral votes in counts for MSNBC and CNN as well.
Thousands of ballots are still left to be counted — many in counties where the former Vice President was in the lead.
An AP analysis showed that Biden’s vote margins grew as counties processed mail ballots cast in his favor.
There is a potential that the race could go to a recount. Under Georgia law, if the margin between Biden and Trump is under half a percentage point of difference, a recount can be requested.
Biden is pushing closer to the 270 Electoral College votes needed to carry the White House, securing victories in the battlegrounds of Wisconsin and Michigan and narrowing President Donald Trump’s path.
Results in the neighboring state to Florida also show both Senate races potentially headed to a runoff.
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Republished with permission of the Associate Press.
