US elections 2020: Trump falsely claims 'we won' despite key results still to come
US President Donald Trump appeared to claim victory without a clear path to an electoral college majority early on Wednesday, despite millions of votes in key swing states remaining uncounted, and Democratic challenger Joe Biden currently leading in electoral votes.
With an influx of mail-in ballots slowing down the count, major swing states - including Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan and Arizona - were too close to call.
Biden gained a slim lead in the crucial states of Michigan and Wisconsin overnight, increasing his chances of unseating Trump. The US president appeared to have an edge in both states after some early results, but mail-ballots, which are being counted and reported later than election-day votes, have been favouring the Democratic candidate.
On Wednesday, Trump expressed scepticism about the updated results, which saw his chances of staying in the White House diminish.
"Last night I was leading, often solidly, in many key States, in almost all instances Democrat run & controlled," Trump wrote on Twitter. "Then, one by one, they started to magically disappear as surprise ballot dumps were counted. VERY STRANGE, and the “pollsters” got it completely & historically wrong!"
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Hours earlier, he had delivered a speech baselessly claiming that he won the race.
"We were getting ready to win this election. Frankly, we did win this election," Trump told reporters at the White House. "This is a major fraud in our nation. We want the law to be used in a proper manner," he said.
"We want all voting to stop. We don't want them to find any ballots at four o'clock in the morning and add them to the list."
In recent months leading up to the election, the president has made repeated claims - without evidence - that an increase of mail-in voting will lead to an increase in fraud. US election experts say that fraud is rare and postal ballots, which have increased at this election due to the coronavirus pandemic, are a long-standing feature of American elections.
Voting went largely smoothly on Tuesday. There were no major reports of voter obstruction as polling stations across the country worked to make sure everyone trying to vote was able to do so.
Trump had scored some major victories by the end of the night, retaining several states he had won in 2016 that Biden was looking to flip. The president held on to Florida and also crushed Democrats' hopes of making inroads in Texas.
Biden, Trump in close race
Biden took the largely Democratic states of California and New York, along with Illinois, Virginia, and Minnesota.
Many polls just prior to the election had predicted a clear Biden victory, yet as results continue to trickle in, a Democratic landslide seems unlikely.
In a final remark to his supporters early on Wednesday, Biden said that he was confident he would win when all votes had been counted.
"We feel good about where we are. We believe we are on track to win this election," he told a drive-in rally in Wilmington, Delaware.
Biden's hopes for a decisive early victory faded away after Trump took back the lead in North Carolina, Ohio, Georgia, and Texas.
Arizona turned out to be a surprise, with Biden currently leading in what has previously been a red state.
Trump's accusations of voter fraud
Trump invited hundreds of supporters to the White House to view the election results on Tuesday night, serving drinks, chicken fingers and cookies.
On Twitter, the president made accusations that there was an attempt to "steal the election". The social media company was quick to flag the post as misleading.
Abed Ayoub, legal director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), said that Trump's call for vote counting to stop is voter disenfranchisement.
"It’s massive voter disenfranchisement the likes we haven’t seen since the days of slavery and Jim Crow," Ayoub told MEE of Trump's speech. "Every single vote must be counted."
Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, who was re-elected by a landslide to Minnesota's 5th congressional district on Tuesday, wrote on Twitter: "Counting ALL ballots isn't the same as voting. You can't stop ballots from being counted. This isn't a dictatorship.
"This man is dangerous."
Senate Republicans seek to maintain majority
On the Senate side of the race, Republican incumbents mostly staved off Democratic challengers' hopes to unseat them and give Democrats a majority in the chamber.
Republicans currently hold a majority of 53 seats in the 100-seat chamber, where senators hold six-year terms for office.
Democrats need to win four seats in order to secure the majority, or three if Biden wins the White House (if elected, Kamala Harris, as vice president, would have a tie-breaking vote in the legislature).
So far, Democratic incumbent Senator Doug Jones from Alabama has lost to Republican challenger Tommy Tuberville. Democratic challenger John Hickenlooper defeated incumbent Republican Senator Cory Gardner in the state of Colorado.
In South Carolina, Senator Lindsey Graham - a close Trump ally - held off a strong challenge from Democrat Jaime Harrison, who raised upwards of $57m in the last quarter.
In Texas, veteran Republican Senator John Cornyn held off a challenge from Democrat MJ Hegar. Senate races in Arizona, Michigan, and North Carolina are still too close to call.
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