Democrat Joe Biden is challenging Republican incumbent Donald Trump, a man whose name has dominated global headlines throughout his first term.
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US Election RECAP: Biden inches closer to electoral college victory
Key Events
- Biden tells supporters he is confident of victory
- Crunch states Arizona, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Georgia still to count votes
- Biden team preparing for legal challenge if Trump disputes ballot count
- Trump repeating unfounded claims of vote fraud
The outcome of the race in Florida will be hugely significant. The Sunshine State has 29 electoral college votes and could go either way. A Biden victory there points towards a major Democratic win nationwide. If Trump wins, the race could be closer than many predicted. Here’s the mood in one campaign office.
Unlike elections here in the UK, the way results of US races are announced has a different flavour. Polling is monitored and as the votes begin to be counted, wire service Associated Press gather the results and model the data for us. I’ll let them explain:
"In the 2020 U.S. general election, The Associated Press will declare winners in more than 7,000 races – starting with the White House and reaching down the ballot to every seat in every state legislature.
“To do so, AP uses a 50-state network of stringers who collect votes at a local level, while other AP journalists gather results from state or county websites, as well as via electronic data feeds from states.”
Several states in the Democratic stronghold of the Northeastern United States have been called for Joe Biden.
Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts have all turned blue.
The rock-solid Republican states of Alabama, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Mississippi have all been called for President Trump.
No surprises there - he won all four states by healthy margins in 2016.
Senator Mitch McConnell, the leader of Republicans in the US Senate, has secured his re-election in Kentucky.
The Senator fought off a strong campaign from Democratic challenger Amy McGrath.
Results continue to pour in from the key battleground state of Florida this evening, where vote tallies for both candidates are on a knife-edge.
Florida could prove crucial in determining who will win the White House, though it is more important for Mr Trump than his Democratic rival, Joe Biden.
If Mr Biden was to win, the President will find his path to the 270 electoral college votes needed to win the election significantly more difficult to travel.
If Mr Trump wins, it will be a blow to Democrats, who had held hopes of flipping the Republican state - but it does not spell disaster.
Mr Biden could still gain victory nationally if other states, like Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania go his way.