US Presidential elections: Victory is in sight for Democrat Joe Biden who has pulled ahead to the 253 mark in the electoral vote count. Donald Trump has suffered two back to back blows losing must-win Michigan and Wisconsin to rival Biden.
The US 2020 election winner needs 270 and Trump is trailing at 214 at 4:30 p.m. EST (3 a.m. IST).
Both Wisconsin and Michigan went to Trump four years ago with razor-thin margins. Both were flips for Trump that year, stunning even the Republicans.
"And now after a long night of counting, it’s clear that we’re winning enough states to reach (the) 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency,” Biden, appearing with his running mate Kamala Harris, said in his home state of Delaware.
"I’m not here to declare that we’ve won. But I am here to report that when the count is finished we believe will be the winners," he added.
The latest results mean that Biden has a road to victory without Pennsylvania, long considered a decisive state in a closely fought election.
The Democrats have been singularly focused on a path to the White House through the upper midwest states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.
Biden has been advising calm and patience since election night, repeatedly saying "we feel good about where we are".
Inside the White House West Wing, frustration is growing and so is the fatigue with the all in legal strategy.
Amid the dominos falling so quickly, the Donald Trump campaign is going 360 degree legal in Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Nevada -- all over how mail-in ballots are being processed.
Trump’s legal manoeuvres amounted to a broad effort to contest the results of an election yet to be decided a day after millions of Americans went to the polls during the coronavirus pandemic that has upended daily life. They followed Trump’s early-morning attacks on the integrity of the vote, as the president falsely claimed victory and suggested without substantiation that Democrats would try to steal the election.
(With agency inputs)
