America Awaits Anxiously as Biden Leads In Georgia

Overnight, a number of new developments have occurred, the most significant being that Georgia, a traditional Republican stronghold, has flipped blue for the first time since 1996. As of writing, Biden currently takes a 1,096-vote lead, or a 0.0002 percent lead, with 99 percent of precincts reporting and 4,960,275 people voting. America now awaits anxiously for the race to be called.

We have not seen any new race calls from the Associated Press (or any other news organization for that matter) on the presidential or Senate levels.

Georgia, as previously mentioned, now has 99 percent of its expected vote reported. According to data from The New York Times, all of Atlanta’s Democratic-leaning suburban counties now have more than 98 percent of the vote counted, with us now just waiting for the final few ballots to be counted. It is likely this race won’t be called for a while because a recount may be demanded. However, a 1,096-vote lead, what Biden currently leads by, should be enough to cushion him from a recount, since recounts typically only see about 250 ballots change sides. This is still exceedingly close though: the margin is a 0.0002 percent lead. If Georgia is called for Biden, it would be the first time that a Democratic presidential candidate has won the state since 1992.

Though Nevada is still currently too close to call, Biden has expanded his lead to a 0.9 percent lead, though the state is still only reporting 89 percent of the expected vote. The bulk of the remaining vote is from the heavily Democratic Clark County (Las Vegas), so Biden is expected to do well here. The next batch of votes is expected to be announced at noon Eastern today.

Pennsylvania is still counting up mail-in ballots (yes, it’s been an extremely slow process). The state is currently reporting 95 percent of the vote, and Trump’s lead has dwindled significantly to just 0.3 percent. With a large number of ballots yet to be counted in heavily Democratic areas like Philadelphia, Biden is also expected to win the state.

North Carolina still hasn’t been called and it probably won’t be for a while. 95 percent of the vote is being reported and Biden trails by 1.4 percent, which, although it doesn’t necessarily indicate Biden is doomed, it will be fairly difficult to overcome. We’ll have to wait and see as ballots that are postmarked by Nov. 3 will still be counted as long as they arrive by Nov. 12.

Because Alaska still has yet to tally mail-in ballots (the state only starts counting these on Nov. 10), it will likely not be called for a while. Just 56 percent of precincts are reporting as of writing.

Though Biden’s lead in Arizona has dwindled, the rest of the ballots are expected to lean Democratic. Maricopa County will next report at 11 a.m. Eastern. Since the Associated Press and Fox News have called the race, we are not expecting this race to flip.

There is only one race to update on since yesterday: in Georgia (Georgia does seem to be getting all the attention), the regular Senate race is now expected to proceed into a runoff. Because Georgia requires candidates to reach a majority of the vote share in order to win, if no candidate reaches a majority, the election proceeds into a runoff to be held in January. David Perdue (R-Inc.)’s total vote share has now fallen to 49.8 percent, meaning that he will not reach the threshold to claim an outright victory (the remainder of the ballots are expected to lean Democratic). Therefore, this race is expected to proceed into a runoff in January, along with Georgia’s Senate special election.

Since Thom Tillis (R-Inc.) is favored to win in North Carolina, control of the U.S. Senate will come down to the January runoff in Georgia. All eyes are now on Georgia as the state tallies up its votes.

Al Gross has claimed, on Twitter, that he believes that the remainder of the vote in Alaska, which will be mail ballots, will lean Democratic enough that he will win. That’s a bold claim, but a very real possibility. Watch this space.

With Georgia now having flipped blue, we should also see Pennsylvania flip as more votes come in. If we’re lucky, we may be able to get a race call today, though, with the state of this election, no one knows. Keep your eyes peeled for any AP race calls, and I’ll be back tomorrow (or when a victor is declared) with another update.

Check out the 2020 election coverage page for more on the election.