At 2:30 a.m. Wednesday morning, with the vote count halted in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and other key battleground states, President Trump told supporters at the White House the Joe Biden campaign was trying to steal the election.
"This is a fraud on the American public. This is an embarrassment to our country," he said. "We were getting ready to win the election. Frankly, we did win the election."
Trump said his campaign will go to the U.S. Supreme Court.
"We will be going to the U.S. Supreme Court. We want all voting to stop," he said. "We don't want them to find ballots at 4 o'clock in the morning and add them to the list."
A court has ruled that ballots postmarked by Tuesday can be received and counted until Friday.
Trump said his lead in Pennsylvania is 690,000 votes, with 64% of the vote in and pro-Trump counties still to be counted.
He's leading in Michigan by almost 300,000 votes with 65% of the vote recorded. In Wisconsin, with 88% reporting, the president leads 51.2% to 47.3%.
Trump has won the key battlegrounds of Florida and Ohio.
At 12:45 a.m., as Biden took to a parking-lot stage to speak to supporters, Trump dispatched a tweet that Twitter immediately flagged with a warning to readers.
"We are up BIG, but they are trying to STEAL the Election," the president wrote. "We will never let them do it. Votes cannot be cast after the Polls are closed!"
Twitter's warning said, "Some or all of the content shared in this Tweet is disputed and might be misleading about an election or other civic process."
We are up BIG, but they are trying to STEAL the Election. We will never let them do it. Votes cannot be cast after the Polls are closed!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 4, 2020
Prior to Election Day, establishment media predicted a landslide for Biden, with The Economist estimating the president's chance of winning was 3% and Nate Silver's FiveThirtyEight giving him a 10% chance.
But when Biden spoke to supporters in Wilmington, Delaware, both candidates saw a path to victory through the Rust Belt states.
"Your patience is commendable," Biden said as car horns honked. "We knew this was going to go long, but who knew we were going to go maybe into tomorrow morning, maybe even longer?"
Biden insisted he's on track to win.
"We knew because of the unprecedented early mail-in vote that it was going to take a while," he said. "And it ain't over until every vote, every ballot is counted."
The Democrat said his campaign is "feeling good" about Michigan and Wisconsin, and thinks it will win Pennsylvania.
But along with his leads in the three states, Trump had a narrow lead in Georgia and North Carolina, states he won in 2016.
He won the battleground of Iowa by 7 points, while Biden has a sizeable lead in Arizona, which the president won in 2016. The former vice president also has taken battleground Minnesota.
The president, with 213 total electoral votes, also has won Idaho, Montana, Utah, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Oklahoma, Kansas, Arkansas, Missouri, Indiana, Kentucky, West Virginia, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina and four of Nebraska's five votes.
Biden, with 227 total votes, has won California, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Illinois, Virginia, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, the District of Columbia and three of Maine's four votes.
Bloomberg reporter Saleha Mohsin said election officials in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania say they won't announce a winner tonight.
The vote count in Philadelphia was halted
A court ruled mail-in ballots postmarked Tuesday can be received in Pennsylvania until Friday. In North Carolina, they can be received nine days from Election Day.
Wisconsin says there's no way they are announcing a winner tonight
Michigan needs until Friday
Pennsylvania isn't coming out anytime soon, either
Per officials in those states
— Saleha Mohsin (@SalehaMohsin) November 4, 2020
The Biden campaign believed Texas was in play, and both campaigns regarded Arizona as competitive. Trump won both states in 2016.
In Texas, with 82% reporting, Trump leads 52.2% to 46.4%.
Biden leads in Arizona, with 77% reporting, 53.4% to 46.3%.
Fox News has called Arizona for Biden, but the White House is contesting the decision, arguing votes are still out in counties where Trump is expected to perform well.
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