The 2020 Election Results
Four days after all of the ballots were cast, Joe Biden was projected to be the winner of the 2020 presidential election. Election day in 2020, Tuesday, November 3rd, saw millions of voters headed to the polls to elect the next President of the United States. This ended a long campaign between incumbent President Donald J. Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden. Over 145 million Americans voted this year, a substantial increase in turnout from 2016, with 102 million Americans voting early.
Election night started with predictable results from the South and northeastern parts of the country. As the night dragged on, it became clear that the election would come down to tight races in 3 midwestern states: Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. It became a battle over who turned out the voters. Most of the President had votes that were cast on election day, while Biden won early voting by a large margin. President Trump won the battleground states of Florida, Iowa, and Ohio on election night. By the end of election night, no winner was declared and ballot counting continued.
Joe Biden would win the state of Virginia and its 13 electoral college votes. The race remained too early to call for most of election night, but votes from Northern Virginia would deliver Biden the victory. In addition, Senator Mark Warner won reelection to the United States Senate, fending off a challenge from Republican Daniel Gade.
It turned out that election day would become election week. A group of eight states, including North Carolina, Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Arizona, and Alaska continued counting. The former Vice President had margins in mail-in voting that would propel him to victory in the two key states of Michigan and Wisconsin. Biden won the state of Wisconsin by approximately 20,000 votes and the state of Michigan by 148,000 votes. The state that put Biden over the top was Pennsylvania. President Trump made several unsubstantiated claims about the integrity of the election and has not conceded.
Additionally, Biden won the state of Nevada and leads in Arizona and Georgia. If Arizona were to stay in the Biden column, his victory would be driven by the turn out from the Navajo Nation. The Navajo Nation voted overwhelmingly for former Vice President Joe Biden, with Biden winning 97% of the Vote.
President Trump leads in the states of Alaska and North Carolina. Georgia’s Secretary of State said the election in Georgia will head toward a recount. As of today, Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, and North Carolina remain uncalled.
The Democrats retained control of the House of Representatives, but Republicans gained 5 seats. Control of the United States Senate will remain in limbo until the Georgia runoff elections on January 5th, 2021. If Democrats win both races, the Senate will have an even 50-50 split. Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris would cast the tie-breaking vote.
Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris’ election is quite historic. She will be the first female Vice President, the first African-American Vice President, and the first Vice President of South Asian descent.
President-Elect Biden gave his victory speech on November 7th, 48 years after he was first elected to the Senate. He will be the nation’s oldest President. Biden thanked his supporters and called for unity. In his speech, the President-Elect declared, “This is a time to heal in America.”