Election 2020 updates: Biden warns of 'dark winter,' pushes masks in pandemic plan
The president-elect emphasized how he would handle the pandemic response.
Joe Biden is set to become the 46th president of the United States, capping a tumultuous and tension-filled campaign during a historic pandemic against President Donald Trump. ABC News characterized Joe Biden as the apparent winner of his home state of Pennsylvania, putting him over the 270 vote threshold needed to capture the presidency.
The hard-fought battle against the president was set against the backdrop of racial unrest and the coronavirus pandemic and bitter divisions among the electorate.
Trump had falsely declared on election night, when he held a lead in several key states, that he won the contest and alleged without evidence, after the count started to swing the other way, that the election was being stolen from him and that fraud had been committed.
Painting the election as a "battle for the soul of the nation," Biden won on a message of unity over division, compassion over anger, and reality over what he called Trump's "wishful thinking" as the coronavirus pandemic cast a heavy shadow over the campaign.
The 2020 election has shattered voting records with votes totaling 147 million and counting, surpassing the 138 million who voted in 2016.
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Pa. Dems, secretary of state ask Supreme Court to deny Trump request to join pending case
Pennsylvania Democrats and Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to deny the president's request to formally join a pending challenge to the state's three-day mail ballot deadline extension.
In a pair of filings, Boockvar argued that allowing Trump to join "would significantly prejudice the existing parties" and that he has not provided any justification for why he should be added to the case at this stage.
The case has been ongoing for six weeks.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court previously denied Trump's motion to join the lawsuit citing "insufficient" justification of mere "generalized grievance."
Pennsylvania's Democratic Party also urged the court to reject the president's assertion that the case could determine who wins the presidency.
"You may not need to hear and decide these cases," they wrote, noting that the universe of contested votes is not yet fully known nor is the math as to whether it would have any impact on the outcome.
-ABC News Senior Washington Reporter Devin Dwyer
Trump campaign says 'all options are on the table' as count continues in Arizona
The Trump campaign held a news conference in Phoenix Thursday afternoon and said it won’t be announcing any legal challenges in Arizona yet as the count proceeds in the state but that “all options are on the table.”
"All of the litigation strategies are being thought about and contemplated. There's been no decisions on anything as of yet, but absolutely all options are on the table,” said campaign adviser David Bossie.
The campaign projected confidence that Trump will ultimately overcome Biden, who is currently leading in the state by nearly 70,000 votes.
Trump supporters interrupted the press conference with chants of "Count our votes!" after the president tweeted this morning, “STOP THE COUNT!”
Nevada has 190,000 ballots to count, mostly near Las Vegas
Note: Updated to correct outstanding number of ballots
About 190,150 ballots in Nevada have yet to be counted. Of those, 90% are in Clark County, home to Las Vegas, state officials said.
Of the 190,000 ballots statewide, 123,554 are ballots that were either returned by mail or dropped of in person at a ballot drop-off location, and 66,596 are ballots that were cast in person at a polling place, either during early voting or on Election Day, by voters who took advantage of Nevada’s new same-day voter registration law.
Mail-in ballots will continue to be counted through Nov. 10 so long as they arrive postmarked by Nov. 3. "We cannot estimate with any degree of accuracy how many ballots might fall into this category," Nevada Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske said.
-ABC News' Kendall Karson and Cheyenne Haslett
Biden stresses calm, says 'each ballot must be counted'
Biden addressed the nation Thursday afternoon, saying, "Each ballot must be counted."
"Democracy is sometimes messy. It sometimes requires a little patience," Biden said.
"We have no doubt that when the count is finished, Senator [Kamala] Harris and I will be declared the winners," he said. "So I ask everyone to stay calm... The process is working. The count is being completed and we'll know very soon."
Before speaking about the election, Biden mentioned COVID-19, saying he and Harris just finished briefings on the pandemic and the economy.
"Cases are on the rise nationwide and we're nearing 240,000 deaths," Biden said. "Our hearts go out to each and every family that has lost a loved one to this terrible disease."