WHY AP HASN’T CALLED PENNSYLVANIA:
The Associated Press has not declared a winner in the battleground state of Pennsylvania because there were hundreds of thousands of votes left to count Thursday morning in the contest between President Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden.
Pennsylvania is among a handful of battleground states Trump and Biden are narrowly contesting as they seek the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency.
Trump, who held a 675,000-vote lead early Wednesday, prematurely declared victory in the state.
“We’re winning Pennsylvania by a tremendous amount. We’re up 690,000 votes in Pennsylvania. These aren’t even close. It’s not like, ‘Oh, it’s close,’” Trump said during an appearance at the White House.
By Thursday morning, his lead had slipped to about 136,000. And the race is destined to get tighter.
One reason: Under state law, elections officials are not allowed to process mail-in ballots until Election Day. It’s a form of voting that has skewed heavily in Biden’s favor after Trump spent months claiming — without proof — that voting by mail would lead to widespread voter fraud.
ELECTION 2020: LEARN MORE
- – EXPLAINING RACE CALLS: Presidential race too early to call
- – EXPLAINER: Widespread Election Day unrest not materializing
- – EXPLAINER: Where AP stands on calling House races
Mail ballots from across the state that were counted by late Wednesday overwhelmingly broke Biden’s direction.
A final vote total may not be clear for days because the use of mail-in ballots, which take more time to process, has surged as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
Democrats had long considered Pennsylvania a part of their “blue wall” — a trifecta that also includes Wisconsin and Michigan — that for years had served as a bulwark in presidential elections. In 2016, Trump won each by less than a percentage point.
Biden, who was born in Scranton, claims favorite-son status in the state and has long played up the idea that he was Pennsylvania’s “third senator” during his decades representing neighboring Delaware. He’s also campaigned extensively in the state from his home in Delaware.
Full Coverage: Explaining Election 2020
