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.
ABC News now projects that Biden will win three out of Maine's four electoral votes, raising his Electoral College standing to 227 votes. Trump is projected to win Maine's final vote, bringing his count to 214.
A candidate needs 270 in order to win the presidency.
With 100% of precincts reporting, ABC News reports that Biden has a lead of about a half a percentage point over Trump in Wisconsin. Because the vote is very close and has not yet been certified, ABC News is not projecting a winner, but is characterizing Biden as the apparent winner.
The Trump campaign announced that it filed a lawsuit in the Michigan Court of Claims to halt ballot counting.
Trump 2020 campaign manager Bill Stepien said that the "campaign has not been provided with meaningful access to numerous counting locations to observe the opening of ballots and the counting process, as guaranteed by Michigan law."
They are also demanding a review of ballots that were opened and counted because of their claim that they did not have meaningful access.
The announcement comes after Stepien said earlier in a press call that they were confident in a pathway to victory that includes Michigan, but that Republican counties still need to be counted.
-ABC News' Terrance Smith
In a tweet Wednesday afternoon, the president baselessly accused Michigan of having “found the ballots” to keep Republican candidate John James from winning a Senate seat.
His tweet marks another false accusation from the president in an attempt to delegitimize ballots that still need to be counted. The state is still counting ballots and most are outstanding from Detroit, Flint, Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo.
-ABC News’ Justin Gomez
