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.
Here's how election week unfolded. All times Eastern.
Nov 05, 2020, 11:40 AM EST
Georgia leaning to Biden, campaign manager says
Biden campaign manager Jen O'Malley Dillon on Thursday called Georgia a "toss-up," and said Trump is in the lead, but Biden is cutting into that lead as more outstanding ballots are counted.
Georgia "is going to be very very close," she said, and "at this stage, leans to the vice president."
Democratic and Republican representatives review absentee ballots at the Fulton County Election preparation Center Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2020, in Atlanta.
John Bazemore/AP
O'Malley Dillon said Biden is up narrowly in Nevada and is on track to win the state.
She said the remaining ballots to be counted in Pennsylvania are expected to heavily favor Biden.
O'Malley Dillon called Trump's lawsuits "meritless" and an effort to "distract and delay."
Nov 05, 2020, 10:32 AM EST
Trump tweets 'STOP THE COUNT!'
As ballots continued to be counted in several key states Thursday morning, Trump took to Twitter demanding, "STOP THE COUNT!"
Trump tweeted again, saying, "ANY VOTE THAT CAME IN AFTER ELECTION DAY WILL NOT BE COUNTED!" Twitter flagged his second tweet as "disputed and might be misleading."
Trump's tweets come as his own campaign team argues that the ongoing vote count in Arizona will prove to be a win for the president.
The president does not have the power to stop the legal vote counting process. Nevertheless, the Trump campaign has filed lawsuits to halt vote counting in Georgia, Pennsylvania and Michigan.
Shortly before Trump's tweets, Biden took to Twitter himself to say, "Every vote must be counted." Biden's tweet included a video with no audio urging "count every vote."
Nov 05, 2020, 9:28 AM EST
Trump's lead in Pennsylvania gets slimmer
The percentage of expected vote reporting in Pennsylvania has ticked up from 88% to 89%, while the amount of mail-in ballots counted has remained close to 71%.
Biden has continued to narrow his deficit with Trump from 186,755 votes to 164,414.
People participate in a protest in support of counting all votes as the election in Pennsylvania is still unresolved on Nov. 04, 2020, in Philadelphia.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images
There are roughly 775,000 outstanding votes that have yet to be counted in the Keystone State, including 717,412 mail-in ballots, according to the Pennsylvania Department of State.
Of the remaining 775,000 or so votes, Biden would need 469,707 -- 60.6% -- to Trump's 305,293 to win Pennsylvania.
-ABC News' Alex Hosenball, Adam Kelsey, Matthew Mosk and Benjamin Siegel
Nov 05, 2020, 9:01 AM EST
Michigan's secretary of state calls Trump lawsuit 'meritless, frivolous'
Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said a lawsuit from the Trump campaign aiming to temporarily halt vote counting is "meritless, frivolous."
"I see this as a meritless, frivolous lawsuit that's just an attempt to sow seeds of doubt in our election process, which is quite secure, quite accessible," Benson ABC News chief anchor George Stephanopoulos in an interview Thursday on "Good Morning America."
"As an election law attorney for the better part of two decades and former dean of a law school, I'm very familiar with how to ensure our procedures comply with the law," she added. "We've worked hard to make sure every single vote counts."
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in Michigan state court, demands vote counting to stop until courts can enforce rules that permit campaign observers to watch the ballots being opened and counted. The Trump campaign has not produced any evidence of cheating but has alleged that poll watchers were being denied close-up access to observe vote counting at locations in Detroit.
Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson appears on "Good Morning America," Nov. 5, 2020.
ABC News
Benson said counting is now finished in her state and the results will be released soon.
"So right now, we are in a position where the unofficial tabulation in Michigan is complete, the final touches are being made before it is uploaded and put on our website," she said.
With 99% of the expected vote reporting in Michigan, Biden currently leads with 51% of the vote while Trump has 48%.
"The results you're seeing out of Michigan now are quite near complete, if not fully complete," Benson said. "I don't expect any major changes in any of the totals."
