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, 12:35 PM EST
Judge permits campaign observers up-close view of ballot count after Trump complaint
A Pennsylvania judge has granted the Trump campaign’s request to observe -- up-close -- Philadelphia poll workers as they process the remaining mail-in ballots, overturning earlier rules that kept them farther back out of concern about the coronavirus.
President Donald Trump's campaign advisor Corey Lewandowski, center, speaks about a court order obtained to grant more access to vote counting operations at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, Nov. 5, 2020, in Philadelphia. At right is former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Matt Slocum/AP
Supporters of President Donald Trump demonstrate outside the Pennsylvania Convention Center where votes are being counted, Nov. 5, 2020, in Philadelphia, following Tuesday's election.
Matt Slocum/AP
The city of Philadelphia has filed an appeal to the Pennsylvania state Supreme Court. The court has not yet acted.
-ABC News' Alex Hosenball, Ben Siegel and Matt Mosk
Nov 05, 2020, 12:17 PM EST
Trump campaign's Georgia lawsuit dismissed
A judge in Chatham County, Georgia, home to the Democrat-leaning city of Savannah, dismissed the Trump campaign's lawsuit during a Thursday morning hearing, according an official in the judge's office.
The suit alleged that the county may be mishandling ballots and therefore inadvertently mixing up ballots that arrived on time with ones that arrived late. The suit was based on one allegation from an out-of-state Republican poll observer and involved less than 60 ballots.
The suit, filed alongside the Georgia Republican Party, sought to order the county to compile, store and account for all ballots received after 7 p.m. on Election Day (the receipt deadline).
-ABC News' Olivia Rubin
Nov 05, 2020, 12:14 PM EST
Biden continues to gain ground in Pennsylvania
The percentage of expected vote reporting in Pennsylvania has ticked up from 89% to 92%, as Biden continues to narrow his defecit with Trump from 164,414 votes to 121,857.
Trump now leads in the Keystone State with 3,226,685 votes -- 50.3% -- while Biden has 3,104,828 -- 48.4%.
Supporters of President Donald Trump demonstrate outside the Pennsylvania Convention Center where votes are being counted, Nov. 5, 2020, in Philadelphia, following Tuesday's election.
Matt Slocum/AP
There are roughly 560,000 outstanding votes that have yet to be counted statewide, including 581,167 mail-in ballots, according to the latest data from the Pennsylvania Department of State.
Biden would need about 60.8% of the remaining ballots to eclipse Trump's 3,226,685 tally in order to win the state.
-ABC News' Adam Kelsey
Nov 05, 2020, 12:06 PM EST
Vote counting in Arizona's Maricopa County could take days, officials say
Election officials in Arizona's Maricopa County told ABC News that ballot counting there could take days and will likely continue into the weekend.
Historic voter turnout in Arizona's most populous county has pushed officials to count more ballots than ever before, officials said.
Some 275,000 absentee ballots and 17,000 provisional ballots have not yet been counted in Maricopa County, along with several thousand early votes that need additional research, according to officials. It was unclear how many ballots would be counted Thursday.
Election officials arrive for work at the Maricopa County Recorder's Office, Thursday, Nov. 5, 2020, in Phoenix.
Matt York/AP
Maricopa County accounts for nearly two-thirds of the state's registered voters. The county seat is Phoenix, the capital of Arizona and the fifth-most populous city in the United States.
With 86% of the expected vote reporting, Biden currently leads in Maricopa County -- 51.4% to Trump's 47.2%.
Biden also holds an edge over Trump statewide, with 1,469,341 votes against Trump's 1,400,951 -- 50.5% to 48.1%. About 86% of Arizona's expected absentee vote and 86% of the state's expected vote overall are in.
-ABC News' Jenna Harrison, Whit Johnson and Matthew Seyler
