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.
Top headlines:
Trump legal team says ‘all legal options are on the table in battleground states’
Trump's legal team is exploring options for any potential court battles this morning, and a senior source on the team told ABC News "all legal options are on the table in battleground states."
-ABC News’ John Santucci
Trump campaign baselessly claims he won 'if all legally cast ballots are counted'
The Trump campaign on a press call Wednesday argued both that if all “legal ballots” are counted the president wins -- despite not providing any evidence that there have been any illegally cast ballots -- while also projecting confidence that the remaining vote count in a number of states will swing to the president.
“If all legally cast ballots are counted, the President would win,” Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien claimed.
The campaign did not provide any evidence throughout the call, or even attempt to explain, what basis they had for claiming ballots might be illegally cast and took no questions.
The Trump team hinted at a legal fight; Stepien said Wisconsin is within 1% and in "recount territory."
Trump campaign senior adviser Jason Miller said he believes Nevada is “still in play,” banking on mail-ballots. Without providing evidence, Miller also said Nevada is a place that is “rife with corruption,” setting the stage for a battle and argument if Trump does not win.
In Arizona, Stepien claimed the final batch of votes being counted will bring more votes to the president.
And in Pennsylvania, where Stepien acknowledged that there are still over 1 million ballots to be counted, he added that he's confident Trump will hold his lead.
Miller said they believe that Trump is going to continue to over-perform with Black and Latino voters there as well, contributing to Trump’s lead.
Stepien ended the call by saying, "honing in specifically on Pennsylvania and Arizona, if all legally cast ballots are counted, the president will win."
-ABC News' Will Steakin
Biden's campaign says it expects to win the election by this afternoon
Biden's campaign manager, Jen O'Malley Dillon, said her team is "confident" that the former vice president will win the White House, based on the available data from states.
"Joe Biden is on track to win this election and he will be the next president of the United States," O'Malley Dillon told a virtual press conference Wednesday morning. "So we believe we are on a clear path to victory. By the afternoon, we expect that the vice president will have leads in states that put him over 270 electoral votes."
O'Malley Dillon said the campaign anticipates Biden to ultimately win the battleground states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin, which would bring his tally of Electoral College votes well past the 270 mark needed to secure the presidency.
She said Georgia remains "a toss-up," but added that there are many outstanding ballots in Atlanta, an area that favors Biden. She said North Carolina is also a tight race and the campaign believes it's currently leaning toward Trump.
"Last night, the president of the United States falsely claimed that he had won this race and then demanded that votes stop being counted," she told reporters. "Let's be extremely clear about something. If Donald Trump got his wish and we stopped counting ballots right now, Vice President Joe Biden would be the next president of the United States."
ABC News projects Trump currently has the lead in Pennsylvania, Georgia and North Carolina, while Biden has a slight lead in Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin.
With 86% of expected vote reporting nationwide, ABC News projects Biden currently has 225 Electoral College votes while Trump has 213. ABC News has not yet projected wins for Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Maine, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Pennsylvania officials say they’re approaching 50% of mail-in ballots being counted
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf said at a news conference Wednesday morning that election officials "are still at work counting the votes” and added “we may not know the results even today."
“But the most important thing is that we have accurate results, again, even if that takes a little longer than we’re used to," he added. “I will do everything within my power to ensure that the results are fair and that every vote is counted."
Pennsylvania’s Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar said the state is approaching 50% of the mail-in ballots being counted, but added "there’s still millions of ballots left to be counted."
Boockvar said the state had somewhere between 2.5 and 3 million mail-in ballots cast this year, or about 10 times the number of mail-in ballots than in the previous presidential election.