US Election 2020: Biden One State Away From Presidential Victory

Democrat Joe Biden is one state away from presidential victory after winning Michigan about 10am AEDT, placing him six electoral votes away from the needed 270.

He also won Wisconsin overnight. On election day, President Donald Trump won the battlegrounds of Florida, Ohio and Texas. Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina and Pennsylvania are still in play, although Nevada will not report any votes until 3am, AEDT.

Recall that Trump had falsely claimed victory over Democrat rival Biden in the early hours of Wednesday (US time) when millions of votes remained uncounted.

The Trump campaign has also demanded a recount in Wisconsin and filed lawsuits to halt counting in Georgia, Michigan and Pennsylvania after the President repeatedly claimed – without proof – that Biden’s gains were the result of electoral fraud.

Protests have emerged in a number of locations across the US. In Chicago and New York, largely Democrat crowds marched in support of all votes being counted. In Michigan, Trump supporters have protested a counting centre calling for the count to stop whereas in tightening Arizona, which have been called for Biden, they protested for the count to continue.

In press conferences on Thursday morning, AEDT, Biden told reporters his team believes they are the winners, meanwhile Trump’s camp have claimed the Democrats are “cheating” in Pennsylvania.

Meanwhile, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has expressed confidence in the US’s “great democracy”.

The tight contest reflects a deeply polarised nation struggling to respond to the worst health crisis in more than a century, which has combined with millions of job losses and a reckoning on racial injustice.