By Thursday morning, neither side had conceded the 2020 presidential race. According to the Associated Press and Fox News, Joe Biden has 264 electoral college votes, nearing the 270-vote threshold needed to win the presidency, to incumbent President Donald Trump’s 214. Other outlets dispute that.
The Trump campaign strongly disputes those numbers and has asked for recounts in Wisconsin and Michigan, where Biden appears to be the winner — in Michigan by a much larger margin than Trump won the state in 2016. The Trump campaign claims that it has won Pennsylvania, Georgia and North Carolina. Though Trump maintains narrowing leads in those states, no winner has been projected. The campaign is also awaiting final numbers in Nevada and Arizona, where Biden currently holds narrowing leads.
Former State Rep. Perry Hooper Jr., a Trump supporter and Trump Victory Finance Committee member, was at the White House Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, watching results. Hooper said that the Trump campaign is confident they will ultimately prevail in Arizona, Pennsylvania, Georgia and North Carolina.
Hooper said that he discussed his late father’s Supreme Court decision from the 1990s as a precedent. Perry Hooper Sr. contested absentee ballots that were cast for his Democratic opponent if they were unsigned or there were problems with the signatures. The High Court ruled in favor of Hooper Sr. making the elder Hooper Alabama’s first Republican Chief Justice since Reconstruction, unseating Democrat Chief Justice Sonny Hornsby. The younger Hooper said that his dad’s precedent could be the model for a Trump legal challenge attempting to disqualify thousands of improper early and absentee ballots in some states depending on the circumstances of the ballots and state law there.
Michigan and Wisconsin have been called by the major networks, including Fox, and the Associated Press, for Biden. Biden’s campaign is also confident the former vice president will prevail in Arizona, Nevada and Pennsylvania and will not concede Georgia or North Carolina, where votes are still being counted.
Trump has made accusations of voter fraud, but has produced little evidence for this charge.
Both sides are appealing to their vast donor bases for more funds to pay for a growing multi-front legal fight launched by the Trump campaign. “The Democrats are trying to STEAL the Election,” Trump wrote to his supporters without offering evidence. “We will never let them do it. Votes cannot be cast after the Polls are closed!”
Trump’s campaign has said all votes need to be counted in Arizona and Nevada, where Biden maintains leads, but has launched a legal battle to stop counting in Pennsylvania and Georgia, where the president maintains leads.
“Since we last reached out, Donald Trump has already tweeted misleading claims about his position in key states and his campaign is already questioning the results in Wisconsin — a state we are fully confident that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have won,” the Biden campaign wrote in an email to supporters. “We will not allow Donald Trump and his allies to silence your voice. The American people get to pick their president — the President doesn’t get to pick the people whose votes get counted. Joe Biden will fight for every vote to be counted. They won’t all be Biden votes, but Joe Biden believes all outstanding votes should be counted.”
Biden is presently leading the popular vote 50.5 percent to Trump’s 48 percent. Of course, America does not elect presidents based on a national popular vote.
