Biden maintains lead mid-way through counting of votes, Trump catches up fast
Washington/New York: Democratic candidate Joe Biden has taken a lead over Republican Donald Trump in the closely-fought US presidential election, though the incumbent president is fast catching up, according to projections by leading American media outlets.
As per Fox News, Biden has 237 of the 538 electoral college seats, while Trump has 210. On the other hand, CNN has projected 215 electoral college votes to Biden and 171 to Trump.
The New York Times reported that Biden has earned 213 electoral college votes and Trump 174. The winner needs at least 270 electoral college votes.
As per the latest report, Trump was leading in the key battleground states of Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan. Biden was leading in Arizona and Minneapolis.
The Biden campaign tried to downplay its electoral performance in Florida, which has 29 electoral college votes.
We said Florida was going to be close and it is! We also said we didn't have to win it, and that remains true, the campaign said in a statement, reiterating that it has multiple paths to victory.
In a surprise, Trump was leading by seven percentage points in Virginia, which was considered to be a Democratic bastion.
Biden won New Jersey and New York in a tight race with President Trump also registering early wins in key states.
Biden got 2.2 million votes in New York while Trump got 1.2 million.
The former vice president won in Democratic-leaning states of Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Vermont, and Virginia, while President Trump was posting expected victories in Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, West Virginia, Wyoming, Indiana, and South Carolina, The New York Times said.
People across America were closely watching the 2020 presidential election, which saw a record number of over 100 million early voting due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The usually bustling and crowded Times Square wore an almost deserted look on the election night, as the coronavirus pandemic forced many to stay indoors.
A far cry from the election night of 2016, when supporters of the Democratic and Republican parties, as well as media from around the world, had converged in Times Square, the popular New York City destination was uncrowded and several stores were boarded up and shut.
A small group of people, wearing masks, were seen standing near billboards that displayed the election results. However, the energy and atmosphere seemed subdued. Only a handful of stores in and around Times Square were open and a majority of them were closed and boarded up as businesses took precautionary measures amid fears of possible unrest and violence on the election night.
The NYT also reported that among the biggest states too early to call was Texas, with 38 electoral college votes up for grab.
The most intense attention was on the swing state of Florida and its 29 electoral college votes, the report said, adding that Trump was overperforming his 2016 vote totals in the populous Miami-Dade county, with 526,000-plus votes so far counted in 2020 compared with about 334,000 total four years ago -- an enormous improvement.
Nate Silver from the iconic FiveThirtyEight.com, which had earlier reported a big win for Biden, by late-night said that Trump now is in a better position to win the election.
Trump's in a better position than he was at the start of the night. Biden's not going to win in a landslide. But there's still not a ton we know outside of Florida, and the data we do have is fairly mixed and not necessarily suggestive of as large a polling error elsewhere, it said.
The counting of votes in the crucial US presidential election began on Tuesday night.
The next occupant to the White House needs to win 270 of the 538 electoral college votes.
As results from key battleground states just started trickling in, experts say that Biden has multiple paths to victory, with Trump having very little room to maneuver.
President Trump, who is seeking his re-election for the second consecutive term, in a tweet, expressed confidence in the results.
WE ARE LOOKING REALLY GOOD ALL OVER THE COUNTRY. THANK YOU! Trump tweeted.
He was watching the election results from the White House. He has invited some 250 select guests for an event in the East Room of the White House.
Stay in line, folks tweeted Biden, Stay in line said his running mate Senator Kamala Harris, who is of Indian-origin.
According to experts, North Carolina, Ohio, and Pennsylvania hold key to the election results. Trump needs to win all three of them, while Biden can earn the presidency with a win in any one of these states.
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Accused gunman at correspondents' dinner was believed to be targeting top officials, Blanche says
Washington (AP): The accused gunman who tried to storm the ballroom at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner with guns and knives travelled across the country before the event and is believed to have been targeting members of the Trump administration, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said Sunday.
Blanche also said officials believe the suspect traveled by train from California to Chicago and then on to Washington, where in recent days he checked in as a guest to the hotel where one of Washington's glitziest events was being held Saturday night.
Investigators have not publicly named the suspect, but two law enforcement officials familiar with the matter have identified him to The Associated Press as 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen of Torrance, California.
Law enforcement officials who have examined the gunman's electronic devices and his writings preliminarily believe he intended to target administration members in attendance at the dinner. He attempted to charge into the cavernous ballroom at the Washington Hilton but was tackled to the ground in a chaotic scene that resulted in shots being fired, President Donald Trump being hurried off the stage and guests ducking for cover beneath their tables.
“It does appear that he did in fact set out to target folks who work in the administration, likely including the president,” Blanche told NBC's “Meet the Press.”
The suspect is believed to have purchased the firearms he carried within the last couple of years, Blanche said. He is not being cooperative and is expected to face multiple charges on Monday.
Video posted by Trump showed the suspect running past security barricades as Secret Service agents ran toward him. One officer was shot in a bullet-resistant vest but was recovering, officials said. The gunman was taken into custody and was not injured, but was being evaluated at a hospital, police said.
“He failed,” Blanche said on CBS's “Face the Nation.” “Law enforcement did their jobs.”
Social media posts that appear to match the suspect show he is a highly educated tutor and amateur video game developer.
A May 2025 profile photo of Allen appears to match the appearance of the man in a photo of the alleged attacker being taken into custody that was posted Saturday night by Trump. The photo, posted to the social networking site LinkedIn, shows him in a cap and gown after graduating with a master's degree in computer science from California State University, Dominguez Hills.
Allen earned a bachelor's degree in 2017 in mechanical engineering from the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. He listed his involvement there in a Christian student fellowship and a campus group that battled with Nerf guns.
The shooting at the security barricades happened minutes after the event got underway.
The Secret Service and other authorities swarmed the room as guests ducked under tables by the hundreds. Gasps echoed through the ballroom as guests realized something was happening. Hundreds of journalists immediately got on phones to call in information.
“Out of the way, sir!” someone yelled. Others yelled to duck. From one corner, a “God Bless America” chant began as the president was escorted offstage. Outside the hotel, members of the National Guard and other authorities flooded the area as helicopters circled overhead.
After an initial attempt to resume the event, it was scrapped for the night and will be rescheduled.
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