Election 2020 presidential results

With about 95% of its votes reported, Pennsylvania is still counting ballots.

In Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania's largest county, about 50,000 votes mail-in votes are still to be counted, according to Philadelphia City Commissioner Al Schmidt.

It would not be surprising if counting wrapped up in the county "at some point today, if not even this morning," Bolduan said. "One person involved that we've spoken with quite a bit said, as of last night, they're calling it a full-court press to get this done."

In Bucks County, the most competitive of the suburban counties outside of Philadelphia, the race has been tight with about 95% of votes reported.

"A note from a Bucks County official yesterday was that they've been tracking the mail-in ballots that are coming in. They have trended to be about 77% for Joe Biden," Bolduan added.

The race for the White House remains razor thin as election workers in key states continue to plow through ballots.

In addition to Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, and Pennsylvania, the races in Alaska and North Carolina remain too close to call.

Here's a look at where things stand in five key states we're watching this morning.

Joe Biden holds a 253-213 lead in the Electoral College. Either candidate needs 270 electoral college votes to win the presidency.

Here's why it's taking so long: The coronavirus pandemic fundamentally altered the math on how people cast votes. Whereas roughly 46 million people had voted earlier in 2016, more than 100 million did so in 2020 – a stunning increase driven by concerns about Covid-19 and a series of state law changes designed to make it easier to vote early, whether in person or by mail.

Particularly in our urban cores where millions upon millions of votes were cast and need to be counted, the sea change in how America votes ensured that the tabulation process was going to be both slower than in recent elections and slower than any of us would like.

When you double the number of early votes and keep the same rules in place about when and how they will be counted (and the same or fewer number of election officials to count them), what we are seeing right now is to be expected.

Philadelphia City Commissioner Al Schmidt said that there will be a vote count update in “the next hour or two.”

“We have been counting for the past several hours. And I expect you'll see another update in the next hour or two,” he told CNN’s Don Lemon. 

The next update will not be the total 50,000 ballots, Schmidt said, adding that “it’s important that we all do this in the right way and that we report information until the official channels like we always do.” 

Schmidt also said that election observers have been watching the vote count process “the entire time.”

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The global stocks rally is running out of steam as investors await election results from US states that remain too close to call.

US futures moved sharply lower after stocks ended Thursday in the green.

The US dollar was weaker as traders bet on more stimulus from the Federal Reserve in the absence of large-scale financial support from the government.

Stocks in Asia were mixed.

In Europe:

Where the vote stands this morning: Vote counts continue to roll in from six states that CNN has yet to call. President Trump's lead has narrowed in the key state of Pennsylvania, and Joe Biden has taken a small lead in Georgia. Trump's campaign has also launched a series of lawsuits in key battleground states.

Trump publicly addressed the close race for the White House on Thursday. During his remarks, Trump baselessly claimed the presidency was being stolen from underneath him as vote counts showed his path to victory disappearing.

"The final outcome may be subject to the US courts but the market is taking its lead from what looks like a Democrat in the White House who presides over a divided government," Kerry Craig, global market strategist at JP Morgan Asset Management, wrote in a research note Friday. He added that the state of the race "suggests that we are likely to see more compromise."

"The market has concluded that gridlock is a friendly outcome," said Stephen Innes, chief global markets strategist at Axi. A divided government suggests less growth and stimulus, but also less tax and regulation, Innes wrote in a note to clients. 

Craig said markets' attention will soon turn to the rising number of Covid-19 cases in the United States, and the fiscal support that is needed to help Americans hit by the pandemic

Another 751,000 Americans claimed first-time jobless benefits last week, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That's down slightly from the prior week, though it was a less encouraging report than economists had expected.

On Friday, the US Department of Labor is set to release the US jobs report for October.

Many Democrats feel Stacey Abrams deserves a lot of credit for Joe Biden's performance in Georgia, where he has taken a lead this morning, CNN's Jason Carroll reports.

The Biden campaign had made it clear that their data showed they could win Georgia as part of their possible path to 270 electoral votes. It dispatched its top surrogates to the state, including former President Barack Obama.

However, for years, Abrams has been claiming the state can be a battleground and that it has the potential to go blue. After her failed bid for governor in 2018, she formed a nonprofit with the purpose of fighting voter suppression and increasing voter registration in communities of color. Democrats are crediting her efforts on the ground for the results thus far in the state.

It's 5:30 a.m. ET on the East Coast, and moments ago, Democratic hopeful Joe Biden took the lead in Georgia over President Trump.

CNN has not made a projection in several key states, and neither Biden nor Trump have received the 270 electoral votes needed to win.

Here's a look at where things stand in five key states we're watching this morning.

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden leads the race for the White House with 253 electoral votes. President Trump has 213 electoral votes.

Based on CNN's latest projections, this is where the race to 270 currently stands:

CNN projects Biden will win at least three of Maine's four electoral votes, plus Wisconsin, Michigan, Hawaii, Rhode Island, Minnesota, Virginia, California, Oregon, Washington state, Illinois, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Colorado, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Vermont, Delaware, Washington, DC, Maryland, Massachusetts and one of Nebraska's five electoral votes. Nebraska and Maine award two electoral votes to their statewide winners and divide their other electoral votes by congressional districts.

CNN projects Trump will win Montana, Texas, Iowa, Idaho, Ohio, Mississippi, Wyoming, Missouri, Kansas, Utah, Louisiana, Alabama, South Carolina, North Dakota, South Dakota, Arkansas, Indiana, Oklahoma, Kentucky, West Virginia, Florida and Tennessee and four of Nebraska's five electoral votes.

Reminder: Each candidate needs 270 electoral college votes to win the presidency.

Ballots are still being counted in several key states, with elections officials expected to provide updates later today.

Joe Biden holds a 253-213 lead in the Electoral College. In addition to Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, and Pennsylvania, the races in Alaska and North Carolina remain still too close to call.

If you're just reading in, here's what you need to know about the race:

All eyes on the Keystone State: Pennsylvania, the state that could take Biden over the 270-vote threshold needed to win the presidency, could complete most of its outstanding counts on Friday, officials there said. The former vice president is only behind President Trump by a little more than 18,000 votes in the Keystone State after having trailed at one point by more than half a million ballots in the hours after polls closed. Tens of thousands of votes — most of them from strongly Democratic areas, including around Philadelphia — remain to be counted.

The latest from Georgia: In Georgia, another state that Trump cannot afford to lose with its 16 electoral votes, Democratic hopeful Joe Biden has taken the lead with 99% of the state vote count reported. Trump cannot find a route to 270 electoral votes without Georgia and Pennsylvania, so his chances of securing reelection will hinge on developments in the two states in the coming hours.

Trump mounts aggressive legal strategy: Trump's team, seeking to keep his slim path to victory alive, has launched a flurry of sometimes contradictory and scattershot legal challenges, without offering evidence of irregularities, demanding vote counts continue in states where he is behind and wanting them shut down in those where he leads.

Trump stages corrosive attempt to undermine votes: On Thursday night, Trump effectively sent a signal that he has no intention of leaving power without a fight if he ends up losing the election. The President's speech from the White House briefing room could end up being one of the most dangerous presidential statements in American history. In it, Trump falsely claimed that votes that were cast before and during the election, but counted after Election Day, are illegal votes.

Biden urges calm: The former vice president emerged in Wilmington, Delaware, Thursday for a short speech meant to project optimism, urge patience in the vote counting and to apparently create a picture of a presidency in waiting. "In America, the vote is sacred. It is how the people of this nation express their will," he said, calling for calm and patience as the vote counting process unfolds.

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Democratic hopeful Joe Biden has taken the lead in Georgia over President Trump.

Trump cannot afford to lose Georgia's 16 electoral votes if he is to keep alive his hopes of a second term.

Trump cannot find a route to 270 electoral votes without Georgia and Pennsylvania, so his chances of securing reelection will hinge on developments in the two states.

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