Joe Biden elected president

By Meg Wagner, Fernando Alfonso III, Melissa Macaya, Melissa Mahtani, Veronica Rocha and Amanda Wills, CNN

Updated 10:29 a.m. ET, November 8, 2020
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11:46 a.m. ET, November 7, 2020

CNN PROJECTION: JOE BIDEN WINS THE PRESIDENCY

Drew Angerer/Getty Images
Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Joe Biden will become the 46th president of the United States, CNN projects, after a victory in the state where he was born put him over the 270 electoral votes needed to win.

With Pennsylvania's 20 electoral votes, Biden now has a total of 273 electoral votes.

Before becoming the Democratic presidential nominee, Biden served as vice president under former President Barack Obama. He is also Delaware's longest-serving senator.

Throughout his campaign, Biden has argued that the "soul of the nation" is at stake, and has promised that he would seek to heal a country fractured by Trump's presidency.

11:17 a.m. ET, November 7, 2020

It’s crunch time in Pennsylvania. Here's where things stand.

On-air analysis from CNN's John King/ Written by CNN's Adrienne Vogt

A man watches on from the observers area as election workers count ballots at the Philadelphia Convention Center on November 6, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
A man watches on from the observers area as election workers count ballots at the Philadelphia Convention Center on November 6, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Chris McGrath/Getty Images

It’s “crunch time” in Pennsylvania, CNN’s John King says. 

Joe Biden leads by more than 28,000 in the Keystone State, with 3,336,887 votes to President Trump’s 3,308,054.

“When you're going that deep into the decimal points, that tells you you have a very close race. … It was a heavyweight fight four years ago — Donald Trump won it by 44,000 votes — it is a heavyweight fight this time as Joe Biden moves in,” King said.  

As ballot numbers from Philadelphia and Pittsburgh are expected to be released today, “the question is can Joe Biden build up a little more to that lead to get to the point where the math tells you it is virtually impossible or impossible for the President to catch up,” King explained. 

Biden currently holds about 81% of the vote in Philadelphia. “This is where a Democrat has to have the big building block in the city of Philadelphia. But it's not just there. It's the suburbs around Philadelphia,” King said.

King noted that the numbers show that Biden did not flip a substantial amount of Trump voters in the state, including near his birthplace of Scranton.

“So you're not blowing it out, it's not a game-changing election, but you move the dial a little bit in a close state, that’s what makes the difference,” he said. 

11:17 a.m. ET, November 7, 2020

Trump arrives at his golf course as vote counting continues in key states

From CNN's Betsy Klein  

President Donald Trump walks to the motorcade on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC, on November 7.
President Donald Trump walks to the motorcade on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC, on November 7. Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images

President Donald Trump arrived at Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia, at about 10:30 a.m. ET, according to the reporters who travel with him. Meanwhile, voting results continue to get tallied.

This visit marks the 410th day Trump has spent at one of his namesake properties since taking office. It's the 299th day he's spent at a golf club, per CNN's tally.

Trump, who last golfed on September 27, is at his club as he waits to see if he will serve a second term. Based on the states CNN has projected so far, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden currently leads Trump by 253 to 213 electoral votes.

Results coming in from Pennsylvania in the next few hours could decide the election in Joe Biden's favor. With 20 electoral college votes, the Keystone State would put Biden over the 270 threshold needed to win the presidency. This could very well happen while Trump is on the golf course.

According to a reporter who saw him, Trump was dressed in a white "Make America Great Again" cap, windbreaker, dark slacks, a non-dress shirt and "shoes that look appropriate for golfing."

Meanwhile, the President continues to spread information on Twitter, baselessly claiming he has won the election, when, in fact, that determination has not yet been made.

11:21 a.m. ET, November 7, 2020

Here's where the vote stands in Arizona's Maricopa County

A view from outside the Maricopa County Recorder's Office where elections officials continue to count ballots for the general election, Friday, Nov. 6, in Phoenix.
A view from outside the Maricopa County Recorder's Office where elections officials continue to count ballots for the general election, Friday, Nov. 6, in Phoenix. Matt York/AP

Arizona's Maricopa County — which includes the Phoenix area — just released a new batch of results.

Here's where the numbers stand now:

  • Joe Biden: 1,023,516
  • President Trump: 977,495

Remember: Arizona is one of six states where CNN has not yet projected a winner. Alaska, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina and Pennsylvania are also still too close to call.

11:07 a.m. ET, November 7, 2020

Bulk of ballots in Arizona's Maricopa County will be counted by 9 p.m. ET, official says

From CNN's Kyung Lah, Bob Ortega and Greg Wallace

Stacks of ballots are seen inside the Maricopa County Recorder's Office, Friday, Nov. 6, in Phoenix.
Stacks of ballots are seen inside the Maricopa County Recorder's Office, Friday, Nov. 6, in Phoenix. Matt York/AP

Erika Flores from the Maricopa County Elections Department says the bulk of ballots are anticipated to be counted by the 9 p.m ET (7 p.m. MT) ballot update.

Maricopa spokesperson Megan Gilbertson says, "This is the last large release of results."

The county is the state’s largest and includes the Phoenix area.

10:58 a.m. ET, November 7, 2020

What it's like at Pennsylvania's Allegheny County election warehouse today

From CNN's Caroline Kenny

Election office workers process ballots as counting continues from the general election at the Allegheny County elections returns warehouse in Pittsburgh, Friday, Nov. 6.
Election office workers process ballots as counting continues from the general election at the Allegheny County elections returns warehouse in Pittsburgh, Friday, Nov. 6. Gene J. Puskar/AP

Votes are still being counted across parts of Pennsylvania, including in Allegheny County, which includes the Pittsburgh area.

Reporters, including from CNN, at the Allegheny election warehouse saw all the observers from in middle of the room gather together on the other side, where they had a back and forth with an election official.

A county official told reporters what happened: The observers asked if the election workers — who at that time were extracting ballots from envelopes — could move closer to the middle of the room, because most of the election workers were working at tables on the far side of the room, making it difficult for the observers to see because of the distance.

The county elections official said he would accommodate that request, and the elections workers picked up the materials they were working on and moved closer.

The workers only had about five more minutes of work to do. Once they were done with the extraction process, they all moved to a separate room where they will start processing the ballots. 

10:48 a.m. ET, November 7, 2020

Biden believes today is the day, but he's focused on Covid-19 pandemic, aides say

From CNN's Jeff Zeleny 

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden addresses the nation at the Chase Center November 6, in Wilmington, Delaware.
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden addresses the nation at the Chase Center November 6, in Wilmington, Delaware. Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Joe Biden and those around him believe today is the day they move forward and accept victory.

However, the former vice president is looking beyond the drama of election vote-counting and towards a transition.

Biden is taking a more patient stance than many Democrats surrounding him, a close ally tells CNN. He knows that these next days are critical to his remarkably difficult challenge of trying to unify the country.

He’s a "traditionalist," in the words of one ally.

Biden rejected advice from some advisers and supporters to deliver his big victory speech last night — instead choosing to deliver another brief set of remarks.

Aides say the coronavirus crisis is occupying the majority of his time, and to look for announcements on that front to be among his first.

They say has no plans of announcing Cabinet nominations for a few weeks, but to look for a far earlier announcement on the Biden version of a Covid-19 taskforce.

CNN's Jeff Zeleny reports from Biden campaign's headquarters:

10:38 a.m. ET, November 7, 2020

Here's why CNN has not yet made a projection in Pennsylvania

On-air analysis from John King / written by CNN's Adrienne Vogt

While Joe Biden has “consistently exceeded the numbers in any county, even in the red counties where President Trump is winning,” John King explained why CNN has not projected the state of Pennsylvania

“At some point, the trajectory gets you past any probability that the President of the United States is going to come back. And for those who say, ‘Well, you're already at that point, the President is attacking this process. We have our own rules, we have our own process, but especially when the process is under attack, sticking to the rules, using your building blocks, methodically getting to the finish line and being cautious is a great way to do it,” King said. 

“We completely get the frustration and the anticipation out there. It's just important to have rules and not bend them, especially at a time, the integrity of the system is being unfairly attacked by the candidate, who, if he loses this state, is a one-term President,” King added. 

A Philadelphia city official told CNN that 2,000 to 3,000 more ballots should be counted by noon ET today.

Mail-in ballots have overwhelmingly skewed Democratic, and Biden leads Trump by more than 28,000 votes right now. 

CNN's John King breaks down latest numbers out of Pennsylvania:

10:38 a.m. ET, November 7, 2020

Twitter has applied warning labels to 37% of Trump's tweets since final polls closed

From CNN's Brian Fung

Twitter
Twitter

Twitter has applied warning labels to more than a third of President Trump’s tweets since the final polls closed Tuesday evening, reflecting how Trump and his allies continue to spout misinformation on social media days after Americans cast their ballots. 

As of 10 a.m. ET on Saturday morning, 16 out of 43 Trump tweets, or 37%, had been labeled by Twitter cautioning users that “some or all of the content shared in this Tweet is disputed and might be misleading about an election or other civic process.”

That figure does not begin to capture the overall universe of Trump allies and family members, many of whose own posts on social media have also been labeled by online platforms.