Joe Biden elected president

By Fernando Alfonso III and Mike Hayes, CNN

Updated 11:27 PM ET, Sun November 8, 2020
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8:06 p.m. ET, November 8, 2020

Trump campaign announces Rep. Doug Collins to lead Georgia recount effort

From CNN's Betsy Klein and Veronica Stracqualursi

Rep. Doug Collins speaks during a House Judiciary Committee hearing on June 10 in Washington, DC. 
Rep. Doug Collins speaks during a House Judiciary Committee hearing on June 10 in Washington, DC.  Graeme Jennings/Pool/Getty Images

Fresh off his Senate campaign loss, Republican Rep. Doug Collins will lead President Donald Trump campaign’s recount team in Georgia, according to an announcement on Sunday from the Trump campaign. 

Collins on Tuesday night lost in Georgia's special election Senate race, which CNN projected will head to a runoff between GOP Sen. Kelly Loeffler and Democrat Raphael Warnock.

The former top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, Collins gained national prominence as one of the President's most vocal defenders during the Democrats' impeachment inquiry into Trump late last year.

CNN has not projected a winner in Georgia. President-elect Joe Biden currently leads in the state by 10,353 votes. About 99% of the ballots in the state have been tallied. A candidate in Georgia can request a recount if the margin is within 0.5% and only after the results are certified.

7:09 p.m. ET, November 8, 2020

Biden slightly widens lead in Arizona's Maricopa County

From CNN's Paul LeBlanc and Kyung Lah

The biggest county in Arizona released a new batch of votes Sunday evening – slightly growing President-elect Joe Biden's lead there. 

Unofficial results released by the county’s elections officials show Biden now has a lead of 46,775 votes in the county – an increase of 754 from the total on Saturday.

This means Biden has a lead of 20,102 votes statewide over President Donald Trump. Arizona has about 94,000 ballots left to count, said C. Murphy Hebert, a spokeswoman for the Arizona Secretary of State.

Maricopa County still has 18,455 signature verified ballots left to count, 10,900 provisional ballots left to verify, and 3,700 early ballots left to verify.

The next ballot total update will take place Monday.

CNN has not projected a winner in the state.

Watch CNN's Mark Preston explain Joe Biden's lead in Arizona:

7:04 p.m. ET, November 8, 2020

Trump's former top economic adviser congratulates Biden and Harris

From CNN's Jeremy Diamond

Gary Cohn attends a meeting at the White House in Washington, DC, in 2018.
Gary Cohn attends a meeting at the White House in Washington, DC, in 2018. Kevin Dietsch/Pool/Getty Images

President Donald Trump's former top economic adviser Gary Cohn on Sunday evening congratulated President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris on their victory.

"Congrats to President-elect @joebiden and Vice President-elect @kamalaharris. I wish them great success in leading our country. With over 145M votes cast, both campaigns should be applauded for getting an unprecedented number of citizens engaged in the democratic process," Cohn wrote on Twitter.

A former Goldman Sachs executive, Cohn was the director of the White House's National Economic Council. He resigned in March 2018 after disagreeing with Trump's decision to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. Cohn, a Democrat, told CNBC in September that he was undecided about voting for Trump's reelection.

4:24 p.m. ET, November 8, 2020

Nevada's Clark County is still counting ballots and expects to have total count by Wednesday

From CNN’s Artemis Moshtaghian

A Clark County election worker scans mail-in ballots on November 7 in North Las Vegas, Nevada.
A Clark County election worker scans mail-in ballots on November 7 in North Las Vegas, Nevada. Ethan Miller/Getty Images

Clark County, Nevada, processed 23,000 mail-in ballots through its system on Saturday and have a balance of a little over 16,000 mail-in ballots to count as of Sunday, County Registrar Joe Gloria said in a news conference today.

“I remind the public that there are still outstanding ballots in different areas,” Gloria said.

A large staff is working on, going through and counting provisional ballots, then same-day registration ballots and then in-person and online ballots, Gloria said.

He said that he expects a full statewide ballot count by Wednesday, saying that the secretary of state told him that election officials are expecting all ballot counts from Clark County Registrar’s office by Monday.

“On Monday, once they get that, they’ll be able to take the records from all 16 other counties in Nevada and begin to prepare the report that we need to see so that we have the ability to get those ballots counted and into the system. Hopefully by sometime on Wednesday,” Gloria said.

Gloria said that his office is also working on ballot curing and those numbers are not included in the report that is expected to be released by his office later Sunday.

By the numbers: The latest presidential vote count in Nevada shows President-elect Joe Biden as having 53.87% of the vote and President Trump as having 44.2% of the vote.

CNN has projected Joe Biden as having won Nevada.

3:05 p.m. ET, November 8, 2020

Here are the votes left to count in Arizona, Georgia and Pennsylvania

From CNN's Austen Bundy

Members of the Gwinnett County adjudication review panel look over ballots on November 8 in Lawrenceville, Georgia.
Members of the Gwinnett County adjudication review panel look over ballots on November 8 in Lawrenceville, Georgia. Jessica McGowan/Getty Images

There are thousands of vote left to count in key battleground states.

Here's where each of them stand. 

Arizona

Joe Biden's lead has decreased to 18,553 votes as more votes have come in.

Maricopa County (the state’s largest, which includes Phoenix) released new numbers at 6 p.m. ET.  As of 11:12 a.m. yesterday, Maricopa County had an estimated 44,000 ballots left to count (23,761 early left to count, 15,000 provisional and 5,000 early left to verify)

As of 10:58 a.m. yesterday, Pinal County still had 21,000 early ballots left to count (including 1,800 provisional ballots).

Georgia

Joe Biden has increased his lead in the state to 10,196. Counties still have outstanding ballots, including military, that need to be tabulated.

Fulton County (which includes Atlanta) discovered an issue involving reporting from their work on Friday. Officials on Saturday re-scanned ballots. About 5% of ballots are left to count. Officials released updated numbers overnight.

In Gwinnett County, as of Saturday evening, there were a total of 535 absentee ballots, 965 provisional ballots and three military ballots left to be reviewed after a software glitch continued to hamper counting.

Pennsylvania

Joe Biden's lead has grown to 42,818 votes as updated results (primarily regarding mail-in ballots that arrived after Nov. 3 but were post-stamped and segregated by court order) are pending litigation in state court and in the Supreme Court.

The state website said there are 55,962 votes to be counted.

As of this afternoon, the website says the following counties have outstanding votes to count:

  • Allegheny County (which includes Pittsburgh): 12,042 votes left
  • Philadelphia: 11,131
2:24 p.m. ET, November 8, 2020

Jill Biden is "enormously grateful" to the country, spokesperson says

From CNN's Sarah Mucha

Jill Biden speaks during a campaign rally at Heinz Field on November 2 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Jill Biden speaks during a campaign rally at Heinz Field on November 2 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Andrew Harnik/AP

Jill Biden "is enormously grateful" to Americans for electing her husband Joe as president-elect, according to a statement from spokesperson Michael LaRosa.

"Joe Biden will be a president for all Americans. She is spending time with her children and grandchildren in Wilmington, Delaware. Dr. Biden is focused on building her team and developing her priorities focused on education, military families and veterans, and cancer," LaRosa said.
1:57 p.m. ET, November 8, 2020

Melania Trump makes first public statement on the election

From CNN's Kate Bennett

Melania Trump has made her first public statement regarding the election, echoing sentiments from her husband that votes should still be counted. 

"The American people deserve fair elections. Every legal — not illegal — vote should be counted. We must protect our democracy with complete transparency," the first lady wrote on Twitter

Some more context: CNN reported earlier today that privately, the first lady has told the President to accept the loss, according to a source familiar with her conversations. 

1:28 p.m. ET, November 8, 2020

Biden will take office at the "apex" of the pandemic, says former FDA commissioner

From CNN's Lauren Mascarenhas

President-elect Joe Biden will take office at the “apex” of the coronavirus pandemic, Dr. Scott Gottlieb, former commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration, said Sunday.

“The reality is that by the time the President-elect takes office, we’ll probably be at the sort of apex, if you will, of what we're going through right now,” Gottlieb said Sunday on CBS. "As the president takes office, we’ll be coming down the other side of the epidemic curve, hopefully, and the only question is going to be how many people have died in the course of this and how many people have been infected."

Gottlieb emphasized the importance of ensuring adequate supplies, including testing equipment, personal protective equipment and, potentially, vaccines.

“This isn't going to be over in 2021,” he said. “I think 2021 will be much better than this year, but you still want to make sure you have adequate supplies as you come down that epidemic curve and head into the fall.”

 

12:51 p.m. ET, November 8, 2020

Former President George W. Bush calls Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to congratulate them

Former President George W. Bush speaks during the funeral service of the late Rep. John Lewis at Ebenezer Baptist Church on July 30, in Atlanta, Georgia.
Former President George W. Bush speaks during the funeral service of the late Rep. John Lewis at Ebenezer Baptist Church on July 30, in Atlanta, Georgia. Alyssa Pointer/Getty Images

Former President George W. Bush said he called Joe Biden on Sunday to congratulate him on his victory.

“I extended my warm congratulations and thanked him for the patriotic message he delivered last night," Bush said in a statement. "I also called Kamala Harris to congratulate her on her historic election to the vice presidency. Though we have political differences, I know Joe Biden to be a good man, who has won his opportunity to lead and unify our country. The President-elect reiterated that while he ran as a Democrat, he will govern for all Americans. I offered him the same thing I offered Presidents Trump and Obama: my prayers for his success, and my pledge to help in any way I can."

Bush said he congratulated President Trump on the campaign he waged.

“I want to congratulate President Trump and his supporters on a hard-fought campaign. He earned the votes of more than 70 million Americans – an extraordinary political achievement. They have spoken, and their voices will continue to be heard through elected Republicans at every level of government,” Bush said.