The United States reported a record one-day spike of 126,400 new cases of the coronavirus as medical experts warn that the outbreak is worsening across the country and could lead to a devastating winter.

The U.S. has now reported a new record one-day spike in cases everyday over the past three days, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Over the past seven days, the country has reported an average of more than 98,500 new cases as of Friday, up over 25% compared with a week ago, according to a CNBC analysis of data from Hopkins.

It’s not just cases that are rising; 19 states reported a record-high number of people currently hospitalized with Covid-19, based on a seven-day average, according to a CNBC analysis of data compiled by the Covid Tracking Project, which is run by journalists at The Atlantic.

The average number of people currently hospitalized with Covid-19 is up by at least 5% in 38 states, according to CNBC’s analysis of Covid Tracking Project’s data.

The surge in new cases and hospitalizations are prompting officials in some states and cities to roll out new restrictions, though they’re not nearly as severe as the lockdown measures implemented in March and April. The governor of Connecticut last week rolled back the state’s reopening amid early signs of an expanding outbreak. In Massachusetts, the governor has imposed a curfew on some businesses and asked residents to remain home between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m.

In El Paso, Texas, County Judge Ricardo Samaniego ordered the closure of all nonessential businesses as hospitals there were beginning to get overwhelmed by the rise in Covid-19 patients. And Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker rolled out new restrictions on businesses in Chicago and some surrounding counties amid a rise in cases there.

Epidemiologists and medical experts are warning that the dynamics of this phase of the pandemic are different from what the country experienced in the spring and summer. Whereas earlier in the pandemic, the virus was spreading in certain parts of the country, it’s now spreading rapidly in nearly every community across the country, Christine Peterson, an epidemiologist at the University of Iowa, said in a phone interview.

“It’s going to be bad and I think it’s going to be bad in a different way, because instead of having these pictures of morgue trucks and densely populated areas with a lot of patients, this is going to be lots of smaller places,” she said. “So it’s going to be harder to see the obvious impact because it’s so spread out in these really small town hospitals, but they’re really going to be struggling.”

In the spring, the virus spread most widely in the New York City-area as well as in a handful of other cities. In the summer, it spread most rapidly across the so-called Sun Belt. But now, data from Hopkins shows that adjusted for population, the virus is spreading most rapidly across the American heartland, such as the Dakotas, Wisconsin and Iowa.

Remote health systems in these areas might find themselves more easily overwhelmed by an influx of Covid-19 patients than medical centers in big cities, Peterson said. She added that while doctors have learned a lot about how to effectively treat Covid-19 patients, that doesn’t mean every doctor is equipped to do so.

“The thing to remember is doctors, as a population, have learned how to treat this better, but that doesn’t mean that the doctor in northeastern Iowa has seen this disease,” she said. “They’re seeing it now; they didn’t see it in March.”

Dr. Megan Ranney, an emergency physician and director of the Brown Lifespan Center for Digital Health, said in an interview with CNBC that “the worst days of the pandemic are almost certainly still ahead of us.”

She said maintaining a strong health-care workforce will be a real challenge in the months ahead. The country still has a limited supply of personal protective equipment like masks and medical gowns that protect health workers against infection, she said. Not to mention, doctors and nurses are increasingly exhausted by the relentless surge of new Covid-19 patients, she added.

“Whereas in those early phases, we were able to direct some extra resources to the places that were hardest hit, now, we are watching it spread everywhere so that every American is at risk but also every hospital and every health-care system is getting stressed out,” she said.

Source Article from https://www.cnbc.com/2020/11/07/us-reports-record-126400-new-coronavirus-cases-.html

Biden on Friday overtook President Trump in Georgia and Pennsylvania — states the president had banked on winning to secure reelection.

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Biden on Friday overtook President Trump in Georgia and Pennsylvania — states the president had banked on winning to secure reelection.

Jessica McGowan/Getty Images

Four days after Americans cast the final ballots in the 2020 White House race, votes are still being counted but Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has maintained his lead in electoral votes.

“We’re going to win this race with a clear majority,” Biden said late Friday, speaking alongside his running mate, Kamala Harris, in his home state of Delaware.

“What’s becoming clear each hour is that record number of Americans, of all races, faiths, religions, chose change over more of the same,” he said.

A path to victory for the incumbent, President Trump, has narrowed, as Biden has overtaken the Republican nominee in Georgia and Pennsylvania — key battleground states that the president had banked on winning.

In Georgia, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Trump ally, has predicted the state will conduct a recount given how thin the margin is. In Pennsylvania, a federal judge on Thursday threw out a prospective lawsuit that had sought to halt ballot tallying in the Democratic stronghold of Philadelphia.

The Associated Press has not yet declared a winner in either state as results remain too close call. Georgia voters had until Friday evening to return overseas and active military ballots, as well as fix any errors on absentee ballots. The state was on Friday still counting provisional ballots and mail-in ballots from some Republican-leaning counties.

Pennsylvania was still counting thousands of mail-in ballots on Friday from Democrat-heavy counties.

As of early Saturday morning, the Associated Press had called races in most states, allotting to Biden 264 electoral votes, and to Trump, 214. A total of 270 electoral votes are needed to secure the presidency.

As the likelihood that he would maintain the presidency diminished, Trump re-upped his unfounded and unprecedented attacks on the integrity of the election and accused Democrats and the media of having rigged the outcome.

“Joe Biden should not wrongfully claim the office of the President. I could make that claim also. Legal proceedings are just now beginning!” Trump tweeted on Friday evening. He had previously, falsely declared himself the victor in the race, even as Biden has consistently maintained a lead in electoral votes since early Wednesday.

But as absentee ballots were tallied and Biden widened his lead in the race, Trump expanded the breadth of his misinformation about the election process. The president this week said he expects “a lot of litigation” to contest the election’s results. Election experts, both conservative and liberal, however, say that so far they have seen no evidence of fraud.

Biden, for his part, has continued to push the importance of counting all votes before either party could claim victory and has repeatedly expressed his confidence that he and running mate Kamala Harris would emerge victorious.

Amid his baseless election attacks, Trump has found himself increasingly isolated from the rest of his party, as some Republicans have either ignored or outright denounced the president’s misinformation campaign.

Aides to the president have warned him that he has few legal options to contest the election results, but Trump still wants to try, according a former campaign adviser who remains in touch with key players told NPR’s Franco Ordoñez.

“It’s dawning on him,” the former adviser said, speaking on condition of anonymity to comment on private conversations. “He never thought he could lose … and those of us who are in Trump World, we actually never believed he could lose,” the former adviser said.

Trump’s ability to withstand crisis after crisis conditioned his team to have “a false sense of reality because he’s survived so many times. You just assume he’s going to survive again,” the former adviser said.

Source Article from https://www.npr.org/sections/live-updates-2020-election-results/2020/11/07/932275472/biden-widens-lead-in-white-house-race-as-contest-remains-too-close-to-call

As the number of outstanding ballots slowly dwindled, Mr. Trump was left increasingly with only legal challenges to forestall defeat, while Mr. Biden was betting on the steady accumulation of mail-in ballots to keep him on top in Pennsylvania.

Mr. Biden had already begun to project the image of a man preparing to assume the mantle of the presidency, meeting with his economic and health advisers to be briefed on the coronavirus pandemic.

Mr. Biden kept a low profile for much of Friday. But outside the Westin hotel near his home in Wilmington, signs of celebration were afoot — a celebration that would end up being delayed, again, as Mr. Biden waited on an official call of the race.

Thomas Kunish, 40, of Mechanicsburg, Pa., 100 miles away, said he had driven in to show support with his five-year-old son, spending the night in the car. The last time he voted, he said, was for George W. Bush in 2000.

“It was interesting, the past four years,” Mr. Kunish, who works in the defense industry, said of Mr. Trump’s presidency. “There was hope when he got elected, things maybe would change?” Instead, he said, the Trump administration was marked by “turmoil.” He and his son were hoping to see fireworks Friday night — which did not come to pass.

Mr. Biden’s team had hoped the former vice president would have delivered a victory speech in prime time, but instead, Mr. Biden spoke briefly before a small group of reporters late Friday night.

“I hope to be talking to you tomorrow,” Mr. Biden said.

Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/06/us/elections/were-going-to-win-this-race-biden-says-as-his-lead-grows-in-pennsylvania-and-georgia.html

Source Article from https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2020/11/07/coronavirus-news-saturday-mark-meadows-record-cases/6195581002/

A canvas observer photographs Lehigh County provisional ballots as vote counting in the general election continues on Friday, November 6, in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Mary Altaffer/AP

As election officials whittle down the piles of ballots cast in the 2020 election, they are turning their attention to the outliers — including damaged ballots, military ballots and a category of ballots that are called “provisional.”

Provisional ballots are cast when there’s a question about a voter’s eligibility, and are specially held for counting until officials are certain the vote should be accepted. If a voter, for example, forgets their ID at home, or isn’t showing up in the voter rolls, they can cast a provisional ballot.

Under federal law, any US resident should always be able to cast a provisional ballot at a polling place, even if their registration status is not clear. That allows officials to accept the ballot but hold it aside while any questions are worked out.

Once cast, election officials determine whether the voter was eligible to vote. If they were, the vote will be counted just like any other.

Why these ballots take longer to count: Different states handle provisional ballots in different ways.

Generally, though, these ballots are kept separate from all other ballots while they are investigated by election officials and are counted last.

Here’s how the National Conference of State Legislatures describes the investigation process once a provisional ballot has been cast:

As a result, voters often need to be their own biggest advocate when it comes to provisional ballots — following up with local elected officials to confirm they have looked into their qualifications and have counted their vote.

Read more about provisional ballots here.

Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/trump-biden-election-results-11-07-20/h_c89d1ce6c61e3497cdf3e4872165e0c2

Joe Biden has taken the lead in Georgia, sparking waves of memes as the Democrats get closer to flipping the state Blue.

A long night of counting saw Biden slowly closing in on Donald Trump‘s lead and he finally made the crossover early on Thursday morning as more and more absentee ballots were counted.

It was the latest results from the Democratic stronghold of Clayton County that put him ahead in Georgia by 917 votes. According to Decision Desk HQ, he now has 49.39 percent of the vote, leading with more than 2,449,371 votes to Trump’s 2,448,454, or 49.37 percent.

Meanwhile, the president’s path to winning Georgia is now dwindling and he faces a very narrow path to securing his reelection without it.

The state, which has not turned blue since 1992 for Bill Clinton, will come as a major victory for the Biden campaign if he can flip it from the Republicans.

The development has prompted hilarious memes on social media, with Twitter users poking fun at what both Trump and staunch Republicans’ reaction might be.

With the results coming through in the middle of the night, one meme shows a clip of man shouting to a crowd from a stage, saying: “Wake up, wake up, wake up,” with the tweet caption: “GEORGIA IS BLUE.”

Another shows a young boy looking at a blue computer screen and screaming alongside the caption, “republicans watching georgia rn.” Meanwhile, the song, “I’m Blue da-ba-dee-da-ba-di” can also be heard playing in the background.

After the news, John Legend even posted a clip of him singing Ray Charles’ song “Georgia On My Mind.”

The flurry of memes and posts come as Biden edges ever-closer to victory. If Biden ultimately wins in Georgia, he will have a total of 269 Electoral College votes, just shy of the 270 needed to take him to the White House.

The state has counted more than 98 percent of the votes but it may be headed for a recount if the margin remains as slim as it currently is.

Meanwhile, counts are ongoing in other battleground states, including Nevada, Arizona, and Pennsylvania, and Biden is competitive or leading in them all.

Biden is also closing on Trump’s lead in Pennsylvania, but the president’s team has filed lawsuits in several states and has repeatedly claimed without evidence that the election has been riddled with voter fraud.

The president’s team had yet to comment publicly, as of 5 a.m EST, after Biden took the lead in Georgia.

However, Trump had made repeated and unfounded accusations of voter fraud. In a tweet flagged by Twitter for containing potentially misleading information, Trump wrote: “I easily WIN the Presidency of the United States with LEGAL VOTES CAST.

“The OBSERVERS were not allowed, in any way, shape, or form, to do their job and therefore, votes accepted during this period must be determined to be ILLEGAL VOTES. U.S. Supreme Court should decide!”

When Clayton County in Georgia released the latest results from its outstanding ballots at around 4:20 a.m. EST, it put Biden in the lead by 917 votes.

There are also around 4,800 outstanding votes in the Democratic-leaning Gwinnett County. Biden is ahead in Chatham County with around a 40,000 vote lead after a state judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by Trump’s team in the district.

But Trump still has a chance to come back with votes yet to be announced in the Republican strongholds of Laurens County and Forsyth County.

In the former, CNN reports that there are around 1,500 votes left to announce in Forsyth County with Trump leading by around 8,000 votes as of 4.48 a.m ET. Meanwhile, Laurens County has around 1,700 outstanding ballots.

The president may be able to increase his numbers in these two counties to put him back in front of Biden, but the remaining ballots in these counties are likely to be absentees, which tend to heavily favor Biden.

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Source Article from https://www.newsweek.com/georgia-memes-joe-biden-donald-trump-democrats-flip-blue-1545439

A voter casts a ballot on Election Day in Atlanta. Georgia could be ground zero for whether Congress will be divided again next year.

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A voter casts a ballot on Election Day in Atlanta. Georgia could be ground zero for whether Congress will be divided again next year.

Brynn Anderson/AP

Control of the Senate may hinge on Georgia’s two runoff races in January as no candidate in either contest has reached a required 50% threshold in votes to win outright.

That means Georgia, which is also still counting ballots in a neck-and-neck presidential race expected to go to a recount, is shaping up to be ground zero for whether Congress will be divided again next year.

“All eyes will be on Georgia for the next two months,” Emory University political science professor Andra Gillespie said. “There will be record spending, unprecedented campaigning and tons of mudslinging in these races — more than what we’re used to seeing.”

Currently, Republicans hold a 53-47 majority in the U.S. Senate. With several races undecided, Democrats have gained one new seat in the Senate but would need two more for a 50-50 split. Then, if Joe Biden wins the White House, Kamala Harris as vice president would cast tiebreaking votes in the chamber.

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A narrowly divided Senate, regardless of who is in control, means whoever is president will need cross-party cooperation in many cases to move any significant legislative priorities forward. Democrats will retain their majority in the House of Representatives but have a smaller margin.

For now, final calls need to be made in two other pending Senate races in North Carolina and Alaska. Republicans in both cases said they are confident they will pull out wins, making a Democratic sweep of both Georgia races the only path left for Democrats to gain the majority.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said he isn’t sure if he’ll keep his job, or if Minority Leader Chuck Schumer will move into that leadership slot. However, McConnell noted that Republicans outperformed pundits’ expectations that the GOP would lose Senate control outright with the November elections.

Now, just like everyone else, he’s in wait-and-see mode.

“I’m not certain I’m the majority leader yet — as you all may have noticed — that will be determined in Georgia,” McConnell told reporters Friday in Kentucky. “So this is not yet decided in this overwhelmingly close national election.”

Georgia has been a red stronghold in recent years, but the changing electorate has given Democrats hope in 2020, Gillespie said. Especially when compared to the last time the state saw a Senate runoff in 2008.

That year, Republican incumbent Sen. Saxby Chambliss beat Democrat Jim Martin by more than 300,000 votes.

“Democrats are in a stronger position than the last time there was a Senate runoff. Back then, all signs pointed to Republicans having a numerical advantage in the state,” Gillespie said. “Recent close elections suggest that there are far more Democrats relative to Republicans in the state now.”

The state hasn’t had a Democratic senator since 2005 when Zell Miller finished out his term. Gillespie and other experts said the races will come down to turnout.

The first Georgia Senate race designated as a runoff will feature GOP Sen. Kelly Loeffler, who was appointed to her seat earlier this year, against the Democratic challenger, Raphael Warnock, an African American pastor from Atlanta. The two are vying in a special election to fill the rest of the term for a seat vacated by retired Republican Sen. Johnny Isakson.

In the second race, Republican incumbent Sen. David Perdue will face Democratic challenger Jon Ossoff, a documentary filmmaker. Perdue initially secured more than 50% of ballots in earlier counts, only to see that margin shrink below the required watermark as the counting continued.

Other Senate race calls pending

In North Carolina, the AP shows Tillis is ahead by nearly 100,000 votes out of 5 million, with 93% of the results in. Tillis, for his part, has claimed victory for a second term, but his opponent, Democratic challenger Cal Cunningham, hasn’t conceded.

“I did have a heavy burden on me, thinking that North Carolina could be the majority maker for the U.S. Senate,” Tillis said in a speech late Tuesday.

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Cunningham’s camp has noted, however, that the State Board of Elections continues to count ballots and it’s waiting for every last vote to be counted. However, Cunningham will have a steep deficit to overcome to turn around the current trajectory of ballots.

In Alaska, Sen. Dan Sullivan remains significantly ahead with about half of the votes counted.

“Tonight, we saw a handful of Democratic candidates, with an advantage of tens of millions dollars, fall flat when finally faced with the voters,” Sullivan said on Twitter on Wednesday. “Money alone can’t win these races — ideas and records do — and I’m confident that trend will continue in Alaska. “

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His Democratic challenger, Al Gross, has argued that his campaign still sees a path to victory.

“We believe we will win once every vote has been counted in the state,” Gross said in a tweet Thursday.

Kevin McLaughlin, executive director at National Republican Senatorial Committee, said Gross’ claims were “delusional” and that the Democrat won’t be able to catch up to Sullivan’s lead.

The AP shows that Sullivan is at 62% of the vote tallied so far, or nearly 200,000 votes. Gross is at 32%, or more than 61,000 votes.

What issues and voters could matter in Georgia runoffs

Georgia’s runoffs would put the state in the spotlight like never before, said Trey Hood, politics professor at the University of Georgia.

Hood said the races could come down to voters of color, especially African Americans, and whether Democrats can improve on past Democratic performances by candidates such as Hillary Clinton to boost their share of white voters.

“There’s a very high base of minority voters in Georgia, especially African American voters, and so a lot of what happens in any election is based on African American turnout,” Hood said. Also, “Biden was able to increase his white vote share, which is where Hillary Clinton and other Democratic candidates have been lacking.”

In Georgia’s special election runoff, Loeffler will have to revisit controversies that have plagued her first year in office.

She wasn’t Trump’s first choice to fill the seat — he had urged the appointment of GOP Rep. Doug Collins instead. And Loeffler, a business executive who is married to the CEO of the company that owns the New York Stock Exchange, was accused of dumping $20 million in stocks after a closed-door Senate briefing on the coronavirus in January. A review by federal regulators found no wrongdoing.

She has also held a stake in the WNBA team, the Atlanta Dream, and previously headed up a subsidiary under NYSE owner, Intercontinental Exchange. She also faced controversy from WNBA players concerned about her remarks regarding the Black Lives Matter movement.

In the end, Loeffler thwarted a challenge from Collins, who ran as a key Trump defender during the House impeachment probe. Loeffler also built up her credentials as a loyal Trump supporter along the way.

In the midst of this intraparty fight, Warnock overcame competition from a long list of Democratic challengers.

In Georgia’s other Senate race, Perdue is seeking a second term as senator against Ossoff, a former media executive.

In 2017, Ossoff set fundraising records in a special election for a suburban Atlanta House seat. But he was dealt a stinging defeat by Republican Karen Handel. The following year, Democrat Lucy McBath won the seat against Handel.

Perdue, who was elected in 2014, has been considered a key Trump ally. He drew criticism in October that he purposely mocked Sen. Harris’ first name, Kamala.

Ossoff has also accused Perdue of running an ad targeting his Jewish heritage by showing him with an enlarged nose, calling it an “anti-Semitic trope.”

Perdue is a cousin to Trump Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue. The senator won his first term by fewer than 8 percentage points.

Source Article from https://www.npr.org/2020/11/07/932068951/senate-control-likely-decided-by-fate-of-2-georgia-runoff-races

One day after President Trump did the same, Joe Biden appeared before the nation to share his view of the state of the 2020 presidential election.

As votes continue to be counted, Biden took leads in both Pennsylvania and Georgia — though both states had yet to call their races. A handful of other states’ races remained uncalled as well.

During his Thursday address, Trump drew ire from celebrities as he continued to claim widespread voter fraud.

This time around, stars took to Twitter to praise for Biden — as a path to victory appeared to emerge for the Democratic nominee.

CELEBRITIES REACT TO TRUMP’S ELECTION UPDATE

“How bizzare is it to hear a sane man after these last 4 years,” wrote John Cusack. “It’s almost weird to hear the sound of coherence.”

“I clapped alone in my apt. RELIEVED,” said Billy Eichner.

HOLLYWOOD STARTS TO GET EXCITED AS BIDEN PICKS UP BATTLEGROUND STATES; EXPRESSES DISAPPOINTMENT OVER SENATE

“A strong, steady, reasoned President-elect spoke to the nation, and I felt the collective exhale,” said “Will & Grace” alum Debra Messing. “America has spoken. The most Americans in US history. She voted for Change. It’s going to be ok.”

“Quiet,” Josh Gad wrote online. “There’s a President speaking.”

“‘Sleepy Joe’ all you like, @realDonaldTrump,” Jeffrey Wright posted. “Joe Biden is the captain now.”

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“The president spoke and it actually made me feel better than i did before he spoke!!!!” said Ben Platt.

Alyssa Milano shared a simple quote from Biden’s speech: “We are opponents — not enemies.”

“Nice to have a human again,” said Dylan O’Brien with a red heart emoji.

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In reference to Biden being joined by running mate Sen. Kamala Harris on stage, comedian Natasha Rothwell said: “I will be processing the fact that there is a black woman on the stage right now for the foreseeable future.”

Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/celebrities-react-joe-biden-election-update

President Donald Trump‘s campaign is defiantly insisting the race for the White House is not over, despite Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden inching closer to an Electoral College victory with leads in Pennsylvania and Georgia.

Matt Morgan, the Trump 2020 campaign’s general counsel, said in a statement that projections of a Biden victory are based upon “states that are far from final,” taking issue specifically with Georgia, Pennsylvania, Nevada, and Arizona.

“Biden is relying on these states for his phony claim on the White House, but once the election is final, President Trump will be re-elected,” Morgan said.

Outlining the issues in each state further, Morgan said:

  • Georgia is “headed for a recount,” campaign confident of “improperly harvested” ballots
  • “Many irregularities in Pennsylvania,” volunteer legal observers prevented “meaningful access to vote-counting locations”
  • In Nevada, “thousands of improperly cast ballots”
  • Trump “on course to win Arizona,” branded earlier calls of the state “irresponsible”

Newsweek has asked the Trump campaign for further detail to back up points within the statement.

Trump previously prematurely declared himself to be the winner, prompting a backlash from rivals as well as some supporters, and has insisted he will be if only votes he deems to have been cast legally are accounted for. He has said the dispute should be escalated to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Trump has also, without evidence, suggested the election is being stolen by Democrats. While some Republicans have backed aspects of his rhetoric, many have sidestepped or condemned his fraud claims. The validity of his remarks has been in dispute, with several news networks cutting away during live broadcasts of a press conference he held on Thursday evening.

Biden has stopped short of outright declaring victory, though has spoken of being confident that he will win once all the votes are in.

“We have no doubt that when the count is finished, Senator Harris and I will be declared the winners,” Biden said previously. “So, I ask everyone to stay calm—all the people to stay calm. The process is working. The count is being completed and we’ll know very soon.”

While Trump has taken issue with those four specific states, based on calls elsewhere Biden would not necessarily need to win all of them to achieve an Electoral College victory.

At present, The Associated Press puts him on 264 Electoral College votes without Nevada or Georgia.

If Arizona were taken away, that would take him to 253. A win in just Pennsylvania, if those calls were correct, would take him to 273, securing the majority needed for victory.

As well as being closer to Electoral College victory, Biden is also ahead in the popular vote having secured more votes than any candidate in preceding races, according to a tally from AP.

Trump has also broken records, with his haul being only second to that of Biden’s this year in terms of all-time rankings.

This has led to speculation of a 2024 run from Trump if he were to be defeated, with polling also indicating he could muster support for such a bid.

Newsweek has contacted the Biden campaign for comment.

With each candidate looking to secure the coveted 270 Electoral College votes needed for victory, the graphic below from Statista shows the tightest Electoral College victories since 1896.

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Source Article from https://www.newsweek.com/trump-campaign-biden-election-pennsylvania-georgia-1545503

Source Article from https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/sec/2020/11/06/election-official-joke-florida-georgia-fotoball-game/6195363002/

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Source Article from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-11-07/trump-s-chief-of-staff-mark-meadows-infected-by-coronavirus

It’s been 22 years since Tropical Storm Mitch made landfall in Florida. That was on Nov. 5, 1998, and it was the last time the Sunshine State experienced tropical-storm-force winds in November.

Now, after devastating Central America, the tropical depression formerly known as Hurricane Eta is projected to reach southernmost Florida as a tropical storm early Monday, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Tropical storm watches were issued late Friday for all of southern Florida. The warnings run from Bonita Beach on the west coast to Lake Okeechobee to Jupiter Inlet on the east coast and then all the way south through the Florida Keys.

Eta departed the mountains of Central America and re-entered the Caribbean Sea’s warm waters, according to the hurricane center’s midnight Saturday advisory. Eta was located 310 miles southwest of Grand Cayman, moving northeast at 10 mph with maximum sustained winds of 35 mph.

It is expected to reach tropical storm strength by Saturday morning and generate wind speeds of nearly 65 mph by Sunday night — just 10 mph below Category 1 hurricane strength.

Residents wade through a flooded road in the aftermath of Hurricane Eta in Planeta, Honduras, Thursday, Nov. 5, 2020. (AP Photo/Delmer Martinez) [ DELMER MARTINEZ | AP ]

The projected path for Tropical Storm Eta shows it passing the Cayman Islands on Saturday and nearing Cuba that night. It’s then expected to approach the Florida Keys late Sunday or early Monday. After making landfall in the Keys, Eta could move up Florida’s southwestern coast before turning west into the Gulf of Mexico.

The cone of uncertainty falls along Southwest Florida and the Keys, but Tampa Bay lies just beyond it — for now. The storm is forecast to pass well west of the bay area on Wednesday, but its forecasted paths have shifted all week long.

“It’s a tropical depression on its way to being a tropical storm,” Spectrum Bay News 9 chief meteorologist Mike Clay said. “If I was in South Florida, I would be watching this very carefully.”

Clay said forecasting models show Eta is a disorganized storm, and that makes it harder to predict its future path and intensity.

Though the storm’s core isn’t expected to reach Tampa Bay, Bay News 9′s forecast projects the region will start next week with higher winds than normal and a 60 percent chance of rain Monday and a 50 percent chance Tuesday.

South Florida is expected to experience heavy rains from Eta starting Friday night and higher winds by Sunday, according to the National Weather Service. The Coast Guard set condition “X-Ray” for Port Tampa Bay, Port St. Pete, Port Manatee and Fort Myers, limiting marine traffic into the port and requiring commercial vessels to request permission to stay in port.

The National Hurricane Center’s forecasted path of Tropical Depression Eta toward Florida, according to the midnight Saturday advisory. [ National Hurricane Center ]

The weather service issued a flood watch for southeast Florida and warned Eta could lead to a “long duration flooding event.” Fort Lauderdale and Miami Beach announced Friday that they were distributing free sandbags to residents.

Slow-moving Eta means Tampa Bay won’t feel the storm’s effects this weekend. The region could still see some rain, however, with a 20 percent chance Saturday and a 40 percent chance Sunday. Both days are expected to be breezy with highs in the mid-80s. But keep an eye on Eta this weekend to see what might happen next week.

The similarities between Mitch and Eta go beyond when they formed. Like Eta, Mitch devastated Honduras and Nicaragua as a major hurricane — killing more than 10,000 people — before it turned northeast toward Florida and landed as a weakened tropical storm.

Eta is blamed for at least 57 deaths in Central America as of Friday, according to the Associated Press.

• • •

2020 Tampa Bay Times Hurricane Guide

HURRICANE SEASON IS HERE: Get ready and stay informed at tampabay.com/hurricane

PREPARE FOR COVID-19 AND THE STORM: The CDC’s tips for this pandemic-hurricane season

PREPARE YOUR STUFF: Get your documents and your data ready for a storm

BUILD YOUR KIT: The stuff you’ll need to stay safe — and comfortable — for the storm

PROTECT YOUR PETS: Your pets can’t get ready for a storm. That’s your job

NEED TO KNOW: Click here to find your evacuation zone and shelter

Lessons from Hurricane Michael

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Democratic nominee Joe BidenJoe BidenBiden pulls ahead of Trump in Georgia Biden takes lead in Georgia, makes gains in Pennsylvania Gore: This election is ‘completely different’ than 2000 MORE has taken a lead in the vote count in Georgia and is gaining on President TrumpDonald John TrumpBiden pulls ahead of Trump in Georgia Biden takes lead in Georgia, makes gains in Pennsylvania Gore: This election is ‘completely different’ than 2000 MORE in Pennsylvania, inching him closer to a win in the tight race for the White House.

In Georgia, Biden took a lead of more than 900 votes at about 4:30 a.m. Friday morning. The lead has since grown to 1,096 votes.

His lead initially came after Clayton County in the Atlanta suburbs reported a bucket of ballots. Biden had been winning a huge proportion of the votes in that area. Other Atlanta suburbs are still reporting some votes.

In Pennsylvania, Trump’s lead stood at 18,229 votes at 6 a.m. and was steadily shrinking. More mailed-in ballots, which Biden is winning by a healthy margin, are still expected to be counted — many of them from the heavily Democratic city of Philadelphia and its suburbs.

More mailed-in ballots are also set to be counted on Friday in Allegheny County, where the city of Pittsburgh is located.

Biden also retains leads in the states of Nevada and Arizona, where ballot counting is also ongoing.

But, all eyes are focused on Pennsylvania, the biggest remaining prize on the map.

Every major network has Biden leading with at least 253 electoral votes, meaning that if he were to win Pennsylvania and its 20 electoral votes, he would have more than the 270 electoral votes needed to win the White House.

Fox News and The Associated Press have both called the race for Biden in Arizona, projecting him as the winner of that state’s 11 electoral votes. Other major networks have not called a winner in that state.

If Biden were to win all four states, he would end with 306 electoral votes. 

A recount seemed almost certain in Georgia given the tightness of the race. The Trump campaign has already requested a recount in Wisconsin, where Biden was projected as the winner on Wednesday. Biden led by less than 1 point in the Badger State.

Trump’s campaign has also launched legal challenges to the vote count in several states.

The president on Thursday evening offered a statement from the White House attacking the electoral process in the battleground states and blaming Democrats, local officials, pollsters and the media for his situation.

“If you count the legal votes, I easily win. If you count the illegal votes, they can try to steal the election from us. If you count the votes that came in late, we’re looking at them very strongly,” Trump told reporters. 

Trump offered no specific evidence of fraud or of illegal votes having been cast, but his remarks echoed arguments that had been made earlier in the day by some of his family members and associates.

Trump’s comments were widely condemned, including by a number of Republicans.

Rep. Adam KinzingerAdam Daniel KinzingerBiden takes lead in Georgia, makes gains in Pennsylvania Republicans rebuke Trump over claims of voter fraud Bipartisan lawmakers condemn Trump for declaring victory prematurely MORE (R-Ill.) said Trump should either take the evidence he has of his claims to court or “stop spreading debunked misinformation.”

“We want every vote counted, yes every legal vote, of course,” Kinzinger said. “But, if you have legit concerns about fraud present evidence and take it to court. Stop spreading debunked misinformation. … This is getting insane.”

Biden made a public appearance late Thursday afternoon as well, urging calm and projecting confidence about the election’s result. In Wilmington, Del., it appeared stagecraft was being set up for a potential Biden victory announcement in case there was a projection of his victory at some point on Friday.

This story was updated at 6:09 a.m. 

Source Article from https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/524754-biden-gains-in-pennsylvania-trump-lead-in-georgia-under-500-votes

Senior Republicans are throwing their weight behind President Donald Trump, taking to Twitter, television news networks and even donating large sums to his campaign’s legal fund as GOP leaders fight to keep their candidate in the race.

Expressions of support for the president, who is trailing Joe Biden in terms of Electoral College votes and faces an uphill battle in several key battleground states, appeared to snowball after an appeal from Trump’s sons on Thursday night for party leaders to “have some backbone.”

Donald Trump Jr. accused “virtually all of the 2024 GOP hopefuls” of a “total lack of action,” adding: “They have a perfect platform to show that they’re willing and able to fight but they will cower to the media mob instead. Don’t worry @realDonaldTrump will fight & they can watch as usual!”

Eric Trump tweeted, but then deleted, a message saying: “Where is the GOP?! Our voters will never forget…” To which Rudy Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer, replied: “NO, THEY WON’T!”

Trump, his sons, and some of his Republican backers, have made unsubstantiated claims of election fraud, with the president’s campaign threatening or having already launched legal action in a number of states. Others, though, expressed support for the president but stopped short of repeating unproven allegations that the result had been “rigged.”

Several of those declaring their support for Trump are considered to be in contention for the GOP ticket in 2024.

Former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, who is among a list of senior Republicans considered likely to run in a future primary contest, wrote: “We all owe @realDonaldTrump for his leadership of conservative victories for Senate, House, & state legislatures. He and the American people deserve transparency & fairness as the votes are counted. The law must be followed. We have to keep the faith that the truth will prevail.”

Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina donated $500,000 to Trump’s campaign legal fund. Graham announced his donation in an appearance on Fox News, saying he “stands with [the] President” because “he stood with me.”

Eric Trump tweeted in response that Graham was “a good man! Thank you for having spine! Fight this fraud!”

Marco Rubio, the Senator for Florida, who has explicitly not ruled himself out of the 2024 race, tweeted on Thursday night that “if a candidate believes a state is violating election laws they have a right to challenge it in court and produce evidence in support of their claims,” having said a day earlier that “taking days to count legally cast votes is NOT fraud.”

Senator Ted Cruz of Texas also came to the president’s defense, repeating claims election observers were being kept away from vote counting and suggesting that the Justice Department and US Supreme Court could get involved, during an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity. “I am angry, and I think the American people are angry,” he said. “By clouding the vote counting in a shroud of darkness, they are setting the stage to potentially steal an election.”

In a short message that did not reference election “fraud,” Vice President Mike Pence, another name considered likely to run in 2024, tweeted: “Stand With President @realDonaldTrump. We must count every LEGAL vote.”

Tom Cotton, the senator from Arkansas, appealed for donations to Trump’s defense fund, writing: “All votes that are *legally* cast should be counted. There is NO excuse not to allow poll watchers to observe counting.”

Josh Hawley, Republican senator from Missouri, wrote: “The American people, whatever their party, deserve total transparency in the election vote. Allow poll watchers to be present as ballots counted. Full accounting of all ballots.”

Ronny Jackson, the Representative-elect for Texas’s 13th congressional district, referred to his party colleagues as RINO—”Republican in name only”—and said they needed to “STAND UP for President Trump and fight back against the Democrats and their election fraud.”

Potential 2024 Republican contenders are likely to include President Trump himself, were he to lose this time around, as well as Trump Jr, Pence, Haley and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

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Source Article from https://www.newsweek.com/republicans-backing-donald-trump-1545404