Donald Trump suffered two back to back blows losing must-win Michigan and Wisconsin to rival Joe Biden who has pulled ahead to the 253 mark in the electoral vote count.
The US 2020 election winner needs 270 and Trump is trailing at 214 at 4:30 p.m. EST (3 a.m. IST).
Both Wisconsin and Michigan went to Trump four years ago with razor thin margins. Both were flips for Trump that year, stunning even the Republicans.
The latest results mean that Biden has a road to victory without Pennsylvania, long considered a decisive state in a closely fought election.
The Democrats have been singularly focused on a path to the White House through the upper midwest states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.
Biden has been advising calm and patience since election night, repeatedly saying “we feel good about where we are”.
Inside the White House West Wing, frustration is growing and so is the fatigue with the all in legal strategy.
Amid the dominos falling so quickly, the Donald Trump campaign is going 360 degree legal in Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Nevada — all over how mail-in ballots are being processed.
ARUL LOUIS from New York reports :Â
Democratic Party candidate Joe Biden has staked his claim to the US presidency claiming that he has the electoral college votes for a victory, declaring, “We the people will not surrender.”
At last count, Biden is at 253 and Trump at 214.
“I’m not here to declare that we’ve won, but I am here to report that when the count is finished, we believe we will be the winners,” he said on Wednesday in Delaware.
Biden’s speech took on a certain decisiveness in tone as confidence grew with the Democratic party, with back to back wins in Wisconsin and Michigan. These wins are part of the Democratic effort to reclaim a key part of the “blue wall” that slipped away four years ago. It also narrows Donald Trump’s path to reelection.
Biden’s paths to the White House are expanding. Combining the latest wins with Nevada and Georgia would take him past the tape.
“I will govern as an American president,” Biden said. “There will be no red states and blue states when we win. Just the United States of America.”
Trump tweeted, “They are finding Biden votes all over the place — in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan. So bad for our Country!”
(Arul Louis can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter at @arulouis)
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