US Election live: Biden elected president, say media projections

Washington - CNN, NBC News and CBS News called the race in his favor.

Joe Biden has won the US presidency over Donald Trump, TV networks projected Saturday — a victory sealed after the Democrat claimed several key battleground states won by the Republican incumbent in 2016.

CNN, NBC News and CBS News called the race in his favor, after projecting he had won the decisive state of Pennsylvania.

Biden, 77, is the oldest candidate ever elected to the White House. Trump, 74, has made as yet unsubstantiated claims of massive voter fraud, and his campaign has launched legal challenges in several states.

Biden spent eight years as vice president to Barack Obama. His victory comes in his third run for the nation’s highest office.

Earlier today, the Democratic presidential candidate vowed that the vote count would continue as he took the lead in several battleground states and appeared poised to win the White House in the election, even as US President Donald Trump remained defiant about the results.

“Your vote will be counted. I don’t care how hard people try to stop it. I will not let it happen,” Biden told reporters and aides. He added that he would try to bridge the country’s partisan divide and attack major issues like the coronavirus pandemic.

Joe Biden also said that he closed in on winning the US presidency he would he waste no time in addressing the Covid pandemic upon taking office.

“I want everyone, everyone to know on day one we’re going to put our plan to control this virus into action,” Biden said in a late night address from his hometown Wilmington, in Delaware.

Biden expressed confidence that he would defeat President Donald Trump as vote counting dragged on from Tuesday’s election but stopped short of declaring himself the winner.

He pledged to unite a bitterly divided nation.

“It’s time for us to come together as a nation to heal,” Biden said.

8.30pm

Joe Biden has won the US presidency over Donald Trump, TV networks projected Saturday — a victory sealed after the Democrat claimed several key battleground states won by the Republican incumbent in 2016.

CNN, NBC News and CBS News called the race in his favor, after projecting he had won the decisive state of Pennsylvania.

Biden is the oldest candidate ever elected to the White House. Trump has made as yet unsubstantiated claims of massive voter fraud, and his campaign has launched legal challenges in several states.

Biden spent eight years as vice president to Barack Obama. His victory comes in his third run for the nation’s highest office.

7.50pm

Trump claimed on Saturday that he had won the election 'by a lot'. Twitter has flagged the tweet as officials are yet to call the race.

States are still counting votes in the presidential election, Biden is on the verge of victory and Trump is at his Virginia golf club for the first time since the end of September.

Trump left the White House on Saturday morning and had on golf shoes, a windbreaker and a white hat.

The White House isn’t immediately responding to questions about the president’s possible golfing partners.

There were a few people with Biden flag banners outside the club entrance when Trump arrived.

Trump also has spent the morning tweeting about his unsubstantiated allegations of election fraud and illegal voting. Twitter hid four of the president’s tweets behind a warning label that they may contain disputed or misleading statements about the election.

7:40am- Joe Biden lead widens in US election

Democrat Joe Biden moved closer to winning the White House on Friday as he expanded his lead over President Donald Trump in battleground states, but television networks held off from declaring him the victor as officials continued to count votes.

Trump remained defiant, vowing to press unfounded claims of fraud as a weary, anxious nation waited for clarity in an election that only intensified the country’s deep polarization. Republicans sought to raise $60 million to fund lawsuits challenging the results.

On the fourth day of vote counting, former Vice President Biden had a 253 to 214 lead in the state-by-state Electoral College vote that determines the winner, according to Edison Research.

Securing Pennsylvania’s 20 electoral votes would put Biden over the 270 he needs to win the presidency after a political career stretching back nearly five decades.

Biden would also win if he prevails in two of the three other key states where he was narrowly ahead on Friday: Georgia, Arizona and Nevada. Like Pennsylvania, all three were still processing ballots on Friday.

Biden had planned a victory speech for Friday night, anticipating that the race would be called in his favor, according to staffers.

7:02am-The count goes on - with Joe Biden on the cusp of presidency

Democrat Joe Biden stood on the cusp of winning the presidency Friday night, three days after Election Day, as the long, exacting work of counting votes widened his lead over President Donald Trump in critical battleground states.

High turnout, a massive number of mail-in ballots and slim margins between the two candidates all contributed to the delay in naming a winner. But Biden held leads in Pennsylvania, Nevada and Georgia, putting him in an ever-stronger position to capture the 270 Electoral College votes needed to take the White House.

There was intense focus on Pennsylvania, where Biden led Trump by more than 16,000 votes, and Nevada, where the Democrat led by about 22,000. The prolonged wait added to the anxiety of a nation facing historic challenges, including the surging pandemic and deep political polarization.

Biden was at his home in Wilmington, Delaware, as the vote count continued, and aides said he would address the nation late in the evening. Trump stayed in the White House and out of sight, as more results trickled in and expanded Biden’s lead in must-win Pennsylvania. In the West Wing during the day, televisions remained tuned to the news amid trappings of normalcy, as reporters lined up for coronavirus tests and outdoor crews worked on the North Lawn on a mild, muggy fall day.

Trump’s campaign was mostly quiet — a dramatic difference from the day before, when officials held a morning call projecting confidence and then a flurry of press conferences announcing litigation in key states.

A handful of states remained in play Friday evening — Georgia, North Carolina too early to call along with Pennsylvania and Nevada. In all four states the margins between Trump and Biden were too narrow and the number of ballots left to be counted too great for the AP to declare a victor.

• US Elections 2020
• Americas