#USElection| Biden pushes closer to victory in race for the White House

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrat Joe Biden was pushing closer to the 270 Electoral College votes needed to carry the White House, securing victories in the “blue wall” battlegrounds of Wisconsin and Michigan and narrowing President Donald Trump’s path.

With just a handful of states still up for grabs, Trump tried to press his case in court in some key swing states.

It was unclear if any of his campaign’s legal maneuvering over balloting would succeed in shifting the race in his favor.

Two days after Election Day, neither candidate had amassed the votes needed to win the White House.

But Biden’s victories in the Great Lakes states left him at 264, meaning he was one battleground state away, any would do, from becoming president-elect.

Trump, with 214 electoral votes, faced a much higher hurdle. To reach 270, he needed to claim all four remaining battlegrounds: Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Georgia and Nevada.

With millions of votes yet to be tabulated, Biden already had received more than 71 million votes, the most in history.

At an afternoon news conference Wednesday, the former vice president said he expected to win the presidency but stopped short of outright declaring victory.

“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.”

It was a stark contrast to the approach of Trump, who early Wednesday falsely claimed that he had won the election, and in an extraordinary move on Thursday voiced support for ceasing the tallying of legally-cast votes in a tweet, saying only, “STOP THE COUNT!”

It was unclear when a national winner would be determined after a long, bitter campaign dominated by the coronavirus and its effects on Americans and the national economy. 

Vote tabulations routinely continue beyond Election Day, and states largely set the rules for when the count has to end.

In presidential elections, a key point is the date in December when presidential electors meet. That’s set by federal law.

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