WASHINGTON – President-elect Joe Biden has won 306 votes in the state-by-state Electoral College that decides who wins the White House against 232 for Donald Trump, US media projected yesterday.
Biden solidified his victory over Trump in the US election with a victory in traditionally Republican-leaning Georgia, called in his favour by CNN, ABC and other networks.
Trump – who also had 306 Electoral College votes when he beat Hillary Clinton in 2016 – claimed victory in North Carolina, projected CNN and NBC, putting his final tally this time around at 232.
Biden has been the presumptive winner of the election since victory in Pennsylvania took him over the 270-vote threshold last Saturday.
Georgia, one of the five states flipped by Biden after going into Trump’s column last time around, has not been won by a Democrat since Bill Clinton in 1992.
Biden is currently up by some 14,000 votes, and a hand recount is expected to be completed next week. Audits of statewide polls never bring the kind of reversal that Trump needs to change the result.
In traditionally Republican North Carolina, a drive to get out black voters by Democrats was not enough to overcome Trump’s hugely loyal base of white, non-college-educated men and rural voters.
Trump, who has refused to acknowledge defeat, was due later yesterday to address the public for the first time since becoming the projected loser six days ago. – AFP, November 14, 2020
