Dynamic races: How seven key states’ vote counts shifted hour by hour.
The big leads that President Trump held in battleground states at 11 p. m. on election day dwindled overnight, and two states in which Trump led were eventually called in favor of Joe Biden. This graph shows which candidate was leading each state at various times and by what percentage. All times are PST. Tuesday 11 p. m.
With large numbers of mail- in ballots still to be counted, President Trump held sizeable leads in Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Georgia. Around 11: 20 p. m., Trump addressed the nation, saying no more votes should be counted and, in his opinion, he had won the election.
Wednesday 3 a. m.
As mail- in ballots continued to be counted, Trump’s lead in the battleground states was shrinking. Shortly before 2 a. m., Milwaukee reported a large batch of results in Biden’s favor, turning Wisconsin from red to blue. In Democrat- heavy counties in Michigan, Biden was also gaining ground as results from early voting were being reported.
7 a. m.
After an overnight pause, counting of mail- in ballots resumed in the Democrat- heavy areas of Atlanta and Philadelphia. With more than 70% of the vote in Wayne County ( Michigan’s most populous county) going to Biden, the Democratic nominee was able to flip Michigan shortly after 6 a. m. Nevada, meanwhile, said no more results will be released until Thursday morning.
11 a. m.
At 11 a. m., CNN declared a Biden victory in Wisconsin. This came a little more than an hour after the Trump campaign indicated it would ask for a recount in Wisconsin, where Biden’s advantage was about 20,000 votes. With much of the outstanding vote in Michigan being in heavily Democratic areas, experts were saying it was likely that Biden would increase his 40,000- vote lead and win the state.
3 p. m.
Around 1: 40 p. m., CNN declared a Biden victory in Michigan. If Biden carries Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona and Nevada in the official vote, he would have the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win the election. Biden also continued to close the gaps in Pennsylvania and Georgia as the mail- in ballots were being counted.
7 p. m.
With counting expected to continue through the night and beyond, Trump held leads of nearly 200,000 votes in Pennsylvania, 80,000 in North Carolina and 37,000 in Georgia. Biden was leading Arizona by 80,000 votes and Nevada by 7,500. In North Carolina and Nevada, ballots postmarked by Tuesday that arrive by Friday will be counted.