Thursday morning news - November 5, 2020

Trump campaign files lawsuits over ballot handling in several states » President Trump’s path to reelection looks to be narrowing as a legal battle begins over the handling of ballots. 

The Trump campaign filed lawsuits Wednesday in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Georgia, demanding better access for polling monitors to keep a close eye on the vote counting. 

Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani said especially in Philadelphia, monitors couldn’t get close enough to see much of anything. 

GIULIANI: The observers can be 20 or 30 feet away, never able to see the ballot itself; never able to see if it was properly postmarked, properly addressed, properly signed. 

Republicans have also filed other legal challenges in Pennsylvania and Nevada, citing the same concerns, as well as absentee ballot issues. 

Meantime, former Vice President Joe Biden sounded increasingly confident on Wednesday.  

BIDEN: 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. 

His campaign even launched a transition team website on Wednesday. 

The states where he currently has a lead add up to 271 electoral votes. If those leads hold, that is one more than the needed 270. 

Biden appears to have won Michigan. Multiple networks on Wednesday also called Wisconsin for Biden, but the margin is razor thin, and the president’s campaign is calling for a recount. 

Wisconsin Secretary of State Josh Kaul said because the margin is less than 1 percent, the Trump campaign has that right. 

KAUL: The votes need to be certified so that they can be confirmed, and after that, a recount can be sought. 

But if Wisconsin and Michigan are indeed off the board for Trump, then the president has only one possible path to victory. 

He must win Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Georgia. As 2:30 a.m. this morning, he held slim leads in all three states. But that’s not enough. 

Even with those three states, he would need to win either Arizona or Nevada and he is trailing in both of those states. 

But Nevada is close. Trump is down by about a half a percentage point with 86 percent of the votes counted. Officials are expected to provide an updated vote count at noon today.

Republicans appear likely to retain Senate majority » While the White House remains up for grabs, the Democratic effort to seize control of the Senate appears to be on life support.  

Right now, Democrats have a net gain of one seat. They beat GOP incumbents in Colorado and Arizona, while losing a senator in Alabama. 

To take control, they need a net gain of four seats or three seats plus the White House, as the vice president breaks a tie in the Senate. 

But the odds are stacked against them after Senator Susan Collins fended off a challenge in Maine.

COLLINS: I feel that this is an affirmation of the work that I’m doing in Washington to fight hard every day—to fight hard every day for the people of Maine. 

The blue state Republican heard there Wednesday afternoon. 

One day earlier, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham celebrated a reelection win despite his opponent’s huge cash advantage. 

Democrat Jamie Harrison shattered a quarterly fundraising record, hauling in $57 million between July and September. Graham told his supporters…

GRAHAM: This is the worst return on investment in the history of American politics.

After failing to flip those seats—and others in Montana and Iowa—Democrats’ hopes now hinge on two states: 

The first is North Carolina, where GOP Senator Thom Tillis holds a 2 point lead with 94 percent of the votes counted. 

The other state is Georgia, where there were two Republican seats on the ballot.

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger explains one of those races will spill into 2021. 

RAFFENSPERGER: A Senate runoff election between Senator Loeffler and Raphael Warnock on January 5th. 

No candidate topped 50 percent on Tuesday. By state law, that forces a runoff between the top two vote-getters. 

Democrat Raphael Warnock grabbed 32 percent of the vote to Senator Kelly Loeffler’s 26 percent. But it was largely a three-way race against two Republicans, Loeffler and Congressman Doug Collins. 

Together the two Republicans totaled 46 percent. 

As for Georgia’s other seat, Incumbent Senator David Perdue appears likely to win reelection. He leads John Ossoff by nearly 3 points with 97 percent of the votes in. 

But with 50.1 percent of the vote, the question now is whether Perdue will remain above the 50 percent threshold to avoid another January runoff. 

England joins most of Europe in coronavirus lockdown » England is joining most of Europe in coronavirus lockdown today. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin has more. 

KRISTEN FLAVIN, REPORTER: Londoners turned out for a last drink or shopping trip on Wednesday, ahead of a month-long lockdown that began this morning. 

Schools and universities will stay open, but England is closing all nonessential businesses and facilities until at least Dec. 2nd.  

The rest of the U.K. had already begun sheltering in place.

New coronavirus measures also took effect in several other European countries this week, including Austria, Greece, Sweden, Italy, France, and Germany.

That as many European nations recently reported record daily case counts. 

Coronavirus cases also hit new daily highs this week in Russia.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

COVID-19 hospitalizations reach record highs in seven states » In the United States, at least seven states have reached highs for COVID-19 hospitalizations this week. They are Missouri, Oklahoma, Iowa, Indiana, Nebraska, North Dakota, and New Mexico.

The seven-day rolling average for daily coronavirus deaths has risen over the past two weeks. The daily average is now 870. That’s up about 23 percent from one month ago, but still well below the April peak of more than 2,000 per day.

(AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty) Republican Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, speaks to reporters on Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2020, in Bangor, Maine, after Democrat challenger Sara Gideon called her to concede Tuesday’s election. 

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