Biden in the lead

As vote counting continued in a few swing states, Joe Biden took a lead of about 29,000 votes in Pennsylvania. Barely 4,000 separated him from President Donald Trump in Georgia, where the secretary of state said a recount would occur. Some media outlets already declared Biden the winner, but recounts and lawsuits could throw that result in doubt.

What comes next? Biden’s margin of victory is small enough that the Trump campaign could ask for recounts in multiple states and has already pledged to do so in Wisconsin. But the official requests have to wait for the election boards to finish counting and certifying every vote, which could take at least several more days. Judges dismissed some of the Trump campaign’s lawsuits over vote counting or ballot irregularities, while other suits are still pending in Arizona and Pennsylvania.

Dig deeper: Read Jamie Dean’s analysis of mainstream media’s erroneous predictions that Biden would win in a landslide.

Editor’s note: WORLD has updated this report since its initial posting.