Election 2020 presidential results

Michigan Rep. Debbie Dingell told CNN on Wednesday she is growing more confident that Joe Biden will pull out a win in Michigan once all the votes are counted. But the Democratic congresswoman said that the narrow margin, and continuing urban-rural divide, should deeply worry Democratic leaders.

Dingell, who represents Ann Arbor and areas south of Detroit, has been far more skeptical of the likelihood of Biden winning Michigan over the last month, in large part because of the level of Trump support in rural parts of the state.

Rural pockets of Michigan used to be home to so-called Dingell Democrats, more conservative and independent voters who backed the late Michigan congressman John Dingell, Debbie Dingell’s husband. But many of those voters slipped away from Democrats over the last decade, highlighted by Trump’s overwhelming win of places like Monroe County, Michigan, in 2016.

The fact that this trend continued with Biden, a candidate who was seen as the best positioned Democrat to woo these voters, should worry top Democrats, Dingell said.

The state of Michigan has set a new voter turnout record with at least 5,107,896 votes, according to a CNN tally. This total includes all presidential candidates on the ballot in Michigan, not just former Vice President Joe Biden and President Donald Trump.

The record was previously set in 2008 with 5,039,080 votes when former President Barack Obama won the state, according to official results from the Michigan secretary of state website.

In the lead up to Election Day, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson had been predicting the state would reach a record-breaking turnout.

“We are on track to see record breaking turnout,” Benson told reporters Tuesday.

The Trump campaign argued to reporters on a conference call Wednesday that President Trump is in a “very, very, very good position” to win the election as the votes continue to be counted in key battleground states. 

First, some context: CNN has not projected a winner in nine states across the country — Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Maine, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Votes are still being counted, and there is still a pathway to victory for both President Trump and Joe Biden

The Trump campaign is arguing that mail-in ballots still to be counted will break in Trump’s favor. That directly contradicts the President’s assertion overnight that ballots should stop being counted. Again, the ballots still being counted are perfectly legal. The campaign believes they will win Arizona by a narrow margin, as well as Pennsylvania. 

He claimed without evidence that Democrats are “pushing to count late ballots” because “if we count all legal ballots, we win.”

Wisconsin, Stepien said, is a “tight race within one percent,” which, he said, is “recount territory.”

In Michigan, he said there are outlying Republican counties and they are “confident in a pathway that includes Michigan.” 

In Nevada, “late breaking math helps us in Nevada.” 

The campaign continued to push back on Arizona, which has been called by some other outlets in favor of Biden. CNN has not made a projection in Arizona. 

“Late arriving votes cast closest to election day are the ones being counted now,” Stepien said, adding that they expect about half a million votes left to be counted, and between 2/3 and 70% of those ballots “are coming to the President.”

“That math adds up to a margin of around 30,000 votes in the president’s favor,” Stepien said, adding that Arizona “will come the president’s way.”

In Pennsylvania, Stepien said, they also believe remaining ballots will “exceed the splits we’ve seen to this point.” 

The call just wrapped with no questions.

America does not yet know who the next president will be, yet US stocks opened decidedly higher Wednesday morning.

Market analysts believed a delayed election outcome would cause widespread uncertainty, which is typically the enemy of Wall Street.

The market isn’t showing signs of panic, though, perhaps because it had already priced in the fact that the election may not be decided anytime soon. 

Here's where things stand this morning:

Growth stocks have performed well under the Trump administration and a second term could herald more of the same fruitful environment. At the same time, betting markets are still very clearly favoring Joe Biden to win, which would likely lead to more government stimulus.

President Trump is currently ahead in Pennsylvania by about 618,000 votes, but that lead is not insurmountable for Joe Biden because of “what’s outstanding, based on where it’s outstanding, and based on the method in which that vote was cast outstanding,” CNN’s Phil Mattingly explains.

About 1 million — and possibly more — absentee votes are yet to be counted.

That matters because Democrats expect big turnout in places like Philadelphia, counties around Philadelphia and Alleghany County, which is home to Pittsburgh. It’s not happened yet but that’s largely because of the votes that haven’t been counted yet.

Remember: There was still a big voter turnout for President Trump in western Pennsylvania counties. So the outstanding vote doesn't mean that Biden is going to catch up. It just means that there is an opportunity for the Biden campaign in the state.

CNN's Phil Mattingly breaks down Trump's lead in Pennsylvania:

Many Democratic operatives last night were dreading the coming hours because it appeared Trump was on his way to victory.

But as the sun rose on Wednesday morning, many of those same operatives are growing more confident, primarily because of how much mail-in and absentee vote is yet to be counted.

Here is part of the reason:

“We feel good,” a senior Biden campaign adviser told CNN’s MJ Lee on Wednesday morning. “We’re going to win today.”

That hope was echoed by others.

"Democrats have just come through a long night of the soul. When a lot of Democrats went to bed last night, they were very, very depressed,” said David Gergen, an adviser to four president and CNN contributor. “But today, this morning, in this dramatic turn about, Democrats are now seeing much brighter rays out there.”

Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro urged voters to be patient as the state counts all its ballots, saying that the state will get a “clearer picture” by the end of the day, but cautioned all results will be known “by the end of the week.” 

Shapiro said that volunteers and clerks from Pennsylvania communities have been awake around the clock to tabulate votes.

“We said all along that we were going to secure and protect and count the vote. We accomplished the first two — the vote was secured and protected — and now we're going through this laborious process of counting,” he said.

Shapiro said he expects numbers to fluctuate, but voters can have “confidence” in the counting process.

“These votes are going to be tabulated, they're going to be counted, and at the end of the day, the will of the people of Pennsylvania is going to be respected,” Shapiro said. 

Pennsylvania attorney general urges patience:

The presidency

It's the morning after Election Day, and CNN has not yet projected who will win the presidency. Votes are still being counted in Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Maine, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

At this hour, both candidates still have pathways to get to 270 electoral votes – the number of votes needed to win the presidency.

Based on the races called so far, this is where the race to 270 stands right now:

The Senate

In the Senate, Republicans have dramatically narrowed the path for Democrats to take back the majority, preventing upsets in red states such as South Carolina, Iowa and Montana. But with much of the vote still being counted, Democrats could still win four of these remaining races — and the White House — to take the Senate majority.

Here's a look at the states where Senate seats are still up for grabs:

The House

Republicans had a better night than expected holding on to some of their House seats. At least two incumbent Democrats were ousted by GOP challengers, and more could come as many races are yet to be called.

On the Democratic side, all four congresswomen of "the Squad" — Reps. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts — won reelection. Since taking office in January 2019, the lawmakers, all women of color, have electrified the progressive base thanks to their social media savvy but have also attracted controversy, most notably over their criticism of the US relationship with Israel.

You can view real time results of the House races here.

Here's a look at where the balance of power in congress currently sits:

As vote counting continues in key battleground states, a Biden official tells CNN they believe things are “moving to a conclusion – and moving to a conclusion in our favor.”

The official also offered these broad outlooks on some of the key outstanding battleground states: 

One top adviser to Biden expressed confidence they would emerge victorious today.

But while the Biden campaign urges patience as votes continue to be counted, some have expressed disappointment the campaign was unable to deliver a swift and resounding verdict against President Trump in the hours after polls closed.

“Disappointed there isn’t a complete repudiation of Trump,” one source close to the campaign said. “But I think we will still win.”