NEW DELHI: In a span of barely six hours, US President Donald Trump’s lead against his Democratic rival Joe Biden has suddenly eroded in battleground Pennsylvania, with barely 26,000 votes separating the two candidates at 11 p.m. EST on Thursday night (9.40 a.m. IST Friday morning).
Trump led Biden by 90,000 votes about six hours ago. If Biden wins Pennsylvania, he wins the presidency. Biden currently leads Trump 253-214 in the electoral vote count. The former Vice President is winning the mail-in votes being counted now by at least 60 percent. Biden’s pace is currently good enough to do better than merely play catch up.
Philadelphia is able to return about 13,000 ballots an hour. Biden is winning the lion’s share of the votes being counted today. Biden is projecting confidence, the campaign even had a stage ready in Wilmington, Delaware and microphones got tested – in preparation for a big announcement.
The late counting is favouring Biden heavily. These are all ballots that were not processed until Election Day, based on state law. Trump won Pennsylvania in 2016 by less than a percentage point.
The Democrats are hoping to flip it and recreate their “blue wall” in the upper MidWest. They have already won Michigan and Wisconsin.