US Election 2020: Biden Ahead In Pennsylvania and Georgia
Democratic candidate Joe Biden has pulled ahead of Donald Trump in Pennsylvania, a key state in the US presidential race, voting data shows.
If Mr Biden takes the state, he would secure his victory in the election. The state has 20 electoral college votes.
According to the most recent data, Mr Biden is leading by more than 6,800 votes, with 98% counted.
Earlier, Mr Biden edged ahead of his Republican rival in Georgia, another key battleground state.
He is leading there with more than 1,500 votes, with 99% of the ballots counted. Georgia is a traditionally Republican state and has not been won by a Democrat in a presidential race since 1992.
Georgia’s secretary of state said on Friday that there would be a recount of votes there because the margin was so small.
If Mr Biden wins Pennsylvania, the state where he was born, he would have 273 votes in the electoral college – enough to clinch the victory.
Pennsylvania has always been a major political battleground. The state voted Democrat in six consecutive races before it swung to Mr Trump in 2016.
The Republican president’s team insists the election “is not over” and that legal challenges and recounts in some states will favour them.
Bob Bauer, a Biden campaign lawyer, said the lawsuits were legally “meritless” and designed “to message falsely about what’s taking place in the electoral process”.
A senior Trump administration official told CBS News that Mr Trump did not plan to concede if Mr Biden ultimately declared victory.
What’s the current state of the race?
Joe Biden currently has 253 electoral college votes, while Mr Trump has 214. To win the White House, a candidate needs 270.
Some news organisations have a higher tally for Mr Biden, having projected a win for the Democrat in Arizona. But the BBC considers the state too early to call.
The vote is also currently too close to call in Nevada and North Carolina.
A win in just Pennsylvania, or two of the other four remaining states would be enough to confirm Mr Biden as president-elect, barring any legal challenge.