US election 2020: Joe Biden six votes away from win

It’s looking more likely that Donald Trump will be a one-term president, with Joe Biden just one state away from victory.

It’s looking more likely that Donald Trump will become a one-term president, with Joe Biden just one state away from victory.

After a tight race overnight in both Michigan and Wisconsin, Mr Biden turned both states blue, and now holds 264 electoral votes to Mr Trump’s 214.

That means Mr Biden is a mere six points short of becoming America’s 46th president.

The Democrat currently leads, albeit narrowly, in Nevada – which is, coincidentally, worth six votes, though it’s unlikely we’ll know results from there for hours yet. Fox News and The Associated Press – both reputable organisations – called Arizona for him last night.

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During an address earlier from Wilmington, Delaware, Mr Biden seemed, at a few points, to declare victory – though also explicitly stopped short of doing so multiple times.

“My fellow Americans, yesterday once again proved that democracy is the heartbeat of this nation, just as it has been for two centuries,” he said.

“Even in the face of pandemic, more Americans voted in this election than ever before in American history. Over 150 million. I think that’s extraordinary.

“Here, the people rule. Power can’t be taken or asserted. It flows from the people. It is their will that determines who will be the president, and their will alone.

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Joe Biden is just six votes short of winning the presidential election. Picture: Drew Angerer/Getty Images/AFP

“Now, after a long night of counting, it’s clear that we’re winning enough states to reach 270 electoral votes.

“I’m not here to declare we’ve won, but I am here to report that when the count is finished, we believe we’ll be the winners.”

Mr Biden said he was “confident” that he would “emerge victorious, but this will not be my victory alone or our victory alone”.

“It will be a victory for the American people, for our democracy, for America.”

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Meanwhile, Mr Trump is leading the way in the only other remaining battleground states: Pennsylvania, Georgia and North Carolina. He definitely needs to win all three – plus overtake Mr Biden in either Arizona or Nevada – to be re-elected for a second term.

The President gave something of a victory speech himself last night from the ceremonial East Room of the White House.

“We were getting ready for a big celebration. We were winning everything and all of a sudden it was called off. We were all set to get outside and celebrate something so beautiful, so good, such a success,” he said.

“This is a record. There’s never been anything like it. We won states we weren’t expected to win. Florida — we won it by a lot. We won the great state of Ohio. We won Texas by 700,000 votes.

“It’s also clear that we have won Georgia. We’re up by 117,000 votes with only 7 per cent left. They can’t catch us. Likewise, we’ve clearly won North Carolina.

“We’re winning Pennsylvania by a tremendous amount of votes. We’re up 690,000 votes in Pennsylvania. These aren’t even close.

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US President Donald Trump gave an extraordinary – and premature – victory speech last night. Picture: Mandel Ngan

“This is an embarrassment to our country,” the President said, before claiming victory outright.

“We were getting ready to win this election. Frankly, we did win this election.

“So our goal now is to ensure the integrity for the good of this nation, this is a very big moment, this is a major fraud on our nation. We want the law to be used in a proper manner.

“So we’ll be going to the US Supreme Court. We want all voting to stop. We don’t want them to find any ballots at 4:00 in the morning and add them to the list, OK?

“It’s a very sad — it’s a very sad moment. To me this is a very sad moment. And we will win in. As far as I’m concerned, we already have won it, so I just want to thank you for your support.”