US election: Joe Biden declares ‘we are on track to win’

Joe Biden has delivered an optimistic speech to supporters just before midnight, claiming, “we are on track to win”.

Joe Biden has addressed his supporters in a resounding speech that stopped just short of declaring victory for the Democratic Party.

Mr Biden stressed to supporters the importance of staying patient as mail-in votes remain still to be counted in key battleground states.

“Your patience is commendable,” he began to car horns honking in approval.

“We knew this was going to go long, but who knew we were going to go into tomorrow morning, maybe longer?” he said.

“We feel good about where we are. We believe we’re on track to win this election.

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“We’re going to have to be patient until the hard work of tallying votes is completed. And it ain’t over until every vote is counted. But we’re feeling good about where we are.

“We’re confident about Arizona, that’s a turnaround. We also just called it for Minnesota. And we’re still in the game in Georgia. And we’re feeling real good about Wisconsin and Michigan.

“It’s going to take time to count the votes, but we’re going to win Pennsylvania.

“We could know the results as early as tomorrow, maybe a little longer.

"We could know the results as early as tomorrow morning, but it may take a little longer," Joe Biden says. "It's not my place or Donald Trump's place to declare who's won this election. That's the decision of the American people." #Election2020 pic.twitter.com/dwwLNH5nfA

— MSNBC (@MSNBC) November 4, 2020

We feel good about where we are. We believe we are on track to win this election.

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) November 4, 2020

It's not my place or Donald Trump's place to declare the winner of this election. It's the voters' place.

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) November 4, 2020

“It’s not my place or Donald Trump’s place to declare who has won the election, that’s the place of the American people.

“Keep the faith guys, and we’re going to win this. Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

A lot of campaign spin there – none of us really know what’s going to happen in Georgia, Wisconsin, Michigan or Pennsylvania. But we’ll see what happens.”

Donald Trump followed minutes later with a short tweet that showed he, too, is confident of victory.

I will be making a statement tonight. A big WIN!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 4, 2020

But in a bizarre few minutes on Twitter, the President also tweeted that Mr Biden was trying to “STEAL” the election.

“We are up BIG, but they are trying to STEAL the election,” he wrote. “We will never let them do it. Votes cannot be cast after the Poles are closed!”

Yes, he did spell polls incorrectly. And he deleted the tweet. But it appears he reposted it only for Twitter to intervene.

“Some or all of the content in this tweet is disputed and might be misleading about an election or other civic process,” a warning on Mr Trump’s tweet read.

Big few minutes for Trump on Twitter:
- Strangely hasn’t tweeted for hours
- finally puts one up, claiming “they” were trying to “steal the election” just as Biden starts talking
- misspells “polls” as “poles”
- deletes, amends, posts again
- Twitter blocks it as “misleading” pic.twitter.com/XmL110Q3TO

— Josh Butler (@JoshButler) November 4, 2020

— more to come