Race too close to call after polls close – as it happened

We have started in on a fresh blog, which you can read here:

As for where things stand, the presidential race is too close to call, with results in Wisconsin expected in the coming hours but other states – Nevada, Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Michigan – potentially taking days to complete their counts.

The Biden campaign has rebuked Trump for his “outrageous” false claim that he had won the election, an asserted also repudiated by state Republican party leaders across the country.

Biden said he’s “on track to win this election” and “we’re feeling good about where we are.” He called for patience as the remaining votes are counted.

Election day overall was largely free of the kind of civil unrest that was feared, but the Trump campaign was calling on supporters to “defend” the election and uncertain days lay ahead.

The Republicans looked to pick up a handful of seats in the House of Representatives, with Democrats holding the majority. Control of the senate was up in the air, but the Democratic path appeared narrow.

The race currently stands at 238 electoral votes for Biden to 213 for Trump, with six battleground states outstanding. If Biden can hang on to a narrow lead in Nevada, and seal the deal in Wisconsin, a win in Georgia (16 electoral votes), Michigan (16) or Pennsylvania (20) – brings him victory. North Carolina, with 15 electoral votes, is also still out.

[Note: thanks to the reader who points out that a Biden win in North Carolina but not elsewhere could set up an electoral college tie.]

To explore how the numbers work, check out our interactive “build your own election” tool:

But these are tight races and we might be seeing recounts in some places in addition to legal challenges. That becomes less likely if Biden picks up multiple additional states.

The state of Mississippi has approved a ballot initiative to remove the Confederate banner from its state flag, which now will depict a magnolia, the state flower.

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Here’s as good a summary as we can find of what’s happening in Wisconsin, which has 10 electoral votes to give. A narrow Biden lead on the strength of heavily Democratic ballots, with the window narrowing for Trump.

It looks like Milwaukee came out for Biden.

Update:

The Nevada Independent, the gold-standard journalistic outlet for state political races, says the presidential race is too close to call.

We’ll be waiting on Nevada too:

Joe Biden maintains a narrow lead in Nevada over President Donald Trump, but the state’s six electoral votes and the results of many other major congressional, statewide and local races remain up in the air after initial returns on election night.

As of early Wednesday, Biden and Democratic congressional candidates running in the state’s two competitive House districts – Susie Lee and Steven Horsford – maintained narrow leads over their Republican opponents, but no news outlets have called the races given a large number of outstanding ballots yet to be tallied.

Kevin McCarthy, the House minority leader, is headed back to Capitol Hill:

As is Democratic Michigan Representative Debbie Dingell:

Another half hour for Milwaukee it sounds like:

Meanwhile Biden has made up some ground in Kenosha:

This is pretty dramatic in Wisconsin, with heavily Democratic Milwaukee about to announce its result.

There is a small vote outstanding elsewhere in the state but this is the tally that matters most:

Representative Rashida Tlaib has won re-election in Michigan:

The state chair of the Wisconsin Democratic party says he’s “confident” that Biden will eke out victory there.

Note: the race has not been called and it’s too close to call.

“The president’s statement tonight about trying to shut down the counting of duly cast ballots was outrageous, unprecedented, and incorrect,” said Biden campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon in a statement:

It was outrageous because it is a naked effort to take away the democratic rights of American citizens.

It was unprecedented because never before in our history has a president of the United States sought to strip Americans of their voice in a national election. Having encouraged Republican efforts in multiple states to prevent the legal counting of these ballots before Election Day, now Donald Trump is saying these ballots can’t be counted after Election Day either.

And it was incorrect because it will not happen. The counting will not stop. It will continue until every duly cast vote is counted. Because that is what our laws — the laws that protect every Americans’ constitutional right to vote — require.

We repeat what the Vice President said tonight: Donald Trump does not decide the outcome of this election. Joe Biden does not decide the outcome of this election. The American people decide the outcome of this election. And the democratic process must and will continue until its conclusion.

A “Trump Republican” who died of complications from Covid-19 one month ago has won a state legislature seat in North Dakota.

Politico has the story:

David Andahl was 55 when he died on Oct. 5, after winning a heated primary with an incumbent committee chairman. Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) had endorsed the Bismarck rancher, saying, “we need more Trump Republicans in the State Legislature.”

The state Republican party is expected to appoint a replacement for Andahl.

More people voted for Joe Biden this year than voted for either candidate in 2016...

...and Donald Trump won more votes this time than he did last time, Charles Pierce points out: