Washington, Nov 14: President-elect Joe Biden has wrested Georgia and President Donald Trump has retained North Carolina, major US media outlets have projected, bringing the closely-fought and bitter 2020 presidential race to a close.
Trump, who has not yet conceded the election to the projected winner, Biden, has repeatedly asserted, without evidence, that fraud and other irregularities deprived him of millions of votes in key battleground states.
Georgia and North Carolina were the last American states to be projected in the race for the White House. Biden’s victory in Georgia added 16 electoral votes to his tally, bringing him to 306 — matching President Trump’s total against Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election. Biden, a Democrat, will win Georgia, CNN projected on Friday, striking at the heart of what has been a Republican presidential stronghold for nearly three decades. The former vice president is the first Democratic nominee to triumph in Georgia since Bill Clinton did it in 1992, it said.
With 99 per cent of the vote counted in Georgia, Biden received 49.5 per cent of the vote, while Trump had 49.2 per cent. Biden’s margin in his apparent victory over Trump in the state was 14,152 votes, according to NBC News. The outcome in Georgia, however, is subject to a planned recount of the state’s votes, the report said.
With 99 per cent of the vote counted in North Carolina, Trump had 50 per cent of the vote, while Biden had 48.6 per cent. Trump’s margin of victory over Biden in the state was over 73,600 votes.
Trump’s projected win in North Carolina added 15 electoral college votes, retaining the state he won in 2016. With 97 per cent of the expected vote across the country counted on Friday, Biden led Trump by 50.8 per cent to 47.4 per cent in the popular vote, a contrast to Trump, who lost the popular vote in 2016 while winning the electoral college. The nearly 78 million ballots that have so far been counted for Biden is the largest number of votes won in the US by any presidential candidate. (PTI)