US election: 'We're going to win this race,' says Biden

DW NOTE: Joe Biden has now been projected to win the presidency. We are no longer updating this article. Read the latest updates on Biden's projected victory here.

• Democrat Joe Biden is six electoral votes away from reaching the 270 needed to win the White House, according to Associated Press figures that include Arizona, which other media consider too close to call
• Biden is ahead by a razor-thin margin in Georgia, where officials say there will likely be a recount
• All eyes are on Pennsylvania and its 20 electoral votes, which could push Biden to victory even without a firm count in Arizona
• The Trump campaign has said "the election is not over"
• Biden said he will "win the race with a clear majority" 

Election results based on Associated Press data. All times in GMT/UTC

16:25 Joe Biden has been announced as the 46th president by CNN. 

16:15 Arizona's election results have shown Biden's lead against Trump is shrinking. In the battleground state, with an estimated 97% of the vote tallied vote so far, Trump has 48.9% and Biden has 49.5% of the vote. 

15:10 US President Donald Trump has said there will be a "big press conference" in Philadephia at 11:30am  (1600 GMT). 

States will also update their counts, but they are not expected to be the final counts:

Arizona result updates:

9am MST (17:00 CET, 16:00 UTC)

7pm MST (03:00 Sunday CET, 02:00 Sunday UTC)

Nevada result update

9am PST (18:00 CET, 17:00 UTC)

10:25 The Trump campaign's legal challenges to vote counting are "lots of noise intended to simply delay a process in which the Trump campaign thinks they're going to lose," American law professor Kirk Junker told DW.

"They're searching for an escape. They're hoping for something. They're the drowning man grasping at straws," he said.

Junker, who is based out of the University of Cologne, said that the electoral system in the US is "robust," but that the Electoral College system needs to be reviewed. 

"When created, Alexander Hamilton [...] said the two things [the Electoral College] will help guard against was demagoguery and populism, and I think we have the definition of demagoguery and populism in the person the Electoral College put in the White House."

For more on the lawsuits, check out our analysis: Could election challenges by Trump and Republicans succeed?

10:00 As the US election counts continue into Saturday morning, here's the latest on where the vote count stands according to AP tallies:

Georgia
Vote counted: 99%
Biden leads Trump by 4,020 votes
How many are left? On Friday, officials said there were over 22,600 ballots statewide that are outstanding. The bulk of these are provisional ballots that will require extra checks of the person's voter registration status — meaning that these tallies could still take a while.

Pennsylvania
Vote counted: 99%
Biden leads Trump by 28,877 votes
How many are left? Over 89,200 mail-in ballots still need to be counted, according to the latest state data released on Friday night. The largest remaining votes to be counted are in the cities of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, which have been trending towards Biden.

Nevada
Vote counted: 87%
Biden leads Trump by 22,657 votes
How many are left? Tens of thousands of ballots remain, with the bulk of uncounted ballots in the county where Las Vegas is located. Election officials are due to release an updated count at 9 a.m. PST (1700 GMT/UTC).

Arizona
Vote counted: 90%
Biden leads Trump by 29,861 votes
How many are left? There are an estimated 173,000 ballots left to be counted — with results updates expected at 9 a.m. MST (1600 GMT/UTC) and at 7 p.m. MST (0200 Sunday GMT/UTC). Although AP has called the state for Biden, many news networks have yet to do so. Trump has also been narrowing Biden's lead in the latest vote tallies in the state, making it still an extremely close race.

How much does each candidate need to win?

Biden has more pathways to victory, but the vote counts aren't over yet. If Biden's lead is confirmed in Arizona (11 electoral votes), he would just need to secure Nevada (6 electoral votes) in order to reach 270. Without Arizona and as the count currently stands, if Biden wins Pennsylvania (20 electoral votes), he'll have the numbers needed to win the White House. If Biden loses Arizona but wins Georgia (16 electoral votes), he would still need Nevada or Pennsylvania to cross the 270 threshold.

Trump is currently leading in North Carolina (15 electoral votes) and is expected to take Alaska (3 electoral votes). To make it to 270 or over, he would need to secure Arizona, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Georgia. There is also a scenario that could result in a perfect tie between the two candidates.

07:40 Pro-Trump protesters – some brandishing rifles and handguns – have become a familiar sight outside vote counting centers in several cities around the country.

State laws in Arizona, Nevada and Michigan — where guns have been seen outside tabulation centers in recent days — mean people are allowed to openly carry firearms in public.

In Arizona, a group of protesters gathered outside the Phoenix elections center, where hundreds of workers were processing and counting ballots. "Arrest the poll workers!" chanted crowd members, demanding four more years in office for Trump.

07:00 US Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has been showing signs that he's confident of a win for a while now, according to Liz Schuelke - a policy analyst who previously worked on Democratic Party campaigns.

"He has been signaling for days, when he took COVID briefing meetings, instead of just focusing on the vote, that he is incredibly confident the way the vote's going to shake out."

"He's going to be not only the winner but a clear, decisive winner."

Commenting on the Trump campaign's lawsuits, Schuelke said the president "really doesn't have much of a legal leg to stand on."

"Everything has been dismissed at this point," she said. 

"This was a free and fair election so there's not a lot of room for the legal levers to be pulled."

03:53 Democratic candidate Joe Biden gave a short speech at his campaign headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware Friday night, and said the "numbers tell a clear and convincing story, we are going to win this race" although "we don't have a final declaration of victory yet."

Appearing with running mate Kamala Harris, Biden listed off the states in which he is leading, and said he will "win the race with a clear majority, with the nation behind us."

Biden said an "overwhelming number of Americans have given us a mandate for action on COVID, climate change and systemic racism."

As the ballot counting continues slowly, putting Biden close to victory in Georgia, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Arizona, the former vice president urged "calm and patience," adding although "tensions remain high" that "democracy works."

03:28  In the race for the US Senate, Democrats and Republicans are currently tied at 48 seats each in the 100-member chamber. In the southern state of Georgia, no candidate was able to win a majority of votes for the state's two seats.

Republican David Perdue and Democrat Jon Ossoff will now compete in a runoff for Perdue's Senate seat. Another seat, occupied by Republican Kelly Loeffler, is also up for grabs, after three candidates failed to win a majority. The runoff is set for January 5.

It is a long shot for Democrats to win both Senate seats in traditionally Republican Georgia. But if they manage, and Joe Biden wins the presidency, that would give his vice president, Kamala Harris, a 51st tie-breaking vote.

Two other Senate races in North Carolina and Alaska, which have yet to be called, are expected to go to Republicans.

02:53 Joe Biden has increased his lead on President Trump in Pennsylvania to slightly over 27,000 votes, after a new ballot batch was reported in Allegheny County, which includes the second-largest city, Pittsburgh. Meanwhile, a US Supreme Court judge has said the state needs to continue segregating mail-in ballots that have arrived after election day, in line with a Republican Party request. 

Read more: Could election challenges by Trump and Republicans succeed?

02:05 German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer has criticized Republican lawmakers in the US for failing to distance themselves from President Trump's groundless allegations of electoral fraud made during a speech last night.

"Not only was this performance terrifying, but so too was the absence of criticism from the Republican ranks."

The leader of Germany's center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Kramp-Karrenbauer added that the Republicans' slide towards "populist methods" of politics should serve as a "warning" for conservative parties in Europe. 

01:48 Two men who were arrested Thursday night near a vote-counting center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania have been charged with gun offenses, according to the city district attorney.

The two men allegedly drove from Virginia in an SUV with two loaded semi-automatic handguns, and one AR-15 rifle.

Supporters of both Biden and Trump have been gathering outside the Pennsylvania Convention Center, which has become a focal point of protests as ballots continue to be counted in the critical state.

00:41 Jürgen Trittin, German Green party politician and parliamentary foreign relations committee member, told DW that President Trump's rhetoric is putting the US on the verge of a constitutional crisis.

"Methods from New York's real estate and, we must admit, mafia jungle are being applied to the state," Trittin said, adding that Trump's allegations of electoral fraud are an invitation to violence.

"We have seen an attempt to storm a polling station in Philadelphia. We have seen gunmen in Arizona in front of counting stations," Tritten said, adding, however, that the massive voter participation in the election was a "victory for democracy."

"I think Joe Biden is behaving wisely. He is happy, is his hoping he'll win, however, he doesn't say 'I've won,'" Tritten said. 

Read more: DW Fact Check: Wild claims about the US vote count 

23:44 DW has spoken with several Biden supporters ahead of a planned speech in Wilmington, Delaware.

Carmelita Jones, 39, said the election was a "pivotal moment for everybody because we are getting to witness history."

Barbara Lazartic, 66, said that she "absolutely believes" Joe Biden will be the next US president. "Everything is pointing that way, I am just waiting for the results to come in."

"It is very exciting, I am happy, America's happy — well, some people," said 26-year-old Myah Harris.

"I think the people are ready for a change, and the results show it. Of course, here in Delaware it is a very pro-Biden area, but I think the United States, in general, is ready," said 66-year-old Peter Lazartic.

23:11 President Trump tweeted that Joe Biden should not "wrongfully claim" the presidency, although Biden has not yet claimed victory and has urged "patience" in waiting for all the votes to be counted.

21:44 The Pennsylvania Republican Party has asked the US Supreme Court to order the state's election officials to separate mail-in ballots that arrived after election day from other batches of mail-in ballots. Pennsylvania's Secretary of State has said all county election officials have already been ordered to do so, however, Republicans have said there is no certainty that all officials have complied. 

"If county election boards count and do not segregate late-arriving ballots ... it could become impossible for this court to repair election results tainted by illegally and untimely cast or mailed ballots," the application said. 

Ahead of the election, Pennsylvania's top court ruled that mail-in ballots postmarked by election day can be counted if they arrive within three days.

The US Supreme Court has twice declined to intervene following Republican requests to overturn the decision. The Trump campaign is preparing for a legal battle over the validity of late-arriving ballots in Pennsylvania. This latest Republican request is concerned with a batch of mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania's western Allegheny County, which includes the state's second-largest city, Pittsburgh. 

19:50 Twitter has started flagging posts referring to Biden as "president-elect" as premature. Tweets referring to the former vice president as the winner and his running mate, Kamala Harris, as "vice president-elect" were tagged with messages saying counts were not yet final.

"Official sources may not have called the race when this was tweeted," read a message below a post from Democratic Coalition co-founder and podcaster Scott Dworkin using the two titles for Biden and Harris.

The notice came with a link to information about the status of the election. Both Twitter and Facebook have been scrambling to flag posts that could propagate misinformation. 

19:46 Supporters of both Trump and Biden are racing to find every person in Georgia who may have submitted a flawed ballot before time runs out to fix errors. Several volunteers went out in search of the voters whose ballots were initially rejected but could be fixed with a signature or ID.

Earlier on Friday, Georgia election officials said the likely razor-thin outcome by a margin of a few thousand votes in the state would trigger an automatic recount. Biden is currently ahead of Trump in Georgia by little more than 4,000 votes, with 99% of votes counted. 

"With a margin that small, there will be a recount in Georgia," Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger told reporters in Atlanta. A recount would be held when Georgia's votes are certified around November 20. 

19:40 Trump's campaign said "this election is not over" after Biden took the lead in two key states. Trump needs to win both the states to be reelected, according to current AP predictions of the vote outcomes across the country.

"This election is not over. The false projection of Joe Biden as the winner is based on results in four states that are far from final," said Trump campaign general counsel Matt Morgan in a statement. He continued to allege voter fraud and irregularities in Georgia, Pennsylvania and Nevada. 

"Georgia is headed for a recount, where we are confident we will find ballots improperly harvested, and where President Trump will ultimately prevail.

"Biden is relying on these states for his phony claim on the White House, but once the election is final, President Trump will be re-elected," Morgan said.

Read more: Arizona: Who will win? It depends who you ask 

19:30 Democratic candidate Joe Biden is holding the lead in both battleground states of Georgia and Pennsylvania. Even without a firm figure for Arizona, securing the Pennsylvania vote could push him to victory. If Trump doesn't win Pennsylvania's 20 electoral votes, he will not be able to be reelected. 

Catch up on earlier developments here

wmr,lc, mvb/sms (AFP, AP, Reuters)