: that . ifii‘ifi v“ be: . it"ui‘ii v“ be: ‘w wnwit voting bloc that will be important for donald trump. we are still watching florida, but it doesn't follow that it is going to go the same way, you're right. it is 9.00 on the eastern sea board of the united states. 1a more states have closed their polls. let us have a quick look at them. polling has closed in michigan, wisconsin, minnesota, arizona, colorado, new mexico, texas, various others, interesting states there, which we will come to many minute. this won't shock many people but new york is projected forjoe biden. it is worth 29 electoral college vote, that is the same number of votes that it looks mr biden is not going to get in florida, that is going to go to donald trump, but gets new york, which he was always going to do. texasis which he was always going to do. texas is another big state, it has

more votes electoral college votes than new york or the florida. in fa ct than new york or the florida. in fact second only to california. at the moment 64% of the vote is counted. and mr biden is ahead. that doesn't mean to say he has necessarily won at all, a lot more to be counted but that is not meant to be counted but that is not meant to happen in the republican firmment. you are not meant to be that close. one percentage point. arizona is another state the republicans are worried about. it is too early to project. 11 electoral couege too early to project. 11 electoral college votes are at stake there. normally you would expect arizona to stay republican, and it may well, but it is in contention. it such an interesting picture of america in flux, we are seeing the country change, and we are seeing it in these numbers that we are getting from the states round the country tonight. let us have a look at where we are on that electoral college quest for 270. donald trump,

we are on that electoral college quest for270. donald trump, he we are on that electoral college quest for 270. donald trump, he is at 48, quest for 270. donald trump, he is at a8, joe biden at 73. i think it has seesawed a bit. this again, please do not read into this too much, because we have a long way to go. they have to get to 270 in order to get there, so we have had a whole bunch of these states closing, and we will get more of a sense, i am still waiting on florida to be called. that will be an interesting moment. it will be an important point of the night. we is have to wait several hours though. we know man who knows a lot about this. he is called christian fraser and he is at the touch screen with the latest voting. so many interesting race i am keeping across, i don't know where to go first. 29 heck trail couege where to go first. 29 heck trail college votes coming in in new york forjoe biden, that put him in the lead, we will keep a close eye on texas, 38 electoral college votes there. looking at the turn out in texas, would you believe, we saw a huge early vote in texas, the total

electorate in texas has gone up by 2.7 million people this time. that isa 2.7 million people this time. that is a extraordinary statistic on this night of extraordinary numbers. let us night of extraordinary numbers. let us go to florida and look at the vote there. 9a% of it counted. it has been actually it has been going more to donald trump. that is why larry sabato said they are feeling positive about florida in the trump camp. it is starting to swing towards donald trump and away from joe biden and i think very soon we will be able to put that in the red column the way things are going. i will work my way up the east coast. i will show you some interesting battles. i will start with, let us checkin battles. i will start with, let us check in on georgia, although they have a burst water pipe there in georgia, in the atlanta area they are still counting votes. 31% counted so far. a healthy lead now for donald trump there. but remember this. and it is quite a significant thing to remember, that 78% of the vote was absentee ballot. it skews

heavily to joe biden. vote was absentee ballot. it skews heavily tojoe biden. this is one of those examples that katty was telling you about. where you will see one candidate jump telling you about. where you will see one candidatejump into telling you about. where you will see one candidate jump into the lead depending on how they process that ballot. it will take georgia a couple of days to put the mail inballots so this might start to narrow quickly over the course of the next few hour, let us check in on north carolina. this one, i think, is really crucial tonight. still too early to project. three—quarters of the vote counted. there is a difference of three there. when people register to vote, in states they have to indicate whether they are democrat, republican or whether they are independent. 36% in north carolina said they were democrats, 30% said republican, 33% said they were independent. and they will decide this battle tonight. that has gone up this battle tonight. that has gone up as well, the turn out there by 1.2 million. joe biden has a lead of

152,000 votes at the moment. so what? there is about, well, just over a million votes, nearly, short of to million votes to count. so still early day, one to watch. let us still early day, one to watch. let us go to... i will show you —— hoe. very quickly. —— o hoe because they counted the early ballot first there. half of the vote is counts, you can see it went to the democrats, but, joe biden‘s lead is starting to narrow here, they are counting the in—person votes now, and donald trump doing a bit better there. pennsylvania, the republicans we re very there. pennsylvania, the republicans were very pleased in pennsylvania with their registration and in 2016 donald trump amped up his vote in those rural counties, where there we re those rural counties, where there were fewer voters, and when i look at pennsylvania's turn out it is up at pennsylvania's turn out it is up a million. maybe there are more republicans coming out. but, i have looked at one stat on pennsylvania, very early in the count. there is a

cou nty very early in the count. there is a county which is just north of philadelphia, the only county that is 100 percent counted its votement and joe biden‘s vote share there is up and joe biden‘s vote share there is up 31 points. donald trump down 26. so democrats will be looking that the tonight, thinking we are in where a good shout in pennsylvania. a look at absentee ballot. not as big in other states. again, it skews heavily towards biden so good news there for the democrats in pennsylvania. the reset the map. ok. let us just very quickly show you 2016 what might happen. i want to keep giving you an idea why we are focussing on these state. if you put north carolina in blue. if you put georgia in blue. we will surely talk about arizona quickly because they count very quickly in arizona, there isa count very quickly in arizona, there is a big absentee ballot there. if that went, those two went blue it should be short by seven, we don't

even need to talk about the rust belt states. so, interesting. and of course we have to remember that different cou nts have to remember that different counts come in from different bits of the state. it might be a whole load of ballots in a trump area were counted and then in another state it might bea counted and then in another state it might be a whole load in a biden area is counted which is again why we have to urge caution and patience, because it simply is going to ta ke patience, because it simply is going to take a while for us to get the results. we need to know more from what is happening in these rust belt states round the great lakes that we re states round the great lakes that were so states round the great lakes that were so important in 2016, so let us go to clive myrie, who is in philadelphia pence australia. clive. —— pennsylvania. philadelphia pence australia. clive. -- pennsylvania. the polls closed here just over -- pennsylvania. the polls closed herejust over an -- pennsylvania. the polls closed here just over an hour ago -- pennsylvania. the polls closed herejust over an hour ago or so. so we are still getting not that much information coming out in terms of the counties that are reporting. christian mentioned the county north of here, a few moments ago.

suggesting that the democrats are pretty confident that their ground game has matched the amount of mail inballots that have been coming in over the last week or so. the republicans, however, they have been making it clear over the last few week, that voter registration, registration for their supporters is up. big data using analysis of key areas, in order to target supporters, that has helped them as well. and their idea of their ground game is that it has been successful. they have got it out, in order to match those mail yen ballots that many people believe will be in favour predominantly of the democrat, once they are counted over the next two or three days. so, results beginning to dribble in but it will take a while. we are hoping to get a bit of progress on the mail yen ballots that, that were started

to be counted earlier on today, some counties aren't doing that until tomorrow. but we may get a bit of progress report on the complexion of those votes that have been counted, in the last few hours. but, yeah, it will take a while for the results to come out here, another three days potentially before we get a final result in terms of certainly the 2.a million or so mail in ballots that have been sent in here. thank you we will be back clive, as the night goes on. s let us check in with jeff flake. the night goes on. s let us check in withjeff flake. thank the night goes on. s let us check in with jeff flake. thank you the night goes on. s let us check in withjeff flake. thank you for joining u we have been talking about arizona during the course of this evening, it is early now, and the vote is not, the polls have not closed but are you hearing anything from the early vote returns, in ardoyne that yet? they haven't released those, in —— arizona. i was

told they will be able to still vote, as long as they are in line but the polls have just officially closed. so, it will be about an hour before we get the early ballot results, and then we will know a lot about what arizona is going to do. while we wait for arizona, let us talk about your position in the republican party, you were one of the few major critics of donald trump during the course of his presidency, from the republican side. and you effectively paid for that criticism with yourjob as a senator in the us senate. if donald trump were to lose tonight, what happenses to the republican party that he leaves behind? that is an open question, as far as what will happen and how he goes or departs the scene will have a lot to do with that. but we have to change, and i have to tell you, i think most of my former colleagues elected republicans, will breathe a huge sigh of relief when the president

exits, because they know that there is no future with trumpism, it is just, you know anger and resentment, not a governing philosophy and there is no way forward. so, i think the republican party obviously needs to transition and i think the results so transition and i think the results so far tonight bear that out. you mean your former colleagues who are still in the senate. we don't hear them speak out against trump. they have hardly spoke out about donald trump in the last four year, are they telling you stuff in private? yes, there is tremendous fear of the president, and his control of the republican base. this is the president's party now. but most of my former colleagues, who have elected positions, know there is really no future there. it is a demographic cul—de—sac, and so when you see states today, and you will, like texas, getting close, texas will still be red tonight but it is

getting closer, so, we know as republicans elected republicans at least we have to change. it is kind of an extraordinary position, the one you are laying out. the scenario you are painting for us as a republican former senator yourself, you are saying that there are a lot of elected republicans sitting in the senate right now who don't really want their sitting republican president to win another term in office, is that the situation that you are describing in america at the moment? yes. most definitely. they aspire to do more... could they have doning in about it by speaking about against him. would it have changed much in if enough of them had it would have, but we could never get enough people to do it, and that may not have done it any way, the president has a real hold on the base of the party. that won't last, and i think a big election loss really tends to, you know, focus the party, and i think

that we will see that tonight. and i hope that republicans realise that you know, there isjust, there is no future. trying to drill down on the base even further, and thatjust doesn't get you anywhere. if you lock at what the president has done the party, the down ballot republicans over the past four year msh the midterms we lost, we lost the house of representative, we will likely lose the senate tonight. we lost 350 legislative seat nationwide, seven governorships, the republican party has been hollowed out and will continue to be hollows out and will continue to be hollows out if he is re—elected and most of moy republican colleagues know that. would you run for the presidency if donald trump loses tonight?” would you run for the presidency if donald trump loses tonight? i don't think the party will switch that fast! over the next couple of years to welcome a one who was so critical of the president. but the party has to change, and somebody who views

the republican party as more of a big tent party, after mitt romney lost in 2012 we conducted so—called autopsy where we determined that the party had to appeal to a broader electorate, and then donald trump came along and we chased a populist, and you can win an election here or there, on populist themes like that, but, pretty soon you run out of ageing white voters like me, so we have to change. well, thank you, that as an ageing white voter thank you forjoining oui’ programme. white voter thank you forjoining our programme. you bet, thank you. we are projecting connecticut for joe biden. no surprise, a state close to new york, to east of it. seven electoral college vote, used to be big in the hedge fund industry but a lot moved to florida. strongly there for the democrats, as nearly every new england state is and in the other mirror image, a state that was always going to stay with donald

trump, south dakota, we are now protecting for mr trump, a state he w011 protecting for mr trump, a state he won easily again in 2016. one of the states with a small population, a lot of land, small population, only three electoral college votes because it hasn't got enough of a population to have a lot of people in the house, and it has two senators so it gets three electoral couege senators so it gets three electoral college votes there. a state that is in contention is a surprise. this would be a surprise until 2020, texas. 60 pursuits % of the vote has been counted in texas -- 66% of the vote has been counted in texas —— 66% of the vote has been counted, they are both on a9% and we are unable to project to the winner will be. the significance at this stage is that it is a toss up and in contention and this would not have happened in previous presidential

elections in modern times. we shouldn't be talking about texas at all. you'd just tick it off into the republican camp and move on, as we used to do with george as well, and we we re used to do with george as well, and we were saying that is also in contention. no state other than california is as big as texas but georgia is quite a big state, quite a young population, one of the fastest—growing states in the union as well with florida. let's go to oui’ as well with florida. let's go to our cbs reporter in atlanta, georgia. mark, can you bring us up—to—date? georgia. mark, can you bring us up-to-date? hello, andrew. this is an election watch return party in atla nta. an election watch return party in atlanta. all the folks who would be inside are now sitting outside watching the returns come in. they are excited, mostly democrats and excited because georgia doesn't normally think of itself as a battle ground state. it has been reliably

republican for many years. this state is changing, is growing younger and more diverse and democrats genuinely believe this could be the year that a democrat wins, thatjoe biden could carry the state of georgia. the early returns we re state of georgia. the early returns were a record they have been many states. a million georgians already voted by the time polls open this morning so that when polls opened, there were no reports of crazy long lines, wait times were reasonable, there were minor problems. the issue 110w there were minor problems. the issue now is counting the votes. there has been a problem. in downtown atlanta in the professional basketball arena they were processing absentee ballots, paper ballots. a water pipe burst. they had to put the counting on hold. when the accounting resume is an open question. it could happen to like but officially from the cou nty to like but officially from the county office it might not happen for another day or two. so,

county office it might not happen foranother day ortwo. so, georgia, a key battle ground state, might not have its results are known until possibly tomorrow or later. they hope not but it is a possibility and depending on the rest of america that could give a fair number of republicans and democrats in a state of suspense. it could indeed because george is an important state and 30% of the vote has been counted and it isn't just of the vote has been counted and it isn'tjust an of the vote has been counted and it isn't just an important state for the presidential election, there are two senate fights going on there, and the route to democrat control of the senate could also be through georgia, and i assume they will be delayed as well. indeed, if neither side, if neither of them gets 50%, then they are going to have to have a run—off and we won't know the result of that and to early january. this is the only states, georgia, that has both of its us senate seat on the ballot, both held by

republicans, both facing stiff challenges from democratic candidates. in one of the races, there were three republican candidates and two democrats which will go to a run—off. the other one is less clear but as you mentioned in the event of a close race these absentee ballots could affect the tabulation of the us senate seat races along with the presidential races along with the presidential race so a races along with the presidential race so a lot is riding on the downtown basketball arena and the folks inside manually processing these ballots, getting back on track, getting ahead of this tabulation process because a lot of people obviously want to know what the results are, want to learn who their next us president is and also one of the next senators, which could possibly decide control of the us senate. so, just to clarify, what we are waiting for now is all the ballots that were sent in early, thatis ballots that were sent in early, that is where the delay and hitch

has been in terms of counting them? we have all the on the day ballots counted now, have we?” we have all the on the day ballots counted now, have we? i don't know all the ballots have been counted, i don't know if that is true but what we are waiting for a absentee ballots. they've tabulated 86,000 of them and i have heard they have 50,000 ballots to go so it is a time—consuming process. when they are able to resume the processing and tabulation of the ballots is unclear but until they do, depending how close the rest of the georgia returns are, we might not know who the winner of these races ends up being. mark, thank you, you are an interesting place tonight, in atla nta, interesting place tonight, in atlanta, georgia. thank you for joining us on the bbc. let's get some more graphics, some more states that have been called. colorado has been projected for biden, nine electoral college votes.

it used to be a swing state, more conservative but it is one of those states that is becoming more reliably democratic. we can also call north dakota, that is projected for donald trump with three electoral college votes. no surprise in that one, north dakota solidly republican state. two more states we have been able to call for you. we will speak to the bbc‘s disinformation correspondent. i know someone disinformation correspondent. i know someone thought that was me but it isn't! the full title is bbc‘s disinformation and social media correspondent, marianna spring, she is in the bbc newsroom. we know there has been a lot of disinformation around. social media is full of it. as it played a big role in this 2020 election campaign? we have definitely seen a lot of conspiracy theories being shared online in the build—up to this election. that is everything from

conspiracy theories suggesting donald trump didn't have coronavirus, promoted by democrat supporters to this conspiracy theory, a baseless conspiracy, saying that trump is waging war on satanic paedophiles. the first person who supports the qanon theory in georgia, she hasjust been elected. in a great deal of voting disinformation falsehoods about whether postal voting will be fraudulent, and that isn'tjust in the build—up to the election but today. we've seen all kinds of unsubstantiated rumours about fraud, suggestions that people are being intimidated at polling stations which is something people should look out for on the social media feeds. and the concern is that allegations of voter fraud or suggestions that one camp might announce they've won on social media or something like that could happen which is what we end the social media sites are keeping an eye on. anything floating round tonight? i'm

intrigued with the idea someone has been elected to the us congress believing the qanon conspiracy, but any new conspiracies floating tonight you can get to grips with all signs of rational chinese interference? surprisingly not. we haven't seen any new conspiracy theories are made but one thing that has become clear is that a lot of the disinformation in the build—up to polling day has come from domestic sources, it appears to have originated in the us are the foreign interference we have been analysing actually seems to have co—opted or capitalised on that polarised conversation already happening online so you can expect in the weeks after the selection we might realise that there were people in russia or iran or china spreading voting disinformation and amplifying that on social media but right now we don't have that answer. and today the fbi and new york attorney general announced they are

investigating a spate of robo calls around the country telling people to stay home, not go out to vote, telling them it wasn't safe. what have you heard about that? is this more of the domestic interference? i guess it doesn't always take the form of something on facebook, right? that's an important point and thatis right? that's an important point and that is a way of targeting voters who don't use social media with disinformation. there were reports across the us people receiving calls saying stay home, stay safe, you can vote tomorrow, all of that is untrue and officials are very concerned about the impact it could have. it is unclear where it's come from and there were reports of similar calls in other countries in the build—up to this so it is unclear who is doing this. it could be foreign actors, it could be domestic and it has happened at a late hour so it makes you question why you would do this and hasn't had any impact? it has been widespread the less. thanks, marianna.

let's check in with north carolina. a correspondent is in charlotte. larry, what's happening in north carolina, are we going to get a result anytime soon? it's hard to tell. people are on a knife edge because this could go any way and so tight is it that the attorney general here sent out a tweet warning north carolina and is to be wa ry warning north carolina and is to be wary of any calls telling them some of those disinformation calls were happening here, some robo calls were telling voters not to vote today that they can vote tomorrow because of long lines which is completely fake, and the attorney general told the population here please ignore it, this is your last chance to vote. right now the polls have closed in north carolina, over half of the votes have been counted and it is too early to call. however, do interesting things to point out. the new york times think there is a 73% chance of president trump winning north carolina again. however, fox

news, the president's favourite channel, is saying that, actually there is a 92% chance ofjoe biden winning north carolina which is confusing people here. we are at a social distance to watch party. people don't want to predict because it is hard to tell and they hope to get results in but let me talk to someone get results in but let me talk to someone who's been campaigning and talking to people, the coach of the women's campaign in charlotte. how do you feel about the numbers? the new york times says the president is likely to win again but fox news is biden will win. the numbers are different so it is hard to predict so different so it is hard to predict so i'm cautiously optimistic and i will try to go with the fox news numbers! you are out there promoting the biden harris ticket, why? why? because we never predicted donald trump would never win four years ago and we have seen one bad decision

after another, one terrible policy after another, one terrible policy after another. and i feel we need to get our country back. here there have been democrats around the clock just trying to get the vote out, to try to get everybody's vote because every vote counts. we've tried to get the latina vote out, the african—american vote out and it is so african—american vote out and it is so important. we have been going down the wrong course in this country and we need to veer back. you told me that you are not a citizen, you chose not to be, but then president trump got elected and that changed your mind. what happened? at that point in 2016 when i saw donald trump when i thought, i can't sit out elections any more. i'd always been very involved in

politics, that i felt i needed to cast a vote. so i quickly became a us citizen. and, you know, this is my first presidential election, actually, i've been voting. how will you feel if president trump wins ain? you feel if president trump wins again? i will be devastated, you feel if president trump wins again? iwill be devastated, i really will. because i feel that if biden wins we have a lot of work to do to take back our country, to kind of correct some of the bad policies we've put in place with president trump. i think if trump wins again, this isjust going back down the wrong cause. what does it say to you that it wrong cause. what does it say to you thatitis wrong cause. what does it say to you that it is so close right now and it is impossible to tell who will win north carolina? it is very disturbing to me. it is very disturbing to me. it is very disturbing because i feel that... this is one of the worst presidents we've had. he has trampled over the

constitution. there has been so many wrong things in this presidency. so, for me, to see that it is very close is really concerning. all right, thank you very we have a guest who willjoin us there so everybody is waiting for that result, even that dog. thank you very much. passions are so intense. and the dog vote, thatis are so intense. and the dog vote, that is what i want to know! how did the dog vote? how did my dog vote when my dog went? alabama, this is washington, dc, but alabama we can call it for president trump. nine electoral college votes, no surprise there, one interesting thing, it is there, one interesting thing, it is the one senate seat that the democrats think they might lose. doug jones could lose his seat tonight. we can bring you one senate race out in colorado where the

sitting senator, cory gardner, is projected to have lost to the challenger, who is the democrat, so that would be one take, if we got it, it would be our first switch of the night, that seat in the senate. it was a seat, by the way, it was expected to fall. it was one of the seats the democrats had to take if they were to take control of the senate. north carolina is really close, 80% of the vote counted, mr biden is one percentage point ahead, 50-a9. biden is one percentage point ahead, 50—a9. florida, mr trump biden is one percentage point ahead, 50—a9. florida, mrtrump is biden is one percentage point ahead, 50—a9. florida, mr trump is 51—a9. 95% of the vote counted. he is well ahead, which he is getting with only 596 ahead, which he is getting with only 5% of the vote to be counted. mathematically impossible now for joe biden... that is mathematically impossible now for joe biden. .. that is a mathematically impossible now for joe biden... that is a huge mountain.

all sorts of things are coming in the play, the senate there, north carolina, florida, texas is still counting, mr biden and mr trump are a9-a9, the 73% of the counting, mr biden and mr trump are a9—a9, the 73% of the vote counted. states that have not been in contention four a generation or even two generations, are now in contention. so we have got a lot going, so let's, and just before we we are going to go to the thises but before we do south carolina, sister state to the north. we are projecting that for donald trump. 2996 projecting that for donald trump. 29% of the vote counted, he won it co mforta bly last 29% of the vote counted, he won it comfortably last time. looks like he will win it comfortably next time. north carolina, that is another matter. we shall see. let us go for the latest news with tina daheley. polls in the us presidential election have now closed in most central and east coast states.

as the votes are counted, projected results suggest president trump has held traditional republican states like indiana and kentucky. his democratic challengerjoe biden is on course to hold states like new york and newjersey. none of the key battle ground states have been called for either candidate. all eyes are on florida, where the race is reported to be neck and neck between the candidates. the sunshine state — with 29 electoral college seats — is crucial for a trump victory. after crisscrossing the country in the last few days, the president is back in washington and watching the results come in at the white house. earlier, he said winning was easy but losing was not, whilejoe biden has pledged to restore what he called decency and honour to the white house. will grant reports. everyone after polls had hoped the campaign's ploughed on. joe biden hitting the streets in the battle ground state of pennsylvania in a last ditch pitch for votes. i'm go

to be an american president. just is united states. his third bid for the white house hinges on persuading voters to embrace a less divisive politics and punish the president for his handling of the pandemic. donald trump is fighting for a second term in the white house and has been telling supporters for weeks he can hold on to states he won four years ago, and win another majority in the electoral college. and he is man who doesn't like to lose. winning is easy, losing is never easy, not for me it is not. more than 100 million americans cast their ballots before election day, and that might mean a longer wait for the winner to emerge as postal ballots are counted. much ant this election is unprecedented, turn out could easily break records and in north carolina voters poured into polling stations today. expletive. while the world waits to see how this election unfold, tension is high, within the two campaigns and on america's street, tonight a sense

of how much both sides of this country's political divide believe is at stake. this will be a roller—coaster night and florida as a lwa ys roller—coaster night and florida as always says the key state to watch at this early stage. ifjoe biden ta kes at this early stage. ifjoe biden takes it his path to victory looks much easier, if donald trump wins it again, this could be a very tight race. ben wright, bbc news, washington. americans are also casting ballots for seats in the us congress and are choosing new governors in 11 states. a third of seats are up for grabs in the senate. opinion polls suggest the democrats have a chance of capturing the upper house after six years of republican majorities. if they do, it would help mr biden's legislative programme were he to win the presidency, and hinder mr trump's plans if he gets a second term. the house of representatives is expected to stay under democratic control. the republican senate majority leader — mitch mcconnell — has won re—election for a seventh term in kentucky. but his party is defending hotly contested races in 12 states, while the democrats are defending just two. he spoke at a news conference

after the result was announced. tonight kentuckians said "we're not finished yet." kentucky wants more of the policies that built the best economy in modern history, not socialism, that would stifle prosperity and hurt workers. we want to continue rebuilding our military and leading around the world. not to cut bad deals, orjust hope our adversaries will ignore us. we want to keep treating china like the threat it is, not settle for a future where america slides into second class. we're going to keep standing up for the unborn, not surrender to an elite coastal culture that says the most vulnerable lives are disposable. in other news, the government of austria has confirmed the attack in vienna was carried out by just one gunman. he's been identified as a 20—year—old son of migrants, with dual nationality, who had previously been jailed for trying tojoin

a jihadist group in syria. four people died after he opened fire on monday evening — an elderly man and woman, a young male passer—by and a waitress, while another 22 people were wounded. police have since carried out a series of raids and made 1a arrests. south korea says it's detained a north korean man after he tried to cross the heavily fortified border. the man was spotted crossing barbed wire fences in the demilitarised zone. it's not known if he is a civilian or a member of the military. he was intercepted after a search team was dispatched by the south korean military. there is, of course, much more bbc news online and on your mobile. you can find the latest details and analysis by our correspondents. you can also use our live results map to see all the votes in every us state as they come in. that's on our website — bbc.co.uk/us2020 — or the bbc news app.

that is the latest bbc news, now back to us 2020. it is 9.30 here on the east coast of the united states, we are waiting for the results in several big states, we a re for the results in several big states, we are looking at florida with an eagle eye as those percentages tick up, but it looks very good for donald trump at the moment, very hard the see isn't it andrew, howjoe biden overcomes that lead he has as some 300,000 odd votes down there in florida, with 95% now, of the votes counted, but we are still waiting for several other big states. we have, let us remind ourselves that mr trump had to win florida to have any hope of staying in the white house, whereas mr biden can still have hope of the white house, even if he doesn't win florida. let us cross over to

christian fraser at the bbc touch screen to bring us up—to—date. christian fraser at the bbc touch screen to bring us up-to-date. yes we are getting to the interesting pa rt we are getting to the interesting part of the night. let us check in on florida and i will show you the vote share, as katty said, joe biden now trailing heavily to donald trump in florida, he is 329,000 votes behind, 5%, about 500,000 votes to count so he needs round 70% of those final votes, they will be very close to call if florida because that doesn't look likely, let us check in on north carolina, this really interesting over the next couple of hour, 81% of the vote counted so far, the absentee ballot which skewed heavily towards the democrats, that went in at the beginning of the night so they are counting in person ballots so donald trump very much in the game in north carolina, he is doing what he needs to do, in the south, so long as he ta kes to do, in the south, so long as he takes north carolina. let us look at the map again, we haven't really talked about the midwest, let us dive into michigan where they have

started counting, remember, that the early ballot in michigan, that only was being processed this morning and katty told you earlier it takes a while to row session thelet bahs, you have to open the enslope, check the signatures, they have to be two people there to check it, so that is going to take a couple of days and at the moment what you see, and this is isa at the moment what you see, and this is is a good example, they are counting the in—person ballot today and that shows donald trump in front. if i show you the absentee ballot you will see there, it skews very heavily towards the democrats, so, what you will see, again and we have seen it in other states, is that you will see that narrowing as the count goes forward. let us look at wince, —— wisconsin, very early in the days there, but here we are, 1196 in the days there, but here we are, 11% of the vote counted, joe biden in front. let us look at that absentee vote, yeah, that skews again heavily towards biden, 16 points towards biden. similar

picture that we have seen across those rust belt states tonight. so let us just those rust belt states tonight. so let usjust consider, those rust belt states tonight. so let us just consider, let us put back up the 2016 map and id said tonight he had to get in the game. he is winning at the moment in georgia although there is a big early ballot still to count there, and so that is very much in the balance, north carolina is in the balance. if we were to take the blue pen and mark wisconsin and michigan which polled heavily for biden before election day and you looked at the early ballots and that skewed to biden, pennsylvania, we said it right at the beginning of the night. pennsylvania is the one that donald trump really needs. he can afford to lose arizona. just. but he definitely needs pennsylvania and then, well, let us not talk about that just yet. then, well, let us not talk about thatjust yet. hold on, it is a tie! you have done it. please, we are not talking about the tie. look what he has done katty. it is a tie. stop

him. whoever came one this ridiculous system and let us end with a tie, couldn't they have did it so it was never going to end up with a tie. you know what, before we talk about it, we can come back to that if you want this evening, but that, nebraska two, there is one, there is one electoral college vote in nebraska two. do you remember last week donald trump when off to omaha and people said what is he doing there campaigning for one electoral college vote? that is why he was in omaha. that is why he was there, it is crucial he holds on the that little district in nebraska. it will avoid that 269. that is one scenario. it isjust will avoid that 269. that is one scenario. it is just one, will avoid that 269. that is one scenario. it isjust one, ijust wa nt to scenario. it isjust one, ijust want to show you how fun the electoral college can be. only christian thinks the electoral couege christian thinks the electoral college is fun. i am having a ball

here? he has new toy andrew. give him a new toy and he will have a great week, i work with him every day! before we get to the tie scenario and it is kind of fun for american politics, geeks and we can talk about it more later. can i ask quickly, can you whizz back up with your board, i want to ask you about ohio, that is another one, we are looking at 63% counted. biden 50, trump a9, i am wondering if ohio might be the flip of what we are seeing down in florida. it is a state that is trending red. it is becoming old e it has got not many people who have college degrees comparative to other countries, it is very white compared to other states i mean. joe biden is ahead. what is happening there? don't forget that went into the counting machine first, so, you know, ijust showed you a state where michigan, where donald trump was ahead,

because that early ballot has not been counted. that went in in ohio early and that is why you are seeing biden in front at the moment, now they are counting the in—person ball elot. this is right in the sweet spot for donald trump. it is 75% white. it is older than the national average. nowhere did make america great resonate louder than in the rust belt state of ohio. the democrats thought they were in with a shot with ohio, joe biden went to cleveland, a surprise visit. donald trump won ohio by eight points in 2016, i trump won ohio by eight points in 2016, lam trump won ohio by eight points in 2016, i am looking at the swing right now, i don't think there is enough swing in those counties that have completed their count so far for biden to take it but he is certainly close, but i think, it is only 63% of the vote counted and listening to republicans they feel pretty good about ohio, remember it is more republican these day, for they have a red bull governors

mansion, a republican legislature, he took it by 28 points in 2016. i don't think they have as many concerns here as in north carolina. 0k, concerns here as in north carolina. ok, christian, thank you. christian mentioned michigan there, it is a crucial tait. one of the great lake states that mr trump took in 2016. he needs to hold on to it this time. brenda lawrence is the democrat representative from detroit. in michigan. welcome congresswoman. it looks like your party has lost florida. are you going to do better in michigan? well this is a very serious time for news the united states, especially for me being a person of colour, being a woman, and the policies that we have lived through for four years, this is not an amusing light nor —— night for us

while politics is interesting, my party, the democrat partyt i am more concerned about the direction of our country. america's done for being a country of inclusion, —— known for. a country that promotes the values and inclusiveness of race, religion, and so many people flock to america because of that. i can tell you historically we have seen our country can tell you historically we have seen our country fight through civil rights, through women's rights, through gay rights, and we have historically come to the right place, and i can tell you tonight is, is not an easy night for me because i am seeing a country that is very divided, we have always been a country that promotes democracy, and

looks like we have some trouble with the connections there with the representative. we live in a digital world and sometimes the calls go down. are you back, congresswoman? thank you for that. you seem almost upset, congresswoman. are you upset because there is a serious prospect mrtrump will be because there is a serious prospect mr trump will be re—elected?|j because there is a serious prospect mr trump will be re-elected? i will say that another four years of this administration would be extremely ha rd administration would be extremely hard for the united states and around the country. i don't know if world leaders like to be insulted. i don't know if world leaders like where the americans are forming alliances and working together and now to have america pull out of all of those relationships... do you feel it is a prospect? my question was do you fear it is a prospect?”

know the democratic party has worked hard. it is early. i know in michigan we have had an amazing amount of energy that has been shown to be supportive of new leadership. so it is early and i am not concerned, i am just really committed to this process. we have seen committed to this process. we have seen early reports of a substantial black turnout in wayne county, detroit, where you are, and also in the county around flint, can you confirm that? yes, it has been re cord confirm that? yes, it has been record turnout. and we know my district is majority african—american, one of the largest hispanic, jewish and arab american population so my district is very diverse. and we haven't been counted yet so the majority of the population, excuse me, is in the

south—eastern part of the state, and we are waiting for those numbers to come in. my original question to you was, given your party has lost florida, are you more hopeful that you will win back michigan? yes, i am. i understand you used to work for the postal service. for many, many years. and it has had a real challenge this time. i saw there we re challenge this time. i saw there were a.5 billion pieces of electoral material through the post. ifear we may have lost you again. oh, you're back. how has the postal service, with its huge rise in male in votes, how has it coped where you are? we have partnered with the postal service. i know the operations and i've connected with the postmaster of detroit and this region to ensure that we sweep and go through the

postal facilities to make there is no ballot surround. there is a law that allows postal votes to be counted if it is lost and found by today. so, we are... there will be some glitches, nothing is perfect. but i have confidence in the postal service. mckay, congresswoman, thank you forjoining us on this election night of 2020. the congresswoman is night, the night is young and the numbers are coming in but there are some people already feeling agitated. let's go to the streets outside the white house. our correspondent is in black lives matter plaza right outside the white house, the scene of huge protests after the death of george floyd so what's happening down there right now? we have been here four hours

after having been near the white house. it has been fenced off. it had been something of a celebration, people celebrating what they hoped would be the end of the trump administration... things have changed completely, you can see the police who didn't appear to be on the streets around here very much at all suddenly appeared. they were chasing one man who apparently tried to assault one of the officers, they pinned him to the ground, and then started a very familiar sort of confrontation, a huge dividing line through american society, a big dividing line for the selection as well of course. the issue of race, of law and order as well. and now it is outside the white house after having been something of a pleasant atmosphere early in the evening. and

keep an eye on that for us, we will come back to you, the line is a little glitchy because there are a lot of people trying to get signals from the area of town, right outside the white house, a lot of crews wanting connection. its tiffany trump campaign. women for trump, we have the campaign. you've been working ever since the president elected to get the president re—elected and here we are on election night and i imagine you are looking up florida and feeling good about florida but that was one of the president had to hold in order to have a place in the white house, he has to do a lot more and there area he has to do a lot more and there are a lot more states coming in that are a lot more states coming in that are looking tight and potentially going joe biden's re. how do you feel about the state of play?” going joe biden's re. how do you feel about the state of play? i feel the wind is in southern states. i

said in 2016 and i'll say it again, losing florida or texas is like putting socks and a rooster. i'll tell you why. i was co—chair of women for mccain, and one of the reasons that we felt that we had lost in 2008 was the failure to reach out to hispanics, latinos and racial groups. working—class americans who own small businesses, her entrepreneurial, who needed a second chance with the economy. and the campaign has concentrated on its latina outreach which is why we have been doing well in florida, should do well in arizona. individuals like women voters, who are really important to us, important in 2016, they broke for donald trump. women are not single issue voters. they are not single issue voters. they are concerned right now not about getting sick from covid, they are

concerned about the collateral damage economically to their small businesses and when i was on the bus doors, that is what the story i heard over and over, is that trump builds a robust economy, and we think you can do it again. he had re cord think you can do it again. he had record unemployment among blacks and hispanics. i think these individuals are breaking for trump. we have had many walk away from the democratic party. it be razor—thin. it was razor—thin in wisconsin and michigan, they were surprised they lost in 2016. don't want to count my chickens before they hatch but things are looking very good for us right now. i have to say, i've never tried to put socks on a rooster but ican tried to put socks on a rooster but i can only imagine how difficult that is. i am looking at texas at the end, 76% of the vote has been counted. donald trump is at 50%, joe biden a8%. it is close even in

texas. once texas goes, whether it is in 2020 or 202a or 2028, it'll be almost impossible for a republican to win the white house again. the la st to win the white house again. the last time a democrat one texas was jimmy carter back in 1976. obviously, the expensive senate race in the close senate race with ted cruz was a harbinger of what would happen in the suburbs. i am not surprised the suburbs broke for biden. but it is a very large state. and we have conservative rural working class voters sticking with trump. the margins are thinning. we won by nine points in 2016. my project maybe 3%—a% this particular election cycle so we have some work to do in texas. our demographics are

shifting. but also the fact is that i believe we will see a record numberof i believe we will see a record number of hispanics and latinos get out to vote. and they traditionally often stay at home. so i think that could be good news, especially because it is about the economy, and isaid in because it is about the economy, and i said in 2016 and i'll say it again, it comes down to the economy, looking at our gdp growth, the fact unemployment figures are rising, we are now 8%, which is good news. we are now 8%, which is good news. we are on the right path. i think trump has been promises made, promises kept. he is unorthodox, unconventional as a candidate and president, absolutely! even if you don't like his style, you will vote for values which is smaller government, fewer regulations, and the fact we have now two conservative supreme court justices

which will appeal to women as well as other voters. ok, thank you very much, down in texas for us, a state mitt romney won in 2012 by 16 percentage points, trump won it by nine percentage points, you heard it there it could be won by three percentage points this time around, thatis percentage points this time around, that is the trend in texas, it is moving, it might not live tonight but it is moving way. let's democrats move further west where that trend has been under way in arizona. a traditionally staunch republican state but it has been moving more democrat over the years. indeed they picked up a senate seat there, democrats quite recently. it is dominated by maricopa county, the biggest urban county, 5 million people living there, it is the greater phoenix area, the biggest cou nty greater phoenix area, the biggest county mr trump won anywhere in the

nation in 2016. it is now in contention. sophie long is there and shejoins us now. contention. sophie long is there and she joins us now. thank you very much. you join me at a republican party in chandler, arizona, where people are getting ready to celebrate. whether they get to do that and champagne corks will be popping that and champagne corks will be popping or whether they will be drowning their sorrows remains to be seen drowning their sorrows remains to be seen because this could be a tight race. the polls have closed, they closed an hour ago, they are told hundreds of people are in line and if they were in line before 7pm when the polls closed their votes will count but nonetheless maricopa cou nty count but nonetheless maricopa county so we should start getting results are a pm so only a few minutes away. i'm joined results are a pm so only a few minutes away. i'mjoined here by results are a pm so only a few minutes away. i'm joined here by ken and janet who i will try to talk to despite my masking noise. do you think you'll be celebrating tonight is going i sure hope so. it feels like we will but you never know, we are hoping. this has been a very different election view because this

is now a battle ground state. it was always reliably republican so why do you think that is? it is a trump effect? i think it was the demographics that changed over the years. a lot of out-of-state folks have moved to arizona. yes because it likes what the state has to offer so it likes what the state has to offer so the demographics has changed, which is why it has become a battle ground state where before it was always red. and now we don't know. is it purple? so... it'll stay red, hoping for that. there has been a huge amount of energy, hasn't there? tv ads coming at you, radio ads online, do you like being a battle ground state ? online, do you like being a battle ground state? your votes will count here, right? they do. i liked it better when you didn't have to fight so better when you didn't have to fight so hard but we are hopeful we can maintain the red colour. it has been different with the energy. something

we've never experienced before. we are not political people. and there has been so many grassroots types of events that have started up from flag waving at street corners, to getting on our cars and trucks come and joining others with flags, it is positive, very positive, so we've just gone on with the wave and have been enjoying it. right. i'll let you enjoy your party, thank you for speaking to us. it could be a very close race here. it is in contention which is remarkable. the last time a democratic candidate was voted in here in arizona was in 1996 and before that it was kerry truman. we will start to get the first results ina will start to get the first results in a couple of minutes. ok, thank you for that. so far the swing has been 0.a% to biden, not exactly a blue wave though in some of the close rust belts would be enough to

swing him into his camp. hejust needs to take them back again. and hold what hillary clinton had and then he can be in the white house. we have several states now which are closing their polling stationings and hopefully we will be bringing us their results soon, a couple that have interesting to watch. let us run through them. there is nevada, iowa, utah and there is montana, the two that we will keep an eye on during the course of the next hour or so are during the course of the next hour or so are nevada, and iowa, iowa went for donald trump in 2016. nevada that went for hillary clinton. nevada is too close to call. iowa too early to project at the moment. utah, which is a solidly republican state, too early to project, but i would be amazed if utah went any other way so they are

usually solidly republican, we can assume those six votes will stay in president trump's hands. i think” think that would be a reasonable assumption, non—controversial. let us assumption, non—controversial. let us look at where we are with the electoral college, as these votes come. injoe electoral college, as these votes come. in joe biden electoral college, as these votes come. injoe biden has 89. donald trump has 72. there is a lot more numbers to add to that, before any, either of them can get to 270. that is the winning line. let us go back to christian fraser, at the bbc‘s touch board. yes, that is how that translates on the map, if i were to look at that at any other time i would say that is how it should look. those are solid red and blue state, joe biden 89 to donald trump's 72. i want to rattle through a numberof trump's 72. i want to rattle through a number of states, show you the state of play at the moment. let us start in florida. it is almost ready to be called in florida. 382,000 vote lead donald trump has there, withjust a% of vote lead donald trump has there, with just a% of the vote to count. don't be surprised if they call that

in the next hour or so. let us have a look at north carolina. i have been watching through through the course of the night. i will show show you something in a second. north carolina, 86% of the vote counted. you can see it is narrowing all the time. the early ballot went to the vote machine when the polls closed. now they are counting in—person balls, it was 80, 60, now it isjust over 20,000 vote lead thatjoe biden it isjust over 20,000 vote lead that joe biden has, it isjust over 20,000 vote lead thatjoe biden has, it is on a knife—edge in north carolina. what i wa nt knife—edge in north carolina. what i want to show you, is swing. swing is when you have completed counties, when you have completed counties, when counties have been completed, then owe can compare what happened in 2020, compared to 2016. that swing is not enough for the democrats to take north carolina. 0.5. it moves towards democrats but it is no enough to give joe biden north carolina. similarly in georgia, there is, you see here in georgia, there is, you see here in georgia, there is quite a big lead

for donald trump, at the moment. but remember, the mail—in ballot will be counted in over the next two days, look at swing, early days in georgina callender georgia but that not enough to give donald trump, come on. . . not enough to give donald trump, come on... there you go. that swing not enough to give joe biden georgia. texas, 70 through texas, 77%. donald trumpjust texas, 70 through texas, 77%. donald trump just eking out a bigger lead here, he has 221,000 vote lead in texas, the extraordinary figure from texas, the extraordinary figure from texas this evening, i total you earlier is the turn out. 11.5 million people, that is up 2.7 million people, that is up 2.7 million on the vote in 2016. let us just show you the absentee ballot, thatis just show you the absentee ballot, that is being fed in through the night and that skews towards joe biden, so it is still close in texas, but things looking ok there. so, just quickly look back at 2016, isaid so, just quickly look back at 2016, i said tonight, donald trump if he will get back to the white house

needs to win florida, needs to hold the southern state, georgia, north carolina, looking ok for him at the moment. it is narrowing in north carolina, texas not great but in the red column for now, so we are starting to look as we were saying at the early part of the evening, as these rust belt states up in the midwest, what it probably means for us midwest, what it probably means for us out it is we might not get a result. because arizona on its own, if it turned blue forjoe biden wouldn't be enough without a couple of these states in the midwest, so, pennsylvania will become crucial, they are only in the early part the count. 21% of the vote counted, donald trump has a five point lead. let me show you the absentee ballot. a0%, they don't have a tradition of early voting in pennsylvania but it skews heavily to joe early voting in pennsylvania but it skews heavily tojoe biden as does the early ballot in michigan and wisconsin as well, so there is reason for hope for democrats up there in the north—west in the midwest, but, in the sun belt area

there is a lot of optimism for the republicans. yes, they may to go back to that traditional blue wall the democrats lost to donald trump in 2016. that may be the way thatjoe biden gets backin may be the way thatjoe biden gets back in to the white house, by the way on wisconsin, i am hearing they are not going to be counting absentee ballots in the area of milwaukee, a heavily african—american area until 6am tomorrow so that maybe another one we don't get, room here, i am starting to see room for lots of litigation. we were reminded going into this we had to be patient and we will need that patience and both sides, ideally are going to need that but whether they have it, andrew, is a different question. so the night could still break forjoe biden and if it does italy be round these great lake rust belt states that mr trump won in 2016, and the

joe biden needs to take back from him if he has to get the white house. so that could still happen. but so far, this night is not going the way the opinion pollsters told us, again. as it did in 2016, didn't go the way it told us. it is much lfs the caveat would be we don't have those absentee ballots counted from the rust belt states, as we have said those ballots are just as valid as the ballots on the day. they are just valid as the ballots on the day. they arejust as... valid as the ballots on the day. they are just as. .. of course, they are. so we have to wait and see until those are counted.” are. so we have to wait and see until those are counted. i seems to be tighter thatten the polls indicated, there —— than the polls indicated. that leaves us with not yet knowing how this is going to end, particularly because, as katty was saying there, a lot the result, the counting isn't going to happen tonight. it is going to go into tomorrow and the rest of the week. we are joined

by mick mulvaney, a former trump chief of staff. he is in south carolina. thank you for joining he is in south carolina. thank you forjoining us, are you beginning to think you might be able to win this now? yeah, actually i think florida has been extraordinarily interesting, the last time i checked, i stepped away from the tv, the president was up by about 3% in florida. florida is a state that is counting its absentee ballots away. katty's point is well made on many of the rust belt states by florida's ballot will be tonight. president is up ballot will be tonight. president is up by ballot will be tonight. president is up by3 ballot will be tonight. president is up by 3 points there without the western panhandle of the state in a different time zone. it is a heavily republican area so even if the presidentjust holds republican area so even if the president just holds tonnes that 3% lead now, that is some place between 4 lead now, that is some place between aand 10 lead now, that is some place between a and 10 points of overperformance versus the polling averages. he was expected by many mollsters to lose florida by as many as six or seven points. if that is a bellwether state, it bodes extraordinarily well

for the president. if it is not you can't use it for anything but it is interesting to look to north carolina and georgia, the next place you the see filter through would be north carolina, and georgia, understand that president is close to pulling even if not ain north carolina in the last 20 minutes or so carolina in the last 20 minutes or so and trending well in georgia as well. florida, north carolina however will not finish counting the votes for as many as nine days after tonight so it could be interesting tonight so it could be interesting to watch there. but florida continuing to get a lot attention here and rightly so. how concerned are you florida is not a bell west weather state, that the reason mr trump did well looks like he did better than in 2016 is because of the peculiar characteristic of the hispanic vote. it is more varied, a lot of them have come from socialist country, communist country rthey are more inclined to the

republicans, none of that pretends to the rust belt, not of it pertains to the rust belt, not of it pertains to michigan or ohio or pennsylvania, where the early signs there are not so where the early signs there are not so good for you. that is a fair point. that is why i say look to north carolina and georgia because if it was the effect of the hispanic community, you are right, that wouldn't necessarily translate. but, if it is for example overperformance by the president in the african america community that would translate in north carolina and georgia so you watch the dominoes as they fall. keeping in mind ebb's, we will wait the to see how these things shake out in the course of the next couple of days and it will be that long but you are looking for trends, evidence, for some sort of sign, a cannery in the coal mine and florida is one. georgia and north carolina next. given how close so far in the night the contest is and

as you have said, it could take the next day, the next two days before we get a much clearer picture. would you accept, it would be wrong to claim victory on the basis of as a results we will get tonight?” claim victory on the basis of as a results we will get tonight? i have heard a lot about that and everybodiage acknowledging it doesn't make any difference, a concession doesn't matter, the declaration of victory doesn't matter, it is the vote of the electoral college in gianna counts, i think the president said he wouldn't do a preliminary, many of the democrats have encouraged joe biden not to concede if it comes to that, again! biden not to concede if it comes to that, again i think that is one of the things that the media talks about the candidate, i don't think it is relevant to the outcome certainly, and could probably end up being much ado about nothing.“ if the president was to appear in the white house and say look, folks it's won, that would be wrong, wouldn't it? but it is not going to happen. he is not going to show up in the next hour and say that, that would

be foolish for him to do, because he could end up with tremendous egg on his face and the president doesn't wa nt his face and the president doesn't want that by any stretch of the imagination. i recognise the fact that the media, especially overseas makes him out to be a caricature, he is much more typical of american politicians than i think folks realise overseas, a lot of what you are seeing tone is ordinary course of business, talk about the number of business, talk about the number of lawyer, that happens in every single race. that is not unusual for us. single race. that is not unusual for us. parties wondering ant whether or not late votes are going to be counted. happens in every race. the first race i ran for took 12 days after the election day to determine who won. this happens all the time. this is really more close to ordinary course of business than i think people realise. it is close to ordinary course of business and we often don't know the result on election night but there isa result on election night but there is a reason that people are concerned that this could be entering if we don't have a result of this election until say friday, which is possible with the rust belt

states counting late. there is a reason people are concerned about violence in the country, there is a reason people are concerned that the president may say all of those votes that came in on election day or that we re that came in on election day or that were posted, they are actually fake ballots a nd were posted, they are actually fake ballots and they should be contested. it is not, it is not as normal, the kind of language we have heard from the president about this is not the kind of language we normally hear from a president. you follow american politics as close aas anybody, let me ask you this question, do you think there is more likelihood of violence if the president wins or loses?” likelihood of violence if the president wins or loses? i think the likelihood might come if there are three days in which there is no president declared, and there are lots of lawsuits launched and it looks like the president is trying to say that absentee ballots should not be counted. for example in pennsylvania where they are allowed to count them for three days after the election if they arrive. there isa the election if they arrive. there is a reason you the election if they arrive. there is a reason you are the election if they arrive. there is a reason you are seeing the, they are heavily democrat area, they are

worried about a backlash to the president winning not from his supporters if he lose, so again, i know there is a lot of discussion in the media about civil unrest, i don't see it happening tonight. again, think we will trend back towards the mean. is this an unusual election? yes, is it the most important in our lifetime? yes. the la st important in our lifetime? yes. the last time we said that was four years ago, so last time we said that was four years ago, so i get it, i understand it this president has a different style. if there isn't a result until friday you think the president will be happy to say there isn't a result yet we will wait until all thelet bahs yet we will wait until all thelet ba hs have been yet we will wait until all thelet bahs have been counted? if that is how long it takes. if he doesn't need pennsylvania why would he wait? if you win other states it will be meaningless. it won't make any difference. i am assuming that the electoral college has not been called yet. we are still waiting for the votes because they are pivotal. pivotal. your point is well made. if

all comes down to pennsylvania and it is not counted yet, i think you will see both campaigns do what they would do under the circumstances which is send in armies of lawyers to make sure that things get counted appropriately. we have done this before, 2000, the election in 2000 was almost a mirror image of that, if that is the way it shakes up this year. it is not always pretty or quick, it can be ugly in terms of the way we get to the results but we always get there and the country soldiers on which is what i expect you will have here one way or the other in the next couple of days.“ looks like mr trump is going to hold on to north carolina which we won last time. it looks like she going to win it again. i am surprise you claim this is all business as usual. i know american politics is lawyered up i know american politics is lawyered upfor i know american politics is lawyered up for whatever you do, but the extent of lawyering up this time is huge. and normally we do know the

result on the night or very soon after, the year 2000 only involved florida, this time it could involve three, four, five states. and that is not business as usual, i would suggest. that hasn't happened since 1876. what is your basis for saying there are more lawyers involved in this election? both the republicans and democrats have been proud and boasting to us about how many lawyers they've hired compared to previous years. i ran for the state house of representatives in south carolina 2006, i represented 35,000 people. there were teams of lawyers involved them because machines didn't function early in the race and there was a legal dispute whether or not times would be extended. there are 50 different states each of them with different voting laws and sometimes they vary by cou nty voting laws and sometimes they vary by county within the state. lawyers are part of the american political process. we had an outreach in the la st process. we had an outreach in the last couple of days asking for

republican lawyer volunteers. the democrats did the same thing so i hear what you're saying and it sounds unusual but for us it isn't really that much different than what we deal with all the time. your point that in 2000 it was florida, that's correct, but a lot of other states were very close. it just happened to come down to florida at the end and you see a lot of states that could go either way at a late date, i get it but isn't that far outside of the ordinary. we will see what happens as the night, week and month goes on. thank you forjoining us. month goes on. thank you forjoining us. we have one more, new mexico we can say is projected forjoe biden, thatis can say is projected forjoe biden, that is five electoral college votes, we a re that is five electoral college votes, we are starting to feel in the map but as we were hearing in that conversation, it looks, andrew, this will go on, and it could go on over tonight, and potentially into the next two or three days.

listening to mr mulvaney, he knows donald trump very welcome he was as active chief of staff, if it comes down to pennsylvania and we don't have a result there, it will as the president has said to be an election that could potentially be decided in the courts, and if it follows the florida trajectory, being decided in the courts means it ends up in the supreme court and at the moment the us supreme court is 6—3 conservative versus democratic liberal members, and i'm not saying that'll happen but that is the legal signposting people might want to keep an eye on because we might not get the votes from every state until thursday or friday. james is in las vegas, nevada, for us. las vegas home for lots of union workers, a place that has been decimated by the coronavirus because all of those hotels on the strip which might be full of people normally partying, they can't be full of people, there

is nobody there, they can't stay in them so which way... nevada is interesting. it is small but it could potentially, if this is down to the wire, super close, nevada could end up being kingmaker, potentially. absolutely. just to say, the polling has naturally closed yet here because of technical problems here in las vegas, all sorts of huge queues this morning, people queueing in the sun so it won't close for another a5 minutes but you're right. here in las vegas, huge issues with the economy, massive unemployment, some of the casinos haven't been open pretty much all year. when you're thinking about nevada, you've got to think about nevada, you've got to think about las vegas, las vegas is three quarters of the population here so the big issue is will the voters blame the commander in chief, donald trump, orthe blame the commander in chief, donald trump, or the democrats, blame the commander in chief, donald trump, orthe democrats, because the democrats run the state. so it is an interesting battle. the other thing as latina voters, 30% of the voters,

which way will they go? a very different set of latino votes is a very interesting to see what will happen on the night. at the moment, too close to call. bernie sanders won the democratic primary, he was very popular with union members, with latinos, he was promising a minimum $15 an hour as the minimum wage, he was going to make it easier for people to become members of unions. do you think you've bernie sanders had been the nominee in nevada, it might have made a difference for the democrats? would it have made it easierfor the democrats to take the state back ain? democrats to take the state back again? it might have been because the ground again for the democrats has gone up, huge catering industry is here, unions here, so generally they are very good at getting the vote out. one of the issues has been there is so much unemployment but thickly affecting latinos, i spoke

to one person here who said he has simply moved out when the casinos closed. he is onlyjust moved back in because some of these casinos are back. it isn't as dead as you might think. but getting that boat out, usually the democrats are good at getting blue collars out in las vegas but it was far more difficult for them this time so very interesting race here. ok, thank you very much forjoining us therefrom las vegas, we will keep an eye on the nevada race because who knows, when you need every single little electoral college vote, suddenly a whole load of states, if we get to christian's nightmare 269—269, there will be a lot of little states that become very important. that is not his nightmare, that is his dream! this will keep him in thejob his nightmare, that is his dream! this will keep him in the job four days and days! can i let you in to a secret? christian fraser failed maths oh level. i don't know why we have him in charge of the maths

tonight! it's a very good question. while you are talking to nevada, i've been looking at how mr trump is doing better than expected in florida but seem to be in trouble but ina florida but seem to be in trouble but in a number of rust belt states. ohio, 70% of the vote counted, he is doing pretty well there now. in pennsylvania, turnbull county, which is in the western part of the border, nearly all the votes have been counted and mr trump is ahead of his 2016 performance. things are not looking so good in michigan or wisconsin but the rust belt is not as bad as i thought it might bejust one hour ago. i can tell you we are projecting louisiana for donald trump, no surprise there, a southern state. eight electoral college votes

go there. it went for mr trump last time, one of these states that rarely changes. dallas, texas, is a key city in what is now a state that has been in contention. let's go to our cbs reporter in dallas. omar, are the democrats beginning to think now we are not quite going to pull off texas tonight? they are having a little bit of a reality check. it is safe to say that. they don't want to put the carriage in front of the horse at this point and some of them are looking ahead to 2024, the next presidential election, because the demographics in texas, with 38 electoral college votes is changing her. when mitt romney ran here, he won, pretty handily. one president

trump won, he beat hillary clinton by nine points which raised a few eyebrows. texas is reliably red. the la st eyebrows. texas is reliably red. the last time texas voted for democrat was in 1976 for last time texas voted for democrat was in1976 forjimmy last time texas voted for democrat was in 1976 forjimmy carter so now people are watching to see if this race is going to be close and if it is how close it'll be. texas hasn't been considered a battle ground state at all. you have the main candidates come here just to raise money, in an oil—rich state, they come here, raise money, talk to their supporters and leave but you don't see money and time spent here. that could change in 2024. keep in mind there is almost 17 million registered voters in texas, 5.6 million voters are latinos. more than 9 million voted early this year. what is interesting, 1.8 million new voters since 2016. we are still tabulating everything here, some of the report is based in the us in texas are having a little

bit of heart palpitations because the texas secretary of state's website has been slow in tabulating so we website has been slow in tabulating so we need to take a deep breath but right now cbs is saying it leans towards president trump. all right, we'll leave it there, thank you for that, from dallas, texas. there is a lot of heart palpitations going on. we have broken pipes, counts close down in certain places, delays in other places and tabulation problems in texas. let's check in with how the democratic campaign is feeling. we will talk to the former mayor of baltimore, a democrat. stephanie, thank you forjoining us. you are, i believe, an official surrogate for the biden campaign, so it is great to have you on the programme. democrats have been suggesting over the last few days that if the vote goes late, if the result comes late, it is good news for donald trump and

it is good news for donald trump and it is good news for donald trump and it is bad news forjoe biden. it is now 10:30pm on the east coast of the united states. doesn'tjoe biden need some of these big states to stop breaking his way in order to feel confident tonight?” stop breaking his way in order to feel confident tonight? i definitely think it would have been great for this all to be over right now but, as you said, things happen. a broken water pipe, polls and have to stay open later than they normally would, so open later than they normally would, so this is expected. what i know is we we re so this is expected. what i know is we were excited to see the voter turnout in the early elections, the democrats have plastered the country with efforts to get mail in ballots in and we have seen very good lines in strong democratic area so we are still very hopeful. again, it would have been great, had this been an early night, but we are in it for the long haul. i am just

early night, but we are in it for the long haul. i amjust looking down the list of states that have started to count, 91% of the vote counted in north carolina, mr trump is ahead. 79% of the vote counted in texas, trouble ahead, 96% counted in florida, trump is ahead. some of the rust belt states is less but 7a% in ohio, mrtrump is rust belt states is less but 7a% in ohio, mr trump is ahead. rust belt states is less but 7a% in ohio, mrtrump is ahead. we rust belt states is less but 7a% in ohio, mr trump is ahead. we are starting to see a pattern of states breaking at this stage for mr trump's direction. do you think that is the trend? or is it a question of what we'd been warned is that there would be absentee ballots counted later and a shift towards the blue side later on? i definitely think we have to wait for the absentee ballots to come in. we have to wait for every single ballot, every single vote to be counted. that is our way single vote to be counted. that is ourway in single vote to be counted. that is our way in this country. and we knew that the republicans, donald trump,

was weighing heavily, relying heavily on the in—person vote today so heavily on the in—person vote today so this is not a surprise. if it comes down to wisconsin, michigan and pennsylvania and we don't get those results until thursday or potentially even friday, what is the democratic strategy for the next three days? the strategy remains the same. we will make sure that every single vote is counted, that is what our democracy is about. we won't let the republicans and donald trump's attorneys try to steal this election. the future of our country is too important and you've seen because of the remarkable number of ballots that were already cast in early voting, it means too much to the people of this country for the vote not to be counted. so you should expect us to be in every place where votes are still being

tabulated until the last vote is counted. can i ask you, why is it such a struggle for you? you are up againstan such a struggle for you? you are up against an incumbent who is widely regarded as unpopular by democrats, hated by democrats, loathed by most of the american media. and who has presided badly, the american people think, over dealing with covid. the economy tanked as a result of covid, which was the one bright spot he had. you are, it doesn't look like you will win texas or north carolina, you've lost florida and it doesn't look like you will win georgia either. why? why do you find it so difficult to win these elections? and the demographics are going in your direction and you still don't seem to be able to win. i think what you are seeing in this country is a racial reckoning.

donald trump has really used his dog whistle of white supremacy to bring out his base. we've seen them act wildly, caravans trying to veer biden's bus off the road. he has emboldened some of the base instincts of american culture. and we are having a reckoning right now. it is unfortunate because i think our country deserves better than the divisive politics that donald trump has... why can't you energise your base? white suburban women don't like donald trump. they've told the pollsters that. this is an increasingly young country. it skews democratic, it is increasingly couege democratic, it is increasingly college educated, there are 13 million more minorities and white

people with college degrees compared to 2016. that skews democratic as well. everything. take texas, which it doesn't look like you will win now, a0% of the vote of the under a0s in texas are people of colour! and yet you cannot seem to galvanise your base. and, therefore, it means your base. and, therefore, it means you are in trouble tonight. you are in real difficulty. why? you saw a lot of voter suppression, you saw our president question the legitimacy of the election i know has impacted the vote but you have seen a has impacted the vote but you have seen a lot of voters coming out. you know, the evening is still young, as said we would love for this to have been an early evening but the most important thing is to make sure that

every vote is counted. former mayor of baltimore, thank you forjoining us on of baltimore, thank you forjoining us on the bbc us election results coverage. we have a couple more states we can give you new hampshire which is projected forjoe biden, four electoral college votes, a co mforta ble electoral college votes, a comfortable win there with 37% of the vote counted. let us go to utah, we we re the vote counted. let us go to utah, we were wondering why we count project it earlier but we can for donald trump. six electoral college votes. and donald trump holds utah. interesting snootiest it. where we are. i think —— interest it isn't it, where we are. we are at a stage where in four orfive it, where we are. we are at a stage where in four or five days, this it, where we are. we are at a stage where in four orfive days, this may look, it may look like joe where in four orfive days, this may look, it may look likejoe biden still has a chance to win the um numbers to get to 270. he still has ea numbers to get to 270. he still has e a chance now. still has a chance tonight. but it is not easy. it will

be tricky if the rust belt states don't give us their results tonight. if it is right what i am hear hag the rust belt states might not give us the rust belt states might not give usa the rust belt states might not give us a result until thursday or friday, i don't see how we come out of tonight, with joe friday, i don't see how we come out of tonight, withjoe biden being able to say he has to got to 270 and there is the potential, we have heard it just there from there is the potential, we have heard itjust there from both sides, neither side will let their lawyers give up on this one and we are in for a pretty tumultuous few days here in the us if we don't come out with this, what doesn't seem to be happening is a big blow out forjoe biden, a big blue democrat wave, which the opinion polls over the last few weeks had suggested there could well be. i think the change in the past couple of hour, i wouldn't overemthat sighs it, it's a clear change, despite the bad result for the democrats in florida, it des look as if they were going to go well in the rust belt states. it did look as if biden was picking up a

lot more votes than hillary clinton did in 2016. now, i'm not so sure. it doesn't look quite as good for him there, i either. as you quite rightly see say, we will not know for some time, but even on that, it has swung a bit against him, now, we have always said, look, to the democrats winning texas, the symbolism of that would be great, what a result that would be for the democrat, but mr biden doesn't need toe do that. as i am looking now, he could have done with texas. he could are done with texas. to make sure he gets to the white house.” are done with texas. to make sure he gets to the white house. i am going to still add that caveat ant some of those rust belt states because wisconsin saying they are not going to start counting votes from round milwaukee means we have a whole load of votes sitting there in mailboxes gathering dust. they have not been counted. so we were warning the audiences about this over the last few day, there could be a red surge

on the night and a blue shift in the days after. that is definitely true up days after. that is definitely true up there in those rust belt states. we have to talk about arizona. that could come... surprisingly good for joe biden. it is. it is a very scrambled map. let us check on the latest news before we get into any more of this. thanks. counting in the us presidential election is now taking place in all but the westernmost states. all eyes are on the swing states, where the democratic candidate, joe biden, is hoping to overturn president trump's success in 2016. as the votes are counted, projected results suggest president trump has held traditional republican states like indiana and kentucky. his democratic challengerjoe biden is on course to hold states like new york and newjersey. none of the key battle ground states have been called for either candidate yet. with more than 95% of votes counted in florida, mr trump appears to have a narrow lead, but it's still too close to call. the sunshine state — with 29 electoral college seats —

is crucial for a trump victory. huge numbers of americans have voted in this election, which is expected to register the biggest turnout in a century. ben wright reports. building drama but few surprises at the votes continue to be counted donald trump and joe biden are projected to win several states that are reliably red or blue. we wait for a result from one of the key swing states that a vital piece of the electoral map. the winding candidate needs to clear 270 votes to get to the white house. turn out could be unprecedented. election day saw people pouring into polling stations across the country. and, more than 100 million americans cast their ballots early. that might meana cast their ballots early. that might mean a longer wait for the minute winner to merge as they are counted. while the world waits to see how

this election unfold, tension is high, within the two campaigns and on america's street, tonight a sense of how much both sides of this country's political divide believe is as stake. this will be a roller—coaster night and florida will be one of the key states to watch. injoe biden takes it his path to victory looks much easier, if donald trump wins it again, this could be a very tight race. ben wright. wright. bbc news washington. police have detained two black men in washington following what appeared to be a scuffle with the police. the crowds in black lives matter plaza had been in a celebratory mood but the atmosphere changed when police appeared and chased one man who, it was reported, had an altercation with the police. americans are also casting ballots for seats in the us congress

and are choosing new governors in 11 states. a third of seats are up for grabs in the senate. opinion polls suggest the democrats have a chance of capturing the upper house after six years of republican majorities. if they do, it would help mr biden's legislative programme were he to win the presidency, and hinder mr trump's plans if he gets a second term. the house of representatives is expected to stay under democratic control. the republican senate majority leader — mitch mcconnell — has won re—election for a seventh term in kentucky. but his party is defending hotly contested races in 12 states, while the democrats are defending just two. he spoke at a news conference after the result was announced. tonight kentuckians said "we're not finished yet." kentucky wants more of the policies that built the best economy in modern history, not socialism, that would stifle prosperity and hurt workers. we want to continue rebuilding our military and leading around the world. not to cut bad deals, orjust hope our adversaries will ignore us. we want to keep treating china like the threat it is, not settle for a future where america slides into second class.

we're going to keep standing up for the unborn, not surrender to an elite coastal culture that says the most vulnerable lives are disposable. in other news, the government of austria has confirmed the attack in vienna was carried out by just one gunman. he's been identified as a 20—year—old son of migrants, with dual nationality, who had previously been jailed for trying tojoin a jihadist group in syria. four people died after he opened fire on monday evening — an elderly man and woman, a young male passer—by and a waitress, while another 22 people were wounded. police have since carried out a series of raids and made 1a arrests. south korea says it's detained a north korean man after he tried to cross the heavily fortified border. the man was spotted crossing barbed wire fences in the demilitarised zone. it's not known if he is a civilian or a member of the military. he was intercepted after a search team was dispatched by the south korean military.

to australia now, and the premier of new south wales, gladys berejiklian has announced the state border with victoria will reopen on november 23. the border closed for the first time in a century onjuly eight. while the premier acknowledged there is a risk associated with reopening, she says she's confident everyone will continue to work hard to stay safe, adding, "we need to keep moving forward as we live with covid—19." nine new cases were recorded in new south wales on wednesday, six from returning overseas travellers, while the state of victoria hasn't recorded a case for five days. there is, of course, much more bbc news online and on your mobile. you can find the latest details and analysis by our correspondents. you can also use our live results map to see all the votes in every us state as they come in. that's on our website — bbc.co.uk/us2020 — or the bbc news app. that is the latest bbc news. now back to us 2020.

it is 10.a0 on the east coast of the united states. some polls by the way, right out far west and hawaii in alaska have not closed yet so there are still people voting around this country, we still do not have a winnerfrom this this country, we still do not have a winner from this election, nobody‘s got to 270 yet and it is looking increasingly likely we may not have a winner actually during the course of tonight. it may take us two or three days andrew. well, if the biden camp want cheered up they should look over to the west. ardoyne that the looking favourable to them. 0 —— arizona. traditionally republican, the crucible of west coast republicanism for many, many

yea rs, coast republicanism for many, many years, barry gold water came from there, reagan always it but mr biden looks as if he could win it this time. when we look at things back in the east, i think the sunshine of arizona will be cheering him up just a little bit. we can project that missouri is for donald trump, as it was last time with 50% of vote counted. missouri interesting states, because it is where harry truman came from. and if we are heading for an electoral upset tonight and in which mr trump stays in the white house and we won't know that for a while, that was probably the greatest upset in modern american politics when thomas dewey failed to beat trueman, even though all the poll, the pundits all the politicians say that dewey was bound to win and mr trueman got reelegged. so we shall see what happens. yes.

and in today's politics it is known as the home of senator hawley who is seen as a as the home of senator hawley who is seen as a potential successor to donald trump. a very christian conservative prosecutor who became a senator, look at missouri to see where we might get our future republican presidents from. illinois is projected forjoe biden, 20 electoral college votes, chicago is the city you will no in illinois, thatis the city you will no in illinois, that is a democratly lead leaning state. so not surprising. our collea g u es state. so not surprising. our colleagues at cbs news have moved arizona from toss up to the biden camp. i am not sure if they have caught up with us or we have caught up caught up with us or we have caught up with them. either way we are saying the same thing. what is interesting you a scrambled map. you think if donald trump was going to have a southern sunshine strategy, he would have included arizona in

that, what we are learning from this and what is so important you cannot group latinos together as voting block. because latinos in florida are more conservative, cuban americans, they lean republican, latinos in somewhere like arizona and also why texas might be changing too, more central american, they perhaps lean more democrat, so a very disparate group the latinos when they come vote, arizona, that isa when they come vote, arizona, that is a surprising lead at the moment, thatjoe biden has in arizona. he may need that arizona by the way. all the californians have ex escaped california and gone to live in arizona, the covered wagons moving east as they did in the whole of the 19th century to the west. let us go to christian at the bbc touch screen. to christian at the bbc touch screen. so this now you have both maligned my mathematical prowess i will have to show you where how i

know where the numbers are. i said whenjoe biden was mar woely ahead i didn't see enough in the swing to award it to the democrat u i have been proven right because donald trump has a lead of 53,000 votes in north carolina. stilljust under 500,000 votes to count but those are the on the day ballot and they have been trending towards the republicans, so, ithink been trending towards the republicans, so, i think north carolina is starting to shift towards donald trump, he will be pleased about that. the democrats, they are not looking good in florida, they are not looking good in north carolina. there is a large absentee ballot to count in georgia, so we absentee ballot to count in georgia, so we will leave that hanging, but it is looking better out in the west andrew was talking abouter go that. andrew was talking abouter go that. a large persevenage of the the vote counted. they have a healthy lead in arizona, that is the absentee ballot skewed heavily to the democrats, there was one poll i was locking at there was one poll i was locking at the other day independent voters make upa

the other day independent voters make up a third of the vote. donald trump won that by six points in 2016. the monmouth poll i was looking at had biden 22 points ahead with the independents and that might be reflected in what we are seeing here in arizona. next door, nevada was a bit of a squeaker for the democrats, they were worried because they had been running a low level campaign in nevada, they had a good ground game before the pandemic but they were worried that they had been overta ken they were worried that they had been overtaken be some of the cent registrations by the republicans, but the absentee ballot we are seeing in nevada, pretty healthy for the democrats so good news and bad for biden, really good news for donald trump down here, which tells me that we are going to be focussing on the midwest by the end of the evening. however, i have been looking at this one, this one is interesting because donald trump took iowa, remember, by ten points. backin took iowa, remember, by ten points. back in 2016. and this is neck and

neck at the mowattment biden has a lead of 115,000. the absentee ballot slightly toward the democrat. so iowa one to keep an eye on tonight. katty keeps making the point there is an absentee ballot in the midwest skewing towards the democrats in wisconsin. let me show you that. only 39% of the vote counted and this is one of those states, because they will be counting that ballot in they will be counting that ballot in the days to come, you will see on the days to come, you will see on the days to come, you will see on the day ballot being counted for donald trump but look at the absentee ballot, heavily for the democrats, by 16 points in wisconsin, a similar story next door in michigan as well. let me show you pennsylvania because it could, as we said at the beginning of the evening, it could come down to pennsylvania. donald trump about a quarter of a million votes in front at the moment but early days yet.

just to accentuate that vote, not as big absentee ballot in pennsylvania but it could become very important when we get to the vote on wednesday, thursday, friday... vary quickly, christian, can you run through, because we are getting a better sense now, pull up the map again. the 2016 one? yes, trump can keep georgia, carolina, texas, let's givejoe biden, keep georgia, carolina, texas, let's give joe biden, wisconsin keep georgia, carolina, texas, let's givejoe biden, wisconsin and michigan. and arizona. that's why these smaller states become important, your eye you are you a point lead in iowa, we know the senate candidate was in a tight battle. joe biden came fourth in the primary in the caucuses in iowa. he did all right though out in the east

of the state in iowa city. there was evidence in recent polling you are starting to expand his vote in des moines as well. so they are in with a shot the democrats but the republicans will be keen to hold onto that one. then we are starting to look at some congressional districts. it's a little bit different in the electoral college. you get two for winning the state has a hole in nebraska and maine but you get an extra one for winning a congressional district. he has maine, too, that is in the republican column in 2016 and we are keeping an eye on that one, too, nebraska, where he went out to omaha last week, people were saying, why is he going out there to campaign when there is one congressional vote ? when there is one congressional vote? that's why because the republicans had done their homework and they saw what was going to happen and that one might become crucial. what i'm saying here is it is worth reminding viewers that they

can lose florida and they can lose pennsylvania and the democrats could win but it is still tight. yes, joe biden had other routes to the white house but donald trump had to do this and he is doing that in the southern states, he is doing it so far. would either of the two of you like to express an opinion on what happens if it is 269 each?” to express an opinion on what happens if it is 269 each? i have a very good answer for you. should happens if it is 269 each? i have a very good answerfor you. should i whizz through it now? what happens if it is tied, it goes to the house of representatives, and it isn't the current house of representatives, it will be the new house of representatives that decides this, and it is decided by congressional representation, so forget that red and blue map which makes it look like it would be heavily republican and not heavily democrat. it is weather in your state you have more republican or more democratic members of congress. let's take virginia. let's say they have 29

republicans and 32 democrats, that will mean that virginia as a state has one vote and it would be a democratic vote so you'd have to see whether the new congress was leaning republican all leaning democrat because that would be how it would because that would be how it would be decided. here are the two dates you need to know. onjanuary three, the new congress convenes, on january six the congress declares the electoral college votes, and that's when the winner is declared so that's when the winner is declared so it is the new congress. but it could go to the house of representatives. so, if it is the congressional representatives that make the delegation and makes the decision in the house of representatives, i was looking at pennsylvania tonight, there are 18 congressional districts in pennsylvania, nine go to democrats and republicans, so which way does

ago if it is a tie? that is why nancy pelosi has been working furiously to avoid this scenario and to make sure that on 3rd of january the majority of the congressional delegates that are seated lean democrat not republican. that has been her sole mission for the last couple of months. does it mean if it gets thrown to the house, and the house congressional delegations decide, do they only have one vote? so the next president... california has one vote and rhode island will have one vote? exactly. this is why increasingly people are saying the american democratic system isn't as democratic as it might seem. you asked for it, you got it! and we will be coming back to it as well. christian, he could have a tie, his little faces smiling! kansas!

kansas! it's going for donald trump, we are projecting, no surprise there, six electoral college votes, 67% of the vote counted, and mr trump 67% of the vote counted, and mr tru m p clearly 67% of the vote counted, and mr trump clearly ahead, as he was in 2016. it is one of these states that doesn't change. ok, let's get a sense of how the republicans are feeling at this stage of the evening, brad blakeman is the former assistant to george w bush in alexandria, virginia. thank you for joining us. are you feeling good about how things are working out this evening? yes, i'm cautiously optimistic. one thing we haven't seen optimistic. one thing we haven't seen tonight to any early surprises. the electoral map is coming together as predicted. by the trump campaign. the question is florida. i don't think it is a question any more. it all begins and ends for donald trump

in florida. the question as we move north to georgia and north carolina. i believe trump will be safe there as well. ohio i think will go to donald trump. ohio is a must win state as florida is for republicans to continue their march to 270 electoral votes. then we go west. arizona is looking difficult at this point for republicans. however, there is some hope for nevada. mainly because of the pandemic, the casino workers have been shut down. then we move north to minnesota and michigan. i still hope for one of those states. we were all told and warned that we should be patient because we'd have to be patient because we'd have to be patient because it is an election taking place in the midst of a pandemic and lots of people felt they wanted to vote by mail and we have to wait for

those votes to be counted. donald trump has a route to the white house butjoe biden still has a route to the white house as well. on the republican side, would you counsel donald trump to wait until all the absentee votes are counted? not necessarily all. there has to be enough for you guys to make predictions in other news outlets to make predictions. there has to be a moment of agreement between the trump campaign and the biden campaign. as to when victory should be declared. we can't look like a ba na na be declared. we can't look like a banana boat republic. would three days be too long for the fate of the democracy? if we had to wait until friday for wisconsin and michigan, is that ok? sure, it's ok but we have to make sure cooler heads prevail and that there isn't violence in the streets. i am a short distance from washington, dc and i've never seen what i've been seeing on the streets of washington,

boarding up businesses. you are seeing that in a lot of cities in america and that's scary. i believe calmly is to prevail. we are waiting for votes to come in. so, yes, we must be patient and every legitimate vote should be counted, we shouldn't disenfranchise anybody but voting is over now so disenfranchise anybody but voting is over now so it disenfranchise anybody but voting is over now so it comes disenfranchise anybody but voting is over now so it comes down to tabulation and whether it is done correctly and according to the laws of these states and musicality is concerned. on the other is over side. we have to make sure there is oversight and legal challenges that mean something and are not done frivolously. and the president as suggested at the moment the polls close in pennsylvania, he will be prepared to flood pennsylvania with lawyers. pennsylvania allows three more days for ballots to arrive and still be counted. is it the right tone to be setting, we are going to

send the lawyers and even before the end of voting? i'm reminded of what shakespeare said, the first thing we do is kill all the lawyers. people don't want lawyers because lawyers actually know what they're doing and they try to uphold the law. they are not there to create mystery. i can tell you as a matter of fact i was 37 days in a recount in 2000 in florida. lawyers did a greatjob for both parties and at the end of the day unfortunately that election was decided by the supreme court. but the lawyers it would have been a real mess! worse so than it was. ok, brad blakeman joining us real mess! worse so than it was. ok, brad blakemanjoining us from virginia, thank you. we are now projecting wyoming for donald trump, only three electoral college votes, huge western state but small

population. nearly always republican on everything so no surprise there. pennsylvania, the other swing state that was so crucial in 2016 and is again, a1% of the vote counted so far. as katty was saying, they are allowed to take into account postal ballots that arrive three days after today. so if it is close, we might not get a result. let's go to our correspondent in pennsylvania. another thing worth pointing out is that postal votes only started to be counted at 8p and eastern time today and in some counties they won't start until tomorrow morning so patients will be the order of the day when it comes to waiting to find out which way those 20 electoral couege out which way those 20 electoral college votes go here in this state. lam college votes go here in this state. iamjoined by college votes go here in this state. i am joined by matt. you are a lifelong republican who left your party in march. why?”

lifelong republican who left your party in march. why? i was disappointed with the election. it was about anger and frustration, not about a plan about making america a better place to live. you are a mayor in a small county, one of the ones hillary clinton won in 2016 and thatjoe biden ones hillary clinton won in 2016 and that joe biden needs ones hillary clinton won in 2016 and thatjoe biden needs to increase his share of the vote there if he is going to try to counterbalance those rural communities that are more likely go to donald trump. do you think you will do it? i think it will be close but i think the vote is swinging towards biden in our area. there is a concern in the suburbs for things like health care and immigration reform, both of thoseis and immigration reform, both of those is that the republicans have dropped the ball on which is why i changed parties. how difficult was that decision? a lifelong republican, what is it about your party that has changed so much, and what are the things that democrats offer you? you what are the things that democrats offer you ? you could what are the things that democrats offer you? you could have chosen to go independent. i was a red

republican, i believed in the principles of the party but the party got hijacked by an extreme side and decided to cater to that group. and so much of the party decided to go with it. it motivated people in ways i've not seen before absolutely but they were motivated by angerand absolutely but they were motivated by anger and discouragement but not by anger and discouragement but not bya by anger and discouragement but not by a plan that was going to make things better. we will watch to see what happens in your county! for now, that's it from philadelphia. thanks for that. we will move out west now, as more polls close, the west coast three hours behind the east coast. all the east coast goals pretty much close now, big ones in the west coming up. it is an election turning things on its head. the exit poll shows that donald trump did better in 2020 with every race and gender except white men! it was meant to be the opposite! and

joe biden is picking them up! so a lot of surprises and more still to come in this campaign. and if you read come in this campaign. and if you rea d fa ces come in this campaign. and if you read faces i think as well. —— and a few red faces as well. we have four more states have closed their poll, oregon, washington, california, idaho, idaho the only state there that is a trump state and it has stayed trump, the other three went for hillary clinton. quite substantially in 2016. idaho only has four electoral college votes, out there in the west. the west coast of america pretty much now a democratic fiefdom from oregon in the, from washington state, in the canadian border, all the way down to san diego and beyond in california. so there will be no

surprises in this result, but it is a lwa ys surprises in this result, but it is always useful if you are running for president of the us to have california under your belt. it has got 55 electoral college votes, 5. we haven't spoken about the popular vote that we are the situation where donald trump lost the popular vote by about three million votes to hillary clinton but he won this complicated electoral college we are speak about tonight. and democrats are going to lock at california to rack up the popular votes even if they know it doesn't change very much in terms of electoral college because they can rely on those votes any way. there will be questions about the split between the electoral college and the popular vote if we have another split again. we are projecting california, for joe biden. no surprise there. 55 electoral college votes go into the biden camp now. we are also projecting oregon forjoe biden.

another seven electoral college votes. and washington state, interestingly, still too early to project. but then, they have barely begun counting. 12 electoral college votes there. be a major surprise, highly unlikely think if washington. it would be a big surprise. we have washington. we have got it. we project it. there we go. let us look at this, so we have had a few state, let us look at where this takes us in terms of the total. we havejoe biden, has 192 electoral college votes, donald trump has 11a. we are starting to fill in the map. it is inching towards it. we had been told a lot over the last few weeks, the story of this election may well be that so many people had voted early and voted by post, that it may be a while until which got the final result. and that we may see that

actually there were a lot of republican votes, that had come in on the day, because more republican voters have been telling pollsters they wanted to vote on the day and those votes would get counted and we would get the democrat one coming in by mail, that maybe what we are seeing but donald trump is still in this race, he still has absolutely a path to the white house, he still has 270. it hasn't been the democrat blow out that some poll pes and some democrats had suggested it might be, looking at the candidate they were running against, this unusual of american president, let us peek to our panel of political strategist. before we do, let me just say that we can project mississippi for donald trump too, another deep southern state, six electoral couege southern state, six electoral college votes can be added on the his column. sorry, just wanted to get that news out. let us get that on the board. let us speak to brine lanzer, a former adviser to donald

trump and marry anne marsh in boston. i mean, mhairi anne democrats went in to this night says you will have to be patient, this is about the rust belt but there was a scenario in which democrats wither hoping that north carolina or georgia or florida could fall for them early and this night would be over. it is not over. donald trump still has that path to the white house doesn't he. right, that was the dream, one of them would be the doorsteper that would end the election for donald trump. but, if you listen to the briefing that the biden campaign did late this afternoon round 4.00. basically they said we don't have to win florida, ohio, texas or pennsylvania. i would add to that georgiament but donald trump does and that is where we are. so where does that lead us, where are we going now? arizona is in the books for biden. i look at nevada

next, he has those two, yes, we will end up where we always thought we would end up, michigan, wisconsin and pennsylvania, those are the three state, every one said all along it would take them 72 to 80 hours to complete the tabulations add to it the fact that the federal judge this afternoon issued a court order, insisting that every us postal facility in this country clear its facilities of every ballot, and deliver to an election department and especially those battle grounds states of which wisconsin for michigan and pennsylvania are but threw three. so when you look at it that way we are not going to bed tonight and it will bea not going to bed tonight and it will be a couple of days but we are exactly where we thought this race was going to be. coming down to those three states. donald trump made a side that he will come out and make a pronouncement of some sort of victory before friday. he may decide he wants to put his name out as the

person who has won this. what is the testimony strategy, in the face of the numbers we are looking at at the moment and the prospect of not knowing a concrete result for three orfour knowing a concrete result for three or four days. i think you would say if donald trump made that a claim, tonight or tomorrow you would see joe biden, you know, do something that was, start contrast to it. either coming out himself or campaign representative, and say, let all the ballots be counted, the vote rs let all the ballots be counted, the voters decide the election, not donald trump. so just voters decide the election, not donald trump. sojust like there voters decide the election, not donald trump. so just like there was a contrast in the pandemic and how they both handled it you would continue to see that, and if for some reason things got animated, you know, they were high tensions in the country, if there was a need to calm the country down then joe biden could come out and we talked about it the other day, in a rehearsal, when withjoe it the other day, in a rehearsal, when with joe biden it the other day, in a rehearsal, when withjoe biden it could be his

first presidential appearance and show the country how he would be president, and calm everyone down and show them the way to get to the end of this election, fair and square, and that is what the voters want. afair square, and that is what the voters want. a fair election, where every ballot is counted. just looking though, at how people have voted in this election, on the edison exit poll which is, you know, the gold standard for these sort of polls, and looking at the race and gender break down, donald trump did better among white women, white women than he did last time, so much for this revolt of the suburban women. he did better among black men. he did better among black men. he did better among black women. he did better among black women. he did better among black women. he did better among latino men, and he did better among latino men, and he did better among latino women as well. the only group he didn't do so well in was among white men, has your party picked a second useless candidate for two presidential elections in row? no. no. it looks

like it. no, look, ithink, it is clear that people felt that joe biden was the best candidate to go against donald trump. and as much as i had been a long time critic... how is that working out? i was wrong. but the fact is, many people felt that you had to put up a 70—year—old white guy against a 70—year—old something white guy. that is what is going on, there was no other distraction to the race, you basically had two people same generation, same race, all of that, except very different people. very different beliefs. hold on. hold on. you are up against a guy who is widely regarded as a misogynist, particularly by your party and by the media. he gets more white women votes tha n the media. he gets more white women votes than last time. america has been racked with racial division and

unrest, we have had the rise of the black lives matter movement, in which your party has been a big supporter, he gets more black men and black women as well. more latino men and latino women too. what has gone wrong with your party?” men and latino women too. what has gone wrong with your party? i think it is better to wait until all the ballots are counted and see where they come, to see exactly what the break down is, because i mean seriously, i am break down is, because i mean seriously, lam not break down is, because i mean seriously, i am not going to, i am not a big fan of exit polls and there are gold standards to everything but i think it is important to see exactly who votes, where they volt voted and who they we re where they volt voted and who they were when we look at this. there are a lot of questions left to be answered on that front. we are not going to know the results of this election tonight. we are probably not going to know it tomorrow.“ election tonight. we are probably not going to know it tomorrow. it is worth pointing out that the exit polls that came out, we do think the exit polls are better this time round, pollsters have been telling us they have waited for issues they didn't want for but it is true the

exit polls in 2016 were actually pretty out compared to the final tally, so it is worth remembering that, it is worth remembering we haven't counted all the votes yet and we don't know who the next president of the us is going to be. we have to wait for the rust belt states to come in. brian lanzer.” was going to add one quick thing, a lot people didn't go to thele polls, the vast majority people in this country, more than—of them, voted by mail or absentee. that is something to take into consideration as well. there is of course they are the ones we are waiting for in wisconsin and michigan. brian lanzer you advised president trump's campaign in 2016. you worked on his communication, if you were talking to him, his campaign tonight, looking at the results as they are what would you be saying? hold steady, hold steady, we heard early on thele polls would show donald trump lose by 11 points

nationally, there is no way that is going to come close to reality, i tell the guys hold steady, stick to game plan, count the votes, you are on to something different, thanha the media and pollsters have seen. hold steady. do you think at the white house they are i thinking that the president would like to come out earlier rather than later and if not declare victory, tell his supporters that this has been a very good night for him and therefore put a sort of sta ke for him and therefore put a sort of stake in the sand as it were. once florida is called, once north carolina is called and arizona is call and arizona i think will be called for president trump you will see them make up that ground. i think the president will want to come out and speak after that. he will send a strong message if way pull off wisconsin. you had a narrow path, you have seen a lot opening up for the president and his team, i

wouldn't be surprised after they call some of the big states, he doesn't declare victory but declares a good night and we will wait for the rest of the count. i think the rest of the count. ithink in the rest of the count. i think in your dreams that arizona will be called for president trump. that doesn't look very likely. there is about a million votes left and thatis is about a million votes left and that is enough to change the margins significantly and those are people who voted op election day. so we will see. let me put another point to you, which is, doesn't this have the potential to be america's worst nightmare? this is the very definition of a contested election now, we will not know the result tonight probably, we may not know the result by tomorrow night or by thursday night. it may be the weekend, if then, that we know the result. if you lock at febrile atmosphere in the united states, at the moment, the possibility that the president could nevertheless claim victory, and joe biden refusing to recognise victory, because he

doesn't think all the votes have been counted, this is the kind of scenario that we were most frightened of. is it not? listen, i think we have seen something similar in 2000 where president... that was one state mr lanzer. and it took 36 day, it took 36 days. close elections are close elections. it took several weeks to resolve, by the time it got to the supreme court but we have to process the deal with it. it a close election, it was one state in 2000n't it might be five states in 2020, god have mercy if it is five state, we are all going to be glued to the television, what we seen, we be glued to the television, what we seen, we are seeing a be glued to the television, what we seen, we are seeing a lot closer election than what they said we would have. we shouldn't be surprised and it's a testament to the trump campaign, focussing on what they knew they had to do to win. win. it is 11.00. it is coming

up win. win. it is 11.00. it is coming up on 11.15 and we are far from having the conversation about joe biden winning. we don't know yet but we may not know for another few day, the race is not over yet. stay with us for a while. it is worth pointing out, that whack in 2000, -- it is worth pointing out, that whack in 2000, —— back in 2000, about only half of democrats and republicans fete ematters who won between george bush and al gore, in 85% of democrat and 86 republican think the result really matter, there has been an increase in the polarisation, an increase in the polarisation, an increase in the fervour on both sides, that is why people are worried, that this could be the country's worst nightmare if we don't have a result for three or four daves. it could end up in the supreme four daves. it could end up in the supreme and they are kith. you will see a lot of unrest on the streets the if that is what happens. it might not be full out civil war, i

don't buy that but you could see skirmishes round the country, if this goes into being a contested election, just because of the numbers i gave you, because the numbers i gave you, because the number of people who think this really matters is so much larger thanit really matters is so much larger than it was back in 2000. and previous contested elections were resolved by people walking away, so al gore, said i am not going to fight this in more for the good of the country, i will recognise george bush has won. richard nixon of all people did the same in 1960. jfk won that election by only 0. 0.16% of the popular vote. and there was really dodgy things went on in cook cou nty really dodgy things went on in cook county and along the southern board over texas which was lyndon b johnsons territory, jfk's running matement even richard nixon said, for the good of the country, he told republicans who wanted him to push

back, let's just walk away from this, letjfk become the president. katty, i don't see that kind of mood this time in america, in 2020. no, from either side, andrew, i certainly don't see it from the president's side, he has already said he is going to take this to the courts, and i don't see it from the democrat side and the biden peep say they have learned from 2000 and they are hot going to repeat that message and this is a much more of an aggressive party in terms of fighting a legal battle if it comes to that, and they have been preparing for months for this to be the case, so i think you know, i don't see anyone walking away from this for the sake of the country, if they think they have a chance of a single ballot still being counted that could tip it in their direction. one thing that could cheer the biden camp up would be to put arizona in their camp. it is too early for us to project. but it is going towards

a biden whim. let's go back to sophie long in arizona. thanks very much, andrew. i sophie long in arizona. thanks very much, andrew. lam sophie long in arizona. thanks very much, andrew. i am at a republican watch party in chandler, a suburb of phoenix. fox news, they've got it playing here and there are huge troops when fox news called florida for president trump. now they are looking more subdued. the republicans here, it is not looking nearly so good here. the latest we haveis nearly so good here. the latest we have is that the polls closed and just over 75% of the votes have been counted, a little bit more than that in maricopa county where i am, the huge population centre, and it is 54% for biden and 45% for trump. everyone i spoke to here said they came to celebrate but it doesn't seem came to celebrate but it doesn't seem like there will be champagne corks popping, too early to call. the fact arizona is in play forjoe biden is remarkable because the last

time they voted for democratic presidential candidate was in 1996. before that it was harry truman. they are not used to being a battle ground state. it sounds noisy here, it has been a noisy election for arizona voters, they've been bombarded by both sides as everyone knows that every vote counted. we we re knows that every vote counted. we were at the pole station early and both sides were out, there was a trump and biden camp and people handing out snacks and water bottles, determined to keep people in line. when the polls closed at 7pm, there were hundreds of people queueing to cast their vote and if they were in those lines before 7pm, they were in those lines before 7pm, they were in those lines before 7pm, they were told their vote would count. we believe all those votes have been cast but there was a delay because that was taking a bit longer than they'd thought. they are quite cricket getting the results out in arizona because a huge amount of the population does maiden votes. at the moment it is leaning towards biden but of course far too early to say

at this stage. 76% of the vote has been counted in arizona. mr biden is on 5a% and mr trump is on a5%. at the moment, with less than a quarter of the vote to go, mr biden is in a co mforta ble of the vote to go, mr biden is in a comfortable position. there is also a crucial senate race taking place in arizona, too. the democrats hope to pick up a senate seat as part of their attempt to get control of the senate. i'd assume this kind of result for mr biden will help the democrats perhaps get that senate seat. yes, that is mark kelly, standing against martha mcsally. she lost the senate election in 2018 and was appointed to the late senator john mccain's seat in 2018 later that year so this is the second

election she has fought, and it could be the second one she has lost. the democratic senate candidate who has been polling well as has biden in the last few months. they've had a significant lead in the poll so it is looking like it is good for biden and kelly in terms of flipping the senate to the democrats. republicans at this watch party here not looking very happy at the moment. but we wait to see for those final votes to be counted. sophie in arizona, fighting against the noise from fox news, thank you for joining the noise from fox news, thank you forjoining us. she got the good party location! at least somebody is having a party in the time of covid. it's nice people can hang out with people for a change. let's go down to florida. we don't understand why florida is too early to project. there we have, 97% of the vote

counted, there is more than two points between them, what's happening in florida? why are they not declaring this one? yes, florida hasn't really come through forjoe biden, i'm not sure if the democratic party expects it to but here in miami day county, a democratic stronghold, he hasn't had the turnout they probably expected. hillary clinton did better in 2016. there is a large cuban—american population which might give us a clue on what has gone wrong forjoe biden, i clue on what has gone wrong forjoe biden, lam clue on what has gone wrong forjoe biden, iamjoined clue on what has gone wrong forjoe biden, i am joined by david alvarez, who is cuban—american, thank you for being on the bbc. you are a first—time voter, you voted for donald trump, y? trump has done great things in the past four years. i think he can make america great again and keep america great again. it's the policies he has in mind and

things he has in place. and joe biden wasn't going to be my candidate. i believe he has a bit of a socialist point of view on the way that he speaks and expresses himself. really? he has been in politics for 47 years, vice president for eight years, what is it about him that scares you?” don't agree with a lot of the things he has in mind and once for the country, which is why i voted for trump. trump, like i said, has done good things the past four years and he will continue to do good things and improve the nation. is there anything thatjoe and improve the nation. is there anything that joe biden and improve the nation. is there anything thatjoe biden said that worries you? not necessarily. this will never become a communist or socialist country but the views on the way he speaks about how cuba has been great and how they have great medicine and they're great at this and that, which is not true, which is why people come here to this country, to leave the oppression of

communism, those things users and those points of view, i don't agree with that. it is interesting. i've spoken to lots of cuban—americans over the weekend and one woman said to me she is scared of donald trump. she thinks donald trump behaves like a latin american dictator when he doesn't give a clear answer on whether he will commit to a peaceful transition of power. do you understand that viewpoint? i do and i because i understand trump says a lot of things and he speaks his mind freely. he says a lot of things, some things you shouldn't say, private or not. they are not the best and they might offend people. i don't think it is a bad personal president because just because of that. you work as a nurse so you are on the front of what is happening in florida. we know coronavirus cases are high. does it concern you the president has been accused of mishandling the pandemic? not at

all. i don't think he has mishandled it. no one expected this, there is no way to do it better and he's done a good job. the numbers in florida, i've seen them in the hospital, we have fewer coronavirus cases every day and less people dying from it so it's been great. good to talk to you, david, thank you. the viewpoint of david alvarez. i should say florida might not have delivered for joe biden but it has delivered, though all those concerns about would the votes be counted, would there be a recount? not the case in florida tonight. no, it might not be florida tonight. no, it might not be florida that keeps us up for days and days and days. we thought it might be signatures overhanging chance, but it doesn't look like it'll be florida, andrew, but i suspect there is room for legal contest in all of this. this is what it is looking like. yes, a legal contest. ohio is looking stronger for donald trump whereas early in the evening it wasn't looking so

good. wisconsin, michigan, pennsylvania and three other swing states whose outcome is very undetermined, and getting some guidance that we might not even get the results from these three states until friday. that's what i heard early in the evening stopping and if we don't get them until friday we won't know the results of this election until the weekend. and then the question is does everybody have the question is does everybody have the patience to let the votes be counted. exactly. as i was saying earlier to our panel, it is in some ways this is what america wanted to avoid, and uncertain results that lead to the next president is uncertain for at least days if not longer than that. and then if as you say there are legal challenges as well, you could be moving from days to weeks before you know what the

real outcome is. and that will not bea real outcome is. and that will not be a static situation. the politicians won't keep them while it is going on. they will be claiming victories. and the early voting drove up turnout. we have higher turnout than we have had for many presidential elections in this year because people were voting by post, they were turning up at polling stations early on in the process before polling day, so on the one hand that's great, more participation in the democratic process , participation in the democratic process, but it could be also all of that early voting means you don't get the results so quickly so we are left in this kind of limbo, which might, ina left in this kind of limbo, which might, in a society which was less divided, a country from 20 years ago, that might be ok but in a country that is as bitterly divided as it is at the moment, with democrats so disliking this president and republican so

supporting him, that period, that window of uncertainty is a time when you could have trouble. what can reset the moment? what we can say is the result of this election is still unknown, that it is not a massive blue wave forjoe biden although he can still win. and donald trump is doing a lot better than his critics, the democrats or 95% of the american media thought he would do. let's go to our north american editor, jon sopel to our north american editor, jon sopel, who is at the white house, at the heart of washington, dc. any word? is mr trump, the heart of washington, dc. any word? is mrtrump, because the heart of washington, dc. any word? is mr trump, because things are going his way, is he going to be tempted to say something to us? he will be tempted to say something. one has donald trump not been tempted to say something! so far this evening, his twitter fans have been silent. we wait to get the

first comment. we will given indications he would plan to say something at the party he is having overin something at the party he is having over in the east room at the moment with chicken sliders and fries and ketchup in all the rest of it that has been laid on for his guests. but he also said on fox news, sounding horse and weary, red play games, i will rate for the result and that is the time to declare. —i won't play games, i will wait for the result. we will hear about michigan, wisconsin, pennsylvania, you get a distinct sense of deja vu of 2016 when we were here waiting for michigan, wisconsin and pennsylvania. the same thing seems to be happening again. as you say, donald trump has outperformed what the pollsters predicted, he promised a red wave, the red wave has turned up a red wave, the red wave has turned up on polling day as the republican party had anticipated and he has

done far, far better and a large pa rt of done far, far better and a large part of that is down to the formidable campaigning that we have seen formidable campaigning that we have seen from him since his recovery from coronavirus, when he has been barnstorming around the country and thousands have been turning out to listen to him. and it is still possible, we are waiting for the rust belt states, and we could end up rust belt states, and we could end up next weekend, and it is possible joe biden is the president which changes the narrative to some extent but it won't change the fact that democrats didn't win north carolina, they didn't win in georgia, they didn't win florida, they didn't get that sweep the polls had been suggesting joe biden might have been capable of. will there be a certain amount of monday morning quarterbacking about the campaign strategy? will there be questions asked about why didn'tjoe biden do more of what donald trump did, and why did they let their foot soldiers not go out and knock on peoples

doors and be more visible in person? i think there will be to make aspect of monday morning quarterbacking, if we may put it like that. one aspect is about the democratic party, could it have chosen a better candidate. they seemed very satisfied that joe biden would be someone who would be able to attract the white working class vote donald trump picked up in 2016 and we wait to see what happens in the rust belt states. but you're right, why wasn't the campaign more vigorous? it seemed to be quite complacent. this evening, the early mood music we were getting from the democratic party was extraordinary, sing, we are very confident, we know how many people we got out to vote early through mail in ballots, postal votes, and we're pretty confident the republican party haven't turned up enough numbers to make this competitor. well, wrong on that front. the other question which isn't about the democratic or

republican but about polling. the polling was very accurate in the mid—term elections. i think accurate polling in an era of trump is almost impossible because i just polling in an era of trump is almost impossible because ijust think the pollsters cannot get to these people and i've seen long defences from the polling companies, of all they've done, they put measures in place, they can now identify the shy trump voters. they haven't done. the re ce nt voters. they haven't done. the recent poll suggesting that joe biden was five points up in florida just seems so wide of the mark. i wonder whether donald trump has busted the whole model of conventional opinion polling in the us because they seem to be somewhat offbeat. there has been less than a 1% swing tojoe biden, there has been less than a 1% swing to joe biden, i there has been less than a 1% swing tojoe biden, i don't think we felt that blue wave so far, but i think the other indication of the position that mr biden is in at the moment, and there is still all to play for

for both in this election, is that the first major state to fall his way that was in the trump camp is arizona. i don't think any of us thought we would have to wait until arizona before a state went to mr biden. you kept on hearing there we re biden. you kept on hearing there were different routes to 270 forjoe biden. and you heard that they were optimistic about florida, that georgia could be a game—changer, some started talking about texas as being the place where the blue wave would kind of kick in. and that hasn't happened either, so clearly, the democrats have underperformed, in the way that they had anticipated, pre—election. they obviously haven't got the sophisticated numbers game going that the republican party have, i think that people stress about some of the chaos and dysfunction on the trump campaign. the campaign has

been brilliantly organised in terms of data collection, identifying who the key people are, making sure that you know where they are, and how to get to them and making sure they have enrolled to vote and they go out to vote. and i think that the republicans have been effective in that, their data collection i think has outstripped the democrat, and ultimately these things in the final stages come down to who has got the better ground game, i also think that people have underestimated the power of donald trump's message and i think that, you know if one was to give a simplistic analysises you have people concerned about coronavirus, largely democrats and a lot of people more concerned about the economy, and for that, they turn to donald trump, and notjoe biden. and although 230,000 americans have died and the rest of it i think that people looked at to their pocket books and to what their tax returns might be, and whether taxes would go up might be, and whether taxes would go up or down and thought i think iry per— donald trump still to joe up or down and thought i think iry per—donald trump still tojoe biden. and i think that has been a decisive

factor tonight as well. fascinating john. jon sopel in washington. thank you. let us get a look at the latest news now. counting in the us presidential election is now taking place in all states except hawaii and alaska. all eyes are on the swing states, where the democratic candidate, joe biden, is hoping to overturn president trump's success in 2016. as the votes are counted, projected results suggest president trump has held traditional republican states like indiana and kentucky. his democratic challengerjoe biden is on course to hold states like new york and illinois. also california, which carries the most electoral college votes at 55. none of the key battle ground states have been called for either candidate yet. with more than 97% of votes counted in florida, mr trump appears to have a narrow lead, but it's still too close to call. the sunshine state — with 29 electoral college seats —

as america watches the drama builds. so far, few surprises, donald trump and joe biden racking up stateses they were expected to win. we wait for a result from one of the key swing state, that are vital pieces of the electoral map. particularly those in the midwest, that president trump carried narrowly last time. at the moment it likes tighter than the opinion poll suggested. the winner needs 270 votes to get to the white house. turn out could be unprecedented. lexion day saw people pouring into polling stations across the country. and more than 100 million americans cast their ballots early. that might mean a longer wait

for the winner to emerge, as all the votes are counted. while the world waits to see how this election unfold, tension is high, within the two campaigns and on america's street, tonight a sense of how much both sides of this country's political divide believe is as stake. in front of the white house, on a street now known as black lives matter plaza the police intervened ina matter plaza the police intervened in a space that has become a focal point for protest this year. this will be a roller—coaster night and florida as always will be one of the key states to watch too. ifjoe biden takes it his path to victory looks much easier, if donald trump wins it again this could be a very close race. ben wright. bbc news, washington. bbc news, washington. the makeup of the new us senate is beginning to become clear. the democrats have picked up a seat from the republicans in colorado, but in kentucky the republican leader, mitch mcconnell, has been re—elected for a seventh term in office. another prominent republican, lindsay graham, whose a strong supporter of donald trump, has won a close race in south carolina.

i've had two calls already. one from president trump. he's going to win. he is going to win. to all the pollsters out there you have no idea what you're doing. and all the liberals in california, new york, you wasted a lot of money. this is the worst return on investment in the history of american politics. the democratic party has retained control of the house of representatives, slightly expanding their majority in the a35—seat chamber. nancy pelosi, the speaker of the house, congratulated her colleagues. so our purpose in this race was to win, so that we could protect the affordable care act and we could crush the virus,

that we could stop the spread of it, that we could reward our workers who risked their lives to save lives, and now might be losing theirjobs, and we could put money in the pockets of the american people. so i am very very proud of the fact that tonight, relatively early, we are able to say that we have held the house. it is something quite spectacular, because the people who helped us win were the people who have been affected by it. thousands of those who have been diagnosed or members of their families diagnosed with a preexisting condition have spoken out, have told their stories, and that was the most compelling argument of all. in other news, the government of austria has confirmed the attack in vienna was carried out by just one gunman. he's been identified as a 20—year—old son of migrants, with dual nationality, who had previously been jailed for trying tojoin a jihadist group in syria. four people died after he opened fire on monday evening —

an elderly man and woman, a young male passer—by and a waitress, while another 22 people were wounded. police have since carried out a series of raids and made 1a arrests. south korea says it's detained a north korean man after he tried to cross the heavily fortified border. the man was spotted crossing barbed wire fences in the demilitarised zone. it's not known if he is a civilian or a member of the military. he was intercepted after a search team was dispatched by the south korean military. argentine football legend diego maradona is recovering after successful surgery to treat a blood clot on the brain. the 60—year—old world cup winner was admitted to a clinic in buenos aires on monday, suffering from anaemia and dehydration and then transferred to a hospital in la plata, for the operation. maradona's doctor told reporters outside the clinic a short time ago that the proceedure had gone very well.

there is, of course, much more bbc news online and on your mobile. you can find the latest details and analysis by our correspondents. you can also use our live results map to see all the votes in every us state as they come in. that's on our website — bbc.co.uk/us2020 — or the bbc news app. that is the latest bbc news, now back to us 2020. it is 11.a0 on the east coast of the united states, we are starting to fill in the electoral college map, let us see where we are right now. getting towards 270 but not there yet. 192 forjoe biden, in kennel tick blue and 11a for donald trump in republican red. they still have rah way to get to 270. still a few

of those big battle ground states to be called. it has been a disappointing night so far for the democrat, they have improved their position in states like texas and georgia, and north carolina, but not by enough to win. and so they are fallen back on the states that donald trump did win in 2016, in the midwest, in the hope that they can still take the white house. the problem is, that we may not get these results from these crucial states, places like pennsylvania, michigan and so on for several day, let us go to christian at the touch screen let us go to christian at the touch screen to find out where we are. let us look at the tally as we are at the moment. 192 against 114. remember if you are justjoining us thatis remember if you are justjoining us that is the magic number, one of these men had to get to 270 or more in orderto take these men had to get to 270 or more in order to take the white house. as andrew says not good enough news in the eastern states for democrats this evening, not in north carolina,

shall we look into that but a it is nearing the end of the count. 96% of the vote counted and donald trump's lead is about 75,000 there, sojoe biden would have to go some in that final count in order to take north carolina. better news though, out towards the west, brian landser said he was hopeful about arizona. i should have ta ken he was hopeful about arizona. i should have taken his 5 consider because fox have called it for biden. he has ten point lead. he would have to win donald trump, 2—1 the final votes still to be counted in arizona. i was looking earlier in the week about mar cope county and they said trump had a chance if he could stem the bleeding in maricopa cou nty could stem the bleeding in maricopa county and keep it down the three or four points but some of the polling he has lost it by eight or ten points and there is latino vote which broke 80% for hillary clinton in 2016, so arizona looks good for joe biden at this moment in time.

iowa we have been keeping a focus on, it has been tight although it looks healthier for donald trump at the moment, but there is still 30% of the vote to be counted. remember he won iowa by ten points in town 16 so he won iowa by ten points in town 16 so this has implication for the senate seat there, the republican stood a tight battle in iowa. what is doing that? of course, the trade war that joe is doing that? of course, the trade war thatjoe biden, is doing that? of course, the trade war that joe biden, that is doing that? of course, the trade war thatjoe biden, that donald trump has with the chinese, of course a lot of farmer in sigh want, so course a lot of farmer in sigh want, soi course a lot of farmer in sigh want, so i bean price, pork, all of that affected. we have spoken to some the farmers in iowa and they are sticking with donald trump but it is the ancillary industries that supply farming, perhaps that has reflected in that we are seeing in iowa. one to come par for you two states, pennsylvania and iowa. it is true in

ohio, he won it by eight point, that swing has gone down, when i looked at it earlier it was swinging slightly to the democrats but not enough. this, though, in pennsylvania is very good news for joe biden. remember, that donald trump one pennsylvania by 0.7 of the vote in 2016, 44,000 votes in pennsylvania. it is swinging to the democrats by 0.8. that would suggest if that holds true, that pennsylvania is going to go to joe biden. even though at the moment, you see 57—42. don't forget the absentee ballot in pennsylvania is going towards the democrats. it is not a massive absentee ballot but it leans heavily to the democrats, i thought for kicks he would look at the national popular vote. back in 2016 hillary clinton won the popular vote by 2.5%, so he wasn't a majority president donald trump, he won the electoral college but he lost the popular vote and the same

looks as if it is happening tone. the swing i am seeing is! %. that would still suggest though, that what, to that joe would still suggest though, that what, to thatjoe biden would still suggest though, that what, to that joe biden would would still suggest though, that what, to thatjoe biden would have a three or 4% lead in the popular vote, which is way out from what the pollsterses were telling us, they we re pollsterses were telling us, they were calling it eight or knipe points forjoe biden. that is not reflected at the moment this the figures we are seeing. to be clear, that popular vote are we still waiting for the western states or is your swing taking account of some of that? that is 7096 of the vote counted at the moment. i can't actually tell you where, i mean it would stand to reason those western states are coming in later and that is part of the vote, but a 1% swing to the democrats, if you were to look at that as democrat, if you, that was uniform swing across the electoral college, in those mid west states, 0.7 in pennsylvania, that trump by in 200016, you know.3 in

michigan, ifs it was uniform that would bode well but the electoral couege would bode well but the electoral college doesn't work like that. no. as the democrat knows. ok, christian, thank, you. frts it is not the ten point lead some of the polls gave mr biden, thatis some of the polls gave mr biden, that is for sure. anthony scaramucci isa that is for sure. anthony scaramucci is a former trump communications director, he is in new york, hejoin us now, so, you formerfriend seems to be doing belter than you thought. thought. why do you think that is? there is a lot of unhappy people in the country. i grew up in a blue—collar family, we've watched blue—collar family, we've watched blue—collar america go from aspirational to desperation, and people see mr trump as an avatar for theiranger. so people see mr trump as an avatar for their anger. so they are out there still voting for him. i've got to

tell you, he got impeached, he blew the covid-19 tell you, he got impeached, he blew the covid—19 pandemic, he wrecked the covid—19 pandemic, he wrecked the economy and he is trashing democratic leaders in the west around the world and praising despot so around the world and praising despot so if you'd said to me, doing all that stuff, he could still be where he is right now, it says more about our country and it says more about the distress in our country and frankly the country is more distress thanl frankly the country is more distress than i thought it was and i thought it was pretty distressed, guys. i thinkjoe biden will pull this out because he has wisconsin and michigan and possibly nebraska or maine, a couple of big options out there for him. as your analyst was pointing out, he has pennsylvania leaning towards him which is where he was originally born so we'll have to see what happens. the president isa to see what happens. the president is a beast, let'sjust call it to see what happens. the president is a beast, let's just call it what it is. he is surprising people. truth be told, we have systemic issues in our country that have to be dealt with otherwise you will see

more anger,, be dealt with otherwise you will see more anger, , more be dealt with otherwise you will see more anger,, more nationalism, more populism and the world doesn't want that from america. you say biden is taking pennsylvania, his home state but his home town, mr trump is taking that county around scranton so taking that county around scranton so it is a struggle forjoe biden. did you ever think it would be such a struggle? the media didn't think so, the polls didn't tell us so, did you? there is always a wild card with president trump bud, no, i didn't. my family is actually 15 miles from scranton. incidentally, thatis miles from scranton. incidentally, that is where secretary clinton was born. i knew the area well and i thought it would have gone for the vice president but it isn't over in pennsylvania. but again he could lose pennsylvania and still get the

points he needs. these pollsters have a lot to reckon with over the next three or four days, there will bea next three or four days, there will be a lot of alibis out there but, look, it is what it is and as you guys know, mr trump is formidable, he is touching a nerve in our society, a lot of people hurting, and we have to fix that and unfortunately the establishment politicians on the left and right haven't done a good job of that over the last three decades. there has beena the last three decades. there has been a vacuum of advocacy and support for those people which is why they are coming out to vote for mrtrump. why they are coming out to vote for mr trump. will there be some soul—searching among the democrats? if mrtrump is soul—searching among the democrats? if mr trump is re—elected, and we should emphasise we don't know the result yet, it is still either to win and we might have to wait some time, but it certainly hasn't gone as well as mr biden must have hoped, evenif as well as mr biden must have hoped, even if he does finally get across the winning line. the democrats must

be thinking, we picked a very unpopular candidate in 2016 and we lost. we have now picked a 78—year—old man who had tried twice before to be president and he lost. and now we are struggling to get the white house at a time when all the demographics, the covid, mr trump's personality should have made this a slam dunk for us. well, he hasn't lost yet. what i would say is unfortunately if you looked at the field he was the best choice in the field he was the best choice in the field because if you saw what happened with jeremy corbyn in your country, had they gone with a radical left candidate this would have been a way worse outcome for the democrats. there is still a possibility here, with a lot of routes for the vice president to 270 but you're asking a deeper question — will there be a reckoning in the democratic party? i think there will

be and there has to be a restructure and a reckoning. they have to address and not call these people deplorable. they have to emphasise these people, reach out to them. their grandparents voted for lyndon johnson and their great grandparents voted for fdr and they've got to embrace these people again. the flip side is if the president loses, which is still a possibility, there has to be a reckoning in the republican party. there is a generational transfer of leadership happening right now. these are to make ageing warhorses on the field, one of them will win over the next couple of days and we will have to see what happens. i predict it will be the vice president. but both parties will need a dip in ice water work—out where they are going over the next 20 years. anthony, this will produce a reckoning in the democratic party but does it also for the republican party, your party, the idea that if donald trump

we re party, the idea that if donald trump were to lose between now and friday or saturday or whenever it is, if he had lost convincingly, there may have been a swing back to the centre of american politics or does it suggest to you that even if donald trump loses, what trump represents is still around and is a force in the party? katty, it is a great question, i'm not sure if it is my party a ny question, i'm not sure if it is my party any more, to be candid, because of the way these guys act but they have embraced the demagogue is of trump so my view of that party as they get even more radical. you have young acolytes of mr trump that'll try to be more trump than trump. that'll happen. that is a dangerous thing for our society because you can study us history, european history, the spectre of nationalism and populism and it doesn't end well for countries. what i know about mr trump's worldview,

he wants to reject the principle about world trade and he wants the wall around the nation which is dangerous for the world. go to fdr's early speeches in the 1940s, 1939 and 1940, warning people about a disengaged america, how dangerous that would be for the global society. i don't want to go in that direction and i am out here trying... go ahead. the question is whether it would have taken a blue wave that included states like north carolina, georgia, florida forthe republican party to decide it wanted to go ina republican party to decide it wanted to go in a very different direction from donald trump because even if he loses he has done very well. no question. i would add emphasis to what you're saying because you've got 25 million additional voters this time. i want you to think of the magnitude of that. this will be the magnitude of that. this will be the highest voter participation

since 1908. you have to reckon with this, mrtrump as since 1908. you have to reckon with this, mr trump as 's america, and the question is is that what we want to be? he will have lost the popular vote twice but this contest works in those states and the democrats haven't figured out the combination necessary to create that blue wave you speak of and that'll fortify younger republicans that are acolytes of mr trump. ok, anthony scaramucci, thank you very much for joining us. let's bring in the outside perspective. the world a lwa ys outside perspective. the world always watches america's election but it has been on tenterhooks about this one, watching acutely what's happening. let's talk to david miliband, the uk former foreign secretary, he is in new york. thank you forjoining us. the people around the world have been watching this election, and wanting to know

whether what has happened for four yea rs was a whether what has happened for four years was a moment in american history or whether america was going to elect donald trump for another four years which will say something fundamental about the shift the country has ta ken. fundamental about the shift the country has taken. when you look at the results coming in this evening, and we don't know who's going to be the next president of the united states, but it has been a better night for donald trump than expected, what do you think the reaction will be abroad? good evening, katty. the first reaction will be a deep breath and hope for a clear result because of italy for the democratic world, the prospect ofa the democratic world, the prospect of a contested american election is really very damaging and dangerous. and obviously at a time when democracy is in retreat around the world, the danger of the world's strongest democracy, biggest economy thatis strongest democracy, biggest economy that is a liberal democracy, would be extremely worrying. secondly, the

division of the country, the polarisation of the country will be clear for all to see. your questioned anthony scaramucci about the lesson for the republican party if president trump loses but loses well, if there is such a thing, it makes the point that president trump need to be understood as quite deep rooted now on the right of american politics. of course, we are talking... sorry. to carry on that theme, there has been speculation that if donald trump lost this election, it would be a blow to populists in other countries. is the co nve rse populists in other countries. is the converse is true? if he squeak a win or does better than expected, is that succour to populists around the world ? that succour to populists around the world? one can overestimate the significance of a quote and quote populist international. there is no

question president trump has put him self at the head of a group of people around the world who have been running on a populist platform, a resounding defeat would have sent an important signal. the politics of turkey or india or of the uk are different. one wouldn't want to overstate that significance. i think there is a bigger point which is if you think about this in a 10—20 a canvas, every country around the world will have to bake in the prospect of unpredictability from america. they will not be the return of status quo. if vice president biden wins, he will have to reinvent what it means to engage globally as well as to focus on the home front, notably in respect of covid. over a 10-20 notably in respect of covid. over a 10—20 year period, if you are european allies or looking at

america from the prospect of moscow or beijing, you're baking in an predictability which is uncertain for the world. since it might happen we should play out this scenario, too, which is a possibility thatjoe biden wins, just a strong possibility as donald trump winning. if you wins, there are lots of countries in europe that might feel better about a joe biden presidency. it could be problematic for the british government because of the relationship between borisjohnson and his position on brexit and what we know the biden administration feels about that. it looks to me like the likelihood is there are big votes to come in pittsburgh, philadelphia which suggest what your guest was saying about pennsylvania leaning towards vice president biden, michigan and wisconsin as well, it is certainly important to ta ke well, it is certainly important to take this on. my own view on this is

very clear, there is no question the biden team and biden himself, they do look askance at brexit but they are serious people and they are not interested in waging some kind of conflict or hostility towards the uk. they are serious people who will inherit if they come into office on 20th january, inherit if they come into office on 20thjanuary, a inherit if they come into office on 20th january, a set inherit if they come into office on 20thjanuary, a set of extremely issues from criminaljustice to covid, and they have an ambitious international agenda and they will look to continental europe, paris, berlin, brussels, because they see power there, real partners on things like climate change. they want unity in the west in competing on china but i don't see hostility in the uk. the question they will have is is the uk going to be in the room, will it make its part of the western alliance? it make its part of the western alliance ? the it make its part of the western alliance? the government's

responsibility heading the g7 alliance? the government's responsibility heading the 67 next year, it is the chair at the climate convention, there are opportunities for the uk to show it wants to be engaged in a forceful way and i don't think one should put too much premium on the implication that exists in the centre—left about the whole brexit process and what it means. joe biden said if he wins he wa nts to means. joe biden said if he wins he wants to restore the atlantic alliance. to where it was before mr trump became president. if he wants to do that, he has no choice but to talk to britain and to embrace britain, we are the second most important member of the atlantic alliance and by far the most important european member. dumt i think the question the biden administrationally be asking partner, the question that he will

asking is what you going to put on the table, what you going to do? and they know in respect of some aspects, the european union put out aspects, the european union put out a significant policy paper on china, calling it a strategic rival. it has made major pledges on carbon, they will be asking the uk as well as other country, what you going to bring to this alliance of democracy, that vice—president has talked about. in that context it is important to understand that i see no appetite on the democratic side for a cold war two with the chinese, ido for a cold war two with the chinese, i do see for a cold war two with the chinese, ido seel for a cold war two with the chinese, i do see i real hard headedness and they will want to compete with china, confront china in sarahious aspects but they will want to co—operate with the chinese. of course britain is going to be talked to. the question is will it be a substantive partnership? that depends as much or more on what the uk is willing to bring to the table rather than the sort of attitudes

because i don't think that is the main thing from the biden administration, my really profound belief is they are serious people. they are not interested in playing gales, they want do business, and do serious bids and if that is right, hopefully they will be willing partners round the world, including in the uk. david miliband, thank you for joining us on this election special. we have a very important result to give now. we now project ohio for donald trump. 18 electoral college votes go to mr trump. that is a major boost for him. earlier in the evening it looked as if he might be struggling to hold on to ohio, but he has not. he is 8 percentage points ahead, so ohio first ministerially remaining in the —— firmly remain manager the trump camp. we have idaho which is also projected for mr trump, that is a

electoral colleges, 55% of the. it is republican so that is not a big change, we are still waiting for north carolina, which is still being projected as too close to call. it has been the polls have been closed there for how long? my head is going, closed for about five hours now, and yet north carolina still not being called. we are getting news just before we go to north carolina, from georgia, that the public affairs spokesperson for the biggest county in georgia has decided they are going to send all the poll workers home for the night. no—one has decided you and i home for the night andrew, but they have gone home and they will come back at 8.30 tomorrow morning and so we won't get an official result from georgia. they couldn't repair the burst pipe. they couldn't find a plumber, just when you immediate to

find a plumber you can't get one. even the democrats in atlanta can't find a plumber. let us go to larry in charlotte north carolina, where i am hoping they do not have any plumbing problems. they do not have plumbing problems. they do not have plumbing problems. they do not have plumbing problems but everyone has gone home. look behind us, ourwatch party is deserted. they have stopped serving beer, even though 98.99 actually, 99.89% are reporting and president trump has a lead, they are not ready to project it. it is still too close to call. this is why. president trump has a lead of about 75,000 votes here right now. but the local media here are reporting there is still at least 117,000 outstanding mail—in ballot, this is where maybe you want to start tricking out a little because in north carolina, anybody who sent in

their mail—in ballot today, post marked today, that is perfectly fine. if it is received by 12th november it is still counted so we might be heard until thursday next week. but i am just, might be heard until thursday next week. but i amjust, not might be heard until thursday next week. but i am just, not saying this is what is going to happen, i am just saying you need to keep that in mind, it might be that long until we know who is the actual person who wins this state is. president trump leading by1.3% if wins this state is. president trump leading by 1.3% if it gets to it we will go door to do, ask who did you vote for and we will tell you that themselves. let us have these residents here. curtis is an activist and jasmine, thank you for staying up. you are the last people standing. it looks like president trump is winning north carolina but we could be wrong, how do you feel? hopeful. hopeful. we still have hope. that is right now, everything that transpired in 2020, we can only be hopeful. why are you hopeful when

the numbers look so close? it is not over. it is still, we still have like you said, votes that haven't come in yet, we still have again many, the votes are not calculated fully tonight, so, just again, with the hope of what is going on right now, counting and what is to be counted, i think we stand a good chance, it is close, really close. curtis how you feeling the same, again the fight is no over until the la st again the fight is no over until the last ballot again the fight is no over until the la st ballot is again the fight is no over until the last ballot is counted, so we are going to remain positive about the situation. it is a tight race so again, fight is not over until the la st again, fight is not over until the last ballot again, fight is not over until the la st ballot is again, fight is not over until the last ballot is cast. you were in a viral video a couple of months ago during the black lives matter movement protests, and since then, you are talking about how you have tried everything and it is not working and you think it is time for a young man over there to try a different mood. how do you feel tonight? i feel great. i feel

hopeful. me and my team hit a couple of polls and we saw younger voters out, younger than me, of polls and we saw younger voters out, youngerthan me, 18, 19 so major turn out, so that is always a great thing, he is next in line at 16, so when you have that youth, that young vote out there, i mean, that young vote out there, i mean, thatis that young vote out there, i mean, that is a great thing. you are supporting the biden harris ticket. yes. why? we need change, four years of the rhetoric, and the divide, and the simplicity of him running a reality tv show campaign, as an american, we need a leader, and while donald trump may have a great business mind, he is not the correct leader for the united states. we are the land of the free, the home of the land of the free, the home of the brave and we are wanting someone thatis the brave and we are wanting someone that is for all people, again, it is not the black people, not the white people it is the american people.

jasmine you are also supporting joe biden for president.” jasmine you are also supporting joe biden for president. i am. why? because i have seen what trump has done and with the support of white supremacy and like i said from our podcast for bbc, it started, you fertilise and bloom this disaster, so now fertilise and bloom this disaster, so now i know what you are capable of, i don't want to see any more. personally. i don't want to see any more. i think it is free to say biden i am giving hip and kamala harris a chance because we need a difference. president trump says he has done more than any other president, do you agree?” has done more than any other president, do you agree? i don't agree at all. i again the only thing ican see agree at all. i again the only thing i can see what he has done for the african—american people is just cause a bigger divide. i mean you can sit there and you can state that all day long, and you can act as though you did something, but i am hear here to tell the black people

if you believe he did something, the only thing he has done is apiece you, i hope you got out today and voted. definitely. how powerfulwas it to you that kamala harris was on the ticket? honestly, another good brain is part of that, we need all the good insight that we can possibly. it doesn't deter me, or change my mind because she a black woman, iwant change my mind because she a black woman, i want to know what you can do, iwant woman, i want to know what you can do, i want to know a woman, i want to know what you can do, iwant to knowa plan woman, i want to know what you can do, i want to know a plan of action so do, i want to know a plan of action so again it is not about race, it is about rah great mind. with her and biden as both great minds, they can ta ke biden as both great minds, they can take this and turn it round but it will take time and one step at a time. all right. right. it don't like like the big result forjoke so far, how are you reacting, one word each? hopeful. scared. we will leave it. there thank you, scared is a word out here but we still can't call it.

0k still can't call it. ok that looked more like a wake. yes. a lot of social distancing. or maybe just distancing. just distancing. let's project virginia now, which we are forjoe biden. 13 heck —— electoral college votes go into the column. a comfortable vic forfor him. earlier in the evening there was question mark whether trump was doing better than people thought. but that shows with 77% of the vote counted, joe biden is six percentage points ahead. that that is an interesting case, it looked i have been watching virginia, i spend a lot of time there, and i was watching virginia, and it was going well for trump, well for trump and yet we know it has been a democrat trending state, and then what happened was the governor of

virginia said listen, it is at 11.00 we release all of the early votes and suddenly, bang on at 11, the polls changed and it swung even more into the democrat column. it a good reminder as to what can happen. there is a hiatus in things at the moment. and it is still not clear how this will pan out. question tell you that we are now projected montana for donald trump, again no great surprise there, with 50% of the vote counted. it is still close, that might get a bit wider as the night goes on, it would be a real surprise if montana did not stay in donald trump's column, as it was in 2016. so as i was saying a bit of a hiatus here, we are still waiting to see a few more results in crucial states that could give some indication of whether this is going to bejoe indication of whether this is going to be joe biden's indication of whether this is going to bejoe biden's night or donald trump's night. it is still all up

forgrab, all we can trump's night. it is still all up for grab, all we can say for sure is that it has not gone as well for mr bskyb as he thought and probably a bit better for bskyb as he thought and probably a bit betterfor mr bskyb as he thought and probably a bit better for mr trump, than bskyb as he thought and probably a bit betterfor mr trump, than most critics thought. messy i think is not a bad description of it. let us see what larry sabato in cha rlottesville see what larry sabato in charlottesville thinks, what your thoughts of where we are now? actually, things are going to shape up actually, things are going to shape upa bit actually, things are going to shape up a bit better than you think. this is down to michigan, wisconsin, and pennsylvania, and a couple of congressional districts states that divide their electoral vote, one in nebraska and one in maine. maybe north carolina. there are loads of votes to be counted in north carolina and i have been told that is true in georgia too. i don't have an exact fix on those votes so i have been told most are early votes which would be good new for

democrat, we will have to see, pennsylvania, mick gap and wisconsin, biden was leading by a mile in virtually every public opinion poll that has been taken, including in the last week. it is the pollsters who have a lot to answer for. we will be asking a lot of questions, this is the second presidential election in a row when they have been wrong. but what is more important is this is a very close race, it is a nail biter, and it is not clear which one of them will emerge, i think because biden carried arizona, he is in a slightly better position, but that assumes that he's going to win those three north east midwestern industrial states that put trump over the top backin states that put trump over the top back in 2016. but if it is down to the industrial states you mentioned, and we are told we may not get the results of these states until friday, or the weekend, who knows it could be after that as well. isn't

this really the result that america wa nted this really the result that america wanted to avoid ? this really the result that america wanted to avoid? that it a highly contested election, the result could be uncertain for the rest of the week, it is a febrile time in the united states, and it's a dangerous time in the united states. well, it is, of course we wanted to avoid it, and what worries me now is not getting the count, because these states can do it and their secretary of state and registrars are good, they know how 0 count votes, what i worry is one or both candidates using the next few days to make a reckless claim of victory, and as a result, exciting their followers, reckless claim of victory, and as a result, exciting theirfollowers, so that if they don't win, those followers will think the election has been stolen from their candidate. that is the real danger. is the american political process

robust enough to handle this? the peaceful tra nsfer of robust enough to handle this? the peaceful transfer of power is the central hallmark of any successful democracy. but it is never really been tested in america. and the constitution, it doesn't really guarantee the peaceful transfer, does it, it presupposes there will bea does it, it presupposes there will be a peaceful transfer. america's friends should be worried at the moment. they absolutely should be worried. america is so divided, so politically polarised, so divided, so politically polarised, so tribal that anything could happen and probably that anything is bad news and it doesn't help when you have people who are very active in politics or who are in the white house or other important places who are willing to do anything to win. our founders assumed that americans would be basically rational and that they would cave about the good of

they would cave about the good of the nation rather than their own ambition. that worked for a while, it is pretty naive today. you could be right. thank you forjoining us. interesting there the professor saying he thinksjoe biden could still kind of squeeze it through, he still kind of squeeze it through, he still thinks he is more likely than trump. but if it does go that way, it isn't quite the sort of victory the democrats were planning for, as it? the democrats wanted one of those states, north carolina, georgia or florida to fall out early, so they couldn't play any more, everything is off the table. but they haven't got it so they have to look to the rust belt. that was their firewall so it depends on whether on friday you and i are having this conversation and joe

biden has won michigan, wisconsin, pennsylvania and arizona, we would say that was a fairly comfortable win forjoe biden but we are going through this process and isn't clear he will win all of those and it isn't clear there won't be litigation and contested election along the way. so we have asked people, please, be patient for the last two weeks. this could be an election that takes a long time to call because of the peculiar nature of the way americans have voted, because we are in the middle of the pandemic which has thrown things up in the air. we don't know how much and we don't know what the final vote is but we know they haven't had this shutout in florida or north carolina or georgia. the new york times has put its forecast needle to georgia back to tilting towards biden so things are a little bit messy at the moment. we don't know. some people saying don't social mr biden has won arizona which is

surprising. you've pointed out georgia. the trump campaign saying don't count too early. north carolina might still be in contention as well. look, we have one correction to make. we put up a few minutes ago montana had been called as projected for donald trump but that has been taken back as a call and it has now been put in the too early to project column. quite close there, pretty close. closer than you might have thought from montana. it looked like things were moving very much the president's direction because of florida and the fa ct direction because of florida and the fact georgia and carolina didn't fall quickly to donald trump but it doesn't mean we know where this is going. there is a lot of churn going on behind the scenes, not least the fa ct on behind the scenes, not least the fact in georgia some of the pool cou nters fact in georgia some of the pool counters have gone home for the

night. mr biden might be about to say something, not imminently, but shortly. what he is going to say, i'm not sure what you'd say at this stage of the result. say something to keep the momentum going and to make it known you are not conceding and that i imagine he will want to come out and say we are still looking good in the rust belt so it isn't over until it is over, i guess isn't over until it is over, i guess is what the biden campaign will want to say. he won't be conceding, that's for sure. let's try to get some sense from a republican strategist and a former adviser to trump's transition team. my head is spinning about this one. what are you making of where you did it make we are? do you think we are talking rubbish or do you think this is what you are looking at, too, that we have to be patient and we don't know the result, not looking forjoe

biden as it might have done but it doesn't mean he hasn't won it?“ biden as it might have done but it doesn't mean he hasn't won it? it is a nailbiter out there, you are right. we watch these various states count their votes. the fact that trump won florida, he has won ohio, there is big wins. a lot of republicans have questions about arizona, it feels very early to be called, especially when they were waiting on states like texas and ohio. that is concerning. i would say we are fascinated with the fact the polls seemed to be very wrong, considerably in a number of the states across the board. it is also fascinating is the amount of money put into some of these states that democrats invested in, you're talking about $100 million in south carolina which didn't pan out. the

hundred million dollars to defeat mitch mcconnell which didn't pan out. that money could have been used elsewhere. it'll take a few days to figure out whether not joe elsewhere. it'll take a few days to figure out whether notjoe biden wins or president trump wins his re—election. the rust belt states, my home state of wisconsin, looks like they will be deciders a total of 46 electoral votes and we will have to wait for them to be counted. ron, if we get out of tonight and it isn't decided, is there enough reserves of patience amongst the american people, within the trump campaign, within the biden campaign to do what needs to be done and sit this out for three days while we let those counters do theirjob? here is

another... it adds to the uncertainty americans are feeling during coronavirus. the fact we don't know now who will win the election, it adds to the anxiety and tension but unfortunately we will have to wait and see until these votes get counted and then we should anticipate that there will be court challenges, that there could be mail in ballots that are counted a little bit after, like in north carolina, they can get counted until november 13! it isjust another thing we are asking americans to do, to wait to see who the victor will be but the patience is running thin. can you give us a quick update on the senate? the democrats have taken to seats, mark kelly in arizona and colorado. are we looking at a scenario which i never envisaged which is potentially the democrats

could take the senate but lose the white house? that is possible. i was thinking that the inverse could be true as well. susan collins is doing reasonably well in maine. tens of millions of dollars have been thrown at her in that small state and the polling hasn't moved much so i'd like to see how that turns out. senator kelly loeffler in georgia is going to a off that'll be decided in january. so, we will see... what we haven't seen is a sweep. we saw the senator in iowa win her election, tom tillis —— thom tillis is doing 0k tom tillis —— thom tillis is doing ok but we're not seeing a democratic sweep right now. that's fascinating

to me so we could end up having a senate and if joe to me so we could end up having a senate and ifjoe biden could pull it off, we could have a biden government. ron, thank you very much for joining government. ron, thank you very much forjoining us. all of our guests this evening, there will be a lot of questions of pollsters, who make a lot of money in this country and if they get it wrong again, from 2016, and they get it wrong this time around, you wonder what they are doing to earn their keep. at some stage they can say they were almost right because they did say it would be closer in texas, close in georgia. and close in north and south carolina and arizona. maybe they are not completely out of it. we shouldn't malign them all? they deserve to be a little bit maligned. we are watching the headquarters of the biden campaign in delaware. we

expect the vice president, former vice president, to be making some remarks shortly. the moment he does, we will bring them to you. let's go back to a panel of strategists. amanda is still there, former director for amanda is still there, former directorfor hillary amanda is still there, former director for hillary clinton, and the former adviser to george w bush. how do you read the situation at the moment, bring us up—to—date from your point of view. good morning to you. i think this race is very much too close to call. the governor of arizona said the networks have called this too early, let's count all the votes. i think president trump is in pretty good shape in florida, north carolina, there are a lot of states in ballots yet to be counted and we haven't got to the midwest, the upper midwest so there isa

midwest, the upper midwest so there is a viable path for the current president to get over to 70 but it'll take several days in my opinion. —— to get over 270. it'll take several days in my opinion. -- to get over 270. as things stand, from how you see it, is it more likely to be mr biden or more likely to be mr trump?“ is it more likely to be mr biden or more likely to be mr trump? if i we re more likely to be mr trump? if i were a betting person, ithink president trump has a slight, very narrow edge advantage in this but all that could change. we know there are all that could change. we know there a re two all that could change. we know there are two electoral college votes to be determined in maine, they divided in nebraska, so we don't know. but it seems to me from everything i'm hearing from my democratic friends, they are very nervous, they think they are very nervous, they think the former vice president spent too much time in the bunker, could have spent more time going to key battle ground states and they think they could lose. amanda, let's look at the rust belt states. ifjoe biden will win the white house, it has to

go through the blue wall, wisconsin, michigan and pennsylvania. if we don't know them for three or four days, how much momentum does the campaign lose? what is the strategy for the next three days as they wait for the next three days as they wait for the next three days as they wait for the results? that'll be the hard part, making sure to keep everyone in line, waiting to count all these votes. what i will say is the campaign has always said we might not know what will happen on election day and now they will need to say over and over again. the other thing, when you look deeper at the numbers, you are seeing there are still questions about atlanta, and the biggest county where people we re and the biggest county where people were driving votes for democratic candidates, that is where the democratic votes were. there are questions in philadelphia, milwaukee and detroit. these are really strong democratic basis we have

infrastructure so there is no way anyone in the democratic party is going to walk away from detroit, milwaukee or philadelphia. we are in this for the long haul and i see a party leader who will stand up and say here is the plan, here is where we go. this might be his very first presidential election, to stand up and say to his party, to the country, we will wait until everyone is counter because i said from the beginning i care about making sure everyone's voice is heard. we take your point, to wait until votes are counted, but isn't the sweep of the night the biden campaign might have hoped for and that some of the polling suggested to us it could be. i agree with you. we are not seeing that sweep but on the other hand we are not seeing all the votes counted but certainly tonight isn't what democrats wanted to see. we will continue to see how these senate races go and we will continue to see

these three different states that are the blue wall. that is what biden has been focused on. if you remember, about two weeks ago, he got a little bit of graph for not going to georgia and texas more often and the campaign stuck to its plan for quite a long time, recognising it could come down to this. the question is wasn't enough to get to where we need to get too? don't think we will see in the next couple of days or even weeks. the press is predicting iowa for donald trump now. i mean, you say, amanda, we need to wait until the votes are counted, which would sound sensible in any democracy. that's what you do, you wait until the votes are counted, i cannot think that would be an exceptional statement to make and any other democratic election. the problem is the situation america finds itself in, the problem is the kind of president you currently

have, the problem is a fee broil mood in the country that is both sides thinking the election will be stolen from them. both sides seem ready to take to the streets if need be to get their way. and to have an election we might not know the result of before the weekend or even later than that seems to me that as we move in, here in europe, as dawn is about to come up on a wednesday morning, america is moving into i don't want to sugar coat this, this is not an outcome that is great for anyone. to be this is not an outcome that is great foranyone. to be in this is not an outcome that is great for anyone. to be in this situation, where there is uncertainty, even to be ina where there is uncertainty, even to be in a situation where perhaps we are all going to wake up and president trump is going to claim victory without having very key cities counted, is exactly i think the fear we all would not have wanted to see. now the question is,

what does biden do in terms of raising to the occasion as a leaders? what does trump do in this moment? i think maybe perhaps most importantly, is what do republicans and democrats do, who are right now in congress and in the senate, to say hold on a second, let's make sure that this vote comes all the way to the end, that even believes in government institutions i think thatis in government institutions i think that is still yet to be determined op that is still yet to be determined op how everyone is going to react in the morning, that is i think we are ina the morning, that is i think we are in a precarious spot here in america, no doubt. you starred by mentioned arizona. i am reading america, no doubt. you starred by mentioned arizona. iam reading here that fox news has retracted its call of arizona for biden. the white house were unhappy about the fact that fox news called arizona so early, so arizona being put back in to play. i mean it is starting to to feel like 2000 but notjust one state, several states, right? yes there are several states we need to

have all the ballots tabulated and counted. one thing i would say that i worry about and we keep hearing how dangerous of a situation this is for america, this is what democracy is looking like in practise. we have so is looking like in practise. we have so many is looking like in practise. we have so many more is looking like in practise. we have so many more millions of people... one second. i want to explain what we are seeing in the screen next do you, which is joe we are seeing in the screen next do you, which isjoe biden's motorcade which is going from his home in delaware to that drive in rally we just spoke about, joe biden will be addressing that crowd and of course, the people around the country in a second but carry on, ron, you were saying? i am saying is i am optimistic about what we have seen across the country today, if you look at the fact that we had so many tens of millions of more americans who waned to make sure their voices we re who waned to make sure their voices were heard, ithink who waned to make sure their voices were heard, i think that is a strong move for democracy, my fault is with the secretary of states and with the local county officials who are tabulating the votes, they should have had better machines in place, better staff in place, to count the votes. why didn't they? it is great

for america. there we have had a rear to prepare for this, why didn't they get ready the infrastructure needed to be able to count the ballots and the mail invotes more quickly? it is unconsciousable but here we don't have a uniform system, for the way elections tabulations are set so you could have one state count the votes immediately, you could have another one have it post marked by today, another state say you have up to a week, we need to find electoral form that works and uniformity would help us to say by all ballots must be counted by x time. good luck with that you will probably from to change the constitution to get that done! the constitution to get that done! the constitution leaves to it the states to organise, we will leave that hanging in the air. let us go to barbara plett usher in delaware. she is with the biden teach and we might

be getting some developments. barbara. yes, we have had a bit of activity here, after a long evening of quite quiet time at the headquarters, cars have been turning up headquarters, cars have been turning up in the last hour, hour—and—a—half. up in the last hour, hour—and—a— half. they up in the last hour, hour—and—a—half. they got a notice from the biden campaign, to congregate with the idea that they would be listening tojoe biden give a statement here at the headquarters on the stage outside, which isjust behind me, overthere. and we understand that he is on his way now, to give that statement. obviously, it is not going to be something that will involve him making any sort of declaration of victory or even anything definitive about how the race works, there is a kind of nervous anticipation, excuse me, also, but i have been down talking to people outside the cars and that i have been telling me they are still very hopeful, it had been,

they had been hoping that they could get an early victory by taking a state such as georgia, or north carolina, as you know the states haven't been called yet, but they are looking very very competitive at the moment. but there, they are confident they do have a path to victory and they have been telling me, you know, they may not get an announcement tonight, but they had always expected it could go for a while, even to the end of week, they are waiting to hear what mr biden will say and we expect him to arrive in the next 15, 20 minutes or so. we will come back to you when the former vice—president arrive, it looks like a drive in movie there at the moment. and, i guess that is what covid has dope to election campaigns, rather than people being able to stand around and cheer, and holler and wait to see their favourite son, —— done. they have to sit in their cars and stay out the

way. this has been the way of the biden campaign not of the trump campaign because he has been having those big rallies and they may have helped him. maybe that has help drive upturn out. he has been having a few hundred people in the white house tone. this is what it looks like in the democrat camp. you sit in yourcarorstand nec like in the democrat camp. you sit in your car or stand nec to it and social distance. there isn't even a movie to watch. not even a movie to watch. so they have been swizzed. there is no question that mr trump being able to do the rallies again, many get his mojo back, he seemed to, in the final couple of week he seemed to get more life into his campaign, he is general energised by the cheering of the crowds, he likes that. he loves being the centre of attention. a lot of backwards and forward , attention. a lot of backwards and forward, by the way on the

relationship between fox news. it was fox that called aristocrat, the white house didn't like it, now fox news decision desk saying confident on arizona and they are not retracting that call forjoe biden. we will see where arizona ends up. the fox news decision desk is run by a very independent minded chap who nobody can push round, not even rupert murdoch and he calls it as he seesit rupert murdoch and he calls it as he sees it without fear or favour or any intent of fox's outlook on life. if he says it he won't be pushed into changing it. it doesn't mean he is right but he has called it because that is his best shot. he is highly regarded by people in his profession. we are all watching the flashing lights of the former vice—president biden's motorcade, it looks like if you are the challenger to a president these days, katty you get

almost as big a motorcade as the president gets. there is about 20 ca rs president gets. there is about 20 cars in that. yes, which must be about what the beast takes up when it travels round washington, so we have to stop everything while the motorcade moves round the place. joe biden, i guess will come out, if true to form, what he will do, then is come out of that motorcade, get up is come out of that motorcade, get up on the stage, and address his supporter, and —— supporter, and what i am seeing from democratic strategists and hearing from them, the message seems to be patience this is what we expected. could happen, obviously it is not what they wanted to happen, but they are urging patience on their supporters to wait for their results in wisconsin, michigan and pennsylvania. if he were to win the blue wall and won it already we would be having a different conversation but we don't know which way the states are going to go and we don't know when, even we will

know who has won the states because that will decide presumably which way the presidency goes. barbara plett usher is still with us, she is in delaware, way wait forjoe biden to address the crowd. barbara,“ in delaware, way wait forjoe biden to address the crowd. barbara, it is probably hard to do was a so many people have to be in their cars can and so on, i would be surprised if there wasn't a slight sense of disappointment that the night has not been a stellar as they would have thought. have you picked any of that up? well, when i have spoken to the people on the ground, here, they have admitted to nervousness, but they have, you know, said they are very hopeful, but if you look the way they started the evening, i am talking about campaign officials and democratic officials they were very bullish, they were talking about the very high early voter turn out and how that data, along with the polling, had made them feel that mr

biden was strongly in the lead, and that i with hopeful he could flip states that had not been democratic, such as georgia, since 1992 and they had... barbara we are going to break in once second because we can now call florida, it has been projected for donald trump, those 29 electoral couege for donald trump, those 29 electoral college votes, with 97% of the vote counted, 51% to trump, a8% tojoe biden. that is a swing in florida from democrat to republican, but donald trump holds florida. it's the place where he has his southern white house at mar—a—lago, it is the place he calls home, the place the trumpfamily place he calls home, the place the trump family votes in, we saw melania trump voting there down in south florida today, around it is a state that the democrats would love to have taken, because they feel it would have hut this race down for them, it would have prevented donald

trump from getting to 270, but donald trump at a0 minutes past midnight here on wednesday morning on novemberfourth midnight here on wednesday morning on november fourth still very much in this race, he has taken florida, that keeps him in the race, and we are still waiting on several of the other big states but it is looking good for him in several of the other states too. north carolina, georgia, still looking good for him. barbara, jump still looking good for him. barbara, jump back in again, sorry, we wanted to make sure the viewers got the news on florida first. i wasjust saying news on florida first. i was just saying that... news on florida first. i wasjust saying that... one second katty. mr biden is being announced. let us listen tojoe biden. former vice—president and democrat tick candidate, taking the stage in —— democratic candidate taking the stage to make a statement.

horns beep hello delaware. hello. good evening. your patience is commendable. we knew this was going to go long, but who knew we were going to go into maybe tomorrow morning, maybe even longer? but look, we feel good about where we are. we really do. i am here to tell you tonight, we believe we are on track to win this election. we hue because of the unprecedented early voting, the mail invote it will take a while. we are going to have to be patient, until

the hard work of tallying the votes is finished. it ain't over until every vote, every ballot is counted. but we are feeling good. we are feeling good about where we are. we believe one of the things have suggested we have won arizona, that is saturn round, we also just called from minnesota and we are still in the game in georgia. although that is not what we expected. we are feeling really good about wisconsin and michigan. and by the way, it is going to take time to count the vote, we are going to win pennsylvania. talking to the folks in filly and they are really encouraged by the turn out and what they see. look,

you know we could know the results as early as tomorrow morning. but it may take longer as i have said all along, it is not my place or donald trump's place to declare who has won this election, that is the decision of the american people, but i am optimistic about this outcome. i wa nt to optimistic about this outcome. i want to thank every one of you who came out, and voted in this election and by the way chris coons and the democrat, congratulations here in delaware. john, the government, yeah. the whole team, man. you've done a greatjob, i'm grateful to the poll workers, to volunteers, canvasser, the poll workers, to volunteers, ca nvasser, everyone who the poll workers, to volunteers, canvasser, everyone who participated in this democratic process, i am grateful to all of my supporters here, in delaware and across the nation, thank, you, thank you, thank you, folks you heard me say it before, every time i walk out of my

grandpa's house, he should shout joey, keep the fete and my grandma would sayjoey, spread it. keep the faith guy, we are going to win this, thank you, thank you, thank you. your patience is great. let's walk over here. so that was joe biden as we have predicted. telling his supporters to be patient, and keep the faith. he said we knew this would take time, all of those absentee ballots, we knew they might have to be counted. what he didn't say is that he had gone into this hoping they might have a blow out in case they wouldn't have to wait. this isn't the scenario the democrats wanted, it isn't the scenario joe the scenario the democrats wanted, it isn't the scenariojoe biden wanted. if you could have taken florida, which has gone to trump, if you could have taken georgia and north carolina, georgia looking like it is going to trump, north carolina is too close to call them if he had taken that, he would have been able

to give a victory speech tonight. wasn't, it was a holding player speech, trying to reassure his supporters they needed that maggie has come back again! no, he won't say more. there he is, he had left his notes. happens to the best of us, i know how he feels, it has happened to be far too many times. joe biden, former vice president, still hoping to be president of the united states. it was what we were expecting him to say. wasn't it? that he was going to say be patient, he says he can win this but it isn't the night they wanted. he said we couldn't get the result by tomorrow morning, by which she will mean thursday morning, and one of the things he may be saying that, i think you meant thursday morning... i'm not sure! the reason i think you did is word out of wisconsin is they

may well have finished counting the vote by 6am on thursday morning, which is a little earlier than others have been telling us, and that michigan may be soon after that. and pennsylvania, too, quicker than expected, we are getting some reports. so it is possible those rust belt states returned those results earlier than friday which would be a big relief for everybody, and as we've been hearing that would bea and as we've been hearing that would be a big relief of the country, too. and we have a quote from donald trump. he says, "we are up big... he seems to think poland is running here. i think he has spelt that

incorrectly. i will be making a statement tonight, a big win, he says. so, mrtrump will statement tonight, a big win, he says. so, mr trump will be speaking shortly as well, perhaps a rather different tone from joe biden, he implies he is going to say he has won this election. it is interesting, rememberwe won this election. it is interesting, remember we spoke to the acting chief of staff, and he was very the acting chief of staff, and he was very clear that votes can be counted after the polls have closed, thatis counted after the polls have closed, that is the law in the united states, those states, different laws, they can be counted after the polls have closed because very few states shut their poles and give you the total vote count. the president is taking this to the extreme end of the interpretation of where he wants to be legally and is signalling that

everybody things from now on in any votes counted, presumably, any votes added tomorrow, any votes added thursday or friday, it appears to be saying he will call them illegal and as he said just in the last few days he would send his lawyers in. let's bring in our panel of political strategists, brian la nza bring in our panel of political strategists, brian lanza and marianne marsh, a democratic political strategist. brian, what is your reaction, first of all, to what donald trump is tweeting because it isn't right, is it, that any votes counted after the polls shut are illegal? no, no. states have specific codes of wendy's votes are counted, stood some states require the count tonight, some states can count on it is clear that what the president is saying is not accurate.

so what is the strategy from the president, what is he trying to do all say? i am not going to analyse every tweet. sometimes he hits the mark with these tweets. that is the first one we've had! i was hoping to go the first night without a tweet but it is one of these doozies. he just wants to remind people, hey, listen, the election is going our way, the pundits and pollsters said florida would go biden, north carolina was going to go biden, and georgia was going to go biden but it is going trump so there is a trend and anything else is going to be shenanigans. the trend is on our side, if you sing to his supporters, we are going forward and anything new or fishy might stop him getting a second term. he says in his tweet,

"they are trying to steal the election". what is the evidence for that? you'd have to ask the campaign, because i haven't seen the evidence. he looks at what is going on in arizona, that being called early with the dispute there. that is with fox news. the day is broad. he has been fighting the media for six years so when he says they, it is pretty very broad. it could be cnn who called virginia for biden very early. some can say that influences the votes in other states are when you make broad statements... arman, brian, you'd have to be in lala land before donald trump president is accusing fox news of trying to steal the election from donald trump! what planet would you have to be on to think that was a credible statement? it is probably a new planet that is about to be discovered... it is a

planet on the north pole which he has spells. iowa, we are now rejecting iowa for donald trump. 92% of the vote counted, six electoral couege of the vote counted, six electoral college votes. a decent lead of six percentage points. let me come to you, marianne. this has the hallmarks of being a complete mess. what would you say. first of all, let's get some perspective here. let's go back to 2018 and election night which seems like a century ago, everyone said i got there was no blue wave, the democrats did poorly. over the days that came, the democrats picked up a tonne of house seats, they picked up senate seats and it took a while to count

montana, i can go on. everything joe biden said tonight is absolutely true. he is totally in the hunt to win wisconsin and michigan and the toughest one is pennsylvania but i think he could do that, too. florida was a wish, a hope. georgia? atlanta hasn't been counted. atlanta, a bunch of ballots out there. so we need to really walk through this process. it is 2020, of course this was going to happen, all right? of course it'll into extra time to stop here we are. how could this not happen? we had four inches of snow here in october! it's all right to say you are playing for time but the fa ct say you are playing for time but the fact is a number of leading democrat pundits have said we will win by a landslide! we will win comfortably! i've interviewed people through this

election campaign in your party is saying there is no way this is just going to be a slight wind. well, you should ask them about it. you can't claim tonight you are not a little bit disappointed about how things are going so far. i want to see 270 electoral votes and as a democrat i wa nt electoral votes and as a democrat i wantjoe electoral votes and as a democrat i want joe biden to win but we aren't there yet. shout out to and salts who had that poll in iowa, trump will win it by seven. let's look at everything objectively. joe biden did what he needed to do which was to go out there, be encouraging, tell people we have to count the votes and when we do he believes he will win and! votes and when we do he believes he will win and i think he's right. donald trump on the other hand told us what he was going to do and he is doing it. right, both of you, we don't know who is going to be president this weekend and hopefully we will have a vote by this weekend.

it says to me something about the american electoral process. here we are in the country with the biggest military in the world, biggest economy in the world and it is impossible to conduct an election that doesn't lead to days of potential chaos, possibly even violence, a lot of people unhappy and the rest of the world... lord knows what financial markets are going to make of this! it looks like a mess, it doesn'tjust look like a mess, it is a mess and we have known about this pandemic since january. why didn't the country get in place a system whereby they knew people would vote early, some people would vote on the day and we would get to the end of the night and how the vote cou nted ? the end of the night and how the vote counted ? it the end of the night and how the vote counted? it doesn't seem too much of an ask, does it, brian? listen, we are a divided country and this is where we are at... this

isn't a divided country, this is about systems, this is about the scaffolding of democracy and getting it right. yes. anytime you have states, the our system of government works, you will have different rules and statutes and that is a problem. we don't have a national standard for election day voting. that is a good thing, i can make that argument. ican good thing, i can make that argument. i can make the argument it isa argument. i can make the argument it is a bad thing. ultimately it leads toa is a bad thing. ultimately it leads to a long election process. when you go to the individual states, the individual counties, they have their own set of rules and ballot so the lack of universal code and standard usually equals a lack of universal reporting which is why you having some states reporting today and some reporting the day after, and some states might report next week. but this is the non—standardisation election is why we have these rolling disclosures of when we actually win. that is why it isn't

helpful if you have a president that treats out the election has been stolen, right? you can't have it both ways, you can't say we have a mess because our system is like that and then have somebodyjump in to say it has been stolen, that's when it doesn't work. he does say those things and it frustrates us... but he does get it both ways. at the end of the day, these voters, they will look at it and they will be seeing tomorrow and thursday, why haven't we won yet? they will be asking serious questions. they will look at the media who feel they've put the thumb on the scale, virginia, calling early, and unfortunately the network made a mistake and it will cause some harm for the trump supporters to accept these types of wins like we saw with arizona, where a mistake was made there as well. it isa a mistake was made there as well. it is a tough dynamics that will lead to more questions. if mr trump does

claim victory with roughly the results we know at the moment, what would mr biden's best course of action be in that event? first of all, just because mr trump says it doesn't make it so which is especially true about this election. i think he is trying to sow doubt and house for a long time now because he's afraid he's going to lose so he will have to claim in his mind it was rigged. he's told us what you will do all along so if he ends up leaving the white house in january it was never his fault, he didn't lose an election, he is a victim again and that is the difference here. joe bidenjust keeps on doing what he did tonight, continue to reassure people that every vote will be counted. would you expect him, would you want him, would you want to hear from him again ona would you want to hear from him again on a frequent basis? does he

need to come out on the east coast, on morning television, saying the same thing tomorrow morning, for example? if i were advising him, i'd advise him to do it. let's see what donald trump does tonight. we know what is going to say and tweet shortly. book ended and constantly bea shortly. book ended and constantly be a reassuring figure that the process will work and you have to believe in it. allow peoples ballots to get counted. i want to point out one thing — the house passed the aid package, in there was money for the elections to make sure there was enough resources to handle what was going to be an explosion of vote by mail participation because of the pandemic. that is just mail participation because of the pandemic. that isjust a fact. nobody asked for the mail to be slowed down, the trump administration systematically did and it required a federaljudge today to stop it. this could have gone better in many ways, a lot of

states and towns made big improvements from their primaries until now but they needed more resources to do it. so there is ple nty of resources to do it. so there is plenty of blame to go around and it should start at the white house because there hasn't been a good response to anything but in terms of the election, this is too important to fool around with. we won't know tonight or tomorrow morning the result. ok, for the moment, thank you both for the moment. we are waiting to see whether donald trump says he's going to say something, great to see what and when he says it. let's get a check on the news. there is still no clear outcome in the us presidential election as voting in key battle ground states has been close and most of the swing states have not been called for either candidate. as the votes are counted, projected results suggest president trump has held traditional republican states