♪ c-span, yourtching unfiltered view of government. america's cable television companies as a public service and brought to you today by your television provider. ♪ ♪ continue to be counted, stay with c-span for live coverage of the election process. c-span, your unfiltered view of politics. >> good evening at welcome to another night of results from the 2020 election. on your screen as at a live picture of black lives matter laws are near the white house. people have gathered they are as the presidential election is still undecided. here's where things stand. former vice president joe biden is ahead in the electoral count. states cleared today by the

associated press for him include arizona and wisconsin. the count continues in nevada, georgia, with carolina and pennsylvania, with legal challenges filed in all four of those states by the trump campaign. and although alaska has not been declared, the president is leading to-one for that state's electoral votes. the magic number is 270. in the popular vote, 71 million americans cast votes for the biden-harris ticket, while 68 alien voted for the trump-pentz team, compared to 66,000,004 hillary clinton and 63,000,004 donald trump in 2016. and good evening. we are going to hear your voices tonight about alexion 2020, and get updated results. thest want to let you know, michigan secretary of state will hold a press conference very shortly, jocelyn benson, and we will go to that live. so we might interrupt our normal flow of events this evening.

brawner. us is greta begin with states that have not been called on this evening at 8:00 p.m. eastern. we begin with alaska. you mentioned this, peter, the president as a sizable lead over the former vice president, with 53% reporting. going on to georgia, the president of former vice president arnett and neck. this hasn't been called. 99% reporting in georgia. in north carolina, president trump and joe biden also very, very close. 100% reporting, no one has called this yet, including the associated press. ended pennsylvania, president trump with a lead, but a narrow one, over joe biden. moving onto michigan -- moving on to michigan, the president trailed they are, the race was called earlier, joe biden

winning those electoral votes. in arizona, joe biden also declared the victor there this evening, 87 percent reporting. you can see the margin between the candidates. wisconsin, where the president says he will ask for a recount, joe biden declared the victor. peter: joining us now is the washington bureau chief for "the milwaukee journal sentinel campaign saysnt's they will call for a recount. in wisconsin, you have the right to do that if the margin is less then a percentage point. we don't have official results, so it remains to be seen what that margin is, if right now it is under a point. and then the president, it is laid out in state law that he has a timetable to meet in order

to make that request. underless the margin is .25 of a percentage point, he would have to pay for the cost of the recount. years ago infour his victory in wisconsin when jill stein, third-party candidate, demanded a recount and was given one, but had to pay $3 million to finance the recount. so there is a series of steps under state guidelines, and that process, a timeline will begin shortly. this point,t president trump's campaign hasn't called for a recount? coreg: not if -- aig: -- craig: not officially. they said they will call for a recount. peter: four years ago, how much change was there from the recount?

craig: very little. in that case, it was close to 23,000 votes. we have had other recount in experienceand the has been, like in most other states, it just changes a handful of votes on the margin, nothing approaching the number of votes that would need to be changed in order to affect the outcome of the election. peter: do you know offhand how many people in wisconsin posted by mail or voted in person? were 1.9together there million absentee ballots, that includes absentee ballots and mail-in ballots, that were cast in the early voting period. out of that 1.9 million, a third of them were what we call in person early votes in that two weeks, and two thirds of them

were vote by mail. year, what happened this did the president underperform, did joe biden over perform? ways, it was all most a replay of the election for years ago. we are not talking about a shift of a margin of 20,000 votes one way to 20,000 votes another way out of a total of 3 million votes. we saw patterns. i think the most significant differences were that while the president performed strongly in small towns and rural counties in wisconsin, as he did radically for years ago, he continued to lose ground in some suburban communities in southeast wisconsin, the population center of the state. the most significant trends there were the city of madison, a liberal, democratic city, and the suburbs around medicine, which are increasingly democratic, and the inner and outer suburbs of walkie.

the democratic inner suburbs, which are getting bluer and bluer, and then you had this historically republican outer but were donald trump underperformed in 2016 and continued to underperform in 2020, lost a little more grounded some of those suburbs. werened, those changes enough to shift the race against him. peter: and if the recount happens, mr. gilbert, who is in charge of it, who conducts it? craig: the wisconsin elections commission, governed by a nonpartisan board, would conduct that. the candidate would have to pay for it. there is a process we have been through before, and it is a pretty straightforward process. it takes time, but it is pretty straightforward. peter: so recount can happen if it is under 1%. the state pays for if it is under a quarter percent.

craig: exactly. peter: craig gilbert, thanks for being with us tonight as we look at election results. tonight, 202 is the area code for our numbers. supporters of president trump, 202-748, the number 8920. if you support joe biden, 202-748-891. and others, 202, 7 48, 8922 is the number to call. to 202-74n send texts 8-8903. text carefully and include your first name and your city. and a reminder, all our social media accounts, facebook, twitter, instagram, you can find, @c-span is our handle. you can join the conversation

there. we will take those calls after we check in with greta. greta: senate republicans headed into election night with the majority of 53 senators to 47 democrats in the senate. let's look at the balance of power. there are five races to be called yet. there are 28 republicans, 45 democrats into independents. you need 51 for a majority. let's look at some battleground races. arizona gets a new senator. mark kelly, democrat, astronaut, navy captain, husband of gabby giffords, former congresswoman. he will serve in the senate. in colorado, former governor john hickenlooper was declared victor over first term republican senator cory gardner. he lost his reelection bid. ortexas, john cornyn, ford -- former leader of senate republicans, he wins another term over mj hager, the

democratic challenger there. and in the state of georgia, david perdue has 52.3% report to jon ossoff. ap has not called this race yet. to countontinued ballots in georgia, there is worry david purdue could slip beneath the 50% threshold. if he does, he is headed to a runoff january 6. there was a special election in the state of georgia as well. kelly loeffler, who was appointed to that seat, garnered 26.2% of the vote. democratic challenger is up 32.5% in a lead over her. doug collins, also in that race, the jungle primary, conceded last night. at this is headed toward a runoff january 5. and in the state of maine, susan collins today declared victory. she will be serving her fifth term.

she was elected first in 1996. serengeti and loses her challenge there. sara girolina -- udeon -- loses her challenge there. senator lindsey graham over jamie harrison. and in kentucky, not a battleground, senator mitch mcconnell, people were watching closely because of outside money given to amy mcgrath, the democratic challenger. 97% came from out of state. peter: let's hear your voices. charlie is in utah, alabama on our support president biden line. >> it was good. joe biden is doing very well. emerge he is going to victorious to the presidency, and i think he will do a good job peter: charlie, why are you

supporting vice president biden? >> because he is a good person. he is not like donald trump. has not been, in the past four years since he has been there. so i am supporting joe biden and i think joe biden will be a better person for the presidency. peter: thank you for calling in. samantha is in beverly hills, florida. samantha, why do you support president trump? he is ase i believe strong individual who will lead this nation to better things. he is stronger in every aspect. peter: you have got to hit the volume on your tv, samantha. >> i do believe he is better for the economy. he has done way more in four years on the economy than any other president has, during the eight years of obama. peter: what you think of what is going on at the potential legal

actions the president's campaign is taking on behalf of states that haven't been fully counted? >> i believe trump has every right and i hope he goes through with this and i hope they find out that the democrats are crooked, they are lying, cheating. i think they called arizona to soon. that was not right. soon.zona too that was not right. i think this thing was set up from the get-go, like nancy pelosi said, she would do everything to get trump out of office. they tried impeachment, blaming trump for the coronavirus, anything they can to get trump out of fear. people are looking more at the hatred of trump than what he can actually do for the united states. peter: thank you. a reminder to viewers, if you get on, turn down the volume on your tv. otherwise you get a delay. you will be able to hear everything through your telephone. house, st. white john's episcopal church, the church of the presidents and black lives matter plaza, as it was named earlier this year,

you can see people gathering. this is just off of the white house. you can see people gathering, waiting for the election to be declared. that is a live picture. on our support vice president biden line. a lot going on in georgia right now. >> yes, all credit goes to stacey abrams for getting out the vote, rallying people to support at this is the way we will hopefully bring it to an end. peter: right now, it hasn't been declared and you have two senate races. who did you vote for? soff, iock and os believe both are really strong candidates who will turn the georgia economy around and help us get control of covid-19, which unfortunately due to governor kemp, has ravaged

across the state. peter: what do you doing atlanta? >> i am an actor. peter: commercials, tv, where could we see you? >> film, television, and a lot of theaters in atlanta. i just filmed the television show "bigger" and it was filmed in atlanta. peter: was that at the tyler perry studios? >> it was done by will packer, who did excellent job making sure everyone was safe. we get tested before we report to set, mask sent social distancing in place. peter: tyler perry has quite an operation down there, doesn't take? >> -- doesn't he? >> yeah, he is an amazing philanthropist and entertainer and businessman. old place and turned it into a moving studio. amazing. peter: we will look at the credits for evan in the television show "bigger."

michael in pennsylvania on our president trump support line, a lot going in -- going on in pennsylvania, michael. >> yeah. i agree with the other trump supporters. i hope and pray he sticks with courtstakes us to the for everything. i believe he has done so much for us. out ofhelped us get unemployment swamp and all of it is just ridiculous how the democrats have really in their themselves intolerance toward the american people and our votes. this is our right. and they are going to try to steal them from us just because, i don't even know, it is frustrating. i don't know how to word what i want to say.

peter: so with the legal challenges going on, and if joe biden declares victory, will you consider him a legitimate president? >> no. vona, that is michael in pennsylvania. david cantonese is a political reporter with mcclatchy newspapers nt tweets, outstanding margins in five states not called by the associated press, which we are relying on here at c-span2 call these races. pennsylvania, the president up 203 thousand votes, north carolina, also up 76,000 votes. alaska, up 56,000, georgia 44,000, nevada, the armor vice president up 7000 votes. manu raju notes at 7:39 this evening, this, the trump campaign has filed lawsuits now in michigan, pennsylvania and georgia.

from cooper ed nbc, the biden lead in michigan has topped 100,000 votes in our latest count. that was at 7:20 p right now, we are waiting on the michigan secretary of state or an update. peter: we will go into that as soon as it happens. it is there on your screen. onoy, hartford, connecticut our support vice president biden line. good evening, leroy. i am supporting joe biden. is [inaudible] i believe in 90% of what joe biden says he is going to do. fracking.won't stop that was allied to the american people -- that was a lie to the american people. and compared to donald trump, he

and i support joe biden 100%. peter: a reminder to our viewers, not only do you have to turn down the volume on your tv, don't use your speakerphone on your mobile phone. otherwise, we get a tinny sound and it is not as clear. here in theland suburbs of washington. amanda, how was election night? >> good evening. i voted absentee because i felt more comfortable with that due to the pandemic. it was a pretty seamless process. at my kitchenee table with my mom and stepfather. and by the time my stepfather took my ballot to the board of election, that was a week, and it a seamless process. the secretary of state in

michigan, jocelyn benson, is live. can anybody hear her? sorry about that. lansing, michigan, and jocelyn benson. if we can get the audio, we will go to it. we go to the caller in south carolina on our support vice president biden line. hello, alicia. what did you want to say? believe that biden should win this race because donald trump is not for the people. i believe that wholeheartedly.

a friend in florida set a couple of weeks ago, a desperate man is a dangerous man. donald trump does not care about the people in america. he does not care about people overall. it is all about him. we need something new. peter: were you surprised at how big a margin lindsey graham jamie harrison by? >> yes. i was really surprised. jamie harrison did a lot of work to get people to vote for him. he did a lot of work. and for lindsey graham to win like that? that was something else. peter: what do you doing darlington, south carolina? >> iona nail salon here in south carolina. own a nail salon here in south carolina? peter: have you been able to

reopen? >> i have been reopened for a while. peter: let's go to fayetteville, north carolina. is the first name clean? >> it is clean. peter: thanks for calling. you are on the president trump support line. >> i am. this is the first time i have ever voted or participated in a presidential election, ever in my life. black man and former special operations soldier in the army, i wholeheartedly believe that president trump is not only for the people, but he is a christian man for god. and i don't see how people can legitimately say that they not bent morality and able to [inaudible]

not an election about donkeys versus elephants. this is about morality versus evil. peter: he held a rally there. did you attend? >> i was not able to, brother. i am a drug counselor. that takes up a lot of my time. aside from that, i work in the gun industry. that takes a lot of time. but i would definitely be there in spirit. i heard it was a great turnout. peter: is he going to win north carolina? >> i hope so. i pray so. i have been praying on it. i hope so, man. clean, thanks for calling in from fayetteville, north carolina. carl is in cincinnati on the support vice president biden line. what is on your mind? >> i want to say that donald trump, the things he says, the things that come out of his mouth, are totally insulting to

this country. he is probably the worst president we have ever had. he is a disgrace to this country. he has disgraced the country itself just by the things he has said. and i hope that biden stops all the way through the electoral votes. peter: right now, the associate did press is projecting vice president biden is within reach if one of these states that is still undeclared goes for him. greta brawner. greta: i want to look at who jocelyn benson is. beenrs and people who have following this election over the past 24 hours have heard from this secretary of state dave number of times -- secretary of state a number of times. i found this on the michigan website.

"e is the author of a book, state secretaries of state: guardians of the democratic process." she wrote this book, graduated harvard law school, is an expert on election law, she was toointed dean at age 36 wayne state university law school. to can read more if you go the website for michigan secretary of state. david, alexandria, virginia, here in the suburbs, on our support president trump line. how did the election go for you? >> it is not over with yet. i am a trump supporter, but i have a few things to say. wait until theto last minute to do all this counting and stuff? if there is going to be outside voting and the mail and absentee, why don't they do this for, five days, a week before,

up to the date that we needed to get to election day, and have everything ready? this is so asinine it is not funny. peter: do you support the legal challenges the trump campaign is making against the undeclared states? me, thereand believe was a gentleman on there, clean, that said it was his first nonvoting. i'm 58 years old and this is my first time voting also. and i saw something different because trump, even though we all know he is not the greatest person to have as president, the thing of it is, we have ayden, who is up in age and if something was to happen to him, god for bid, we got a lady that has no experience being president of the united states. i don't think anybody has thought about that. it is unbelievable to think that

if something happens to biden, we have this lady who has no experience, nothing at all. and from her background, to me, has total nonsense of knowledge to run this country. peter: that is david in alexandria, virginia. what do you do, david? >> i am a building engineer. peter: a first-time voter in supporting president trump. and he mentioned the mail-in ballots. law, dostates, by state not allow mail-in ballots to be counted until after the polls close. white -- the state and states in white, including new york, maine, new mexico, mississippi, illinois, kentucky, missouri, minnesota, the dakotas, idaho, washington and california. atelyn benson, who we looked earlier, is the secretary of

state in michigan. here she was a few minutes ago, talking about the status of the michigan vote. secretary benson: good evening. i'm proud to stand before you to announce the results of our successful election in michigan. for nearly six weeks, from the moment the polls closed, from the moment voters began voting six weeks ago to the moment the polls closed at 8:00 p.m. tuesday night, a record number of michigan citizens turned up to cast their votes and make their voices heard in a historic presidential election. we saw record numbers of voters cast their ballots and overall, more than 5.2 million michiganders voted in this election. that is more than any election in our state in modern history. nearly twoo voted, thirds, or 3.3 million, voted absentee, utilizing the mail or our secure local drop boxes, or

their local clerk's offices, to return their ballots in time for it to be validated and counted. on election day, in-person voting was exceptionally smooth. our polling locations were islands of calm are of all backgrounds and political affiliations respected our voters' right to cast their votes free from intimidation. here we are, 24 hours a after the polls closed in michigan. and i am pleased to announce that in michigan, the process of tabulation is by and large complete, and counting in the final stages of receiving reports from the last are many jurisdictions as we speak. this is far quicker than we expected. i had estimated it would take our election workers 80 hours to count everyone of the nearly 3.3 million absentee ballots. it took 40 hours to count every the 1.6 million, half the number of the absentee ballots cast in our august area.

our 1500 local clerks and 83 county clerks were with us to meet the extraordinary challenge. byy prepared diligently working with us to increase capacity of their operations, so that now we are able to deliver unofficial results to the american public far, far sooner than we had estimated. smooth,all process was efficient, secure, and accurate. and behind the scenes, there were tremendous, carella, extraordinary efforts of our clerks and their staffs to meet every challenge thrown at them, every step of the way, and handle their work with diligence, grace, and a sincere commitment to ensuring every vote was counted and every voice was hard -- every voice was heard. as the unofficial results are wrapping up, we turn to the canvassing part of the process, which involves a bipartisan process of checks and balances over the next 13 days.

as that stage begins in michigan and as we continue to see the results of this historic election unfold nationwide, i caution everyone against spreading misinformation assigned further efforts to sow seeds of doubt about the integrity of our elections here and throughout the country. whether it is doctored images, staged demonstrations, false tweets or frivolous lawsuits, the purpose is the same, to reduce public faith in our elections and our outcomes. but those efforts will not succeed. it michigan, the process works. our system is secure, accurate, and anyone who tells you otherwise is attacking our democracy or unhappy with. the results. we will continue -- unhappy with the results. we will continue to tell the truth, and the true story of how rann michigan successfully an election with record voter turnout in the midst of a pandemic. but we can't this alone. we need every voter and citizen to prepare to counter

disinformation and misinformation that may escalate in the days ahead. stand up and support our democracy, join us in correcting information -- misinformation and false allegations. do not allow scare tactics and lies to win the day. do not allow foreign actors to attack our democracy. we need voters, members of the media, elected officials and other leaders to stand vigilant with us to commit to reporting only verifiable, accurate information, not just about michigan, but every state in our country. and above all, demonstrate your patriotism by standing in support of the integrity of our elections. however the days ahead play out, the health of our nation a democracy requires us to come together and respect the will of our voters at the sanctity of our elections process. in michigan, i'm proud to confirm that all valid ballots and only valid ballots have been counted securely and accurately,

and at that hour election results reflect will. i'm happy to take questions. and thank you all, again, for your work tonight. i want to take a moment as we take questions to emphasize and underscore the extraordinary amount of work that went into this election, with over 1500 andks all around our state, 83 county clerk who worked diligently alongside tens of thousands of elections workers to meet and exceed every expectation. we underscore that they are not just the most valuable players, but the heroes of our democracy, and they come from all backgrounds, political parties, and i'm so grateful that because of them, we are able to stand here tonight and show results from the chicken that accurately lacked the will of the people. think you. jim christian with wsib. reporter: good evening,

secretary. question is about the lawsuit from the trump campaign. you mention frivolous lawsuits. are you calling this lawsuit frivolous? and what are your thoughts going into the court system, where your directive on open carry guns was shutdown by a michigan court? do you think this is the lawsuit the president intends to take to the u.s. supreme court? secretary benson: yes, i believe it is frivolous. i am really gratified our elections on tuesday were smooth. going intoepeatedly this process, the court of appeals in the case you mentioned underscores voter intimidation in michigan is illegal, brandishing a firearm or threatening to harm our voters on their way to vote was illegal, and that we were ready to respond if any of those things occurred in michigan.

thankfully, they didn't. and i'm really glad voters listened to us, heard our call for peace and calm, to make our precincts places where people are proud to go, proud to bring the kids watch the democratic process in action. that was the story of tuesday. that was the story of voters from all backgrounds and both sides of the aisle respecting the process, each other, and directing everyone's right to vote. so i am grateful for that. it is so starkly different from the use of illegal cyst -- the use of the legal system to file frivolous claims and sow doubt among the public about the integrity of our elections. it is time we come together and not allow frivolous lawsuits or any effort to misinform the public about the truth find our elections to succeed. work inll steadfastly the days ahead to make sure we correct false information and continue to tell the

extraordinary story of our elections in michigan this year, up our clerks rising to the occasion across the state, overseeing a high turnout, record-breaking voter turnout in the midst of a pandemic, and still delivering results efficiently, effectively, securely and accurately to the american people. question is beth from "the detroit news." >> secretary, i have a quick question. you mentioned the process of tabulating was nearly complete. of the 100,000 that were outstanding this morning, how many are left to be counted and in which communities? tabulationenson: process is complete. now, there is the final process of reporting out those results, finalizing them at reporting them out. that is happening as we speak.

the tabulation, particularly in communities i mentioned, has been completed and is in the final stages of being repaired to be published. that full,iding official tabulation so we can into the canvassing process in the third teen days ahead, moving toward that official tabulation -- in the 13 days ahead, moving toward that official tabulation. >> i wanted to ask what happened at the tcf center today. you mentioned you thought it might be staged for misinformation. is that what you were referring to? and what you make of the complaints they had? secretary benson: i think what theaw at tcf center, preprocessing began on monday up through tonight, was by and large a transparent process

where representatives were able to observe the process. it proceeded efficiently and with integrity. as for folks who showed up in late hours up side, to cause a lot of distraction and make a lot of noise, i will just say that if they thought they were going to intimidate or stop anyone from doing their jobs, they don't know detroit. cnn.xt is annie with secretary benson, thanks for taking the time. going back to the lawsuit the president filed in michigan today, the claim the president is making is that ballots were counted without bipartisan teams, or allowing challengers to observe the process. i wanted you to respond to that specific claim, and if you could walk through the process of what those bipartisan teams are meant to do. secretary benson: i called it a

frivolous lawsuit without merit because that is what it is. that litigation is ongoing. we will let the process play out and respect the process, but i can say with confidence is that the absentee ballot tabulation process, not just in tcf but throughout the state, was efficient, transparent, secure and methodical. to dot every i t. cross every i'm proud to and before you tonight and say they finish their work efficiently than we originally predicted, and that is a reflection of the process working i am proud to stand by it, proud to defendant, proud of the integrity that flowed through the process every step of the way. reporter: secretary benson, we

saw on the kalamazoo county wereion results site, they advertising their results as not including absentees. what is going on? the tabulationn: is finished. they are finalizing everything. the process involves a lot of checks and balances to make sure that the results that are tabulated are ready to be published. there are a number of bookkeeping things they need to secure any element of the process for the days ahead, and for the official canvassing process is about to begin. that is the moment they are in and they are working to finalize that process. but the actual tabulation has been completed. >> next we have mark cap from "the oakland press." >> a few days you and the governor were talking about having final results by friday.

what are some of the main factors you would point to to having these unofficial results much quicker than anticipated? secretary benson: we set the estimate of about 80 hours through friday when we finished, based on the fact that in august, it took 40 hours statewide to tabulate and process 1.6 million absentee ballots. we knew we were on track to have about twice that many going into this election, so we estimated it would take twice as long to tabulate those ballots. we focused on three changes since the august primary, one of which we asked the legislature to do, and they get it. but the two things we did was, we increased high-speed ballot tabulator's in many communities, in some cases doubling or tripling the number of tabulator's on hand, as well as high-speed envelope openers and other technology secondly, we increased the number of people hired, protecting the requirement to have bipartisan

teams evaluating the process, but making sure we had more people on hand to move through the process more efficiently. the third thing we needed was more time. because you can increase the number of machines and the number of people, but we would have loved to have had more time. the bipartisan policy center recommends seven days. when you look at the past 24 hours, states like florida or ohio reported absentee ballot counts quite efficiently, where states that allowed the preprocessing at some cases the tabulation of ballots who voted absentee prior to election day, and now you look at the states remaining to counter absentee ballots, michigan, pennsylvania, were not able to start that process until after the polls closed. the state legislature get 51 communities time on monday to begin preprocessing. and throughout the day monday, without the real benefit west practicing everything out, setting everything out, so as soon as 7:00 a.m. hit tuesday,

they were ready to go. so it was helpful to have in some communities that extra time, and after the contributed to their efficient processes. i anticipate we will continue to ask the legislature in future elections to give us more time on the front end, like so many other states, so we are not always having to make everyone wait as the tabulation proceeds in the days that follow the closing of the polls. next is louis aguilar from bridge detroit. secretary benson: i can't hear you. >> hello. the chair of the wayne county board of canvassers implied that center, shee tcf had status as a pole challenger

and was really an observer and didn't act as a challenger. given her role, is that a conflict of interests? is there any law that says she may have crossed some line? secretary benson: that is the first time i am hearing about that. we will look into it. but we know transparency is something that is on our side. observers observed the process and were not disruptive of the process. we know that the county board of canvassers as well as the state board of canvassers will play an important role in certifying the ultimate, official results in the days to follow. and recognizing that, transparency and openness is important and we welcomed throughout this process that openness, we welcomed people who wished to observe the process. we draw the line when those

individuals become disruptive or interfere with the sanctity of our elections. >> we have no more hands raised. secretary benson: thank you, everyone. i hope everyone gets some rest. and i hope everyone heeds our call to really push back against the misinformation we believe will escalate potentially in the days ahead, and work with us to respect the will of the voters and bring our country and state together in furtherance of our democracy, and those who have spoken it will hear their voices heard in the days ahead. thank you. on the michigan vote from secretary of state jocelyn benson in lansing. biden,ent reporting, joe 50.3%. donald trump, 48.1%. a little over a 100,000 vote margin at this point in michigan. greta, what do you have? georgia,e state of

greg bluestein, who reports for "the atlanta journal-constitution" tweets out at 8:30 p.m. tonight, a new batch of returns from cobb county put aydin within 40,000 votes of surpassing trump in georgia. -- has arat has a pass path. the state says roughly 122 thousand absentee balance are still not returned, mostly from solidly democratic metro atlanta and savannah. this update on the david perdue race. david perdue was veering ever closer to runoff territory as jon ossoff, the democratic challenger, creeps up with every new trove of absentee returns from democratic-leaning territory. jenna johnson with the washington post, in 2016, the president one dozens of counties that previously voted for obama, helping him flip states like wisconsin and michigan.

biden is on track to pry back very few of those counties, instead gaining votes and urban and suburban areas. trumpis from nbc, donald one white women by a larger margin in 2020 then he won them in 2016, this exit poll. preliminaryf abc, exit poll results, voters say the economy was the top issue for them. aju of cnn, exit polls, 79% of voters say the candidate's positions on issues are most important. 53% of voters want to keep the aca. 61% of voters say scotus picks important factors. 58% are dissatisfied or angry at the federal government. one from john harwood at cnn, early exit polls show an electorate less white and better educated than 2016, when the president one a squeaker. biden is better with nonwhites

and more educated voters. peter: about 8:45 here in washington, a live actor of black lives matter plaza, just outside st. john's episcopal church and the white house. people are gathered there is the election is still undecided at this point. let's hear from joe in pittsburgh on our independent tour others line. joe, who did you vote for? -- arighty and for bernie write-in for bernie. i'm not happy with either candidate. i don't have faith in either one of them to be a good representative of us. and i just couldn't vote for either one of them. had said he wasn't going to pack the supreme court and had answered questions about his son, probably would have gotten my vote. but i couldn't vote for him for those reasons. and also, he says he is a

catholic but supports killing babies. i couldn't support him on that. bernie, at least he was consistent in what he said and didn't change his tone to get votes. trump probably would have one the election, but he wouldn't shut up. he is his own worst enemy. he had a lot of people who would have voted for him, a lot of independents i talked to, bernie people who were upset with the way he was treated would have switched to trump. he kept talking and he talked them out of voting for him. peter: a lot of activity in pennsylvania, what is your take? >> the biggest problem with the --nting the million votes the mail in votes is that josh shapiro is the attorney general and is on the ballot. and if his staff is involved in anything to do with the counting

of those votes, i think that that is wrong. he should have recused himself from everything involving the count. so that bothers me. as far as counting the ballots, pennsylvania law allows for it and it is good that we continue that. peter: joe in pittsburgh, thanks for your time this evening. rudy giuliani and eric trump were in philadelphia earlier today, holding a press conference talking about the ballot counting procedure. : it is sad that we are here in a city that is the birth place of our democracy. and this is among one of the most antidemocratic things i have seen or encountered. and it is not just in philadelphia. this is going on all over the country. we have filed a lawsuit. the lawsuit actually required that when these mail-in ballots,

that you know are highly suspicious, this form of balloting has always been considered the most prone to fraud according to "the new york times" when it didn't apply to there wastrump, supposed to be allowed by law to observe the counting of the ballots. observe means being able to look at. that way it is interpreted by the democrat crooked machine of that thehia is observers can be 20 or 30 feet away, never able to see the able to seef, never if it was properly postmarked, properly addressed, properly signed, all the things that often lead to disqualification of ballots, or make it very easy to dump 50,000 totally fraudulent ballots, because they are not observed.

peter: that was rudy giuliani today in philadelphia. governor of pennsylvania, tom wolfe, who is a democrat, responded later. afternoon, the trump campaign filed a lawsuit to stop the counting of ballots in pennsylvania. that is simply wrong. it goes against the most basic principles of our democracy. everyes away the right of american citizen to cast their vote to choose our leaders. our election officials at the state and local level should be free to do their jobs without fear, without intimidation, without attacks. these attempts to subvert the democratic process are simply disgraceful. we are going to fight every single attempt to disenfranchise voters. we will continue to administer

free and fair elections in pennsylvania. let me be clear. vote isylvania, every going to count. tom going to fight like hell protect the vote of every pennsylvanian, do everything in my power to make sure every vote counts, because in pennsylvania, every voice matters. every vote matters. if you want -- peter: if you want to watch the entirety of governor wolf's remarks or rudy giuliani's press conference, go to c-span.org/election. everything to do with the election is available, including interactive maps, all the speeches last night, as well as everything today. back to your calls. mike and cincinnati, thanks for holding on our support president trump lie. how is election 2020 looking for you?

it was actually correct. -- >> it was actually correct. it is funny, as soon as the polls closed, the states lit up lou. -- lit up blue. they already counted them. they are so far along that it is unreal. some of the step they are trying to get away with, it is crazy. they spent four years trying to get trump out of office. didn't work with him. exception of coronavirus, which is not his fault, they griped about him, he was saying we need to close borders down, they griped about it. but then they griped that he didn't work fast enough.

it is like a double-edged sword. it doesn't make sense. peter: mike in cincinnati. in selma, north carolina. >> can you hear me? peter: yes. go ahead. >> i voted for biden. of the day, he will not choose to be a president for blue states, but for all states. i love the fact he wants to bring americans together instead of separation. as far as rudy giuliani, i wish he would sit down someplace. ofis one thing to be thought as a fool, it is another story to open your mouth and actually improve it -- and actually prove it. philadelphia is crooked. if philadelphia is so crooked,

why is he averse to claiming victory there? covid, i wish the republicans would realize they need to start worried -- need to stop worrying about the health of our economy and realizing that without good health, we don't have an economy to worry about. why does trump have so many lawyers and everything on standby? i have never seen anybody claim want thatand then same victory to be reviewed and recounted. ? ? what is he talking about peter: that is tara in selma, north carolina. representative -- greta: usa today tweets at the headline, new mexico becomes the first state to elect all women of color to the u.s. house of representatives. they say early wednesday, the state confirmed victories for income but deb haaland and two

others he new mexico's three congressional district. andy go on to write that haal is a 35th generation new mexico and made history as one of the first native american congresswomen, a democrat who has been vocal on issues such as andgenous peoples' rights environmental justice and won reelection in the first congressional district in the state against republican challenger michelle holmes. a member of the state delegation in taos won her challenge against an incumbent democratic congresswoman in the second congressional district and complained -- and camp need to she is a conservative voice in congress and received support from president trump and other big name republicans. peter: mark, and monterey,

california. who did you vote for? peter: -- out an e.d for jo with ther: jo jorgensen, libertarian candidate. why? >> because i am a libertarian. i have never selected a democratic candidate in 40 years of voting. peter: are you proud of that record? >> yes. i vote my conscious and thinking the libertarian party is important and want to make sure the party retains ballot access in california. so you have to vote for the candidates when they are there. and by the way, california is so overwhelmingly democratic that in reality, no republican or third-party candidate will ever wean in california. so if you are a third-party supporter, you can always vote your conscience and know that if you voted for one of the major

party candidates, like the republican, they are not going to win anyway. that would really be wasting your vote. peter: you identify as libertarian, arc -- mark. what is your view on california politics? >> hopeless. peter: why do you stay in the state? >> i have family here. i have an elderly parent i help with. that is what keeps me here. but i am looking at moving to another state once things change. ther: how did you vote on uber drivers as independent contractors ballot initiative in california? >> i reluctantly voted yes, and i will tell you why, peter. i was disappointed that the proposition was so self-serving, that it was only designed to give economic freedom and liberty to a small group of

people, uber and lift drivers -- ed thed lyft driver's thedash people -- and doordash people. whoevery other individual is working under a 1099 is still constricted by 85, a bill passed by the legislature a couple of years ago.

power can't be taken or asserted. it flows from the people. who will be the president of the united states. there will, alone. long night ofa

counting, it is clear we are winning enough states to reach 270 electoral votes. declare that we want. -- declare that we won. that am here to declare when the votes are counted, we will have one. we have won wisconsin by 20,000 votes, the same margin president trump one that stated by four years ago. overchigan, we lead by 35,000 votes and it is growing, as substantially bigger margin than president trump one michigan inwon 2016. michigan will complete the vote soon, maybe as early as today. and i feel good about pennsylvania. virtually all the remaining balance to be counted were cast by mail. we have been winning 78% of the

votes by mail in pennsylvania. we flipped arizona. we flipped the special district of nebraska. of special significance, we won with the majority of the american people. every indication is that that majority will grow. and senator harris and i are on track to win more votes than any ticket in the history of this country that has ever won the .residency and vice presidency only three presidential campaigns in the past have defeated an incumbent president. when it is finished, god willing, we will be the fourth. this is a major achievement. this is a major achievement.

it has been a long and difficult moreign, and it has been a difficult time for our country, a hard time. and we have had heart campaigns before, we have faced hard times before. so once this election is finalized and behind us, there will be time for us to do what we have always done as american, putt the harsh wretch -- the harsh rhetoric of the campaign behind us, lower the temperature, to see each other again, to listen to one another, to hear each other to unite, to heal, to come together as a nation. i know this won't be easy. i'm not naive. neither of us are. i know how deep and hard the opposing views are in our country on so many things, but i

also know this as well -- to make progress, we have to stop treating our opponents as enemies. we are not enemies. together asus america is so much stronger than anything that can tear us apart. we are campaigning as democrats, but i will govern as an american president. not aesidency itself is partisan institution. it is the one office in this nation that represents everyone. it demands the duty of care for all americans. that is precisely what i will do. i will work as hard for those who did not vote for me as i will for those who did vote for me. now, every vote must be counted. no one is going to take our democracy away from us, not now, not ever.

america has come too far, america has fought too many battles, america has endured too much to ever let that happen. we, the people, will not be silenced. we, the people, will not be bullied. we, the people will not surrender. my friends, i am confident we will emerge victorious. but this will not be my victory alone or our victory alone. it will be a victory for the american people, for our democracy. for america. there will be no blue states and red states when we win. just the united states of america. god bless you all, and may god protect our troops. host: that was vice president

biden earlier today in wilmington, delaware. we mentioned a number of votes cast. as you can see, nearly 702i'm -- nearly 72 million cast a vote for the biden-paris ticket -- biden -- biden-harris ticket. we are going to continue to hear after we hear from this. >> first of all, we have background on last night. what happen last night was fox called arizona for joe biden. she said the decision left president fuming, and his team complained. then he began casting aspersions on other states' vote counts. she goes on to report mr. trump and his advisors erupted at the news. if it was true arizona was lost, it would cast doubt on any claim

a victory the president might be able to make. administration officials and campaign staff members had been all night, adamant that there was still a republican vote to be counted in the state. she goes on to say they and getral other aides tried to on arump to stop packing war hero and arizona's favorite son, senator mccain. let's take a look at the balance of power in the house where it stands right now. 41 still yet to be called. republicans have 190 seats and democrats have 204. a look at some of those races that have not been called -- pennsylvania's 17th district, conor lamb, who, with the republican district back in 2018, is facing sean parnell.

you can see how close it is right now. 36 years old, a marine corps veteran, very close race. minnesota's second, she just has a two point lead at this point over her republican challenger. illinois, the chair of the democratic national campaign committee, the committee in charge of races in the house, and her race has not been called yet. you can see she has a lead, but still not called in illinois's 17th district. in new york, antonio delgado who won in 2018, he has a lead over his current republican challenger. he is declaring victory, saying the ballots that have not been counted are absentee, and he says most of them are registered democrat. he spent 2.5 million democrat -- $2.6 million on this race. his republican challenger,

$2600. another candidate, former cia operative so has a slight advantage over her republican challenger, and that has not been called. in utah, the only democrat serving in congress from utah's delegation has less than a point percentage lead over his republican challenger. in arizona's first district, representative o'halloran there, democratic congressman who has a slight lead over the republican. district,s fourth republican congressman also with a really narrow, narrow edge over the republican. that's enough data on some of the house races. everything we have talked about tonight is available to look at on our website, c-span.org

/elections. let's hear from patricia on our support president biden line. caller: thank you so much for supporting best thank you so much for taking my call. let me take you off of speaker. i just wanted to call and say i love c-span, and i voted for biden, and i in looking back at obama's eight years. i trust him because obama picked him, but i also think that's maybe why some people don't want biden, because obama picked him. i think that we all need to follow the golden rule and treat each other the way we want to be treated. people think that hillary is the devil and obama is, and they are not. we are all human beings and we all deserve to be respected. first, i want to get your

assessment. your three members of the house of representatives, all women of color, one a republican, and a n.w senator, luja >> voted for all of them except yvette herrell, that's not my district. i know a lot of people work really supporting torres small. -- he is wonderful. i think he will do a great job. i wanted to call him and tell him what a great job he has been doing, but i know he has been nancy pelosi's helping hand throughout the impeachment and everything. we deserve better, and we don't deserve all this hatred. i'm a former schoolteacher, and i don't know who would put trump up as a role model for their

children. you seem tot: follow politics pretty closely. caller: yes, i do. host: is it a hobby? is it something for which you volunteer? volunteer -- don't well, i volunteered for obama. i support mike local candidates. no, i just -- that's what we need to do. we all have a job to do. that's our civil duty to do. lost newsident trump mexico by about 10 points. jessica is in mississippi on our .upports president trump line jessica, if you could turn off the volume of your tv, and if you are on speaker on york mobile phone, get back on the headset, we would sure

appreciate that, and go ahead and make your comment. yes, i have been a trump supporter ever since 2016 when he was running against hillary. i really do believe that trump will make a comeback and pick up a lead and continue to be our president for the next four years. support the legal challenges being made right now? caller: yes, i do. go?: how far should that how long should that stretch out, do you think? --caller: i would think at least another hour or another day until everything is counted because there's still ballots that are not counted. there's some that is missing that have not been found yet, but i strongly do believe that trump will get it again. he will be our president the next four years. say, if heto

doesn't, would you support him running again in four years? would. yes, i i would vote for him again in the next four years. mary is in louisville on our vice president biden line. taking myank you for call. i voted for vice president biden. i support him. i think he is a decent human being in his character. i think president trump has been an embarrassment to our country. he has incited violence and, you know, just people don't know what to do or how to act because he is out there acting the way he acts. rude. he criticizes people, and i cannot watch him on tv. i cannot stand to watch him. he has set a bad example.

we learned in kindergarten how to be kind to each other, and he has been the rudest. if he had any sense at all, he would take the results of this election and walk away like a gentleman instead of acting like he is acting. your city has been in the news a bit this summer. and it issolutely, sad. host: how is it going? caller: it has calmed down a great deal. i feel strongly this young woman was murdered in her own home. i think she was innocent of any charges they put against her. maybe she had dated this guy sometime or something. all the things they said about her half proven to be untrue, and -- question --re what's your assessment of the mitch mcconnell-amy mcgrath race with all the money amy mcgrath

got from outside the state, and she lost by about 20 points? soler: i have been disappointed. i wanted her to beat mcconnell so much. i would like to get him out of there. i don't feel any different about her -- about him than i do about trump's or. neither one do i like and neither one what i ever vote for. the associated press has called the michigan senate race. gary peters has been reelected. as you can see, it has been a very close race all night, and 99 percent there, is reporting. john james ran six years ago or a couple years ago, against the other michigan democratic senator. greta, what do you have for us? greta: i want to show some tweets from secretaries of state across the country. in ohio, frank lareau tweeted

this out. 5.8 million votes counted, ohio has shattered our all-time record and with over 300,000 outstanding ballots, there's more to come. voting has never been easier in our state, and you proved it. democrats tweeted out more coloradans voted in this election than any previous election. over three point 3 million voted with an 86.8% turnout among active registered voters, and even more ballots will be processed in the coming days. we share this with you earlier, but if you missed it, the michigan secretary of state, who has held several news conferences, from her bio on the website, the michigan secretary of state, they said she has written a book about being a secretary of state, "the guardians of the democratic process. she's a harvard grad, an expert on election law.

she served as chair of the wayne state diversity election law school and was appointed dean at age 36. she tweeted out this evening her current view from her office. take a look at the picture there. there she is with john lewis the civil rights leader. in tennessee on our supporter of president trump line. you had a pretty good night, huh? real good night. i'm still kind of upset and sad about the overall deal of what's happening. you take a man that has been going up against so much insurmountable odds and challenges and he's still in the midst of all of that, he is still fighting hard for the country, still making things

great for the country, still making things great for all black people,st latinos, women, you name them. i mean, every nationality. what i don't understand is how the people can treat the president the way they been treating him. i mean, since day one, they been -- he ain't had no chance to breathe other than constantly going back and forth with the different people that's trying to come against him and with all of those odds, he still managed to come out on top and keep the country winning. any man that don't want to vote for a man that that strong in the paint and still winning, something is definitely wrong with that man. now, women are different. they are more sensitive, emotional, and, you know -- because they don't like a

person, they won't vote for them. i understand that, but us as men, black, white, latino, russian, german, whatever, when you see somebody fighting as hard as he been fighting -- i'm talking about within the last day or so, what he do? 36 states? not quite, but a lot of events. been quiteould have the record. let's say it does not turn out the way you want it to with the states left to be called. would you encourage him to run again in four years? about it.oubt no doubt about -- i was so happy when i heard you say he could run again, but i don't want to take that into consideration. i want him to win now. host: do you support the legal

action in pennsylvania and a recount in wisconsin, arizona, and michigan? caller: absolutely. if we get it, you know they are going to say we stole it. have your people in place, making sure the polls and everything is being done correctly. what do you do? caller: over the road truck driver. host: thank you, sir. let's return one more time to greta. greta: let's take a look at some of the members of congress who have been serving for a while and have earned chairmanships in the house. john yarmuth, the chair of the budget committee, take a look at the victory that he had last night, going on to the education and labor committee, bobby scott is the chair of that. he also with a sizable win. frank pallone from new jersey's

sixth district, he is the chair of the energy and commerce committee. he also wins another term. he's the chair of the ethics committee. the homeland security committee in the house is chaired by bennie thompson, the democrat from mississippi's second district, and also a 30-point win for him. viewers know our him, the chair of the judiciary committee, represents new york's 10th district. carolyn maloney, who became chair of the oversight and reform committee after elijah cummings passed away. she represents new york's 12th district, and she with a big victory in new york. mcgovern chairs the rules committee in the house. he is from massachusetts, the second district there. the chair of the small business

committee had a big win last night. clarence out of michigan on our support vice president biden line. caller: personally, i think trump has a big mouth, and he should keep his mouth shut, and he has been in the news too much. i think he should just lose and just get out of there and keep his mouth shut. why did you support vice president biden? what was it about the vice president that attracted you? because biden does not have a big mouth like trump. when it came to the senate race in michigan, where did you go on that one?

i voted straight democrat. host: what kind of work do you do? caller: i'm retired. host: from? caller: use to sail on a boat. host: what do you mean? caller: i'm retired. clarence.'s here's the electoral map as it stands at 9:30 p.m. eastern time. 264 president biden, electoral votes declared. this is associated press declaring these. president trump, two hundred 14. you can see there that alaska, georgia, north carolina, and pennsylvania are still left to be called. everything that is about election 2020, all the speeches, all the maps, all the facts and figures available at c-span's