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The presidential contest isn’t resolved. But the 2020 election has already proved revealing. Keep reading for three things we’ve gleaned from the results so far.
“The clearest message of this week’s complicated election results is that the trench is deepening between red and blue America,” Ronald Brownstein writes. Meanwhile, George Packer argues that it’s time to face a bitter truth: “We are two countries.”
Jaime Harrison lost to Lindsey Graham. “But his campaign allowed Democrats to imagine what was possible in his home state; it reminded national leaders why they should not write off the region,” Adam Harris writes.
Arizona: Expect two batches of results: one around 9 p.m. ET tonight and another just after midnight.
Biden currently leads by about 90,000 votes, but networks are torn on whether to call the state, given uncertainty about the partisan lean of the outstanding ballots.
Georgia: We could get a complete answer tonight.
Key counties say they aim to wrap up their counts around 9 p.m. ET. Trump leads here by about 80,000 votes, but the remaining ballots are mostly in heavily Democratic areas, giving Biden narrow odds to flip the state.
Nevada: Check back tomorrow.
We should get a big update. Biden currently leads by only 7,000 votes, but the remaining ballots are expected to lean Democratic.
Pennsylvania: Check back tomorrow.
The secretary of the commonwealth said today that she expects full results “significantly sooner” than Friday. Well, today’s Wednesday, and we don’t seem to be particularly close to a full count in the state. Temporally speaking, that leaves Thursday as the only day sooner than Friday. Trump’s big lead in the state could be endangered as hundreds of thousands of outstanding mail ballots from cities such as Philadelphia and Pittsburgh are likely to go overwhelmingly to Biden.
North Carolina: Check back next week.
Mail-in ballots in North Carolina have until November 12 to arrive, and we might not know the winner of this state until mid-November.
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What to read if … you’re feeling angsty about the Electoral College: