Joe Biden will be returning to the White House – this time as President of the United States.
After days of vote counting and watching the margins seesaw, Biden has secured the necessary Electoral College votes to claim the White House. The race ultimately came down to narrow margins in a handful of battleground states, including Pennsylvania, Georgia, Arizona, Nevada and Michigan.
The Associated Press called the election with Biden at 290 Electoral College votes and Trump at 214. Biden has also captured the popular vote with 74,857,880 votes, or 50.6 percent of the vote. By contrast, Trump garnered 70,598,535 votes, or 47.7 percent.
Both Georgia and North Carolina’s votes have not been finalized yet. With Georgia leaning Biden’s way, there is not a path to victory for Trump.
The Trump administration has mounted multiple legal challenges in battleground states. There will be more developments on those in the days to come.
It should be noted that “calling” an election is not a legal process but rather a normative one. Election administrators still must certify votes, and the Electoral College must vote for their candidates.