It's down to these 6 states

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Wednesday, November 4

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NAIL-BITER: 6 CLOSE STATES The 2020 presidential election was not decided on Election Day. This was a predictable result after the coronavirus pandemic radically changed the way Americans voted and elected officials in key states refused to update their laws to reflect that. What’s left is a muddied picture of a hotly contested and vicious election. All attention turns to the three Rust Belt states that handed Donald Trump his 2016 victory by slim margins ― Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. If Biden wins Wisconsin, he would then only need Michigan, Pennsylvania, or Georgia to claim overall victory. See real-time results here. [HuffPost]

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TRUMP FALSELY DECLARES VICTORY Trump addressed a crowd of supporters at the White House early today amid uncertain election results, pushing his narrative that the Democrats are trying to steal the election while votes were still being counted and threatening to go to the Supreme Court to declare him the winner. “A very sad group of people is trying to disenfranchise that group of people, and we won’t stand for it. We will not stand for it,” he said. MSNBC’s Brian Williams interrupted the network’s broadcast of Trump’s speech to fact check the president’s claims. Meanwhile, protesters gathered near the White House. [HuffPost]

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BIDEN URGES SUPPORTERS TO 'KEEP THE FAITH' Democratic challenger Joe Biden urged his supporters to “keep the faith” amid slow results from a slate of battleground states in the presidential election, saying he believed he was on track to defeat Trump when all the votes are counted. “We knew this was going to go long, but who knew we were going to go into tomorrow morning, maybe even longer,” Biden said in Delaware. “We feel good about where we are, we really do. I’m here to tell you tonight, we believe we’re on track to win this election.” [HuffPost]

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DEMOCRATS RETAIN CONTROL OF THE HOUSE Although the biggest question of the night remains unanswered, one thing was clear: Democrats will hold on to control of the House of Representatives and will likely add a small number of seats to their existing 232-197-1 majority. But their gains look to be limited by a few losses, as Florida Republican challengers Carlos Gimenez and Maria Elvira Salazar beat incumbent Democrats Debbie Mucarsel-Powell and Donna Shalala. [HuffPost]

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TWITTER, FACEBOOK, ADD WARNINGS TO TRUMP VICTORY LIE Facebook and Twitter placed warning labels on posts in which Trump claimed he had won the 2020 election and that Democrats were “trying to steal” victory. Facebook put a label beneath Trump’s post in which he declared “a big WIN!” and said he’d be making a statement. The label explained that votes were still being counted and that a winner had not yet been called in the presidential race. The label linked out to a page labeled “Voting Information Center.” [HuffPost]

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MARK KELLY WINS ARIZONA SENATE RACE Arizona voters on Tuesday rejected GOP Sen. Martha McSally for the second time in two years and picked former astronaut and prominent gun control advocate Mark Kelly to represent them in the U.S. Senate. Kelly, 56, ran as a center-left candidate and outsider. His wife, former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), was shot in the head during a mass shooting in 2011 that left six people dead. The couple founded and help run a gun safety group that donates to congressional candidates who support gun control measures. [HuffPost]

WHAT'S BREWING

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THE SQUAD IS HERE TO STAY The quartet of first-term progressive representatives best known as “the Squad” are sticking around Washington: Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.), Ilhan Omar (Minn.), Ayanna Pressley (Mass.) and Rashida Tlaib (Mich.) all won reelection to another two years in Congress. On Tuesday, the Democratic women of color, who are frequent targets of Trump, resolidified their standing in Congress by winning reelection in New York, Minnesota, Massachusetts and Michigan. [HuffPost]

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GEORGIA: LOEFFLER, WARNOCK, HEADED FOR RUNOFF Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R) and Democratic challenger Raphael Warnock will face off in a Jan. 5 runoff election after Rep. Doug Collins (R) conceded in Georgia’s special Senate election and The Associated Press projected they would receive the most votes. Under the state’s rules, the contest goes to a runoff if no candidate wins a majority of the votes. The race was an open election, meaning that there were no primaries. Loeffler, Warnock and Collins consistently led the 20-person field. [HuffPost]

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HICKENLOOPER BEATS GOP INCUMBENT IN COLORADO Last month, Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) said he believed Trump to be a moral and ethical man. On Tuesday, Gardner was projected to lose his bid for a second term to former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper (D) in a race that never really lived up to its early hype, mostly due to Trump’s unpopularity in the state that has an increasingly diverse electorate. [HuffPost]

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NORTH CAROLINA REPUBLICAN WILL SOON BE YOUNGEST HOUSE MEMBER Madison Cawthorn, a 25-year-old Trump-loving conservative, is projected to win the North Carolina House seat once held by Mark Meadows, now White House chief of staff. Cawthorn beat out Democrat Moe Davis, a 62-year-old retired Air Force colonel and former military prosecutor at Guantánamo Bay, by more than 10 percentage points. He is set to become the youngest member of Congress. [HuffPost]

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GOP SEN. DAINES WINS REELECTION Montana GOP Sen. Steve Daines has defeated Democrat Steve Bullock in a hard-fought battle in a Republican-leaning state. Bullock was considered the only Democrat with a chance of ousting Daines. Meanwhile, Mitch McConnell beat Amy Magrath to win reelection in Kentucky. And in Iowa, Sen. Joni Ernst, a first-term Republican, is projected to win her reelection bid. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) is projected to win against Democratic challenger M.J. Hegar to keep his Senate seat [HuffPost]

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MCBRIDE BECOMES FIRST OPENLY TRANS STATE SENATOR Sarah McBride made history on Tuesday night when she became the highest-ranking openly trans official in America after winning a seat in Delaware’s state Senate. The 30-year-old Democrat is projected to defeat Republican Steve Washington to take the seat of now-retired state Sen. Harris B. McDowell III (D). McBride said she’s “so thankful to the hundreds of volunteers who made calls, sent texts, and talked to voters to bring our neighbors together.” [HuffPost]

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LOUISIANA PASSES STRICT ANTI-ABORTION AMENDMENT Louisiana voters passed a ballot measure that enshrines anti-abortion language in the state’s constitution. Amendment 1 adds language to the Louisiana Constitution stating that nothing in it “shall be construed to secure or protect a right to abortion or require the funding of abortion.” Meanwhile, Colorado voters approved a ballot measure that will establish paid family leave in the state, and Oregon is set to become the first U.S. state to decriminalize possession of all illegal drugs. [HuffPost]

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