Democrat Joe Biden defeated President Donald Trump to become the 46th president of the United States. As he begins his transition to the presidency, Biden is pivoting from a bitter campaign battle to a more pressing fight against the coronavirus pandemic, which has hit the world’s most powerful nation harder than any other. Biden on Tuesday said "we’re going to get right to work" after announcing Monday a task force of public health experts to help his administration prepare to take on the virus.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration is throwing the presidential transition into tumult. Trump has refused to concede and blocked government officials from cooperating with Biden’s team. He has pursued legal challenges in several states and repeatedly made a barrage of false or dubious claims about large-scale voter fraud in Pennsylvania and other states that broke for Biden, so far without proof.
The outcome of Georgia and North Carolina's contests remain in play and the solidly Republican state of Alaska has also not been called because it is only 75% counted. Also hanging on the balance is control of the Senate, which hinges on two runoff races in Georgia that will be decided in January.
Trump Wins Alaska, NBC News Projects
President Donald Trump has won Alaska, according to a projection by NBC News.
With 75% of ballots counted, the solidly Republican state showed GOP incumbents in the races for president, U.S. Senate and U.S. House with largely similar tallies and sizable advantages over their Democratic opponents.
The state's three electoral votes brings Trump's total to 217. With 279 electoral votes, Biden has already cleared the 270 threshold needed to win the White House.
Alaska election officials began counting more than 155,000 absentee and other ballots Tuesday, a week after Election Day.
NBC News has yet to make projections in the presidential race in Georgia, Arizona and North Carolina because they are deemed too close to call. Biden is leading in Georgia and Arizona while Trump is up in North Carolina.
Alaska Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan Wins a Second Term, NBC News Projects
Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan has been re-elected to his seat in Alaska, NBC News projects, defeating Democratic challenger Al Gross.
With 75 percent of the vote in, Sullivan received more than 57 percent of the vote and leads Gross by more than 52,000 votes.
Sullivan's win gives Republicans 50 seats in the Senate to Democrats' 48, with control set to be decided by the two Georgia runoffs in January.
Trump to Emerge From the White House to Mark Veterans Day
President Donald Trump will participate in the Veterans Day observance at Arlington National Ceremony on Wednesday, emerging in public for the first time since his failed reelection bid to take part in the annual presidential rite.
Trump has spent the last several days holed up at the White House tweeting angry, baseless claims of voter fraud after his election loss.
He's made no public comments since President-elect Joe Biden surpassed the 270 electoral votes on Saturday needed to win the presidency. Instead, he’s offered a barrage of postings on Twitter alleging unfounded claims of irregularities in voting in several battleground states that went for Biden.
Trump will be joined at Arlington National Cemetery by first lady Melania Trump as well Vice President Mike Pence and his wife, Karen Pence.
States Cite Smooth Election, Despite Trump's Baseless Claims
The 2020 election unfolded smoothly across the country and without any widespread irregularities, according to state officials and election experts, a stark contrast to the baseless claims of fraud being leveled by President Donald Trump following his defeat.
Election experts said the large increase in advance voting — 107 million people voting early in person and by mail — helped take pressure off Election Day operations. There were also no incidents of violence at the polls or voter intimidation.
“The 2020 general election was one of the smoothest and most well-run elections that we have ever seen, and that is remarkable considering all the challenges,” said Ben Hovland, a Democrat appointed by Trump to serve on the Election Assistance Commission, which works closely with officials on election administration.
In Wisconsin, a battleground state where Biden narrowly edged Biden, top election official Meagan Wolfe said there were no problems with the election reported to her office and no complaints filed alleging any irregularities.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, a Democrat, said the same was true in her state, which Biden also won.
Some incidents did get attention: In some Ohio and Texas counties, electronic poll books used to check in voters were sidelined when polls opened because they were still downloading a database update. That forced officials turn to paper backups or extend voting hours on Election Day. Some Georgia counties also grappled with poll book issues and with ballot-processing difficulties in a new statewide voting system.
That said, the errors seemed to have occurred at lower rates than in most elections, University of Iowa computer scientist Doug Jones said.
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