Joe Biden Projected Winner In Election; Trump Keeps Fighting

ACROSS AMERICA — Joe Biden has won the 2020 presidential election, according to projections from several news outlets including the Associated Press.

The news was announced Saturday as the AP called Pennsylvania for Biden, adding 20 electoral votes to his tally and putting him over the 270 required to clinch the presidency.

The AP's unofficial results show Biden has 290 electoral votes with all but two states, Georgia and North Carolina, yet called. The New York Times, which has not yet called Arizona, put him at 279 as of midday Saturday. Not yet having called Nevada, CNN has Biden's total at 273.

Read More: Joe Biden Projected Winner Over Donald Trump In Presidential Race

Biden released a statement on Saturday thanking American voters for staying the course and making him president-elect:

"I am honored and humbled by the trust the American people have placed in me and in Vice President-elect Harris.

"In the face of unprecedented obstacles, a record number of Americans voted. Proving once again, that democracy beats deep in the heart of America.

"With the campaign over, it's time to put anger and the harsh rhetoric behind us and come together as a nation.It's time for America to unite. And to heal.

"We are the United States of America. And there's nothing we can't do, if we do it together."

Despite every major projection showing Biden strongly in the lead, it is unlikely President Donald Trump will concede the race anytime soon. As Americans learned on Saturday that Biden was the projected winner, Rudy Giuliani, Trump's personal lawyer and the former mayor of New York City, held a press conference in Pennsylvania alleging fraudsters had tampered with the election.

Giuliani, flanked by poll watchers who claimed they had been prevented from monitoring ballot counting, said, "Obviously he's not going to concede when at least 600,000 ballots are in question."

Trump's campaign has presented no verifiable evidence showing ballots were tampered with.

Giuliani said lawsuits will be brought starting on Monday. It's unclear what the campaign will allege in lawsuits or where they will be filed.

The Trump campaign had already filed several lawsuits as his lead in several key states began to slip throughout the week.

On Friday, a Trump campaign lawsuit over late ballots in Philadelphia made its way to the Supreme Court, which ruled ballots received after Election Day must be separated from those received before polls closed. The order does not prevent the ballots from being counted.

Election workers in Pennsylvania had already been instructed to separate the ballots in case a legal challenge arose.

A Nevada judge on Friday also dismissed a lawsuit to toss out signature-verification machines in Clark County, where Las Vegas is located. The judge said there was not "sufficient evidence" to support claims of "lax procedures for authenticating mail ballots."

The lawsuit also pushed to allow poll watchers to get close enough to election workers to hear them speaking. The judge pushed back, saying too much ambiguity surrounded the plea as some election workers could be soft-spoken, ABC News reports.

Earlier this week, a Chatham County judge in Georgia tossed a lawsuit from Trump's campaign after saying county officials had been able to prove all ballots were legitimate and no late ballots were accepted.

Small protests occurred across the country as ballots were being tabulated in a handful of key states with Trump supporters calling on election officials to "Stop the steal!" and others issuing a pleas to "Count Every Vote."

A demonstration Wednesday resulted in 25 people being arrested and 32 being issued summonses after police converged on groups of post-election protesters in Manhattan. Arrests were also made in Washington and Oregon after property was damaged during protests, the Associated Press reported.

In Minnesota, 646 people received citations after a large group protesting Trump's premature claim of election victory blocked Interstate 94 in Minneapolis late Wednesday and early Thursday.

A "Count Every Vote" group also gathered in Philadelphia on Thursday opposite a group of Trump supporters outside the Pennsylvania Convention Center, which was later the target of a thwarted attack.

Peaceful protests were also reported in New Jersey and Arizona, where hundreds of angry Trump supporters gathered outside the Maricopa County Recorder's Office in Phoenix to chant "Stop the steal!" after the president asserted without evidence that there were major problems with voting and ballot counting.

Election officials in several cities expressed concern after small groups gathered in Phoenix, Detroit and Philadelphia, the Associated Press reports. In Michigan, Attorney General Dana Nessel pleaded with Trump supporters to "stop making harassing & threatening calls" to her staff, and election worker Cynthia Duquette said "aggressive" poll challengers at the former Cobo Arena threatened the "overall strength and integrity of the American electoral process."

On Saturday, people in several cities took to the streets to show support for Biden and, in other cases, to protest the results of the election. One of the biggest turnouts was seen in New York City, where residents were seen cheering, popping bottles of champagne with neighbors, clattering pots and pans and dancing. Videos from across the city show neighbors celebrating together.

Politicians and celebrities, meanwhile, took to social media to congratulate Biden and Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris on their projected win.

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