A heated battle for Michigan’s 16 electoral votes ended with a narrow victory for Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.
With 100% of the votes counted, Michigan was added to the former vice president’s “win” column early Wednesday evening, according to the Associated Press. (RELATED: Battleground State Elections Officials Refuse To Explain Sudden Biden Vote Influx)
Joe Biden wins Michigan, flipping a state that was key to President Trump’s 2016 victory and moving Biden within 6 electoral votes of winning the presidency. #APracecall #Election2020https://t.co/LQgKB3caLp
— The Associated Press (@AP) November 4, 2020
Biden spoke to supporters Wednesday afternoon, saying that he felt confident that enough of the remaining states would break in his favor to secure a victory in the Electoral College.
‘When the count is finished, we believe we will be the winners,’ said Joe Biden as he is projected to win both Wisconsin and Michigan https://t.co/ehoGio54bO pic.twitter.com/MIY1KP1S08
— Reuters (@Reuters) November 4, 2020
President Donald Trump’s campaign has filed a lawsuit demanding that all counts be temporarily halted in Michigan, saying that Republican officials had been denied “meaningful access” to the process while mailed ballots were being tallied.
MORE: Crowd assembled at TCF Center in Detroit, where Michigan absentee votes are being counted, chant “stop the count” as security blocks doors; CBS News projects Joe Biden is the winner in Michigan. https://t.co/1ZBzg3mgpW pic.twitter.com/kO2dBsbaK2
— CBS News (@CBSNews) November 4, 2020
President Donald Trump eked out a narrow victory in Michigan — when he bested former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton by just 10,704 votes — in 2016. The final vote percentages had Trump at 47.3% of the vote while Clinton took 47%. Third party candidates including Libertarian Gary Johnson and the Green Party’s Dr. Jill Stein earned just over 250,000 votes combined.
Prior to 2016, the last Republican presidential candidate to win Michigan was former President George H. W. Bush in 1988.