President Donald Trump’s campaign declared the election is “not over” hours after challenger Joe Biden took leads in Pennsylvania and Georgia on Friday morning.
Only one major outlet, Decision Desk HQ, has called the race for Biden. The Associated Press, CNN, Fox News and other major outlets have updated with Biden’s leads but have not called the race as of Friday morning. Trump and his campaign are engaged in numerous legal battles in Pennsylvania and elsewhere that are likely to push any result further into November. Georgia is also almost certainly headed for an automatic recount.
“This election is not over. The false projection of Joe Biden as the winner is based on results in four states that are far from final. Georgia is headed for a recount, where we are confident we will find ballots improperly harvested, and where President Trump will ultimately prevail,” the statement reads.
This election is not over. pic.twitter.com/0WJGtgqKxX
— Team Trump (Text VOTE to 88022) (@TeamTrump) November 6, 2020
“There were many irregularities in Pennsylvania, including having election officials prevent our volunteer legal observers from having meaningful access to vote counting locations,” the campaign added. (RELATED: Joe Biden Says ‘It’s Clear’ He’s On The Path To 270)
The statement comes less than a day after Trump gave an ill-received address from the White House press briefing room in which he claimed to have “won” both Georgia and Pennsylvania as votes were still being counted. Trump and his allies have pointed to “irregularities” in the vote counting in PA, particularly in Philadelphia.
Much anecdotal evidence of alleged election fraud has been shared across social media since Election Day, but most of it has proven to be either misinterpreted or outright false. Many are calling for an audit of certain regions in the contested states to ensure trust in the election result.
The president has not addressed the nation, on Twitter or in-person, since losing his leads in the key states.