Former vice-president Joe Biden has taken the lead over current President Donald Trump in the state of Pennsylvania in the 2020 US election.
If Biden maintains his lead, he receives another 20 electoral college votes, pushing him over the brink of 270 electoral votes and securing the presidency.
Most American media are attributing 253 electoral votes to Biden and 214 to Trump. With six states and 71 electoral college votes still up for grabs, either candidate can still win, but the odds have just turned a little more in Biden’s favour.
In the US presidential election, voters don’t vote for candidates but rather for an electoral college made up of 538 electoral votes. Whichever candidate reaches 270 electoral votes wins the presidential election.
Biden and Trump are in a neck and neck race in most remaining states. Earlier today (around 10:45 AM Belgian time), Biden narrowly overtook Trump in the state of Georgia, and the latest update puts Biden ahead by 5,587 votes in Pennsylvania.
The numbers are currently looking good for Biden, whose campaign is confident he will win the election.
If the leads for each remaining state do not change, Biden will take Pennsylvania, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada, worth 53 electoral college votes and defeat Trump with 306 electoral college votes to 238.
That said, as none of the remaining 71 electoral college votes have been conclusively called yet, both Joe Biden and Donald Trump have multiple paths to the White House.
To learn more about the basics of the US electoral system, click here.
Jason Spinks
The Brussels Times
