Biden edges ahead in race for White House as flood of mail-in votes pushes him past Trump in Michigan

Joe Biden pulled ahead of President Trump in the critical battleground state of Michigan early Wednesday, putting him back on track to potentially narrowly win the presidential election after early setbacks.

Biden inched ahead by 14,000 votes in Michigan as the Democrat notched huge margins in mail-in votes that were being counted after the president took a strong lead in votes cast on Election Day.

Michigan awards 16 Electoral College votes.

With Biden taking the lead in the count in Michigan, and ahead in neighboring Wisconsin and Arizona, the Democrat was leading and strongly favored in enough states to win 270 Electoral College votes and the presidency if those counts were to hold up.

Trump still had a narrow path to claim reelection, but he would have to reverse the powerful trend that put Biden on pace to win Arizona, Wisconsin and Michigan.

The president sought to declare victory prematurely in a White House speech to cheering supporters early Wednesday.

Biden, who said he was optimistic about the race, planned to give a briefing at mid-morning Wednesday.

Michigan was following a clear and dramatic pattern similar to that playing out in other states: Trump jumped out to a big lead in Election Day votes but Democrats were racking up massive margins in mail-in votes, especially in Democratic strongholds.

Detroit’s Wayne County and other urban and suburban counties were continuing to deliver huge totals to Biden as each batch of votes is added. Significant numbers of ballots remained to be tallied, meaning Biden has the edge.

“In Detroit, in Flint, in Grand Rapids, all of those are still being counted, hundreds of thousands of ballots,” Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson told CNN Wednesday. “Those are all absentee ballots.”

Trump was still leading in swing states of Pennsylvania, Georgia and North Carolina after winning Florida by a healthy margin.

But he would fall short of winning reelection unless he can hold onto Michigan or notch a surprise win elsewhere, like perhaps in Nevada where Biden was clinging to a narrow lead.

The lag in reporting is the result of a torrent of ballots cast by mail this year because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Biden was poised to win a significant popular vote victory nationwide and led Trump by more than 2 million votes and counting Wednesday. But Hillary Clinton won by nearly 3 million in 2016 and still lost.

Pennsylvania -- a state that went for Trump in 2016 and could likely end up deciding this year’s election -- was still tabulating results Wednesday. Trump led by several hundred thousan votes but there were still an estimated 1.5 million mail-in votes to be tallied.

It was a similar story in Georgia where Trump rolled to a huge lead Tuesday night. But with Democrats putting up huge margins in metro Atlanta, Biden rapidly made up ground and trailed by just 100,000 votes with many more than that yet to count.

Polls closed across the country from Connecticut to California Tuesday night with nothing less at stake than the direction of an anxious nation gripped by uncertainty over a global pandemic, a crippled economy and racial unrest.

The night’s marquee contest, a high-stakes, future-in-the-balance political war between Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden, hinged on the 270 votes necessary to win the Electoral College. Counting in several races could continue through Friday.

Trump dramatically outperformed expectations in polls, most of which predicted a wide win for Biden.

The president racked up massive margins among his base of white and rural voters. Trump also scored much better than expected among Latino voters, especially in Florida and Texas, where Republicans defied expectations that Democrats could put the red state in play.

Beyond the battle for the White House, there were no immediate seismic shifts in power on Capitol Hill.

Democrats were set to keep control of the House of Representatives but with a slightly diminished margin.

The Senate was still up in the air, with Democrats flipping two seats in Arizona and Colorado and Republicans winning one in deep red Alabama. Key races remained uncalled and both races in Georgia looked set to go to January run-offs.

About 102 million Americans voted days or weeks ahead of Election Day. But the new measures only added to the late-night drama as some states counted the early votes first while others counted them last. Despite coronavirus concerns, voters still endured long lines to help select the nation’s next president.

The final results might not be known for days because of the large number of Americans who voted early.

Whoever wins the White House, the final turnout looked sure to set records.

For full national election results, click here.

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