Election 2020 results: Joe Biden urges unity as Kamala Harris celebrates a ‘new day for America’

President-elect Joe Biden said in his victory speech from Wilmington, Delaware, that he and his administration will seek to unify a divided United States.

In a speech watch by millions around the globe, Biden said he would lead by example through decency and by trusting his scientific advisors in the "great battles of our time" such as Covid-19.

"The Bible tells us for everything there is a season. A time to build. A time to reap and a time to sow. And a time to heal. This is the time to heal in America," Biden said. "Now this campaign is over. What is the will of the people? What is our mandate?"

"I believe it's this: America has called upon us to marshal the forces of decency, the forces of fairness," he said. "To marshal the forces of science and the forces of hope."

—Thomas Franck

In his first speech after being projected as president-elect by media outlets including NBC News, Joe Biden made clear that his first priority with that new title will be tamping down the coronavirus pandemic.

Biden said he would name a "group of leading scientists and experts" on Monday who will create a blueprint to be implemented on the day of his inauguration in January.

"That plan will be built on bedrock science, it will be constructed out of compassion, empathy and concern," Biden said. "I will spare no effort, none, or any commitment, to turn around this pandemic."

On the day that he was projected to become president-elect, the U.S. reported its biggest one-day spike in new coronavirus cases at 126,400, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

—Lauren Feiner

Vice President-elect Kamala Harris heralded the 2020 elections as a victory for Americans and a clear sign Americans were ready for change after four years of President Donald Trump.

She also reflected on the historic nature of the election and her upcoming role as the first woman, and woman of color, to serve as the vice president of the United States.

"You delivered a clear message: you chose hope and unity, decency and science, and yes, truth.  You chose Joe Biden," she said. "While I may be the first woman in this office, I will not be the last. ... Every little girl watching tonight sees that this is a country of possibilities."

"Dream with ambition," she added. "Lead with conviction, and see yourself in a way that others may not."

—Thomas Franck

Biden supporters who poured out into the streets to celebrate his projected victory for the presidency have also been celebrating another group of people on Saturday: workers for the United States Postal Service (USPS).

In several scenes captured on Twitter, people cheered on passing USPS trucks, which played an especially important role in this year's presidential election.

Postal workers have endured a taxing year between working throughout the coronavirus pandemic to delivering the record number of mail-in ballots.

—Lauren Feiner

President-elect Joe Biden plans to promptly reverse many of President Donald Trump's policies when he takes office on Jan. 20, The Washington Post reported.

Biden plans to rejoin the Paris climate accords, the Post reported, citing people close to his campaign, and he will reverse Trump's move to pull funding from the World Health Organization.

The president-elect also plans to repeal the ban on immigration from many Muslim-majority countries and will reinstate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which allowed people who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children to remain, the Post reported.

While abrupt reversals and deviations of policy often come with transitions of federal leadership, the Post said Biden's transition "will be among the most startling in American history."

— Will Feuer

Twitter will no longer slap warning labels on tweets commenting on the election outcome now that the race has been called by several major media organizations including NBC News.

A Twitter spokesperson confirmed the platform would "continue to apply labels to provide additional context on Tweets regarding the integrity of the process and next steps where necessary."

According to Twitter's Civic Integrity Policy, when tweets are labeled, their distribution is also reduced.

Still, on Saturday evening after NBC News and others projected former Vice President Joe Biden as the president-elect, Twitter labeled a message from President Donald Trump saying that a claim he made about election fraud was disputed.

—Lauren Feiner

President Donald Trump's former White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney on Friday said "the process" of the 2020 election has not yet finished even as NBC News and various other outlets project Joe Biden to win the election.

"We already know there's going to be a recount in Georgia. We fully expect there to be litigation and possibly a recount in Pennsylvania, as well," he said on "The News with Shepard Smith." "So I get that media outlets have called the race. You and I both know that doesn't mean anything other than PR."

Mulvaney added that it's "probably three, four weeks at least" until the final counts that have been challenged and verified come in.

— Will Feuer

Bill Ackman, billionaire investor and CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management, called for President Donald Trump to accept his apparent electoral defeat with grace.

"There comes a time in the battle when one should fold the tent," Ackman said in a tweet tagging Trump. "Instead focus on your accomplishments over the last four years. Think about your legacy and what's best for the country."

"Concede graciously and call for unity from all who have supported you," Ackman added.

Earlier on Saturday, NBC News and other news outlets projected Joe Biden as the winner of the 2020 presidential election. However, Trump has yet to concede, noting: "The simple fact is this election is far from over."

—Fred Imbert

When President Donald Trump sees that he's lost The New York Post, maybe he'll finally realize he actually lost the election.

The Post, for years a knee-jerkedly loyal tabloid editorially for Trump, willing to smear his enemies and brush over his own warts, ran an editorial after all major media called the presidential election for Joe Biden, telling Trump "your legacy is secure — stop the 'stolen election' rhetoric."

"The math is looking near-impossible for President Trump to win re-election," wrote The Post's editorial board, which rarely, if ever, takes a position that differs from the views of its conservative owner, Australian media mogul Rupert Murdoch (who also happens to own Fox News.)

"But he should take pride in what he's done for the nation and the world these last four years. It's a legacy he could easily run on in 2024 — if he quits the conspiracy-addled talk of a 'stolen' election," The Post intoned.

The editorial then, in classic Post rhetoric, painted a rosy picture of the Trump years in the White House, huffing that "President-elect Joe Biden would be a fool to try to reverse these gains."

"If Trump persists in wild talk to the contrary, he'll lead his people into irrelevance and marginalize his own voice. His years in the White House have transformed the nation, but refusing to let go now will make it easier for his enemies to undo it all."

The Post is known as Trump's favorite newspaper, and in many ways his rise to celebrity-dom in the past decades was fueled by the tabloid's fixation on his real-estate machinations, his ultimately botched reign as an Atlantic City casino operator, his two divorces, and his willingness to spout off on just about any subject at all when a reporter calls to ask his opinion.

One of the best-known headlines, or "woods," in Post history is one about Trump: "Best Sex I ever Had," supposedly voiced by Marla Maples, his then mistress, and then second-ex-wife.

Last month, the paper ran a "scoop," spoon fed from Trump's allies Steve Bannon and Rudy Giuliani: a copy of a computer hard drive said to belong to Hunter Biden, the president-elect's scandal-plagued son.

The Post hyped dozens of stories about the hard drive and its contents, in what insiders said was an effort to damage Biden's candidacy. The reporter said to have cobbled together the original story on Hunter Biden wouldn't put his name on the article.

On Saturday, The Post was singing a different tune, one with lyrics that included: "Get Rudy Giuliani off TV."

— Dan Mangan

Tech CEOs and Silicon Valley luminaries congratulated President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris' after their victory in the U.S. presidential election.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos celebrated Biden and Harris' victory in an Instagram post, noting that it signifies that "unity, empathy, and decency are not characteristics of a bygone era."

Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, wrote on Twitter that he looked forward to "working with the new administration and leaders on both sides in Congress" on a number of issues like the country's coronavirus response.

Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg celebrated Harris' victory, which makes her the first Black woman and first person of South Asian American descent to be elected vice president, calling it a "remarkable achievement."

"After a few long days, we now know that Joe Biden will be our next president – and for the first time in 231 years, our next vice president will be a Black and South Asian American woman who is the daughter of immigrants," Sandberg wrote in a Facebook post. "There are times when America takes a big step toward creating a government that reflects the diverse country we are. Today is one of those days."

— Annie Palmer

President-elect Joe Biden is expected on Monday to announce the members of his coronavirus task force.

The task force will be co-chaired by former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner David Kessler and Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith of Yale University, a Biden campaign official told NBC. Axios first reported on the announcement.

The announcement, which will come before the president-elect has named any of his senior White House staff or cabinet appointments, signals how high of a priority the pandemic response is to Biden.

But Biden won't be sworn into office until Jan. 20, when epidemiologists and medical experts say the country could be in a dire situation with the pandemic, if current trends continue. On the day NBC News projected Biden would win the election, the U.S. reported its third-straight record spike in daily new coronavirus cases, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

— Will Feuer

CNBC's "The News with Shepard Smith" will air a special episode at 7 p.m. ET tonight to cover and discuss Joe Biden's triumph in the presidential election.

The special will run two hours and will feature coverage of Biden's victory speech from Delaware, which is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET.

– Mike Calia

Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien called allies and surrogates on Saturday and told them to "stay at the ready" for protests the campaign is organizing across the country in upcoming weeks, a supporter on the call told NBC News.

Even though Biden was announced the president-elect earlier in the day by all major news networks, President Trump has said he won't accept the results and will take all possible legal action.

The president's campaign manager reportedly echoed that message and encouraged donors to continue giving to the election defense fund that the campaign has been taking money for since Wednesday. The call was first reported by The Washington Post.

— Emma Newburger

Business leaders on Saturday congratulated President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris after NBC News and other outlets projected they will win the national election.

"In the days ahead, it is critical that we move forward together to strengthen our country," Business Roundtable said in a statement. "Our country faces great challenges in the months ahead to defeat the pandemic and rebuild our economy. We will meet them only by working together."

U.S. Travel Association President and CEO Roger Dow said in a statement that "we applaud President-elect Biden's objective of helping the industries most heavily impacted by the pandemic."

"We share the emphasis on combatting the spread of COVID-19 expressed by the president-elect while building economic growth," he said in a statement. "The right combination of technologies and behaviors already exists to allow the restart of travel without compromising health and safety, and making rapid and reliable testing more widely available will be a key element of an even broader economic reopening."

U.S. Chamber of Commerce CEO Tom Donohue said his organization "stands ready to work with the Biden administration and leaders on both sides of the aisle to restore public health, revitalize our economy, and help rebuild American lives and communities."

"This is a pivotal time for our country, our economy, and for generations of Americans," he said in a statement. "We not only face the tremendous burden of overcoming a pandemic and recession, but also a historic moment to unleash a new era of inclusive growth, widespread opportunity, and boundless innovation."

National Association of Manufacturers President and CEO Jay Timmons said "manufacturers are committed to being part of the solution."

"We pledge to continue our leadership, especially as we race toward a vaccine, and we will work with a Biden–Harris administration, along with the new Congress, to achieve economic recovery and American renewal," Timmons said.

—Will Feuer

Dr. Leana Wen, the former Baltimore health commissioner, said she's concerned about the thousands of people who gathered in the streets Saturday to celebrate President-elect Joe Biden's election victory.

"This virus doesn't care why we are gathering, it only cares that people are close to one another," said Wen, an emergency physician and public health professor at George Washington University. "We're in the middle of this raging pandemic and people are not behaving like it."

On the day NBC News projected Biden would win the election, the U.S. reported its third-straight record spike in daily new coronavirus cases, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Epidemiologists and medical experts are warning that the prognosis is bleak.

"It's going to get much worse this winter," Wen said in a phone interview. "We are surging all across the country. There are firestorms of Covid-19 that we're seeing in virtually every part of the country, and it is getting worse by the day."

—Will Feuer

President-elect Joe Biden is projected to win Nevada, increasing his margin of victory over President Donald Trump, NBC News reports.

The call adds six Electoral College votes to Biden's column, giving him a current total of 279, compared with 214 for Trump.

Biden had already passed the 270-vote threshold of victory earlier Saturday when NBC projected him the winner of Pennsylvania's 20 electoral votes.

Trump is refusing to concede the race.

— Kevin Breuninger

A Democratic government agenda could be dead on arrival even after President-elect Joe Biden's victory over President Donald Trump as the Senate outcome remains uncertain.

Both of Georgia's Senate races will likely go into a runoff slated for January. In North Carolina, GOP Sen. Thom Tillis held a slim lead over Democratic candidate Cal Cunningham with 97% of the expected vote in, according to NBC News. In Alaska, Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan is well ahead of Democratic challenger Al Gross.

Without Senate majority, or even a 50-50 split in the upper chamber, Democrats could struggle to push through some of the party's more progressive legislative proposals.

Right now, Democrats and Republicans each have 48 seats in the upper chamber, according to NBC News projections.

—Fred Imbert

People took to the streets in New York City to celebrate after Joe Biden was declared the president-elect of the U.S. after his projected win in Pennsylvania.

Biden's supporters broke into dance in New York, Trump's hometown, and other cities across the country, waving flags, honking horns and cheering. Some ran out of their apartments to bang pots and pans and pop champagne bottles.

In Times Square, thousands of people gathered to celebrate, chanting "Trump, you're fired!" In other neighborhoods in the city, people continued to celebrate in the streets even several hours after the initial call for Biden.

In Oakland, California, birthplace of vice president-elect Kamala Harris, residents celebrated the historical win, which makes her the first Black woman and first person of South Asian American descent to be elected to national office by a major party.

—Riya Bhattacharjee and Emma Newburger

President-elect Joe Biden will be sworn into the office of the President of the United States on Jan. 20, just as the country could be hitting the most dire phases of the pandemic so far.

On the day NBC News projected Biden would win the election, the U.S. reported its third-straight record spike in daily new coronavirus cases, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Epidemiologists and medical experts are warning that the prognosis is bleak.

Dr. Megan Ranney, an emergency physician at Brown University, said in an interview with CNBC that "the worst days of the pandemic are almost certainly still ahead of us."

Average daily new cases are rising by at least 5% in 47 states and the District of Columbia, according to a CNBC analysis of Hopkins data. In contrast with earlier phases of the pandemic, when the virus spread rapidly in certain parts of the country, the virus now threatens to overwhelm hospitals in nearly every community across the U.S., Ranney said.

No vaccine has yet been authorized by the Food and Drug Administration, but it appears likely that the transition of power could coincide with the rollout of a vaccine. Biden, in an effort to signal how highly he prioritizes his administration's response to the pandemic, will announce a 12-member task force on Monday, Axios first reported.

—Will Feuer

President Trump was golfing at his club in Virginia when NBC and other outlets called Joe Biden as the winner of the election.

The president, wearing a white MAGA hat and a windbreaker, arrived at Trump National Golf Club in Sterling on Saturday morning before the race was called, according to his press pool.

Just minutes after Biden was announced the President-elect, Trump issued a statement that refused the results of the election and said the race is "far from over."

— Emma Newburger

President Donald Trump's reelection campaign is still asking for donations, even after NBC News and other outlets have called the race for his Democratic rival, Joe Biden.

"Pres. Trump: This is MADNESS. The Democrats are trying to STEAL this Election," read a text message from the campaign. "We have to STOP them. 1000%-IMPACT ACTIVE for 1 HOURS. Donate NOW."

The text included a link to the Trump Make America Great Again Committee webpage on WinRed, the GOP's fundraising platform.

"This Election Isn't Over," text on that page said. "The President needs YOUR HELP!"

— Kevin Breuninger

Leaders from around the world congratulated President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris on their projected victory Saturday.

U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson tweeted his congratulations, calling Harris' accomplishment of becoming the first woman and person of color elected to the vice presidency a "historic achievement."

"The US is our most important ally and I look forward to working closely together on our shared priorities, from climate change to trade and security," he wrote.

European Commission President Ursala von der Leyen said she "warmly" congratulated Biden in a statement on Twitter and said "The European Commission stands ready to intensify cooperation with the new Administration and the new Congress to address pressing challenges we face."

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wrote, "Our two countries are close friends, partners, and allies. We share a relationship that's unique on the world stage. I'm really looking forward to working together and building on that with you both."

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg congratulated Biden, calling him a "strong supporter of NATO and the transatlantic relationship.

"US leadership is as important as ever in an unpredictable world, and I look forward to working very closely with President-elect Biden, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and the new administration to further strengthen the bond between North America and Europe," he said. "A strong NATO is good for North America and good for Europe."

— Lauren Feiner

Joe Biden traveled to his childhood home in Scranton, Pennsylvania, on Election Day and scrawled a message on the wall: "From this house to the White House with the grace of God."

Four days later, his home state put him over the top in his bid to become the 46th president of the United States, NBC News projected.

Biden leads President Donald Trump by more than 34,000 votes in Pennsylvania with thousands of outstanding ballots to count. The Democrat will win the state's 20 electoral votes after Trump carried it four years ago by a margin of about 44,000 votes.

While the state still has to count a share of its remaining ballots, early unofficial results show where Biden improved on Democrat Hillary Clinton's performance in 2016.

He leads in two Pennsylvania counties Trump won four years ago: Erie in the northwest corner of the state, and Northampton on its eastern edge north of Philadelphia. He al—so improved on Clinton's vote margins in Philadelphia's blue-leaning suburbs and in several other counties in the eastern part of the state.

For instance, he leads in Lackawanna County — where Scranton sits — by more than 8 percentage points. Clinton won it by only about 3 percentage points in 2016.

Biden may have gotten a boost this time around from a lack of a significant third-party presence. Libertarian Jo Jorgensen won only 1.1% of the vote this year statewide. Libertarian Gary Johnson and the Green Party's Jill Stein garnered more than 3% of support in 2016.

— Jacob Pramuk

Former President Barack Obama issued a statement congratulating President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, noting that once every vote is counted, the two "will have won a historic and decisive victory."

Obama added the country is "fortunate that Joe's got what it takes to be President and already carries himself that way."

The 44th President of the U.S. also said that when Biden "walks into the White House in January, he'll face a series of extraordinary challenges no incoming President ever has – a raging pandemic, an unequal economy and justice system, a democracy at risk, and a climate in peril."

"I know he'll do the job with the best interests of every American at heart, whether or not he had their vote," Obama added.

—Fred Imbert

Five states remain too close or early to call even after NBC News projected that former Vice President Joe Biden will win the presidency.

NBC News made the call after projecting Biden to be the winner of Pennsylvania's 20 electoral votes, pushing him over the 270 needed to win. As of Saturday morning, Biden is projected to win 273 electoral votes while President Donald Trump is expected to win 214.

Votes have not yet been certified by the states and some could still go to a recount. Trump's campaign has filed lawsuits in several battleground states seeking to halt ballot counts and Trump has so far refused to concede. But based on NBC News' projections, Trump does not have a path to victory in the Electoral College even if he were to win all of the remaining states.

NBC has not yet called the following states for the presidency:

• Alaska (3 electoral votes): too early to call, Trump ahead by 51,382 votes with 56% in
• Arizona (11 electoral votes): too close to call, Biden ahead by 20,573 votes with 97% in
• Georgia (16 electoral votes): too close to call, Biden ahead by 7,248 votes with 99% in
• Nevada (6 electoral votes): too close to call, Biden ahead by 25,068 votes with 94% in
• North Carolina (15 electoral votes): too close to call, Trump ahead by 76,515 votes with 98% in

—Lauren Feiner

Cindy McCain, the widow of the late Republican Arizona Sen. John McCain, congratulated Joe Biden and Kamala Harris after their victory in the U.S. presidential election.

She also noted that it is time "time to move beyond politics and toward building a stronger America. I know Joe will unify the country toward a better future."

McCain had endorsed Biden ahead of the election, potentially helping the president-elect's results in Arizona. Biden leads Trump in the traditionally Republican state, though the race is still too close to call, according to NBC News.

McCain's husband, John, and President Donald Trump clashed on a number of issues before his death, most notably when the senator voted against repealing Obamacare. Trump also complained last year that he didn't get a "thank you" for the senator's funeral.

— Fred Imbert

President-elect Joe Biden will address the nation Saturday at 8 p.m. ET from Wilmington, Delaware, the Biden campaign said, after NBC News projected that he will win the presidential election.

He will be joined by his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, and Harris' husband, Doug Emhoff, the campaign added.

—Will Feuer

JPMorgan Chase's Jamie Dimon called for "unity" after NBC News, and other news outlets, called the presidential election in favor of Joe Biden over Donald Trump.

"We must respect the results of the U.S. presidential election and, as we have with every election, honor the decision of the voters and support a peaceful transition of power," Dimon, the bank's CEO, told CNBC's Wilfred Frost. "We are a stronger country when we treat each other with dignity, share a commitment to a common purpose and are united to address our greater challenges."

"No matter our political views, let's come together to strengthen our exceptional country," Dimon added.

— Fred Imbert

President Donald Trump on Saturday issued a statement refusing to accept the presidential election results just minutes after the race was called for Joe Biden.

"The simple fact is this election is far from over," Trump said in a statement released after NBC projected Biden to be the winner.

The Trump campaign said they will begin prosecuting their case in court as soon as Monday "to ensure election laws are fully upheld."

Biden will win the presidency with at least 273 electoral votes, according to NBC, in an election that drove record voter turnout.

— Emma Newburger

NBC News called Pennsylvania for President-elect Joe Biden on Saturday morning. Alaska, Arizona, Nevada, North Carolina and Georgia are still too close to call.

− Spencer Kimball

Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., now the vice president-elect of the United States, said in a tweet shortly after NBC News projected Joe Biden and her to win the presidential election that "we have a lot of work ahead of us."

"This election is about so much more than @JoeBiden or me. It's about the soul of America and our willingness to fight for it," she said.

Harris later tweeted again with a video of what appeared to be her on the phone with Biden.

"We did it Joe," she said in the video. "You're going to be the next president of the United States"

— Will Feuer

Joe Biden said in a statement it is time for "America to unite" and "to heal" just minutes after NBC News, along with other major news outlets, called the presidential election in favor of the former vice president.

"With the campaign over, it's time to put the anger and the harsh rhetoric behind us and come together as a nation," Biden said. "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."

Read the full statement from President-elect Joe Biden:

— Fred Imbert

Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., has become the first woman to earn the title of vice president-elect after NBC News projected former Vice President Joe Biden to be the president-elect on Saturday.

Harris is also the first woman of color to claim that title. Harris identifies as Black and Indian-American.

—Lauren Feiner

Joe Biden is projected to defeat President Donald Trump in the 2020 election, NBC News projects.

The call came four days after Election Day itself, as votes in a series of key swing states continued to trickle in.

Trump's campaign has mounted several legal challenges over how the ballots are being tabulated.

— Kevin Breuninger

President Donald Trump traveled to his Virginia golf club as Democratic nominee Joe Biden appears to be extending his lead in the election.

The president, wearing a white hat, exited the White House before 10 a.m. and was driven to Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, according to his press pool.

Trump's excursion to his private club comes as he continues to falsely claim he won the presidential race, even though he trails Biden in Electoral College projections. NBC News and other outlets have yet to call a winner in the presidential race.

The weekend getaway also comes as coronavirus cases hit all-time highs in the U.S. Trump's own chief of staff Mark Meadows also recently tested positive for Covid-19, the latest in a growing list of White House officials who have contracted the virus.

— Kevin Breuninger

Thousands of counted ballots from Pennsylvania are expected to trickle in during the coming hours as Joe Biden extends his lead in a state that alone can deliver him the electoral votes needed to win the White House.

Pennsylvania has more than 100,000 outstanding provisional ballots, those used when questions come up about a person's ability to vote, according to NBC News. Up to 20,000 and 17,000 of those will come from the Democratic strongholds of Philadelphia and Allegheny Counties, respectively, NBC News reported.

The state will also continue to count its final mail-in ballots. It has taken days to tally votes after election officials were not legally allowed to start counting ballots received by mail until election night.

After President Donald Trump repeatedly encouraged his supporters to vote in person, those mail-in ballots have skewed heavily toward the Democrat Biden. The race is too close to call as Biden leads by more than 28,000 votes, according to NBC News.

Biden currently holds 253 electoral votes. Winning Pennsylvania's 20 would put him over the 270-vote threshold needed to become president-elect.

— Jacob Pramuk

Twitter slapped warning labels over four of President Donald Trump's tweets Saturday morning, warning that the messages "might be misleading about an election or other civic process."

Trump made a series of claims involving "illegally" cast votes in the election, suggesting that those ballots would "change the Election result in numerous States, including Pennsylvania."

The president and his surrogates have made various allegations of electoral fraud, without providing clear evidence, since as early as Wednesday, when Democratic nominee Joe Biden appeared to be making gains in key states as votes were tallied up.

Fact-checkers have disputed most of the claims of wrongdoing in Pennsylvania's election and in other states' processes.

Before the election, Twitter had announced a new policy to remove or label tweets that were aimed at undermining the contest. Trump's supporters have accused Twitter and other social media giants of politically motivated censorship.

— Kevin Breuninger

Joe Biden will have to cling to a razor-thin lead if he wants to become the first Democratic candidate to win a presidential election in Georgia since 1992.

The state is too close to call with nearly all ballots counted, according to NBC News. Biden leads President Donald Trump by about 7,200 votes, a margin that sets up a likely recount. As of 3 p.m. ET on Friday, Georgia's secretary of state said 22,600 provisional, military and overseas ballots were outstanding, though it is unclear how many of those the state has since tallied.

If Biden wins Georgia's 16 electoral votes, it would put the Democrat one vote short of the 270 needed to win. That would all but block Trump's path to a second term. The close margin in the state also has massive implications for control of the Senate.

NBC News projects Republicans and Democrats will each hold at least 48 Senate seats as they jockey for a majority in the chamber. Democrats have so far flipped one net seat in the 2020 election.

The races for Georgia's two Senate seats are among the four NBC has not called.

One contest — the special election to finish the final two years of former GOP Sen. Johnny Isakson's term — will go to a runoff between Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler and Democrat Raphael Warnock, according to NBC. In the other, GOP Sen. David Perdue leads Democrat Jon Ossoff but currently sits at 49.8% of the vote — below the 50% mark needed to avoid a second January runoff.

NBC considers the race too close to call. If the other two Senate races in North Carolina and Alaska go in the GOP's favor and Biden wins the presidential election, control of the Senate could potentially come down to Georgia alone.

— Jacob Pramuk

The Wall Street Journal's editorial board wrote on Friday night that the loser of the election must concede to allow the new president to govern the country.

While President Trump has the right to fight in court, he must have evidence to prove voter fraud, The Journal wrote.

The Trump campaign has filed a slew of lawsuits in battleground states, none of which seem to be gaining traction in the courts since the president has no evidence of fraud. Joe Biden currently leads in enough states to win the election if votes survive recounts and legal challenges by the Trump administration, according to the Journal.

"Mr. Trump's legacy will be diminished greatly if his final act is a bitter refusal to accept a legitimate defeat," wrote The Journal in an opinion article entitled "The Presidential Endgame." "Republican officials will turn away, and eventually so will the American public that wants to see the election resolved."

The Journal's editorial board leans conservative and is often friendly toward President Trump. Tensions are high between Rupert Murdoch's media empire and the White House after Fox News called the crucial swing state of Arizona for Biden on election night, reportedly angering the Trump administration.

The race in Arizona is still too close to call, according to NBC News.

— Emma Newburger

There are still six states that remain uncalled by NBC News in the presidential race. Joe Biden's lead continues to grow in Pennsylvania, Georgia and Nevada, while it is shrinking in Arizona. Biden is currently projected to win 253 electoral votes, while President Donald Trump is projected to take 214.

Here's where Biden and Trump stand in those states as they each seek 270 electoral votes to win, according to NBC News projections:

• Pennsylvania (20 electoral votes): Biden leads by 28,833 votes with 96% of the expected vote in
• Georgia (16 electoral votes): Biden leads by 7,248 votes with 99% of the expected vote in
• Arizona (11 electoral votes): Biden leads by 29,861 votes with 97% of the expected vote in
• Nevada (6 electoral votes): Biden leads by 22,657 votes with 93% of the expected vote in
• North Carolina (15 electoral votes): Trump leads by 76,515 votes with 98% of the expected vote in
• Alaska (3 electoral votes): Trump leads by 51,382 votes with 56% of the expected vote in

— Spencer Kimball

Democratic candidate Joe Biden delivered remarks Friday night in which he sought to convince an anxious American public that he will prevail in the U.S. presidential race as vote counting continues, and he sought to claim a national mandate to address the many crises facing the nation.

"We don't have a final declaration of victory yet but the numbers tell a clear and convincing story — we are going to win this race," Biden told television viewers from Wilmington, Delaware with his running mate Sen. Kamala Harris at his side.

Biden has an expanding lead in the swing states of Pennsylvania, Georgia and Nevada. He also leads in Arizona, though his margin there is shrinking. The former vice president has multiple paths to victory with 253 electoral votes currently in his column, according to NBC News projections. Simply winning Pennsylvania would be enough to put him over the 270 vote threshold needed to become president.

"We are going to be first democrat to win in Arizona in 24 years," Biden said. "We are going to be the first Democrat to win in Georgia in 28 years; and we've rebuilt the blue wall in the middle of the country that crumbled just four years ago: Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan — the heartland of this country."

Biden noted that more than 74 million Americans voted for him even as the ballot counting continues. The former vice president said voters gave him a mandate to fight the coronavirus pandemic and systemic racism among other issues, and help reconcile a nation bitterly divided.

"I know watching these vote tallies on TV moves very slow and as slow as it goes it can be numbing," Biden said. "But never forget the tallies aren't just numbers — they represent votes and voters, men and women who exercise their fundamental right to have their voice heard."

"And what's becoming clear each hour is that a record number of Americans of all races, faiths and religions chose change over more of the same," the former vice president continued. "They've given us a mandate for action on Covid, the economy, climate change, systemic racism. They've made it clear they want the country to come together, not continue to pull apart."

— Spencer Kimball