Joe Biden has overtaken President Trump in Pennsylvania as vote counting continued there and in the other critical battleground states of Arizona, Nevada and North Carolina.
Just after 8 a.m. Friday, Biden pulled into the lead by 5,587 votes, or 0.1%. He has 49.4% of the vote in Pennsylvania compared to Mr. Trump’s 49.3%, with 95% of votes counted.
Biden has also edged ahead in Georgia. Clayton County, part of the congressional district of the late civil rights icon John Lewis, continued to report its counts overnight. Biden’s support there was very strong — about 85% to 14% over Mr. Trump. The county added 1,602 votes to Biden’s tally and 223 to Mr. Trump’s, leaving Biden with a small statewide lead of 917 votes.
CBS News projects that Biden leads the race with 253 electoral votes — just 17 shy of the 270 needed to win the presidency, while Mr. Trump trails with 213.
On Thursday night, the president baselessly accused his political foes and the media of trying to steal the election from him, setting the stage for the battery of lawsuits and recount requests that are already underway to try to keep tranches of mail ballots that may favor Biden from being counted.
“If you count the legal votes, I easily win,” the president falsely claimed. “If you count the illegal votes, they can try to steal the election from us. If you count the votes that came in late, we’re looking at them very strongly.”
CBS News still considers Georgia, Pennsylvania and North Carolina toss-ups, while Nevada and Arizona are considered likely to go to Biden.
Find results for all races in the CBS News Election Center, and updates from key states here:
