After a record-breaking election in terms of fundraising, if you thought the emails and text message appeals for donations would end on Election Day, think again! CBS News political unit associate producer Sarah Ewall-Wice says with the presidential race too close to call in several battleground states, both campaigns are working to squeeze out just few more dollars from supporters to help with the ongoing battle over ballot counting.
In a text from “Joe” the Biden campaign stated, “it’s clear we’re on the right track to win this,” but noted it isn’t over. They’ve launched a Biden Fight Fund to raise money for the DNC and Biden for President Recount Account. Meanwhile, the Trump campaign has sent out multiple emails asking supporters to donate to their “Official Election Defense Fund” which directs funds to the Trump Make America Great Again Committee according to their webpage. While neither candidate stated how much they’re hoping to raise, both are required to submit post-general election filings with the Federal Election Commission in December.
FROM THE CANDIDATES
PRESIDENT TRUMP
CBS News has not projected a winner in the presidential race, with a handful of battleground states still too close to call. But in his first public appearance since Election night, President Trump reprised baseless claims that Democrats are attempting to “rig” the election. The president did not provide evidence or cite instances of malpractice. There have been no reports of widespread voter fraud among state and federal officials. The president addressed reporters from the White House briefing room on Thursday. “We will not allow the corruption to steal such an important election, or any election for that matter,” the president said, spewing a number of false claims about regarding the influx mail-in ballots amid the nation’s coronavirus pandemic. Ballots continue to be counted in several battleground states across the country, a steady process that election officials are confident will produce accurate election results, reports CBS News campaign reporter Nicole Sganga. During his press conference, the president also commended House Republicans for picking up seats, calling it the “Year of the Woman,” after the GOP more than doubled the number of female Republican incumbents in the chamber, earning key upsets in battlegrounds districts nationwide. The president also took aim at his opponent opponent’s fundraising. “At the national level our opponent’s major donors were Wall Street bankers and special interests. Our major donors were police officers, farmers, everyday citizens.”
But the Trump campaign’s cash-strapped operation assembled about more than 400 big name donors, bundlers and state party finance chairs on a conference call on Thursday, led by campaign senior advisor Corey Lewandowski and businessman Roy Bailey, who has helped lead Trump 2020 fundraising efforts. Designed to help finance the president’s multiple election legal challenges, the president’s re-election bid has already raised $8 million of its ambitious $10 million goal for Thursday, according to a senior campaign official. Georgia state finance chair Bill White tells CBS News he personally bundled $800,000 for the cause. The Trump campaign entered October with just over $60 million in its coffers, according to FEC filings, leaving the incumbent president’s operation with nearly one-third the cash on hand as Biden. White House senior adviser Jared Kushner is actively searching for a campaign legal spokesperson to spearhead election litigation strategy for the campaign, in the coming days, multiple Trump campaign senior officials tell CBS News. The campaign hopes to elevate a figure similar to James Baker, who served as chief legal adviser for George W. Bush during the 2000 presidential election recount in Florida. Mr. Trump’s attorney Jay Sekulow has been floated for the position, among others. In the meantime, the Trump campaign has dispatched surrogates to battleground states to defend the president’s patchwork of election litigation at impromptu press conferences. On Thursday alone, the president’s reelection bid held press conferences in Philadelphia, Las Vegas, Phoenix and Atlanta, featuring Don Trump Jr., former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, former acting director of national intelligence Ric Grenell and Trump campaign chief operating officer Jeff DeWitt.
A senior White House official tells CBS News White House correspondent Ben Tracy that Mr. Trump does not plan to concede the election simply because Biden declares victory. Inside the West Wing, officials anticipate the legal fight will continue, as the president alleges without evidence the election was “stolen.” Former White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney said Thursday he “would absolutely expect” the president to stay involved in politics if he were to lose his reelection bid. “[I] would absolutely put him on the shortlist of people who are likely to run in 2024,” Mulvaney said on a webinar hosted by a Dublin-based think tank, the Institute for International and European Affairs
JOE BIDEN
Two days after Election Day, Biden and his campaign feel confident the former vice president will win the election. Biden made a brief statement Thursday from Delaware. “Democracy is sometimes messy, so sometimes it requires a little patience,” Biden said, “We continue to feel very good about where things stand, and we have no doubt that when the count is finished, Senator Harris and I will be the winners.” Regarding the outstanding battleground state results, campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon during a Thursday briefing, said, “By the end of the day — and let us hope it’s by the end of the day — we will win by a sizable amount of votes in Pennsylvania.” On Georgia, “we believe that Georgia now leans to the vice president.” On Arizona, Dillon said their internals show margins tightening but she remains “bullish.” She predicted: “We will win by tens of thousands of votes.” There’s been no contact between the Biden campaign and Trump campaign, reports CBS News campaign reporter Bo Erickson. And as the Trump campaign continues to launch election lawsuits, the head of Biden’s voter protection effort, Bob Bauer, dismissed the legal actions as “political theater” and called them “meritless,” “immaterial,” and full of “silliness.”
STATE-BY-STATE
ARIZONA
After a large crowd of pro-Trump protesters surrounded a ballot counting facility in Maricopa County, the first of days of threatened demonstrations in Arizona where Biden is so far narrowly leading in the tally, officials are erecting a fence around the tabulation site, reports CBS News campaign reporter Alex Tin.
GEORGIA
Georgia is still counting votes, CBS News campaign reporter LaCrai Mitchell reports. In a press release Thursday evening, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said that as of 5:45pm, there are approximately 36,331 outstanding ballots in the state. The hope is that these ballots will be counted this evening but in at least one instance, Fulton County still has provisional ballots to process on Friday, according to the county’s Supervisor of Elections. And in the Senate race, with neither Republican Senator David Perdue nor Democratic challenger Jon Ossoff having garnered 50% of the vote, this race has qualified for a run-off. As it stands, Perdue is currently at 49.9% and Ossoff sits at 47.7%.
MICHIGAN
A Michigan Court of Claims judge on Thursday denied a request from the Trump campaign to stop vote counting in Michigan, reports CBS News campaign reporter Adam Brewster. The campaign was asking for vote counting to stop until Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson issued a directive to ensure representatives from both political parties would be present at counting boards. Judge Cynthia Stephens said Benson already issued a directive like this and noted that the lawsuit was filed by the time most vote counting was completed and as of today said “the essence of the count is completed.”
MINNESOTA
CBS News projected Joe Biden will win Minnesota and while votes are still being counted, Minnesota’s Twin Cities and its metro area are likely to help carry Joe Biden to victory over President Trump. After losing to Hillary Clinton by nearly 45,000 votes in 2016, CBS News campaign reporter Jack Turman says Mr. Trump and his campaign tried to flip Minnesota red in 2020. In both Hennepin County, which includes Minneapolis, and Ramsey County, which is home to St. Paul, Biden surpassed Clinton’s vote totals in 2016. Clinton won both of those counties in 2016.
NEVADA
The Trump campaign says they plan to file a lawsuit alleging “improperly cast” votes in Nevada, ranging from deceased to out of state voters, though neither evidence of fraud nor their filing had materialized Thursday afternoon according to CBS News campaign reporter Alex Tin.
PENNSYLVANIA
After three days of counting, CBS News campaign reporter Zak Hudak says the country still doesn’t know who won Pennsylvania. Mr. Trump’s lead has fallen to under 80,000 votes, or 2.2 points, from over 600,000 votes on the night of Election Day. The count has skewed sharply toward Biden as counties have tallied mail ballots, and over 300,000 mail ballots received by Election Day remained uncounted just before 5 p.m. In a press conference Thursday evening, Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar said she stands by her prediction that the majority of the state’s votes would be tallied by Friday, but “the closer the race is, the longer it takes.” She also said fewer late ballots have arrived than expected, an indication that the Pennsylvania GOP appeal to the Supreme Court on the state’s mail ballot deadline extension, which the Trump campaign asked to join, may not matter. Boockvar said about 60,000 ballots arrived in the three days after the state’s primary, but that they’re, “not anywhere near that” so far in the general election. The Trump campaign is also in court over counties allowing voters to provide proof of ID after initially failing to do so on their mail ballots and over Philadelphia officials allegedly not allowing poll watchers to closely enough monitor counting.
WISCONSIN
Wisconsin Elections Commission administrator Meagan Wolfe said the state commission has not yet received a recount request, according to CBS News campaign reporter Adam Brewster. “While no recount has been requested at this point, our office is always preparing,” Wolfe told reporters. On Wednesday, the Trump campaign claimed they already filed a recount, but state statute says that cannot happen until counties finish their canvassing process, when results are verified. Wolfe said she’s not aware that the WEC has received any official communication from the Trump campaign about a recount. Wolfe also defended Wisconsin’s election and dismissed misinformation circulating online. “Wisconsin does not have more votes cast than registered voters. There were no absentee ballots found in the middle of the night,” she said. More Wisconsin voters cast ballots this year than any previous presidential election and the 72.66% turnout is second only to the 2004 presidential election.
CONGRESSIONAL COVERAGE
IN THE HOUSE
STAY TUNED
The outcomes of several notable House races are still pending reports CBS News political unit broadcast associate Aaron Navarro. In New Jersey’s 2nd, there’s reportedly 60,567 uncounted ballots in the race between Republican incumbent Jeff Van Drew, a Democrat who switched parties during impeachment, and his Democrat challenger Amy Kennedy. With 75% of the vote in, CBS News’ election data shows Van Drew leading by over 10,000 votes. Several competitive races in California held by freshmen Democrats (the 21st, 39th and 48th) are also too close to call. Republicans are hoping to flip those seats and grow their list of unseated Democrats. With 97% of the vote in, CBS News election data has Republican Peter Meijer leading in Michigan’s 3rd district, and if he succeeds, it will be a technical flip since the seat was left open by Libertarian Congressman Justin Amash.
On the East Coast, New York’s 22nd district race between incumbent Democrat Anthony Brindisi and Republican Claudia Tenney is going to come down to the absentee ballots. CBS5/CNY Central reports that there’s at least 60,000 absentee ballots that need to be counted, a process which’ll begin next week due to New York law. Some notable races called include Virginia’s 5th, where Republican Bob Good will keep the large Virginia district in GOP hands, and a pair of incumbent Democrat races in Michigan’s 8th (Elissa Slotkin) and 11th (Haley Stevens). The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spent $1 million in the last two weeks to help Stevens’ re-election. CBS News’ data shows her leading by 2.4 points with 97% of the vote in.
WOMEN IN CONGRESS
According to the Center for American Women and Politics, at least 131 women including 100 Democrats and 31 Republicans will serve in the U.S. Congress come 2021, surpassing their 127 women serving record set in 2019 reports CBS News digital reporter Caitlin O’Kane. By their count, a record 106 women including 83 Democrats and 23 Republicans have been elected to the House. That includes 85 incumbents and 21 new members. While Democrats still lead in terms of electing women to Congress, CBS News political unit associate producer Sarah Ewall-Wice reports Republicans are close to breaking their record with the number of GOP women elected to the House. The past record was 25 set in 2006. Right now, CAWP data shows 13 GOP women are headed to the U.S. House come January including 13 non-incumbents.