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CNN Live Event/Special
America's Choice 2020; Trump Wins IN; Too Early To Call GA, KY, SC, VT, VA. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired November 03, 2020 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: We're watching all of these states, especially the battleground state of Georgia for early clues about where the race may be heading tonight.
All right. We have our first projection of the night, CNN now projects President Donald Trump will win Indiana. Trump beats Biden in Indiana, wins its 11 electoral votes, the first projection of the night.
It's too early to call in these states right now, too early to call in Georgia. A key battleground state with 16 electoral votes, too early to call there. In Virginia, too early to call there, 13 electoral votes at stake in Virginia. Also, too early to call right now in South Carolina. Nine electoral votes in South Carolina. Too early to call in Kentucky, eight electoral votes there. Too early to call in Vermont, three electoral votes right there.
All right. Let's take a look at where the Electoral College map stands right now. Donald Trump has 11 right now Biden has zero. Remember, you need 270 to win this race for the White House. Let's get a key race alert.
Right now we'll start off with Kentucky right now, 12 percent of the estimated vote is in. Trump has a lead of about 9,400 votes over Biden. Look at this, 50.9 percent, 47.5 percent for Biden in Kentucky, eight electoral votes once again at stake in Kentucky.
Let's go to John King over the magic wall right now. We're looking at the suburbs in Kentucky, John. It's pretty significant what's going on, potentially. Let's not get too far ahead though.
JOHN KING, CNN HOST: Right. We know that this is disproportionately early vote, but we also know that we learned lessons from states. And again, you've just projected Indiana, that's the first state, 11 electoral votes for Donald Trump. You got to get to 270. He has the first 11 we've projected tonight.
Now we're looking at the commonwealth Kentucky expected to be read. The Senate majority leader is up for reelection there as well. But again, we're looking for clues when we come here, so Fayette County. This is Lexington in the suburbs around it. Joe Biden disproportionally early vote so far, so let's come back in an hour and see if this holds up to see if it stays this way, 73 percent right now, if you go back to Hillary Clinton, only 51 percent.
So if Joe Biden could do this stuff right here, we'll see what's happened. So we're going to (inaudible) ...
BLITZER: John, hold on for a moment. I want to go to Florida, because we're beginning to get some numbers in Florida right now. So let's take a look in Florida.
KING: Here we go. Our first votes in Florida, again, this part of the country down here just north of Naples, very critical to the President, 5 percent. Florida is a huge state. We're going to be at this for a long time, but it's nice to get the first votes out of Florida. Where are they coming from? You come over here, Pasco County along the Coast. That's a pretty quick report.
Again, Florida, we expect to be good and we also expect it to give us a lot of clues about the electorate tonight and about who might win tonight, 130,000 to 101,000. This state is absolutely essential to the President. Joe Biden would like it because he knows it would block.
Let's just go back and take a look, 59 percent four years ago, 56 percent right now. If you round up, that's close, but we're going to watch this. Is it significant? We don't know until we get more vote here but that's 79 percent.
BLITZER: Seventy-nine percent of the vote, yes.
KING: That's 79 percent. We don't know, so one county is not going to do it. But if you start to see the President, little couple points, a couple points below that will be significant. Mainly look at the vote count, 130,000 to win it. Again, in a state like Florida it was 142,000 then. We're not done yet. Let's watch this at the end of the day.
But these are the markers to lay down, is the President performing, over performing, underperforming about breaking even with four years ago and how is Joe Biden doing compared to Hillary Clinton. So that's one place we'll watch. Let's come back to 2020 and see what else we have on the map here.
Let's come down here. Lee County, this is 81 percent they're up to there, 57 to 42, if you do the rounding there. And again, we go back in time and we look, 59. So again, a little bit down. Is that significant? We don't know yet. It's very early. That's one of the things (inaudible) ...
BLITZER: Yes. These are the Republican county, basically.
KING: Yes. These are very Republican counties. The question for the President, the President has to win them, we know that, the question is, is he getting the extra votes there? Is he running up the margin there because he needs the math from places like this to offset we expect to get when we get here.
Now this will be key here. Let's come over here along the coast right here. You start in the I4 corridor and you go all the way across in Brevard County, 54.3. Let's just go back and take a look, 57.8. So again, another county where right now the President is a little underperforming. It's early. We don't know if that holds, but that's what you're going to watch throughout the night, especially in a state that is always as close as Florida.
If the President is underperforming, where his vote, the question then becomes can the Democrats overperformed, can Joe Biden overperform Hillary Clinton. Where's the trade off in the math, that's what we'll see as we get more votes in Florida. Let's just pop out and see what we have. Again, go back in time, I'm just going to highlight this for us. Then we'll go back in time to 2016.
And you see the blue here. We don't have those votes yet. So if you come in here, this is red as it was four years ago. Let's bring it out to see, Lake County. Let me get this out of the way, so it's not distracting, 55 to 44. That's where it is now, 59, 60.
So again that's three counties we've looked at where the President's numbers right now are down a bit, the percentages down a bit.
[19:05:01]
So you look at the percentage down and then you want to match up the math, 102,000 votes there to take that county four years ago, 87 and change, almost 88,000 votes now.
We don't know if that's significant yet, but that's what you do when you're doing a little election CSI in a state like Florida, what we need is more votes, Wolf. We need more votes and we start to see some Democratic votes down here. The Trump campaign has been optimistic it will cut in Miami-Dade, you know it well. Look at the totals here. You go back four years ago.
Hillary Clinton, you look at that in the largest county in the state, that's what the Democrats need and it wasn't enough. Hillary Clinton still narrowly lost the state. Trump campaign has been confident, especially in roads in the Latino community would do something here. We don't know yet, but we'll see.
BLITZER: Biden really has to do well in those three southern Florida counties in order to win this election. We're talking about Miami- Dade, Palm Beach County and Broward County.
KING: Miami, Broward, Palm Beach, you pull them out, you look at them, it's said often, but I'll say it again, the farther south you go in Florida, the further north you get, essentially retirees from the north, senior citizens electorate. If you go back and look at it here, this is in defeat. Hillary Clinton lost Florida four years ago, but look how close it was, look how close it was, 112,000, 113,000 votes if you round up in a giant state, 49 to 48 if you round that up.
And again, if you go back, you see the blue, it doesn't change that much. But let's go back to when Barack Obama carry the state. You see the difference in the margins here. You come down here, Obama gets 61, Clinton gets 64. She did her job in this part of the state. That was one of the lessons in 2016, the Clinton campaign thought they did a very good job in the early vote. The Clinton campaign thought they did a very good job down here.
What surprised them, President Trump over here and then just the volume in all the smaller red, especially the Southwest there's more people down here. Up here there's fewer people, but they came out to play in 2016. It's the small counties, I'm going to say it all night long, 83 percent in a county like that, 2,800 votes. You think that doesn't matter, but that's 2,300 vote difference right there, one County. You start matching that up as you walk across the board and you go from county to county, that is how you get math.
Will those people come out this time for the President? That will be the test as we watch this state fill in tonight. There we go, see Pinellas County right there, again it's early. If that ...
BLITZER: Seventy-five percent.
KING: ... if that stays blue, Joe Biden has a good chance to carry the state of Florida, doesn't guarantee it.
BLITZER: Four years ago, it was four years ago it was red.
KING: Four years ago it was red. That's what I said, I remember a call on Election Day, the Clinton campaign was so confident about Florida and I remember getting a call and somebody came out and said it was the Clinton campaign thought we got good early vote here. We feel good about this and one of the ground organizations went out to some polling places and saw a line stretching down the street. Saw the MAGA hats and texted me, we are bleeped and that was right here.
Again, the President didn't win this county by much, but it was a statement. It's a statement here. So this right now in 2016, it was red. At the moment it is blue. What is this? This is Tampa, St. Pete, it's a suburban area. It has retirees. It is growing. It's a place where Democrats understand.
You want to get this state back, if you can keep that blue, you're on your way. It doesn't get you there, it's not enough. But we'll watch it and see if that one stays blue, then you know Joe Biden is in play for Florida. And as we know, Wolf, from having done this a few times, we're going to be at this map for a few hours.
BLITZER: Yes. But if Democrats are looking at that county over there, they're getting a bit encouraged right now with 75 percent of the vote in.
KING: Right. And look that's one of the great dramas of an election night and it also can be one of the great frustrations on an election night. You see something like that early on and you think if you're a Democrat, you think that's it. We're going to be at this for a while. We're going to rock through it.
It's great to get excited. People at home should get excited about their candidate, about their side. But we've got a ways to go. And again, the key here, does that stay? What's the actual turnout? Right?
We expect the turnout to be even higher, so we're going to match up the math as we go. And then the big test for me, number one, can the Democrats hold the suburbs here and build, build. Take the 2018 suburbs that made Nancy Pelosi speaker and do it again in the states here and then how does the President do up here, does he matches numbers. He might have to exceed his numbers up here, if Joe Biden is doing well across here. You got a question.
BLITZER: It's interesting. Already a more than a million and a half votes have been counted in Florida right now and just to show our viewers, Trump is at 53 percent, Biden is at 46.1 percent. He's ahead by 104,000 votes.
KING: He is and as you say, a million and a half count. But just to remind people, we have a ways to go, 4.6 million to 4.5 million so we're early in the Florida count. But look, Florida is always, I say fun, I don't have a horse in this race. If you're a partisan watching at home, you go back and forth on the up and down in all of this one, but look this is one of the most fascinating states because of the diversity, because of the senior citizen vote, because it's the most complicated Latino vote anywhere, because of the diversity just within the Latino community.
The Democrats sent Obama down here twice, trying to get African- Americans in Miami-Dade to turn out. You got the suburban revolt against the President. Does it hold up in a state like Florida, which is now his adopted home state? And again, up here does the Trump army come out in 2020 like it did in 2016 in the small counties.
The complexity of Florida is what makes it so fascinating and it's always so close that. Jake was mentioning his conversation with Rick Scott the other day.
[19:10:06]
I talked to him as well the other day. He's won three elections by a point. By a point he has won three elections by a point in the state of Florida. That's the way Florida goes, twice for governor and once for Senate by a point. So we're going to watch this fill in. It's one of the most fascinating - and again and also its neighbor, it's almost the reverse when you come to its neighbor, Georgia.
This is the south, Northern Florida votes like the South. So this part of Georgia votes like the south. It's white, it's rural, it's reliably Republican in recent years. But then we get up here Savannah, Augusta, Columbus, Atlanta, the suburbs, can African-American votes in the inner cities, the suburbs around them, how far out, how far out can the Democrats stretch it in the suburbs?
That'll be the key not only across here, but to the north in Georgia as well, in an election that the Biden campaign tells us and the polls tell us could be a very different election, but could disappears now we count votes.
BLITZER: So the only thing that jumps out at you right now is Pinellas County over there.
KING: Pinellas County and again, I looked at those counties and I'll do it again, let me come down here. I don't want anyone to make too much of this, this early because we're trying to get votes. But one of the things in a close state like this, especially with an incumbent president on the ballot is to match him up, 39,000 votes, 67 percent. If you round up in 2020, you come here, 68 percent.
So roughly close a little down, I wouldn't jump up and down about that one. It's down a little bit. We'll see, 28 percent, 22,000 votes, 29 percent if you roll up there. Joe Biden's percentage is a little better. We're not done with the math yet, so we don't know.
These are the little things in a very close election that you do in a campaign war room. You're matching up county to county and you're looking through it to try to see, especially in places where the polls are still open and they know the votes, then they're trying to surge voters in. So you look at Lee County here again, 81 percent estimated vote.
Some of these things can be a little off this year, too, because of the early voting in the mail-in voting, but 57 percent to 42 percent. Again, for me, it's the math, 185,000, 186,000, if you round it up 191,000 last time.
This is what we're just going to go through to go through if turnout is up everywhere in the state, the President probably needs to exceed his numbers from four years ago, especially in the smaller, more rural places to match if the Democratic numbers are up as well. And now since we've been waiting here, we get Hillsborough County here and this is Tampa, so this is...
BLITZER: This is a big county.
KING: ... the double whammy here of Hillsborough and Pinellas, that's the signal about the suburbs right here, right? And so you look at this, it's the fourth largest county in the state of Florida. Democrats can run it up here. It gives you a cushion, right?
BLITZER: John, before we go to Hillsborough and Tampa, take a look at the state right now, because the gap between Trump and Biden seems to be narrowing pretty significantly right now. Trump is at 50.9 percent, Biden is at 48.2 percent. Trump is ahead by almost 65,000 votes.
KING: Sixty-four thousand one-hundred and fifty-seven and again welcome to the roller coaster that is Florida. That's why it's so fun. I just want to come in here and take a look, 55 to 44 if you round the President's total up there and then you go back in time here again, 51. So if this holds and it's a big if, Hillary Clinton at 51, Joe Biden at 55, that's exactly what Joe Biden needs to do, run a little stronger than Hillary Clinton (inaudible) ...
BLITZER: Take a look at the state right now, Biden has just taken the lead ...
KING: There you go.
BLITZER: ... with 22 percent of the estimated vote now. They do it quickly in Florida, very impressive. Broward County, that's Fort Lauderdale. It has now come in, look at this, in Broward County, let's take a look at Broward County right now.
KING: So I was trying to get you the full totals there. Welcome to roller coaster Florida, again 12,000 there, 75 percent. It's only 16 percent of the vote in. Again, this is the second largest county in the state, so we're going to get a lot of votes out of here and Democrats need them. Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, one, two, three as we go through them here.
BLITZER: All right. Well, we got a lot going on in Florida. We're going to - we're standing by for another round of crucial closings. The battleground states of North Carolina and Ohio are up for grabs, just minutes from now. Our special coverage of ELECTION NIGHT IN AMERICA continues right after this.
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[19:17:53]
BLITZER: We're back in the CNN election center standing by for the next wave of pole closings. Right now let's check in on the fight for the critically important electoral votes. Right now, Trump has 11 electoral votes. Indiana, Biden so far has zero. You need 270 to be elected President of the United States. We have a key race alert right now.
Take a look at this, see what's going on. In Florida right now, 35, more than a third of the vote is now - the estimated vote is now in. Biden has a lead of nearly 100,000 right now, 50.7 percent to Trump's 48.4 percent, 35 percent of the estimated vote once again is in, 29 electoral votes. Look at Georgia right now very early. Only 2 percent of the estimated vote is in but Biden is ahead by almost 32,000 votes 61.8 percent to 37 percent in Georgia, 16 electoral votes at stake.
In New Hampshire, less than 1 percent. Very, very early right now, but Biden is ahead by about 2,300 votes, 72.2 percent to 27.8 percent, four electoral votes in New Hampshire. In Vermont also very, very early, Biden is ahead only by about 610 votes, less than 1 percent of the estimated vote is in, 62.7 percent to 37.3 percent.
Three more states right now, let's take a look at Virginia, 13 electoral votes very, very early. Trump is ahead of Biden by about 3,000 votes, 69 percent to 30 percent for Biden, very early in Virginia. Also very early in South Carolina, Trump is ahead there by almost 700 votes, 63.3 percent to 36.7 percent. And Trump is also ahead in Kentucky, but 50 percent of the estimated vote in Kentucky is now in. Trump is ahead by about 35,000 votes, 54.1 percent to 44.3 percent from Biden. Let's go over to John King over at the magic wall.
Let's take a look at the big picture first and then I want to focus in on Florida, Florida, Florida.
KING: The big picture is the question of the night, can Joe Biden flip states that were Donald Trump states in 2016? Can Joe Biden flip them? Well, that would be a flip. Again, it's early. That would be a flip again, it's early.
The President right now leading in Virginia but it's a very early count if the President could pull off that, that would be a dramatic story. We expect Joe Biden to win Virginia. It's very early in light of the votes.
[19:20:07]
But these would be two big ones right there. I know Hampshire, Vermont we expect to stay, Kentucky and Indiana, South Carolina is closer than we thought. But at the moment, at the moment, very early, everybody needs to be careful about this, but at the moment, this is what Joe Biden wants to do.
He flips these states here. We know we might have to wait Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin. If they're close, we might have to wait, especially on Pennsylvania, that could be a day or three. However, if Joe Biden wins that, he'll rest comfortably waiting for that. So let's take a look at Florida as we go through it.
And again this one is always a roller coaster. So what you see now doesn't mean the lead won't change. When you were here last time, Wolf, it changed as we were speaking. But right now, Joe Biden at 50 percent, Donald Trump at 49, when you round up, 62,394 difference in a giant state where both candidates got more than 4.5 million votes last time. So we're going to be at this a while.
But if you're the Biden campaign and you're looking at this map, number one, you're winning Hillsborough County, which is Tampa, you like that. You're winning Pinellas County, which is St. Pete, you like that. That's where you want to be. This is how you finish. You finish a race in Florida across the I4 corridor. You get started if you're a Democrat by winning down here.
And if you're Joe Biden, I will say this as we're early in the count, this is somewhat concerning, but it could be the quirks of 2020. Donald Trump thinks he can do better down here with Cubans, with other Latino votes, especially Latino men. We'll see if that's the case. The Democrats were worried about African-Americans in Miami-Dade County, we'll see if that's the case.
Eighty-four percent in right now, 54 to 45. If you go back in time, this was a much bigger win for Hillary Clinton, 64 percent if you round up to 34 percent. So this was something to watch. The Democrats - this is their basket where they need to run it up, so we'll see. And if you don't run it up here, you need to offset it somewhere else. That's one of the trade offs in this campaign.
We know Trump may perform better among African-Americans, especially among Latino men. Joe Biden is performing better with white blue- collar workers and with senior citizens. So we're going to go through the trade offs throughout the night.
But this right now, if you come back to 2020, Joe Biden would like that to be a little higher. We're at 84 percent right now. We believe most of this is Election Day voting, today voting here. So we're waiting for early vote as well. That might help Joe Biden, if Democrats disproportionately banked early in Miami-Dade, we'll see as we go through.
You move up to Broward, this is more what Joe Biden wants it to look like. But again, you see that at 16 percent right there, 75 percent. You go back to the comparison, 66 percent. So he's overperforming at the moment Hillary Clinton by a percentage here as we go through it.
BLITZER: Trump just took the lead in Florida (inaudible) ...
KING: Right, so you pull back out and again, this is going to be a roller coaster by 28,000 votes. And so this is what we're going to do, and what's happening? This is again trademark for this president. Look at the smaller counties, you see all that filling in red, not a lot of people live here. If you look at it, it's 184 to 83 there. You come over here, 584 to 207 you think at home. Well, that's only a few votes when you have 10, 15, 20 counties and you're doing that, 200 here, 20 there, a thousand there. That's how Donald Trump gets his math in a lot of states.
Now, with these smaller counties like this interesting (inaudible) ...
BLITZER: (Inaudible) 41 percent of the estimated vote in Florida is now in. Look at how close is this.
KING: Florida is close. That is not breaking news. That part is not breaking news. But it's incredible, because just as you were here last time it flipped, you were here this time it flipped. We expect Florida to flip. So you're looking at key things, number one, for the President that Collier County is coming in for Trump. That's a good thing for the President. That's what he needs. The southwest part of the state tends to be more conservative, 77 percent, but look how low we are here.
So we got a long way to go here with just a couple hundred votes, 300 votes and some change there. So see if that holds up for the President right here, but you pull up right here, but I just want to come up here. This would be a huge deal. This would be a huge deal. Duval County is Jacksonville, up here in the top part of the state.
The President tends to win once you get out of the urban areas. But this is again one of the fast changing areas all across America. But in the Sunbelt states like Florida, you have the city and the suburbs around it, 75 percent.
You see Joe Biden at 54 percent, President at 45 if you round up. This was a Trump win, just barely, just barely. But Donald Trump narrowly carried the suburbs four years ago, he's expected to lose the suburbs, this time by how much could determine who wins the presidency side. So if you watch Duval County right here, it's the seventh largest county in Florida, that edge for Joe Biden. We always think about down here as critical for the Democrats, up here critical for the Republicans.
BLITZER: And let's not forget, John, in the (inaudible) ...
KING: (Inaudible) 67,000 (inaudible) ...
BLITZER: ... the Central Time Zone, they're not going to close until the top of the hour.
KING: Right. BLITZER: The Eastern Time Zone in Florida, they've closed.
KING: Right. And so again, if you look across, just watch across here, they're still voting out by Pensacola on the panhandle. So let me just go back and show you just to remind you, all of these smaller counties, you're going to see a lot of red. That is the key for the President.
Again, they're not very populous, but when you add up one then another, then another, then another, you get the votes to offset some of this. It takes time which is why Florida sometimes roller coasters through the night, but look at ...
BLITZER: I see Palm Beach County is now in (inaudible) ...
KING: That's (inaudible) you do see this though, Palm Beach County is in right now. But look, this is 91 to 28.
BLITZER: Yes.
KING: We have a long way to go on Palm Beach. But this is the quirks of the map when you're watching at home. You see this county red, if you're a Democrat, you panic, which is why we need to visit it to remind you ...
BLITZER: Let's go back to Miami-Dade.
KING: ... that we're early in this count here.
[19:25:04]
So let me take the lines away so you're not distracted. But if that stays blue, that's a big deal for Democrats. If that stays blue, it's a big deal for Democrats. You come back down to Miami-Dade. Again, if you're in the Biden campaign, you want it to be better than that, it doesn't mean it's game over, but it means if you're not getting it here, you better make it up somewhere else and we'll watch the rest of this vote come in.
Again, if there's a lot of early votes to come in, these numbers could change dramatically pretty quick.
BLITZER: That's four years ago and Hillary Clinton did a lot better in Miami-Dade County.
KING: She did 64 percent. And again, part of this is the percentage, that's one thing you look at. The other thing you look at, especially because we expect turnout to be up this year, sometimes that helps you, sometimes that helps you more, 624. In Miami-Dade four years ago, the President got 334,000 if you round that up by that one, so you come back here. Remember 624 and 333 and you see the President right now already has a significant, 120,000 more votes out of Miami-Dade than he did four years ago.
Now, is that just because turnip turnout is up everywhere or is he making inroads with the Democratic constituency in Miami-Dade, that is what we'll learn as we go deeper into the night. But if there's a - Joe Biden right now, if you're worried about anything in Florida, you're worried about that, that you're winning Miami-Dade, but not by the margins that you wanted.
Still though, 74,000 votes with a long way to go and again this is blue at the moment - I mean, red at the moment. We don't expect it to stay that way. But we'll see as we count them. And again, the key part for me, here we go, Orange County has filled in, 700 votes, 700 votes and change there, so it doesn't matter.
This has to be blue at the end of the night. If that stays red, Joe Biden is not going to win Florida, but it's very early on as we go through. Again, as you get real votes, 83 percent here, this could be critical here Osceola County here you come through, 61 percent. Again, you're looking for math, especially if you're Joe Biden and you're not getting what you wanted out of Miami-Dade, you need to make up for it somewhere else.
So you're looking here 50,000, 85,000 four years ago. You come back in now, Joe Biden right now about the same. A little below where Hillary Clinton was. We're still waiting for some votes there. This is what we're going to have to do. Florida gets so competitive. You go county by county, you match up the math four years ago, you see how much turnout is up this year compared to then and you're averaging all out.
BLITZER: Fifty percent of the vote in Florida is now in. Trump is ahead by about 74,000 votes, 50.2 percent to 48.9 percent. Now, he's up by 91,500 votes, 51 percent. Florida's very fast, the numbers are coming in quickly. Let's look at Georgia right now.
KING: So you move up you see Georgia, it's not often you see Georgia blue. And again, you see a lot of red and yet Georgia is blue, because right now Joe Biden is winning. And this one here, this is Fulton County where Atlanta is, we don't have any votes yet. But then you move here to Cobb County to the north. And again, this could be the story of the night.
I emphasize could be, because we're early. But you look at right here, only 27 percent of the vote in, 63 to 35 in Cobb County. This is the suburbs to the northwest of Atlanta. It used to be Republican country. Hillary Clinton won it last time, but just barely, 49 to 47. So this is what we're going to watch throughout the night, suburbs are growing, suburbs where the people are, suburbs is where you get your math, especially if you're a Democrat, Donald Trump is going to run it up in all these smaller rural counties.
As you see this is 2016, you come up to 2020, you're starting to see the same repeat of that. You see the President, that's not a huge margin there. We'll see how it goes. But in the small rural counties, the President tends to run it up, you move up here, let's just say 83 percent in a county like that. And again, it's 3,000 plus 4000 plus votes when you're done, said and done. That's what Trump does to offset the urban areas in the close in suburbs.
So one of the tests tonight, let's drop down a little bit more to Henry County, 59 percent there. Come back in time, 50 percent, 51 percent, if you round up. So those are the things you're looking for especially in these places where Joe Biden's performance in the suburbs is absolutely critical.
He needs African-American turnout to be up in Atlanta, in Augusta, in Columbus, in Savannah and he needs, when you get into the suburbs, and the Democrats do very well in the close in suburbs, more and more increasingly in the Trump age. They've been moving out into the outer rings of the suburbs, out to the ex-urban areas.
So you watch this play out here. You look 16,000 votes ahead there in the State of Georgia. Let's take a peek in South Carolina. The President winning quite handily here so far, but that's very preliminary in the vote. One of the things we'll watch throughout the night, are the President's margins about the same or do they shrink even in the places he wins. I just want to peek one more time at Florida as we go here, Florida 2020. Welcome back to the roller coaster.
Joe Biden has pulled ahead by 7,784 votes in the State of Florida, but again 49.6, 49.5 we're early in the night. Florida is as close as it gets, which is pretty remarkable. Let's just take a closer look at what we're seeing here. Palm Beach turned blue. We thought it would and a big vote dump to get it blue, that's why the state change.
We had just a few hundred votes in Palm Beach a few moments ago and the President was leading. Right now, Wolf, the Florida vote coming in as Joe Biden would like it as we wish, but we will keep counting.
BLITZER: We certainly will. Florida is emerging as a major, major fight that's going on right now. We're coming up on another critical round of poll closings in the Biden-Trump presidential race just moments from now.
[19:30:03]
That's when most polls will close in North Carolina, Ohio and West Virginia. Together, those states account for 38 of the 270 electoral votes to needed to win the White House.
All right. We've got a key race alert right now. Too early to call in these states, including Ohio. Too early to call in Ohio, 18 electoral votes in Ohio. Too early to call.
Too early to call in North Carolina as well, 15 electoral votes in North Carolina. Too early to call.
West Virginia, five electoral votes. Too early to call in West Virginia right now.
Let's take a look at the Electoral College map, where it stands right now. It still remains the same, 11 Electoral College votes from Trump. Zero so far for Biden, 270 needed to win the presidency.
Let's get a key race alert right now.
All right. In Florida right now, let's start, 29 electoral votes. Donald Trump has a narrow lead right now with 59 percent of the estimated vote in. Look how close it is. Got a lead of about 25,000 votes, 49.7 to 49.4 percent. This is a must win for Trump. He must win Florida. If Biden were to win Florida, it would be very difficult for Trump to get reelected. We're watching Florida so closely.
In Virginia right now, very, very early, only 2 percent of the estimated vote is in. Trump is ahead by about 33,000 votes, 65.4 percent to 32.9 percent. In South Carolina, also very, very early, Trump is ahead, 70.4 percent to 29.6 percent.
In Kentucky, 18 percent of the vote is in. Trump is ahead by 75,000 votes, 58 percent to 40.5 percent.
Three more states right now. Let's take a look. Georgia, it looks like it's going to be a battle over there. Biden is ahead with 4 percent of the estimated vote in. About 16,000 vote lead for Biden over Trump.
In New Hampshire, Biden is ahead there. Only 2 percent of the estimated vote is in, about 3,300 votes lead, 59.2 percent to 40.3 percent.
And Biden is ahead in Vermont with less than 1 percent of the vote in. Only 610 vote lead, 62.7 percent to 37.3 percent in Vermont.
Let's go back to John King.
You know, Florida and Georgia, two very critically important states. Lots of electoral votes at stake. Let's look at Florida first.
KING: Let's look at Florida first. It is red at the moment. It has gone back and forth several times in the last 15 or 20 minutes. So, that's what Florida does.
The president of the United States right now, President Trump, it's his new adopted home state, 50 percent to 49.1 percent, a one-point race in Florida. This what makes it Florida, actually, 57,000 votes if you round it up.
If you are looking at the map, it looks like a traditional map. One plus for the Democrats, Pinellas County here. One warning sign for Joe Biden as we watch this play out, and we got a ways to go, remember 3.4 million votes, 3.4 million, 4.6 is what it took to win it 4 years ago, we think turnout is higher this year. So we're going to watch as this goes.
But here, if you are looking for trouble signs in the Biden campaign, it is right here. In Miami-Dade, again, we have more votes, this is early in person voting predominantly I'm told. People who showed up to vote in person, early before Election Day.
Joe Biden with a very narrow lead. It's a 9-point lead but narrow by comparison to where we were 4 years ago. This -- you know, that's nearly 30 points there, 28 points.
BLITZER: Biden just took the lead in Florida once again, it's moving very quickly back and forth. KING: Let's come back and see where it came from, now by 134,000
votes. They're reporting very really quickly in Florida, congratulations to Florida.
BLITZER: Sixty-five percent of the vote is in, two-thirds.
KING: So let's see what happened here. We got a big jump in Palm Beach County, 60 percent of 39 percent. Remember short time again, the president was ahead. So, again, you're looking at 60 percent there, especially if Joe Biden is underperforming in Miami-Dade, and we'll go back and check in on the second, he's underperforming there, he's got to make it up somewhere else if you're going to win the state that Hillary Clinton lost, right?
So, you look at Palm Beach County here, 60 to 40, 60 to 39, you come back here. It's a little bit better, she's at 57 percent.
So, if you're Joe Biden, you are underperforming one place, you got to make it up somewhere else, we'll watch and see if that holds up. Let's just move south as we go. Broward County, 66.
To me, what's more important is a 562 because turnout is up this year, we come back here, 66 percent. We're about the same there as vote totals. Close to the same if we come back for years, he's a little bit above there. We have a little ways to go here.
So turnout is up a little bit, which you adjust your map, and then you come down here. Again, in the Biden campaign, you think in a normal race, you're winning, you say, oh, 54-45, I'm doing great. No Democrats need to run it up more here.
You see Hillary Clinton with 64 percent you round up last time, and she lost the state. Remember that? She lost the state, run it up here, 624, 000, you come back to 2020, Joe Biden running under that vote total here.
Again that happens, elections change, consistencies change, Donald Trump doing better perhaps with African Americans, with Latinos, it's a very complicated, diverse Latino community in Miami-Dade. So, Joe Biden has to make it up somewhere else. You can make it up with senior citizens, you can make it up here and a growing suburbs of across I-4 corridor, and let's see the case.
At the moment, Orange County, again, 700 votes and change, so this doesn't count yet. No offense to the people who voted for the president there. But that doesn't count yet, we're not high now if in the vote count to understand that.
But we are up here though, Hillsborough County, which is Tampa, and the growing suburbs around it. Pinellas County is St. Peter, and the suburbs here as you move over, this went red four years ago, as President Trump carried Florida, it is staying blue at the moment. Narrow though, look at that, 50.3 to 48.4.
But again, in the state often goes a point or two, sometimes within a point, by little margins matter, Donald Trump carried it just barely, by a point 4 years ago. At the moment, Joe Biden carrying it just barely by a point. That's how you win a state just as close as Florida. If you come over here, 55 to 43, so 12 points almost.
BLITZER: You know, if you go statewide in Florida --
KING: I just want to check this, seven right there, you're statewide now, we'll see if it changes again if we pull it.
BLITZER: Show us where each candidate is underperforming and overperforming.
KING: All right. So we can go back and look at this. We can match this up to four years ago. Where is Trump underperforming, right? Where is the president underperforming?
He's underperforming so far in these two counties. They are blue. That means the Democrats are winning in those counties. But the president's vote in these counties is below where it was. You see, the Trump here by more than five points from where he was four years ago.
And again, it's one county. It's not a lot of people. But in a state that's so close that could come down to several thousand votes, 2,000 -- it was 537 votes. It's one of the things you look at.
So, you pull that out here. So right now, this is -- if you look at this, we expect the president to underperform in the suburbs. At the moment, we're not seeing it in dramatic ways, we'll watch this as more vote come in. Where is Biden underperforming? Where is Biden underperforming Clinton and you see it right there. That's what we were just talking about.
If you come back in there, this is slide over, underperforming. This doesn't count yet because the vote is preliminary. Let me just check on this. Also very preliminary there.
So, this we're waiting on. Don't focus on that.
BLITZER: Where is Biden overperforming?
KING: Look at this here, you see this, this is -- right now, a warning sign in the Biden campaign headquarters for that. And so, then you want to look at where they are overperforming.
So, let's do Biden first. Let's turn this one off and bring this one up. And he's overperforming, again, these are Republican counties. The red counties are voting Republican at the moment, but you see Joe Biden at 41 percent here.
You go back to Hillary Clinton. He's only 36 percent. There are some places. This can matter if you get down to a race settled by a couple of thousand, 5,000, 10,000 votes. It's performance like this that matters when you go through and match it up.
There's not a lot of it given how big Florida is. He's out performing Clinton here. Leon County is Tallahassee, but again, this is very preliminary. So, let's not go to the bank on this. Not many votes in there yet.
It's one of the things you look at, as we study it throughout.
BLITZER: Where is Trump overperforming?
KING: Let's take a peek of that as well. We're in the neighborhood, let's do it. Where is the president outperforming? Again, right now, in Miami-Dade, it matters. These other places the votes are preliminary.
Let's see if we have many votes in here, 37 percent here. It helps -- it helps in the smaller places. Not a ton of votes, but it helps. Same thing, about 40 percent of the vote here.
But again, this is where it matters right here. If you are looking at Florida right now, it's a roller coaster. We're going to go through this several times. Lead switches are not at all uncommon.
But this is the number one county, number one basket of votes in the county, in the state, I mean. Thirteen percent of the statewide vote. Right now, the president -- it's blue for Joe Biden but those numbers if you're in the Trump campaign headquarters, that puts you in play but you've got a lot more business to do.
BLITZER: We know if Miami-Dade, if those numbers are today voting or early voting?
KING: I was told that most of this so far is in-person early voting. So we're still waiting for them to count mail-in votes and more of today's Election Day turnout. This is in-person early voting. So far, we'll keep counting.
BLITZER: Here's a look at the key races as we count down to polls closing at 8:00 p.m. Eastern.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: All right. Let's get a key race alert right now.
Let's start with Florida right now, 67 percent of the estimated vote is in. Biden is ahead by almost 70,000 votes, 50 percent to 49.1 percent. It's close in Florida, 29 electoral votes.
Five percent of the estimated vote in Georgia is in. Biden is ahead there by 4,200 votes, 50.4 percent to 48.6 percent.
Only 3 percent of the estimated vote in New Hampshire is in. Biden is ahead there by some 3,000 votes, 56.6 percent to 42.7 percent.
In Virginia, 8 percent of the vote is in, Trump is ahead, 50.2 percent to 48.1 percent. He's up by almost 8,000 votes in Virginia.
[19:40:01]
Let's go back to John King at the magic wall.
Lots of excitement going on. So far, we're seeing some blue in Florida and Georgia. The question is, is that going to hold?
KING: That is the question. Is it going to hold? You see red in Virginia. We don't expect that to hold but we count the votes early and in all these places.
We also see this -- Donald Trump had an early lead in the popular vote. He still does. But Joe Biden is starting to close in on that as well. One of the questions tonight, that's not how we pick a president but Hillary Clinton won the popular vote. If Joe Biden can stretch that lead out it should help him in the Electoral College.
But we watch those numbers as well, but we go state by state. That's how we pick presidents. And Florida has 29 Electoral College votes. So, it is one of the biggest prizes on the map, and it is always a battleground state.
And again, Biden on top right now, 50.6 to 48.4 percent. In Florida they call that a blowout. It's a point and a half, but that's what -- so we got a long way to go still. And again, three big parts of the state. Democrats need the votes here.
This is where close elections are settled. We're waiting to see what happens up here. And again, you see some trouble signs for both candidates. So, we're still going to watch the votes. We have 72 percent of the estimated vote. We'll watch as it plays out.
Why do I say trouble signs for both candidates? Up in the northern part of the state, Duval County, very close. Joe Biden on top, 52 percent to 47 percent. If you round it, five points there. That's about -- shy of 40,000 votes there.
But again, if you go back in time, President Trump carried this. Not by a lot but in a state that's so close, the small margins in the big counties. This is the seventh largest of the 67 counties.
So, you're looking for the bigger counties where the votes are to see what the margins are. Let's just check over here, Leon County, in Tallahassee. That's 2016. You come up here, Joe Biden, but very early. Very early in a place we expect him to win, the state capital, government workers, unions, we expect him to win.
So, let's come back here. This has been holding steady for a while. This would be the biggest danger sign for the Biden campaign in their war room right now and their most encouraging sign for the Trump campaign and its war room.
Miami-Dade is the largest county in the state by population. You get about 13, 13.5 percent of the vote depending on how turnout goes there. And you see, you have 54-45, in most states, you'd think that's a good win but not in the state of Florida. It's so complicated and big. Democrats need a bigger margin here. The Clinton comparison, 64 percent, 624,000 votes. She lost the state.
Remember, she ran it up in Miami-Dade. Clinton campaign was happy with this. They thought they did a good job there, but she lost the state. You see the 624,000 for Hillary Clinton. Joe Biden running below that total right now, right now.
We have more votes to come in and we'll see -- we know turnout was up. Most of this, not all of it, most of it is people who voted in person early. So, we're waiting for the Election Day vote. Republicans think that's where they do best. This is a Democratic area. Let's see.
That's why the Democrats sent Barack Obama down here twice to try to turn people out to vote. The former president tried to get African- Americans and others to turn out.
So now you pull it out. You see the state is starting to fill in, Florida doing a good job counting quickly. Let's walk up the coast. Broward County. This is what Biden needs to do here.
Again, you want to run it up here. The president is going to win the smaller rural counties. The Democrats need to run it up. It's the second largest county, just shy of 10 percent of the vote here.
And then, Palm Beach County. This is what -- this is what the Democrats need to do and what Joe Biden is doing right now. Just for comparison, 60.2, 57 percent you run up. So, a little better here. Not as many people here. So it's hard to make up what you are missing in Miami-Dade, but you take everything you can get as you try to go through it.
And then this is the key part of the state. The western part, southwestern part of the state. Naples and surrounding, critical for the president. These votes are starting to come in, 61. Focus on the 61, round up to 62. Remember the 120,000 four years ago, 105,000. And 62.
So, the president has got about the same percentage. And more people are voting. More people are voting in this election turnout. Hillary Clinton got 61,000 votes there. Joe Biden getting more votes, because of the increased turnout this year, which is a good thing in every state. The more people who play, the better for our democracy.
Then you want to come up here and again, Orlando, earlier I said it didn't matter. This was red. It was early, only a couple hundred votes. Big chunk of votes has come in here. Joe Biden at 64 percent, the president 35 percent. 341,000 votes.
Let's go back and look. Joe Biden is already passed Hillary Clinton's vote total, 60 percent there, 64 percent there. That's how you win a close race in Florida. Doesn't mean it's enough if you have to offset Miami-Dade.
But Orange County here, think of it as Orlando. This is more and more, by the day, suburban. More and more Latino, more and more college educated, more and more complicated. And this has been a area hard hit by the economy.
BLITZER: Look at this, 75 percent of the vote in Florida is now in. And Biden has a lead of 142,000 votes.
Step back for a moment, John. Explain to our viewers why we're spending so much time looking at Florida. Yes, it has 29 electoral votes but it's a must win for the president.
KING: It's an absolutely must win for the president. Joe Biden would like it. If Joe Biden gets it, it helps him remake the map and it helps make a statement election. Let's just walk over here.
We come back. This is the only state we've projected so far is Indiana.
[19:45:02]
So, the president has 11 electoral votes. You have to get -- you have to get to 270 and remember, the president got to 306 last time.
So why does Florida matter so much? Well, if Joe Biden can take away Florida, that right there in and of itself, gets the president down to 277. So then from there, Joe Biden really needs just one more. So if Joe Biden won Florida, let's say he won Arizona, right, Joe Biden could win the president without winning Pennsylvania, without winning Michigan, without winning Wisconsin, without winning Georgia, all places where he in these three, he leads. Here he's certainly competitive. Some polls show him ahead, some polls behind.
So, that is why 29 matters. The only thing on the board tonight with more significance is potentially Texas. Democrats think they may have a chance in Texas. Democrats think they may have a chance in Texas. But if you take these 29 away from the president of the United States, mathematically, can I find a path to Trump victory? If you want to say that Trump is going to win California or if you say Trump is going to win all three of these, so it doesn't absolute, but that's essential.
We are trying to be conservative. We're trying to be cautious, trying to be fair to the president. If the president of the United States loses Florida, his path to re-election is essentially gone.
BLITZER: And right now, it's very close in Florida, 79 percent of the estimated vote is in. Biden is ahead by about 83,500 votes right now, 50 percent to 49.1 percent.
More make or break states are on the line at the top of the hour. When the last polls close in the battlegrounds of Florida, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania. Will we be able to make any projections in the hour ahead?
We're going to find out very soon. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:50:14]
BLITZER: All right. We have our second projection of the night, CNN's projects that Joe Biden will win the state of Vermont. He beats Trump in Vermont, 3 electoral votes.
So let's take a look at the map. Where it stands right now, the race at 270. Trump has 11, he won Indiana. Biden has 3, he won Vermont, 270 once again needed to win the presidency. We're only moments away from the biggest wave of poll closing's in the
presidential race. We're counting down to the top of the hour, 8:00 p.m. Eastern, that's when the last polling places close, Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Tennessee. Together, those contests have 172 electoral votes. That's a huge chunk of the 270 needed to win.
Florida, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania are the key battlegrounds that we are watching in the coming on our. Joe Biden posing a strong challenge to the president in Pennsylvania and Florida, state seen as crucial to Mr. Trump's reelection chances.
Let's get a key state alert right now.
And let's start off in Florida right now. Florida, look at this, it's very close in Florida, Joe Biden has 49.6 percent of Trump has 49.5 percent. Biden is ahead by 9,200 votes, 9,2000 votes in Florida, 29 electoral votes.
In Ohio, 18 percent of the estimated vote is in. Biden has a lead, an impressive lead of 347,000 right now, 64.4 percent to 34.5 percent. In Ohio, 18 electoral votes.
In New Hampshire, only 3 percent of the expected vote is in. Biden is ahead by 3,000 votes, 54.8 percent to 44.4 percent.
Two more states, let's take a look right now. We got Georgia right now, 7 percent of the estimated vote is in, Trump is ahead by 9,000 votes or so, 50.8 percent to 48.2 percent.
In Virginia, 13 percent of the estimated vote is in. And Trump is ahead by about 80,000 votes, 55.6 percent to 42.6 percent. Let's go back to John King at the magic wall. We're watching these states very closely, including Ohio right now, which clearly is a major battleground.
KING: Right, it's fairly interesting to watch, Florida will get there just a minute. The president's lead in the popular vote is shrinking. We'll see how that plays out.
But let's start with battleground Ohio. This is a state, Joe Biden went there Monday morning, right? He went there and people said, oh, do you really want to go there? You have a chance in Ohio?
But let's see. The middle part of the state where you see all these counties, then you see nothing, most of that is going to come in red. You just know that right? So Democrats need to round up in the urban areas. That would be Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, Akron, Toledo, Youngstown.
But if you come here, this is interesting to see from this regard, if you get in 2020 here, Joe Biden right now, Mahoning County, Youngstown, blue collar, blue collar. This is where the president goes and says, you know, I'm on your side, I am your voice, trade deals. Joe Biden getting 62 percent were about halfway in the count. So, we'll see if this stays this way.
But 62 percent, you go back in time, Hillary Clinton just barely won this. This is one of the tests, right? Can Joe Biden, one of the things he says he can do is that unlike Hillary Clinton, he can win Trump voters. He can win blue collar, traditional Democrats, vote for Donald Trump. We'll see if we see that if you come to 2020.
That's a big deal, even if Joe Biden loses in Ohio, that's a big deal when we move over to Pennsylvania. It's a big deal in Wisconsin. It's a big deal in Michigan.
Ohio, a more Republican state than any of those three that I just mentioned. So, you looking up here, challenge number one, for the Democrats, you want to win a state as competitive as Ohio, it leans a little bit Republican, you have to run it up, Cuyahoga County, Cleveland, only about 40 percent of the vote in, ways to, 75 to 24.
Let's go back and take a look, 66 percent for Hillary Clinton, that's a good sign. You're looking at, that that's a good sign, and even better sign? Or at least even better add on for Joe Biden, this is your base. This has to be your foundation, largest county in the state, by 11 percent of the vote when you're all done.
But you move out here to the suburbs, this is the battle for the American presidency. Close races are decided in the suburbs. Lake County, Joe Biden ahead 51 to 48, it's close but you go back in time, this was Trump country four years ago.
Donald Trump narrowly carried the suburbs in 2016, that's why he's president the United States. That's why he's president of the United States. It's part of the coalition, Trump put together in 2016 as he won Ohio rather comfortably.
If Joe Biden can hold Lake County, hold the suburbs to west of Cleveland, that's part of the building blocks, at least get you close.
Now, as you see, as we go through this, as more of the state is filling in, these are smaller counties. There's not a lot of people here, but let's pop them out. This is where the president runs it up, right? He doubles your vote essentially.
And so, the challenge for Biden if that fills in, and will watch turnout, we'll see if Trump voters come out in those places, as he has to in all of the urban centers, Franklin County, that's a good number, it's not just Columbus, huge suburbs around it. Columbus has been Democrat for a long time, the suburbs used to be more Republican here you get a more competitive county.
You see that, right, that's about half of the vote, 76 percent you come back in time, 60 percent, 61 percent for Hillary Clinton. That's who -- those are the building blocks for Joe Biden, win in the cities lot of that is a Democratic base, in Columbus is the capital of the state, its unions, its African-Americans, it's turnout.
But then when you get out here away from, it you have to win the suburbs and that's has been the challenge if. President Trump has lost the suburbs. Let's come down here to Hamilton County, used to be a Republican County, it's becoming more of a Clinton -- I mean, more of a Democratic county, we have no votes there yet. You saw how Hillary Clinton carried.
It's also House Districts in the Cincinnati suburbs as well, one of the House districts Democrats try to expand the majority. So, Ohio --
BLITZER: I want to go back to Florida because it essentially tied right now. Let's take a look at Florida right now, 81 percent of the estimated vote is in, there is only a 2,000 vote separation, Biden is ahead by 2,033 votes. That's incredible.
KING: As you say so, people at home who have a partisan stake in this are throwing things at the television but this is why this is fun. I mean, look at this,
BLITZER: Trump is just gone ahead by 18,000 votes, this is 4.6, 4.7. We're talking -- we're closing in on 10 million votes. We're above 9 million votes in the state of Florida. And we have a 49.6 to a 49.4.
This is why elections are fun and this is why Florida is of all the states in the United States, one of the -- if not the ultimate battleground state.
And so, again, let's go through it and take a look. We started earlier in Miami-Dade, this to me so far the biggest warning sign. And again, every election is different. So, you're not performing, if you're Joe Biden or not performing as well here as Hillary Clinton did, as well as Barack Obama did, when he carried the state, that's not necessarily fatal, it's not good.
Then you got to make it up somewhere else. If you're not getting it here, you're going to get somewhere else, 54 to 46, if you round them up. Again, you go back in time, this is the largest county in the state, more people here voting today than they were in the state. Hillary Clinton thought she did the job here, four years ago, 64 percent, 624,000 votes. Joe Biden right now 560,000 votes, only 54 percent so that's a problem.
It's a warning sign in the Biden campaign. Not insurmountable can, you come out here can you make it up? This is number two, Broward County. Miami-Dade is number one, this is the second largest county, you're at 66 percent with 562,000 votes.
You go back and look at it, so you're running ahead of Hillary Clinton if you're Joe Biden, in the count, in the count, turnout is up this time, turnout is up this time. So that doesn't necessarily mean it's enough but you're running ahead there, and you come up here to Palm Beach County.
BLITZER: The third largest.
KING: One, two and three, right there.
BLITZER: Yeah. KING: One, two and three, right there, 58 to 41, if you look at it there, 391,000 votes, Joe Biden again exceeding her total, and right now, at the moment, exceeding her percentage. So, that's a good thing there.
So, those one, two and three right here along the coast, and then you come up from here, this is where you number four. That's Hillsborough, that's Tampa. It's Tampa and the suburbs around it again, I just said this in Ohio, and I'll say it again here, the suburbs decide close presidential elections. President Trump narrowly won them four years. He's been losing them since.
Nancy Pelosi as speaker, because of the suburban revolt against Donald Trump, the question is, does it continue from 2018 into 2020 in places like this? Fifty-three percent, you see that's about -- you see, 300 -- excuse me, 52,000 votes in a place like Florida, if you're not doing as well as you did in Miami-Dade, you've got to run it up somewhere else? There's some votes there for you. Much closer, much closer, well 45, 42.
Then you come over here, this 4 years ago, it's a big victory for Donald Trump to turn this county. Democrats got swamped an Election Day turnout. At the moment, they're holding this 91 percent. Again, not by much 49.6 to 49.0. the question -- that's a little bit of math, 3,000 votes, you take everything you can in a state like this, you get the votes.
So, then, you come up here, and now, we're waiting, right? The panhandle, this later time zone, we're waiting for votes out there. If you come through here, I just want to show. The president runs it up in these smaller counties. There's not a lot of people, there's not a lot of people, but 6,000 votes to 2000 votes, that's 4.000 votes in the bank to offset the Democratic advantage elsewhere.
That's what the president did four years ago. It looks like he's doing in some of these places again, the issue is as you get to the most populated counties, let's see if we have much votes early, we didn't have many votes.
We still don't. This is a plus for Joe Biden. We don't have any votes out of Leon County yet, but that's Tallahassee. And then you move over here watching this all night to see if it switches. Duval County, again, sorry for the broken record, the suburbs, Jacksonville, and the suburbs around it, Joe Biden at 51, the president had 47.
You go back in time, Donald Trump carries Florida four years ago narrowly because in part because he won the suburbs narrowly there. So, Wolf, as we watch this play out, I just come out to statewide and look, the president of the United States, 2,994 votes ahead in the state has cast more than 9 million ballots.
BLITZER: Incredibly close in Florida right now. The voting is about to end in 16 states and the District of Columbia. The biggest rounds of polls closing tonight, a whopping 172 electoral votes are at stake in the next hour.
We got some CNN projections right now.
