Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Live Event/Special
Close Election May Come Down to Arizona, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin; Votes Still Being Tallied in Urban Areas of Pennsylvania; Joe Biden: We're on Track to Win this Election; Trump: They are Trying to Steal the Election. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired November 04, 2020 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[00:00:00]
(JOINED IN PROGRESS)
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Electoral votes. Biden has 205.
JOHN KING, CNN HOST: So you just mentioned, we're going to get Hawaii at the top of the hour. And it would be a shock if this one -- anyway, other than that. So we'll just do that. And we're going to wait for Alaska but we assume that will go red.
This takes Joe Biden to 209. We're not done here yet and we're not done here yet.
That's what it looks like --
BLITZER: Hawaii is too early to call, by the way.
KING: It is too early to call. I'm just saying I expect that's where it will end up. It would be a huge surprise otherwise.
You do the hypotheticals, the Biden campaign, and you're banking on Nevada and you like your lead in Arizona and you think you'll get that. So you look around. Minnesota is a state, we're not there yet but you think you'll keep that. I don't think I've ever been past 11 o'clock on a presidential Election Night having not called Rhode Island and that's Connecticut.
I started my career in Rhode Island and I never thought we'd get past 11 o'clock before we call. That's the year we're in. We expect that goes Democratic. Then looking at the map. Virginia is in the Democratic fold. The Biden campaign, you can't count on this anymore. Your hope has gone away. Your hope is fading. You're not sure about Georgia. The metro vote is out yet.
You're back in this place, right?
You expect, if you're the Democrats, you think you'll get most of Maine. I'll take away this congressional district and put it back in the toss-up. Take this away. Let's be cautious and see what happens.
I'm looking at the Biden math, right? The president starts at 270 -- 306. Joe Biden has to subtract and take it away. You're looking at the map.
Where else do you go?
We assume, we haven't called this yet. Let's just see. We're waiting on Iowa. The expectation is that goes there. If these all stay and this is the wild card. A lot of votes waiting. Any Democrat in Georgia will get mad at me. This is a hypothetical.
We expect the president will end up with Alaska, Idaho. Montana is interesting but the expectation is it will go there. We have some congressional districts we're waiting on. You've got one, two and three in the congressional districts. Just remember you have three off to the side.
As you go through big three states right here. At 243 and 246, essentially, if you get this, you're knocking at the door. You get this, then you need one of these. Let's leave this off the board. We think it will be the slowest to count. If we're waiting on that, bang, bang, 269. Then we're into the congressional districts.
Do you get that one?
That would get Joe Biden there without Pennsylvania.
If you flip it around and you're the president of the United States, you think, OK, can you get this back?
The polls look iffy. That's where we are. These are hypotheticals but that's where we are with a couple of congressional districts in hand to hand combat.
BLITZER: We have a projection right now.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
BLITZER: CNN projects President Trump will win the state of Ohio, beats Biden in Ohio, 18 electoral votes in Ohio. That's a big, big win for Donald Trump in the state of Ohio.
Let's look at the Electoral College map, where it stands. Biden still has 205. Trump has 132; 270 needed to win the presidency. Biden still ahead, 205-132. We're watching this very closely. Let's see where things stand.
All eyes on Arizona, 76 percent of the estimated vote is now in and Biden still has an impressive lead over Trump; 53.6 percent to 45 percent for Trump. That's 11 electoral votes right there, 76 percent of Arizona is now in.
KING: So again, it's not there yet but that would be the flip. We're looking at the map. We're starting to fill that in but nothing has changed as of now from 2016. Both are in their building blocks.
The Biden campaign was hoping, right, hoping for an opportunity here, an opportunity here, an opportunity here. We just took one away. They thought they had a chance. Remember Joe Biden went to Cleveland Monday morning. Closer than it was last time but a Trump win there, we project.
So you're looking at this map. This one, they're leading in. That's a Clinton state they expect to get. In the Biden campaign, you came into the night dreaming of getting this. It doesn't look that way. Still some votes to count in Texas.
If you take off the board, let's not count that anymore. Take that off, take that off again. We're back here where we knew we would be. We knew we would be.
The question is what else can change the map?
Do you need the big one?
Can you do it with the 26, 16 and 10?
You're sitting there with your sheets.
[00:05:00]
KING: Some people like old school, even in the campaigns. They're using their paper and going through this. The question for Maine, we haven't done Maine yet. Biden could pick some up in Maine.
The question is, do you get them all?
I'm in the wrong thing.
Do you get them all?
Or does the congressional district go back and forth?
That's where the interesting math is now. Normally in a big race, it doesn't come down to this. You're not worried about one congressional district there and here. But we have the potential to be in that.
The challenge for Biden is hold Nevada, clinch Arizona and flip it and then we get into the map as we go later into the night. The issue will be, keep checking on Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin to find out how many more will we get tonight, in the middle of the night. In all three states, we're likely to have a tomorrow conversation.
The question is, what else do we get?
Do we get everything else?
Where's the math when we go into the wait on these?
And guess what, if you go into tomorrow, without a doubt, without a doubt, and you're talking about lawyers and contested fights, some of then perfectly normal, some of them outside of normal because we've heard the president of the United States say repeatedly he thinks we should be able to count the election tonight. That's not the way it works. It never works that way. It was never
going to work this way from the beginning of the year because of the complexities of the pandemic voting. But it is one thing to watch. We're now at 12:06 am. He has not done it. That's good. That's good. We should let the process play out. But as we get through this later, we'll see.
BLITZER: And in all three of the states, the blue wall, so many of the outstanding votes are the early votes, which are skewing Democrat.
KING: And Rhode Island has not been called, which would be a couple votes for Biden. Again, at this point, to people at home who have been watching all night long, this is a bit redundant. But it is important to keep saying this.
If you look at this map and you think it is after midnight, 56-42 in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. At first glance, you think, wow. Then think about it. No matter who wins Pennsylvania, it won't be a 14-point race in Pennsylvania.
What does that tell you?
This is an incomplete picture. Every vote is a real vote but it is an incomplete picture. You look where the president is doing well, 72 percent of the voters in Lancaster County. Very important to the president.
You move over here, Lebanon County, this is a smaller county but this is where the Trump magic is running it up in the smaller counties, 20,000 votes here, 10,000 there. But 95 percent of it is in.
If you're looking at this map, if you're a Democrat, OK. A lot of the votes are in. But look over here, to this part of state, Bucks County, 53 percent. Biden holding the lead. Philadelphia, the city of Philadelphia, up to 40 percent. We were in the 20s last time we checked. So look at 248,931. Go back four years ago. Hillary Clinton gets 584,000 votes.
We have to -- that is simple math, right?
Turnout is higher this year. Hillary Clinton got 584,000 votes. The president's numbers are much lower, too. We just haven't counted many of the votes in Philadelphia County and that includes when you move beyond to Montgomery County.
It might be 50 percent here. I'll look at the numbers, 168,000 for Joe Biden. Hillary Clinton won with 256. A lot of math to be done. Chester County, you come up here now. We're at 73,000. That's about half. A little less than half. A little more than half, I'm sorry.
We just need to be patient. If you're a Democrat and you're sweating this a little bit, number one, most of the votes have not been counted. This is the other one here. Allegheny County, Pittsburgh, Joe Biden leading healthily, 98,000 votes. That's a healthy lead.
You go back in time, Hillary Clinton got 367,000 votes. Joe Biden hopes to do better than her four years ago. We'll see if that turns out to be true. Just shy of 260, shy of 370. We come here now. There are a ton of votes yet to be counted, which means we're not done.
You pull it out and you wait. It's just deceptive. It is all real. But it is not a contextual lead. It is the same story when you move to Michigan. The challenge is for the election officials to be transparent, to do the best they can, count as quickly as they can.
[00:10:00]
KING: This hasn't budged. Wayne County is Detroit and the suburbs around it. This is the building block for Democrats in Michigan, 18 percent or more depending on the turnout. You see Joe Biden at 147,000. This was a place where Hillary Clinton underperformed. Democrats wished turnout was higher but still she got 519,000 plus votes four years ago. The leader right there, Joe Biden, 147,000 votes.
It just tells you. That's just one county. We have a boatload of votes to count. Let's move to the western part of state. You're up to 60 here, 60 percent of the estimated vote. About 119,000 in Kent County. This is Grand Rapids. Democrats hoped to make inroads here. But 119 at 54 percent. You come back four years ago, 148.
Even in a place where they say they're up to 60, we know it is under the 2016 vote total. We know the turnout is up just about everywhere in this election. It is real, a Trump lead but an incomplete picture in 2020.
A Trump lead, a healthy lead but it is incomplete. And it is significantly incomplete. And the very same thing in Wisconsin. You look at this as a Republican. It is closer here but still 5 points, 108,000 votes. But in Milwaukee, 128,000 votes right there. Hillary Clinton had 208,000 votes.
Heard Bill Weir say Democrats are worried about it this time but it won't be this much down. You won't have 288,000. You come up to 2020. He's at 80,000 and 128. It's not a complete picture. There are a lot of votes to be counted. We have a long way to go. We have to count the votes.
BLITZER: We have a projection right now.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
BILDT: CNN projects that President Trump will win the state of Idaho. Trump beats Biden in Idaho, 4 electoral votes. Let's look at the Electoral College map where it stands with that win.
Trump has 136 electoral votes, Biden has 205; 270 is the magic number you need to win the presidency.
Let's get a key race alert and see where things go in Minnesota and Iowa. In Minnesota, 65 percent of the estimated vote is in. Biden has an impressive 217,000 vote lead over Trump, 53.9 percent to 44.1 percent. In Iowa, 84 percent of the estimated vote is in. Two more states,
we're waiting for those states. So the counting continues.
KING: The counting continues.
We mentioned Iowa, it was blue very early on. This is a much longer shot. Some Democrats out there thought, it is a Senate race as well. You look at that, 84 percent. We have a way to go in the count. You just come in. This is Des Moines.
Let's check on the vote totals to see turnout. 146,000. Even there, Joe Biden's numbers, higher. Turnout is up everywhere but it doesn't appear to be enough. Cedar Rapids, 70,000 votes, 92 percent.
I want to go back again. Hillary Clinton has 58,000 votes. So Joe Biden in the places where the Democrats need to do well, Joe Biden is getting more votes because of the higher turnout than Hillary Clinton.
But just look. An interesting thing to look at the so-called pivot counties. This is Trump 2016. Trump 2020, Trump 2020 still a lot of red. Back in time, watch all the blue. This is Obama 2012, 2008. Iowa has more pivot counties than any state, 31 counties, 31 of the 99 Iowa counties changed in 2016.
It looks like Joe Biden took a few of them back but nowhere near the bulk of it right up here. Again we're not done with the count but we're up to 84 percent of the count there. There's a lot of red but remember, it is incomplete.
BLITZER: We got a key race alert right now.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
BLITZER: In Arizona, look at this, 76 percent of the estimated vote is in. Biden has an impressive 207,000 vote lead, 56 percent to 45 percent, 11 electoral votes in Arizona.
[00:15:00]
BLITZER: In Nevada, still very early. Only a few votes have been counted. Trump has the lead, less than 1 percent of the vote is in for Nevada. We'll watch Nevada closely. Arizona is a key battleground state.
KING: That would be the first flip, 207,000 votes, when you're up 76 percent. Not impossible to overcome but it gets hard at this point. More than 60 percent of the vote will come out of Maricopa County. Again, higher turnout this time, number one. The demographics favor the Democrats every day.
Also the suburban revolt, 100,000 more votes for Joe Biden to carry Maricopa County. You move up here. You look at Flagstaff, 66 percent there, up to 73 percent. You go back in time, 10 points better.
BLITZER: We're just getting word that Joe Biden is about to make a statement shortly from Wilmington, Delaware. We'll, of course, have live coverage.
KING: So that is the challenge. We're waiting to see if the candidates would speak. Nobody can declare victory because we don't know.
The question is, what tone do you set?
There was some reporting during the week that perhaps the president would come out if he saw this. He hasn't done it. That's good because that's not the way it works. I assume Joe Biden will say we're counting votes. Let's respect the process as we go forward.
You just say, you think, you just have to count the votes. This is all incomplete right here, 66 percent, a lot of Democratic votes missing; 50 percent, votes missing. You just walk through it, 57 percent, almost nothing. A ton to count, 53 percent here, 55 percent here. So more votes starting to come in slowly in that area in Pennsylvania.
If you're Joe Biden, number one, you're nervous. The map is not what you thought it would be as you come through.
Number two, you know we're nowhere close to being done right here. And if those turn around then you're back in a better place.
BLITZER: Those are three critically important states. They're watching closely. It will be interesting to see what Biden actually has to say at a sensitive moment like this.
KING: Right, the challenge is to urge people to be patient and trust the process, also to ease some Democratic jitters. A lot of Democrats came into the night thinking this would be better, simply thought the animus toward Trump is so deep among the Democrats.
And we look at the national polls, Joe Biden has pulled ahead in the popular vote. But they looked at the national polls, the other polls and they thought, this will not happen to us again.
The flip side is, there are a lot of Democrats, who said will this happen again?
So what does Joe Biden have to do?
He has to say let's wait and let's count, which is the right thing to do if you're Joe Biden or the president.
However, if you come back, this is where we are right now. And Nevada, a Clinton state. We'll see what happens. We're still counting. Arizona, a Trump state, looks like Biden has the lead there. If you come back to this map, you just think about all the places the Democrats thought, that would just be game over. Game ended. Right?
That one we've projected. We haven't finished with that one or finished with this one yet. But if you block Trump's path, you get this one, you're absolutely blocked Trump's path. Didn't happen.
We're not done here, either. It's a weird night. Still some interesting votes to be counted but Trump's lead is starting to grow. The Republican strategy, we'll get you on Election Day. Again, we have to get to the finish line, counting the votes.
If you're Joe Biden and you're looking, number one, you think, you do think you'll change this. That's not enough to get you there. Not enough to get you there. The rest will come here. The congressional district perhaps, here perhaps.
But this is the meat and potatoes of presidential politics in the last several years and it will be tonight. And it seems increasingly, it is already Wednesday morning, this could go on throughout the day.
BLITZER: We have another key race alert.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
BLITZER: In Georgia right now, 80 percent of the estimated vote is in and Donald Trump has a nearly 300,000 vote lead over Biden, 53 percent to 45.8 percent; 16 electoral votes in Georgia. Trump has an impressive, nearly 300,000 vote lead.
[00:20:00]
BLITZER: Let's look at Georgia. It looks good for Trump right now.
KING: It does if you look at the math but you have to remember the most important thing, when you get to a point like this, what's missing?
You see 53-46. That sure seems like a lot, especially when you see a number, you think about 80 percent of the estimated vote is in.
Then you come here to metropolitan Atlanta. And you see right here, this is largest county in the state, Fulton County, ballpark 10 percent of the statewide vote. Joe Biden is at 238.
Where were we four years ago?
Hillary Clinton was at 297. So there are some votes there and we think turnout will be even higher. Then you move over here, Cobb County.
Where are we right now?
Joe Biden is at 163. So more of the votes are starting to come in. We go one more over, Gwinnett County, up to 78 percent here. Joe Biden, 186,000. Come back and look at it here, 20,000 more than Hillary Clinton in the end. That's 2016. You come back and look at it here, if you're looking at it, that looks insurmountable but it is starting to come back, the votes around Atlanta coming back, will make it closer.
BLITZER: Pamela Brown has some information on Georgia.
What are you learning?
PAMELA BROWN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: In Fulton County, home to Atlanta, they have stopped counting for the night. They'll pick back up at 8:00 in the morning Eastern time. And they still have 48,000 mail-in ballots to go.
Georgia had two weeks to process these but they couldn't start counting these mail-in ballots until polls closed. So we'll be waiting on the end of our seats with Fulton. And then we look at Dekalb. Only 31 percent in Dekalb.
What do you make of that, John King?
KING: I make that it they have a slow count. So, A, Fulton County will wait. It is a slow count. We just waited for a long time and Virginia gave us a big dump. They're trying to get through it. It gets frustrating at this point.
But that is the election. You say 30 percent. This is a place, you look at the big number. You come out here and you look at the big number, wow, that's insurmountable.
Then you remember how many people live around here. You're at 30 percent. We have a long way to go. In 2016, Hillary Clinton got 261,000 votes just in this county. So you're still counting votes, which means there are some to be banked.
Does Joe Biden get them all?
We don't know. But he tends to be doing better than Hillary Clinton in the suburbs. Let's see if we can see this. The vote count is incomplete so sometimes this can get you a little bit off.
Where is Joe Biden outperforming Hillary Clinton by 5 percent or more?
Right here around Metro Atlanta. So he's doing better than she did four years ago.
Is it enough?
You don't know until you count them. You hang in and you wait. Remember the governor's race, Stacey Abrams versus Republican Brian Kemp. A lot of bad blood among Democrats thinking that the votes were suppressed, not counted fairly, the process did not play out coorrectly.
So the last thing any Democrat will do tonight is to concede Georgia. In fact they're going to demand that everybody be patient and count the votes. There's a raw history in Georgia on this issue and many states, but especially right here.
You don't know. You see that Joe Biden is overperforming Hillary Clinton in the area where Pam just detailed. A lot of votes still to be counted. You come back out and you say, wait a minute. The president is 300,000 votes ahead. That's a good place to be. But we're not done counting.
BLITZER: We have a key race alert. The two congressional districts, Nebraska and Maine, 1 electoral vote in each. Right now in Nebraska's second congressional district, Joe Biden is ahead by about 28,000 votes, 54.3 percent; 83 percent of the estimated vote is now in. In Maine, 40 percent of the estimated vote is in. Trump has a narrow
lead, 51.1 percent to 45.3 percent, votes still outstanding in Maine. The second congressional district. It is a crazy time. You never know if those are going to be significant.
KING: I'll come over and do some math on that in a minute. It gets fascinating.
One is here in Nebraska. You see at the blue in the eastern part of the state. That's where Democrats, Omaha, the suburbs, Lincoln, the Democrats just doing better in those areas in recent years. The president carried the second district last time. He'll win Nebraska in the popular vote. But we'll see what happens.
[00:25:00]
KING: Maine gets a little more complicated. The second congressional district is the more conservative, Biden at 51 percent. Again, 47 percent right now. Democrats thought Biden's lead in Maine would be more than 5 or 6 points. If it stretches out a little bit, we'll see. We have to wait. The votes can matter when you go through it. Especially, you want to come over and take a look.
Last time the president of the United States won the two congressional districts. This was a big deal. And the Trump campaign, he went there on purpose. Let's just say for the sake of argument, the president has a narrow lead here.
So if it comes back that way. This is a hypothetical. You come in here and you can get the second congressional district, normally you would think two, why is it a big deal?
It can be a big deal. If you get Nevada and Arizona. You're at 293.
Where do you go?
You can do it from here and here. And Joe Biden can win the presidency without Pennsylvania.
So every now and then, the ones matter. So if you pick another one, somehow the president comes back and does that. Then it would come down to here.
You're playing with the math on the margins a little bit but it helps. When you're at this point and you're in the nail-biting phase, you'll take every one you can get. Hopefully they hold up for you.
This is where we start. Here's where we are now.
BLITZER: 2016, that's --
KING: That's 2016 and here's where we are now. Joe Biden looks like a lead because of California. We've got Texas to add and Florida. Election Night lasts until it's over. And then Trump will catch up. Texas and Florida and then you match it up, if they hold that way. And again, very rare that you come down to one here and one there. But it is possible, which is why you compete for them.
BLITZER: That's what happens counting the votes.
And they're counting them relatively slowly in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.
KING: Right. So this is the map. If you're watching at home and you remember 2016, if you're a Democrat, this frightens you. If you're a Republican, it overjoys you. And we need to keep saying, you can get mad at us, mad at the coronavirus, mad at the election officials, anybody you want.
But it is the way the process works, especially when you have mail-in voting, in-person early voting and the Election Day surge. Election officials around the country, they're overwhelmed, many are volunteers. So they're going to count the votes.
You see, normally you're into Wednesday morning in a big state like the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. You would say, wow, except, except. We'll go west to east again. Still at 17 percent in Allegheny County, 17 percent in a giant basket of Democrat votes in western Pennsylvania. we need to wait.
Nothing against the people of Allegheny County, there's just more votes here. Philadelphia County, up to 43 percent, 264,000. So you think you're starting to count them. You are getting more Democratic votes. But Hillary Clinton had 584,000.
If you think about that Trump statewide lead, a giant jump in the vote here if it stays Democratic as it is right now, the question is did the margins change?
And Joe Biden at 61 percent. At 196, Hillary Clinton got 256.
So are there 60,000 more votes for Joe Biden?
That's why we have to wait for them to count the vote. You keep moving around. Chester County, Hillary gets 141. Right now, Trump, that's interesting, right?
If that holds up, that would be a big deal. If President Trump is running stronger in the Philadelphia suburbs, that would be a big deal. We're waiting on a lot of votes. We see 107,000 right there, 141 to win it four years ago.
We know turnout is up this year. So turnout will be at least even. And in most of these places higher than four years ago. You just have to be patient. If you're a Democrat, you're nervous to a degree. If you look at these places where the president is running it up big, it is 100 percent.
BLITZER: That's 2016.
KING: That's 2016; I'm sorry. Thank you for correcting me.
I was in here earlier. It is 95 percent, 99 percent. Yes, 99 percent. So in the places where the president is running up big, a lot of votes have been counted. If you're a Democrat, you don't like this map when you're looking at it. You know what we're missing, starting here, the vote that's outstanding.
The biggest baskets of votes that are outstanding, Philadelphia, the suburbs and Pittsburgh, the blue spots, the spots that tend to be blue in Philadelphia. That's where we know we are slow counting the vote.
[00:30:15]
And again, this has been a complaint from the president in the final days of the campaign. He was railing on the governor. He was railing on the city of Philadelphia. He has been quiet tonight, at least to the best of my knowledge, which is a good thing. Let's let them count the votes. There are people from both campaigns watching in all of these key counties. If anything goes on, they will raise their hand. But it's going to take time.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Let's get an update on Michigan.
KING: Sure. Let's go, pull out here, come back in. It is still red. We're up to 53 percent. Again, you're coming down here. This is just to give you a look at the map. Here's 2020. There's 2016. Looks pretty similar. And so you're looking at why is the difference? Why is the president up by 294,000 votes?
And again -- again, you're looking at these states and you're wondering what the issue is. Michigan was 10,700 votes four years ago, OK? We expect it to be close again this time. Joe Biden had a decent lead in the polls. But no matter who wins Michigan in 2020, it's unlikely to be by 300,000 votes or 290,000 votes.
So that tells you the picture we have right now is incomplete. And it's incomplete because -- I'm going to start over here -- and you just start coming across. Sixty-five percent in here, 95,000 votes. This is to the southwest of Detroit. You just go back. It was 128,000. That may not seem like a lot, but that's 30,000 votes, right? That's a 30,000 vote difference here, 2016 to 2020.
Then you move over to the biggest of all, about 20 percent. Eighteen, 19 percent of the statewide vote will be here in Wayne County. It's up a little bit from where we were before, 55 to 42; 164,000 votes for Joe Biden. Again, Hillary Clinton had 519,000 votes, and Democrats hoped turnout would be higher there this time. It's just a lot of counting to do.
BLITZER: Let's check in with David Chalian. He's got an update on Michigan. What are you finding out, David?
DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Yes, this is the state of play in Michigan right now. Donald Trump currently in the lead here, and 54 percent of the estimated vote is in in Michigan right now.
But here's what we understand about the early vote. Of that 54 percent vote of the vote that's in, 20 percent of the current vote is early vote. And we think that's going to go much, much higher. We think, when all of the votes are counted, 55 percent, a majority of the vote in Michigan, we expect to be early vote, and Joe Biden is doing much better than Donald Trump in that early vote.
And you see there's much more early vote to come in. So there is the potential, not guaranteed. There is the potential for Joe Biden to narrow that gap with Donald Trump in Michigan, as more and more early vote gets counted.
BLITZER: Thank you. You know, it's very clear. We saw that huge swing in Virginia. Trump was way ahead, and all of a sudden, Biden wins Virginia.
KING: Right. And so you're taking Fairfax County in Virginia is not quite the size of Wayne County in Detroit here, as you come back in. You know, it's just -- There's just a lot of votes.
And David makes the key point. We saw this in the data all week long. Democrats disproportionately voted early. So if the votes that haven't been counted are early votes -- we have to count them to be certain -- but everything we know tells us Joe Biden has a very significant advantage, especially in Democratic areas, where he's going to have an advantage anyway. The early vote comes in there. So we have to wait. We just simply have to wait. Thirty percent is not enough. Wayne County is the most important.
Again, we went through this in 2016. Late in the night in 2016, remember, I kept being asked, is there any possibility there are more votes for Hillary Clinton? Are there more votes for Hillary Clinton? We kept talking to people in Wayne County until we got up to the finish line.
In 2016, she got 519,000 votes, and it was -- it was not enough. It was not enough, but it's just implausible. It is implausible. She gets 519,000 votes four years ago. We are not anywhere close to done the night with the Democratic, with 164,000 votes. We're just not. So everybody has to be patient and wait it out.
You can be frustrated at the count if you want to be. That's up to you. That's your right. But it just takes time to do this.
And again, move over, Oakland County, the suburbs north of Detroit, used to be more Republican, trending Democratic. You see that. They say about 70, 68 percent of the estimated vote.
And again, you're waiting for more votes to be counted. Joe Biden with a 53 to -- 53 to 45, but 284,000 votes. Hillary Clinton had 343,000 votes. You just do this math at home. There's a lot more votes, potential. We have to see them, and count them. There's just a lot more potential for Joe Biden to get more votes out there.
You move over here, this is interesting. Macomb County. And this will be interesting if the president holds this. But again, if we're waiting for early votes, that's a question. Right? A lot of union workers here. Joe Biden tried hard here. This should be an interesting number if the president can hold it, because when he won Macomb County four years ago, it was by a lot more narrow margin: 53 to 42. But again, the president won this county with 224,000 votes and change
four years ago. He is leading this county now with 152,000 votes. It just tells you, no matter where you look, we know turnout is up this year. We're just going to move over here. St. Claire here, you just -- we know turnout is up this year, Wolf, so we just know there are a lot of votes missing. We need to count them and we need to be patient.
[00:35:08]
BLITZER: Let's do a key race alert right now.
Pennsylvania, Donald Trump is ahead. He's ahead by some 664,000 votes right now. Very impressive. Sixty-one percent of the estimated vote is in. Trump has 56.9 percent. Biden has 41.8 percent. Twenty electoral votes at stake in Pennsylvania.
You know, it's - 61 percent of the vote is, so there's still -- there's still plenty of opportunity for Biden to try to catch up.
KING: Yes, so you say 61 percent of the vote is in. You see a lead like that, and you would think, your first instinct, is that's insurmountable.
But then you have to remember what are we missing? That's key. And it's different this year. Philadelphia is always a little slow. The big urban areas are traditionally sometimes slower than the smaller counties, but so what's missing? Right?
So you just go through -- again, I'm going to go through some of these counties where the president does quite well. Eighty-four percent is in here in Blair County. Ninety-three percent is in in Cambria County.
Move over here, Indiana County, what do we have? Sixty-nine percent of the vote in there.
So you pull it back out, and that doesn't mean there's not more votes for the president to make up in these rural counties. But you have a much higher percentage in than when you come over to the Democratic counties. In Allegheny, here, you see 18 percent.
And again, Joe Biden leading, 79 percent of the vote, 109,000 votes. The president only has 27,000, almost 28,000 votes in Allegheny County.
You go back in time, the president has 27, just shy of 29,000 votes in Allegheny County right now. He lost the county last time. He got 359,000 votes. It just tells you everything you need to know. There's a ton of votes still to be counted in Pennsylvania. It can be frustrating, but it's where we are. And we just need to wait it out.
BLITZER: We have another projection right now.
CNN projects that Joe Biden will win the state of Minnesota. Biden beats Trump in Minnesota, wins 10 electoral votes in the state of Minnesota. Let's take a look at Electoral College map right now. With that win in Minnesota, Biden now has 215 Electoral College votes. Trump has 136, 270, of course, being the number you need to win the presidency.
Let's get a key race alert right now, see where things stand in Arizona, a key battleground state. Seventy-six percent of the estimated vote is in. Biden has an impressive 207,000-vote lead over Trump in Arizona, 53.6 percent to 45 percent. Eleven electoral votes in Arizona.
In Nevada right now, it's very, very early. Less than 1 percent of the vote is in, but Trump has a lead of 8,700 votes, 74.6 percent to 22.2 percent.
So let's take a look at where things stand right now in the Electoral College. It's impressive, for Biden, 215 to 136, but there's still several states out there where Trump will do very well.
KING: Right. And this has been, you know -- Hillary Clinton lived this. Hillary Clinton lived this. I could show you, four years ago. You can get close, but not get there, right?
BLITZER: Right.
KING: Hillary got to 232. So you see Joe Biden, at 215 now, and you think, OK, we're getting close to the finish line. And we're closer than him to the finish line right now. That's a fact of where we are in the state of play.
Again, things can change. Everything is subject to change. But where we are right now, it looks like that stays red, and it looks like that stays red. We have that one red. That's possible to stay red. So we see right there. So right there -- right there, Texas, Florida, North Carolina, unless we get some late return that change the trajectory of those -- and they're not done yet. That's why they're light red. They're not done yet.
But if they stay that way, then all of a sudden, you're in that, and then we're just -- we're just going through it, right? We're just going to go through. We expect this one is going to be blue. We expect this one is going to be red.
But we expect this one, although it's close, but let's just lean that one red for now and see. You just mentioned that the president is leading in the early returns in Nevada. That would be a surprise. That would be a surprise. But so I'm going to leave it alone for now.
Joe Biden is leading right now in Arizona. We're not done yet. We're still counting votes. I'm going to leave Nevada alone. We'll just let the process play out a little bit. The Democrats certainly expect that this is a Trump state that looks like Biden is going to flip. That's a Clinton state. That would be a big deal.
President Trump, right, so far, has not taken anything away from the Clinton map. So that's Joe Biden's foundation, that 232. That hasn't happened yet. But we'll just watch Nevada as it plays out. So then, again, you're in this place now, where we're waiting out
here. It looks like we might have to wait until tomorrow, especially the metro Atlanta area. A lot of votes still out.
President has a healthy lead right now, but there's a lot missing. This is a story of 2020. Patience, let them count the votes. If we have to wait until Wednesday or Thursday to know who our president is? That's simply -- it's frustrating, but it's the way it's going to be.
And so you're looking more through this. Again, I'm just going to say, you know, this one looks like it's going to go this way. We're not sure about that yet. That's 230-230. Here we go.
This is where we are right now. We're in -- you're in a very competitive race now. And so, you know, where does Georgia go? We don't have Rhode Island in on this map. I think we should be getting that one pretty soon. I'm just going to move Rhode Island in and I'm going to see if I can get my finger in. That gets you to 234-230.
And then you're in a slugfest, essentially. And if -- let's assume, for the sake of argument here, that Nevada comes back. We're going to watch it. I'm not trying to anger Republicans out there. If the president can pull that off, that will be a big deal. If he can switch that back.
[00:40:04]
That would get Joe Biden to 240. The president would be at 230. And so then what are you waiting on? You're waiting on Maine. We expect the Democrats to get most of these. Maybe the president -- I'm going to take away, for toss-up purposes, the 2nd Congressional District. And so here's where we go. It looks like we're going to be tight, Wolf, and we're going to walk these through.
BLITZER: We have a major projection right now. CNN projects that President Trump will win the state of Florida, a big win for President Trump in Florida. Twenty-nine electoral votes go to Donald Trump over Biden. That's a big win.
Take a look at where things stand right now in the race to 270 needed to win. Biden still has 215 Electoral College votes. Trump now has 165 electoral -- Electoral College votes. He just won Florida. That's a big, big win for the president of the United States.
Democrats were hoping there could be some sort of upset in Florida. Not happening.
KING: And so we enter the night with the possibility of a big state in an election where the Democrats flip several Trump states. Florida was one they had. Not going to happen. Texas was on their chart. Doesn't look like it. We still have votes to count. We're going to be patient. It doesn't look like it.
North Carolina, cliff-hanger, closer than it was perhaps, but it doesn't look like either. So that's where -- So the statement election, the big blue wave appears to be out the window. Again, we have some places where it's still going to count.
The one thing that looks like it might flip is Arizona. We're not done there yet, but it looks that way.
So if you look at it from the perspective of the Trump map, right, so what did he just do? He just kept that. That's what he has to do. He won last time. All right? He won. He needs to protect as much of this as he can.
We think -- again, we're not done yet. Let me turn this off and come here. We think that might change. Right now, that's the only change we have on the map. If it plays out that way. We're not done there. I think we'll get there relatively soon, though. Arizona looks good.
That would be the only change on the map so far. And so, you're coming out here, and again, I'm just going to take these away --
BLITZER: Hold on a second. I want to go to Jake. Jake, what's going on?
JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: We are expecting Joe Biden to come out and make some public remarks at his drive-in amphitheater there in Wilmington, Delaware.
Here he is, I believe. Let's listen in.
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Hello, hello, hello! Good evening. Your patience is commendable.
We knew this was going to go long, but who knew we're going to go into maybe tomorrow morning, maybe even longer?
But look, we feel good about where we are. We really do. I am here to tell you tonight, we believe we're on track to win this election.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
BIDEN: We knew, because of the unprecedented early vote and the mail- in vote, it was going to take a while. We're going to have to be patient until we -- the hard work of tallying votes is finished. And ain't over until every vote is counted, every ballot is counted.
But we're feeling good. We're feeling good about where we are. We believe -- one of the nets has suggested we've already won Arizona, but we're confident about Arizona. That's a turnaround.
We also got called it from Minnesota, and we're still in the game in Georgia, although that's not one we expected.
We're feeling real good about Wisconsin and Michigan. And by the way, it's going to take time to count the votes, but we're going to win Pennsylvania.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes!
BIDEN: I've been talking to folks in Philly, Allegheny County, Scranton, and they're really encouraged by the turnout and what they see.
Look, you know, we can know the results as early as tomorrow morning, but it may take a little longer, as I've said all along. It's not my place or Donald Trump's place to declare who's won this election. That's the decision of the American people.
But I am optimistic about this outcome. And I want to thank every one of you who came out and voted in this election. And by the way, Chris Coons and the Democrats, congratulations here in Delaware.
JILL BIDEN, FORMER SECOND LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
BIDEN: Hey, John, the gov, yes. The whole team, man, you've done a great job. I'm grateful to the poll workers, to our volunteers, our canvassers, everyone who participated in this democratic process.
I am grateful to all my supporters here in Delaware and all across the nation. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
And folks, you heard me say it before. Every time I walked out of my grandpa's house up in Scranton, he yelled, "Joey, keep the faith!"
[00:45:06]
And my grandmom, when she was alive, yelled, "No, Joey, spread it."
Keep the faith, guys. We're going to win this! Thank you, thank you, thank you! Your patience is great.
Let's walk over here.
TAPPER: All right. Former Vice President Joe and former second lady Jill Biden, thanking supporters for their patience, talking about how they think it's going to take a little while, but they still feel confident about what's going to happen in Wisconsin and Michigan, and Pennsylvania.
Patience, former vice president called for. Patience, Dana. And he said he's been saying that for a long time. And if that's true, he has been saying that it's going to take a long time to count the votes because of the pandemic and all the vote-by-mail.
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: It's absolutely true, and he was going through the states, saying, basically, what we have been looking at, as the night has gone on. Leave Georgia out of it right now, but Wisconsin, Michigan, and -- and Pennsylvania --
TAPPER: Hold on.
BIDEN: Thank you.
TAPPER: OK, there we go. Sorry about that.
BASH: That those states are likely to take longer, because the early vote is going to take a bit longer to count there. And the fact that he has come out, frankly, before Donald Trump did is maybe not something that anybody predicted, considering the fact that the president was going on and on about the fact that he doesn't think that votes should be counted after election day, which we should say, over and over again, is not the way it works.
ABBY PHILLIP, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: And it's not going to happen. The votes are going to be counted.
BASH: It already is after election day.
KING: Right.
PHILLIP: And the votes are going to be counted.
But I do think both campaigns right now are kind of feeling similarly about where we are with the map, which is that it's pretty wide open. We don't have enough information to know which direction this is going to go.
We do know, though, based on what Joe Biden just said, that they still think that their best path is through that upper midwestern region. They still are waiting for those states that are going to take longer to count.
And frankly, Donald Trump is doing exactly the same thing. We're waiting on Arizona. We're waiting on Georgia, but it's still going to come down to Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania.
TAPPER: Let's go to Jim Acosta right now for an update on where he think -- where the president's team thinks they are -- Jim.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jake, and we should just point out the president just tweeted a few moments ago that he will be making a statement tonight. He is describing his performance in the 2020 election as a big win. He also says, "We are up BIG, but they are trying to STEAL the election. We'll never let them do it. Votes cannot be cast after the Poles are closed."
Of course, the president there saying, misspelling the word "polls," misuse of that word there. But the other thing we should point out, as we were reporting, we were expecting the president to perhaps try to declare victory on election night when he doesn't have victory at hand, and that appears to be what the president is on the verge of doing.
I talked to a Trump advisor not too long ago who said now that Joe Biden has gone out and said what he has said, we should expect the president to come out and essentially say the same thing: that they feel like they're going to win this election. So, we should be hearing from the president within the next hour or so, essentially saying the same thing, that they believe they have won this election.
But I will tell you, there is great distress inside the Trump campaign right now. I talked to a couple advisers just a short time ago. They are very upset that one of the other networks has called Arizona for Joe Biden. They have been trying to convince the other networks to not call Arizona for Joe Biden. They're worried that, if Arizona goes to Joe Biden, that their path to victory then narrows. As one adviser said to me, "If we lose Arizona, we have to win Wisconsin." That's because, at this point, they don't believe they'll win Michigan.
And so, you know, you get a sense of some of the desperation inside the Trump campaign. A lot of them are very confident. They still think the president will pull it out. And obviously, the president is tweeting that he's very confident. He thinks he's going to win tonight. But certainly, some -- some anxiety inside the campaign right now, especially about Arizona right now, Jake.
TAPPER: All right, Jim, thanks so much. The fact that the president misspelled "polls" is just, chef's kiss.
I do want to say a couple things. First of all, the fact that no one's trying to steal the election. Counting votes is how this works, and the idea the president says that is factually incorrect.
That said, they are also trying to make the exact opposite argument in Arizona, because as Jim noted, a different network called Arizona for Biden. We have not, and most networks have not. The governor of Arizona came out, a Republican, Governor Ducey, and said count all the votes. That's the argument that the Trump campaign is making when it comes to Arizona. It should be the argument they're making for every state.
BASH: I can't believe you're looking for consistency.
TAPPER: Count all the votes. But let me just give one other insight as to why Vice President Biden was projecting optimism. And again, I have no idea how this is going to end. Certainly, either candidate could win.
[00:50:11]
But the perspective of the -- of the Biden team is, remember how Virginia stayed open for so long, even though it's a reliably blue state, generally speaking, these days. And it looked like Trump was ahead. And in fact, people were sending me screenshots of people projecting a Biden victory, even though Trump was ahead a lot.
And I've heard from Biden campaign people who have said Virginia is how we see what's going to happen in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, those three states, in the sense that it looked like Trump was ahead. And then the major population centers -- Richmond in Fairfax County in northern Virginia -- they started sending in their votes, and then it wasn't close. And then it became clear that Joe Biden was going to win the commonwealth of Virginia.
That's what the Biden people think is going to happen in Pennsylvania.
BASH: Yes.
TAPPER: Michigan, Wisconsin. I don't know that they're right.
BASH: And I will just add -- and I will just add Georgia. We don't know what's going to happen in Georgia, probably until tomorrow.
TAPPER: Yes.
BASH: Or I guess it is tomorrow. Until later today.
TAPPER: Yes.
BASH: Because we don't know the votes in the major population centers, namely Atlanta.
But one thing I really want to drill down on is the president's tweet, saying, "They are trying to STEAL the Election." That is so patently false, and -- and frankly, scary.
And the reason is because people who love the president believe everything he says. They just do. I mean, I've been on the road, and I've talked to Trump supporters, and they parrot everything that he says. And even things that are just not true.
Stealing the election is not counting the votes. You must count votes in order to know what the people believe, and that includes votes that aren't counted until election day, or after election day, because the state law doesn't allow that, like in Pennsylvania.
TAPPER: Yes, it's obscene. It's obscene that he said that.
BASH: It is, but it's more than obscene. It really is dangerous.
TAPPER: Dangerous. Absolutely.
BASH: Because it's going to cause a lot of unnecessary tension in an already unnerved country.
PHILLIP: We already knew that this was what was going to happen. I mean, this has been telegraphed for days. In fact, earlier tonight, just a few hours ago, they sent a fundraising email to their supporters with almost the exact same -- same language, implying that this race has been decided, which it has not.
This is a ploy to muck up the works and make it seem as if things are more definitive than they actually are. We won't know who wins until all the votes are counted. That's the end of the story, no matter what President Trump says.
Now, he can come out and say, We feel really good, just like Joe Biden did. We feel really good about the direction this is going in. They can feel however they want. We have to wait for the votes to be counted.
But I expect that President Trump will come out and claim that the sort of elusive "they," whoever "they" is, is trying to do something that nobody is trying to do. We just don't have the votes.
TAPPER: Yes. It's false, and it's premature, and it is dangerous, because it could get people hurt.
Wolf Blitzer, back to you.
BLITZER: All right, guys. Thank you.
We have another projection right now. CNN projects that President Trump will win the state of Iowa. He beats Biden in Iowa. Six electoral votes in Iowa. Trump wins Iowa.
Let's take a look at where the Electoral College map stands right now. Biden still has 215 Electoral College votes. Trump now has 171, getting closer. Two hundred and seventy needed to win.
We have a key race alert right now.
Let's take a look at Arizona right now. Seventy-six percent of the vote is in. Biden still maintains an impressive 207,000-vote lead over Trump, 53.1 percent to 45.6 percent. The lead just went down to 185,000 in Arizona.
In Nevada, only 5 percent of the vote is in. Trump has a lead of 32,000 or so, 73.4 percent to 23.9 percent. Six electoral votes in Nevada.
In Georgia, 82 percent of the estimated vote is. Trump still maintains an impressive nearly 300,000-vote lead over Biden in Georgia, 52.9 percent to 45.8 percent. Sixteen electoral votes in Georgia.
Let's go back to John King. He's watching all of this oh, so closely. So right now, the race to 270, 215 for Biden, 171 for Trump.
KING: And so we're waiting, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin. You've heard Joe Biden say we need to wait. Georgia, as well. We're going to wait.
I just got a text from somebody in Michigan who says they share Joe Biden's confidence. We'll see. We'll see, right? The Democrats are going to say, We're doing fine. We'll hear what the president says momentarily.
Here's where we are. Here's where we know we are: 215 to 171. But let's, if you will, re-fight the last war. You always do the next election based on the last election, especially when you have an incumbent president who ran on this map.
[00:55:03]
Why is the Trump campaign so upset about Arizona? Well, Arizona, right now, we have not called it yet, but Arizona would be the first takeaway. Right? Everything else that has happened so far is filling in according to the map of 2016.
So if you take this one away, and Joe Biden gets that, the president's still above 295. But then think about where we were. Right? Think about where we.
Let's, for the sake, just for now, let's take these off and make them toss-ups, right? Because we're waiting for votes to be counted there. That gets you down to 243, 249. The Biden campaign is pretty confident they're going to get Maine's 2nd Congressional District. There's still one on the table here.
But where are you right there? Two forty-four to 248. Right?
So it is possible that, if Joe Biden can get this and get this, that Joe Biden gets to 270 with Wisconsin and Michigan, and not even win Pennsylvania.
Now, the Biden campaign thinks it has every chance to win the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, but that is why that is so important. Without that, Joe Biden needs to run the board in the blue wall states. If he has that, he can get there with two out of three.
And again, they had a healthy lead in Michigan coming in. We need to count these votes. We need to count these votes.
But the Biden campaign thinks he had a healthy lead, had a relatively healthy lead. If you come over here and look at where the count is, and where the votes are missing in both Wisconsin -- both Wisconsin, votes are missing here in Democratic areas. Over here in Michigan, votes are missing in Democratic areas.
So the Biden campaign thinks if they can pick that in Wisconsin, that would be the flip, that that leaves them a little bit of wiggle room as we go, Wolf, through the night, into the count in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin.
They hold Arizona, they don't have to win all three. They could do it with just Wisconsin and Michigan. We'll see.
BLITZER: We shall see.
President Trump says he will speak tonight. We're standing by for that. We'll be back in two minutes.
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: All right. Let's take a look and see where it stands right now, the race to 270 Electoral College votes. Biden is at 215, Trump is at 171. Two hundred and seventy, once again, needed to win the presidency.
We have a key race alert right now in two key battleground states. Let's take a look at Michigan right now: 57 percent of the estimated vote is now in. Trump maintains his lead, 270,000 vote lead over Biden, 53.4 percent to 44.8 percent. Once again, 57 percent of the estimated vote in Michigan is in.
In Pennsylvania, 64 percent of the estimated.
