Biden wins Wisconsin; Trump promises immediate recount
By SCOTT BAUER Associated Press
NOVEMBER 4, 2020 — 1:45PM
STAR TRIBUNE FILE PHOTOS – TNS - TNS
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, left, and President Trump
MADISON, Wis. — Joe Biden narrowly won Wisconsin on Wednesday, a key victory for the Democrat that President Donald Trump's campaign promised would be immediately subject to a recount.
The presidential race was still undecided because neither candidate had reached the required 270 electoral votes. Biden captured Wisconsin by fewer than 21,000 votes, or about six-tenths of a percentage point, based on unofficial results. That gave him 10 more electoral votes.
The win comes four years after Trump carried the state by fewer than 23,000 votes.
Trump's campaign manager pledged to seek a recount, something they can request since the margin was within 1 percentage point.
"Wisconsin has been a razor-thin race, as we always knew that it would be," Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien said. "The president is well within the threshold to request a recount, and we will immediately do so."
More than 1.9 million people voted early, either by mail or in person, because of the coronavirus pandemic. That flood of ballots extended the counting past 4 a.m. Wednesday. Those ballots take longer than a regular ballot to process, and the counting could not begin until the polls opened Tuesday, delaying the reporting of results.
After totals were updated Wednesday morning, Biden expanded his lead to more than 20,000 votes out of nearly 3.3 million cast.
Trump led earlier in the night, fueled by in-person voting results, but the 169,000 outstanding ballots from Milwaukee and ballots from other cities broke heavily for Biden.
Biden outperformed Hillary Clinton's totals from 2016 in urban areas while Trump did better in small towns and rural areas than he did four years ago.
It was not the first time absentee ballots from Milwaukee proved to be a difference maker in a high-profile race. Absentee ballots in Milwaukee delivered the 2018 race for governor to Democrat Tony Evers over Walker late in the night that year.
Three of the past five presidential elections in Wisconsin were decided by less than a percentage point. Trump, in 2016, was the first Republican presidential candidate to win the state since 1984. Polls leading up to the election had shown Biden with a larger lead, just as they had for Clinton four years earlier.
In 2000, Al Gore won Wisconsin by just 5,708 votes over George W. Bush, a difference of just 0.22%. Trump's win in 2016 was 0.77% and was subject to a recount requested by the Green Party candidate Jill Stein.
In that recount, Clinton gained 713 votes, and Trump picked up 844, resulting in a net increase for Trump of 131 votes.
The Milwaukee absentee votes were among a record-high 1.9 million cast before Election Day. Then more than 1 million people voted in person Tuesday, despite surging coronavirus cases in Wisconsin that also drove the absentee voting. The total votes were expected to break the record high turnout of the 2012 election.
Wisconsin decided the 2016 presidential election and both campaigns made it a focus this year. Trump made four stops in Wisconsin in the final 10 days of the race, while Biden came once.
Overall turnout looked to be nearly 3.3 million, the highest ever in Wisconsin. The previous high was slightly over 3 million in 2012. Turnout was roughly 72% of the voting-age population, the highest since 2004, when it was 73%.
US Presidential Elections 2020 - Live Results: Projections & Updates
Results as of: Nov 04, 2020 3:24 PM EST | Next Update: 3:26 PM EST
Biden 237
214 Trump
