Joe Biden has pulled ahead of Donald Trump in Pennsylvania, putting him within touching distance of winning the presidency.
Having been behind in the Keystone State since election night, the Democratic challenger now leads by 5,587 votes – after a dump of votes from Philadelphia erased the president’s lead.
With Biden currently sitting on 253 votes – not counting the still too-close-to-call state of Arizona – Pennsylvania’s 20 electoral college votes would push him over the line, and end Donald Trump’s fading hopes of reelection.
Earlier on Friday morning, Biden pulled ahead in Georgia – which has not voted for a Democrat since Bill Clinton in 1992. He also leads in Nevada and Arizona, where votes are still being counted.
Decision Desk HQ – which has been providing race updates for some networks, including Fox – has already called the election for Biden, having earlier called Arizona for the former vice-president. Just 5 per cent of the vote in Pennsylvania is still to be counted.
Other networks have not yet projected that Biden has won Pennsylvania – although the nature of the remaining ballots to be counted, coming heavily from Democratic strongholds like Philadelphia, does suggest that it is now a matter of when Biden is declared victor, not if.
Regardless, Biden now leads in states that would give him a final tally of 306 electoral votes – the exact same number with which Trump beat Hillary Clinton in 2016.
CNN reported sources close to the president as saying, earlier today, that Trump had no plans to concede the race – a stubbornness that would put him at odds with the many failed presidential candidates that have come before him.