#USAElections2020: Biden leads in traditionally red state Georgia; Trump suffers
In what comes as a huge setback for incumbent US President Donald Trump, his opponent Joe Biden has taken a narrow lead in the state of Georgia, which has remained a GOP bastion for years. If the Democratic challenger wins Georgia, the White House will be stone's throw away for him. He is leading by 1,097 votes, while 99% of ballots have been tallied.
Biden could touch 269 if he wins Georgia
Biden has 253 electoral votes; if Georgia serves him a win his tally will swell to 269 (the state has 16 votes), just one vote away from the magic number of 270. His lead was driven by absentee ballots from Atlanta, Savannah, and their suburbs. The counting of votes is still underway in other important states — Arizona, Nevada, and Pennsylvania.
Georgia hasn't chosen a Democratic presidential candidate since 1992
Late on Thursday, Georgia's Secretary of State said 14,000 ballots are still waiting to be counted. This include the votes from military personnel, overseas residents, and provisional ballot cast by voters who struggled with registration or identification. To note, the Southern State hasn't voted for a Democratic President since 1992. In 2016, Trump had won the state by 5 percentage points.
Can Trump still win?
For Trump, 74, to not become one of the rare US Presidents who didn't get a second term, he has to win both Pennsylvania and Georgia. He also needs to defeat Biden in Nevada, Arizona and Alaska. Biden, 77, can win by adding Pennsylvania to his kitty and winning two states out of Georgia, Nevada, and Arizona.
In Pennsylvania, Biden is closing in on Trump
Much to Trump's evident frustration, Biden has been eroding the leads he took on election day. In Pennsylvania, by early Friday (local time), the lead shrunk to a little over 18,000 votes. In Nevada, he was leading by about 11,500 votes. As an anxious nation waited for results, Biden urged his supporters to remain patient, saying that "democracy can be messy sometimes."
