Joe Biden is set to become the 46th president of the United States, capping a tumultuous and tension-filled campaign during a historic pandemic against President Donald Trump. ABC News characterized Joe Biden as the apparent winner of his home state of Pennsylvania, putting him over the 270 vote threshold needed to capture the presidency.
The hard-fought battle against the president was set against the backdrop of racial unrest and the coronavirus pandemic and bitter divisions among the electorate.
Trump had falsely declared on election night, when he held a lead in several key states, that he won the contest and alleged without evidence, after the count started to swing the other way, that the election was being stolen from him and that fraud had been committed.
Painting the election as a "battle for the soul of the nation," Biden won on a message of unity over division, compassion over anger, and reality over what he called Trump's "wishful thinking" as the coronavirus pandemic cast a heavy shadow over the campaign.
Here's how election week unfolded. All times Eastern.
Nov 09, 2020, 7:17 PM EST
Biden to talk about Obamacare, case being heard in Supreme Court
Biden is slated to give remarks focused on the Affordable Care Act and the Trump administration's lawsuit to overturn it. Biden will talk about his own plan "to expand access to quality, affordable health care."
The event in Wilmington, Delaware, is slated for 2 p.m.
A person climbs the steps of the Supreme Court in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2020.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP
The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments at 10 a.m. in the case brought by Trump and 18 Republican-led states asking that the Affordable Care Act be eliminated in its entirety.
Republican Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler are now attacking Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, also a Republican, for his "mismanagement and lack of transparency" with this election and have called on him to resign.
"While blame certainly lies elsewhere as well, the buck ultimately stops with the Secretary of State. The mismanagement and lack of transparency from the Secretary of State is unacceptable," the senators said in a statement. "Honest elections are paramount to the foundation of our democracy. The Secretary of State has failed to deliver honest and transparent elections."
"He has failed the people of Georgia, and he should step down immediately," the statement continued
In response, Raffensperger said that he will not resign.
"I know emotions are running high. Politics are involved in everything right now. If I was Senator Perdue, I'd be irritated I was in a runoff. And both Senators and I are all unhappy with the potential outcome for our President," Raffensperger, the state's top elections official, said in a statement. "But I am the duly elected Secretary of State. One of my duties involves helping to run elections for all Georgia voters. I have taken that oath, and I will execute that duty and follow Georgia law."
Pence: 'it ain’t over til it’s over.. and this AIN’T over!'
The vice president is publicly standing by the president's side, tweeting from his personal account that he told his staff Monday: “it ain’t over til it’s over.. and this AIN’T over!”
In addition to the vice president's tweet, a senior administration official said the vice president has been very involved in the ongoing legal fight, participating in a fundraising call for the campaign's legal fund on Friday, after meeting with advisers at both the White House and campaign headquarters last week.
"The vice president has been very actively engaged with senior staff both from the campaign and the White House in discussing strategy with regard to both the recount and legal efforts," the official said.
-ABC News' Jordyn Phelps
Nov 09, 2020, 2:58 PM EST
Trump campaign appeal in Michigan not accepted, called 'defective'
The Trump campaign suffered another set-back in their effort to mount a legal challenge to the presidential election -- this time in Michigan.
On Friday, the campaign filed an appeal to an earlier ruling that denied their complaint regarding the access poll observers were getting to watch mail-in ballot processing. But Monday, the Michigan Court of Appeals said they still have not accepted the appeal, calling it "defective" because it lacked key documents.
John Nevin, the communications director for the Michigan Supreme Court, told ABC News that the appeal will not be considered by the court until the missing documents, which include a copy of the judgement order, a copy of the registrar of actions, a copy of the transcript and -- most importantly -- a copy of the brief, have been filed.
"It's missing the most important part," Nevin said.
Mark F. Hearne II, the lawyer on the case, did not immediately respond to ABC News' request for comment.
In this suit, the campaign was seeking to have Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson direct local clerks to allow election challengers to observe the vote processing and counting process and to view the video records of ballot drop boxes.
Republican canvasser Anthony Markwort, left, and Democrat Ted Dawson look over ballot tabulator tapes on Nov. 04, 2020, in Mason, Mich. As in counties across Michigan, the Ingham County board of canvassers met to begin certifying the county's vote tally for the state.
John Moore/Getty Images
The task of opening mail-in ballots is largely completed, the court had noted in its ruling, but the Trump campaign argued in the appeal that their effort is not pointless "because review and certification of election results continues… (and) review of absent uniformed services voter or overseas voter ballots is ongoing. Review of these ballots must be performed by bipartisan teams of election inspectors."
The court had also ruled that, even if relief was warranted, the campaign sued the wrong person -- Secretary Benson does not have the authority to tell local polling officials what to do and the campaign would instead have to go directly to each jurisdiction.
In their reply, which has not yet been accepted by the court, the Trump campaign attorneys argued that it would be unreasonable to expect them to file individual lawsuits in dozens of Circuit Courts against each of the 1,603 county and local election officials in Michigan, the appeal states.
Contrary to the Court of Claims order, Michigan law provides that the Secretary of State is the "chief elections officer" responsible for overseeing the conduct of Michigan elections, the appeal said.
Notably, the appeal did not address the court's issue with the evidence presented in the case, which the judge had called hearsay "at best."
