Things didn’t go as well last night as I had expected, or as well as they started out. But the presidential election is still not over, and there are plenty of bright spots in the other races.
Most notably, Republicans in Arizona are saying that President Trump may yet win that state:
Thorough breakdown, we believe @realDonaldTrump’s win margin in AZ will be closer to 30K votes, probably just under that.
Keep in mind we’re now counting Election Day voters. https://t.co/mm3qRcb4b5
— Jason Miller (@JasonMillerinDC) November 4, 2020
If Trump carries Pennsylvania and Arizona, he wins the election, assuming Georgia doesn’t flip.
Litigation seems inevitable in some states. As I understand it–I haven’t had time yet to pin down the facts–Trump was leading in Michigan until, in the middle of the night, a large number of ballots were discovered, or added, or something, all of them (so goes the report) for Biden, so that Biden now leads. If something like that report is true, investigation is warranted. Further, if the Democrats are able to take a serious run at stealing Pennsylvania by harvesting ballots for three days after the election, in violation of Pennsylvania law, the case will go to the Supreme Court, where Democrats likely will lose. If it still matters.
We will have more observations over the next day or two as the dust settles. But for me, so far, the election results are pretty good and in line with my expectations, with the single–major!–exception of the presidency. But it is comforting to know that if Joe Biden ultimately is declared president, he almost certainly will face a Republican majority in the Senate. So the Democrats’ dreams are, for now, dashed: no new states, no packing the Supreme Court, no mass legalization of illegal immigrants.
UPDATE: More on Arizona:
Heads up: Arizona is still in play. About 20% of the vote to be counted mainly from rural—heavily Trump-areas. Trump is down 10,000 votes and closing. #2020Elections
— Emerald City (@seahawks_daily) November 4, 2020
FURTHER UPDATE: As Paul noted earlier, the Trump campaign has tweeted about a recount in Wisconsin. The campaign has now sent out this email:
Despite ridiculous public polling used as a voter suppression tactic, Wisconsin has been a razor thin race as we always knew that it would be. There have been reports of irregularities in several Wisconsin counties which raise serious doubts about the validity of the results. The President is well within the threshold to request a recount and we will immediately do so.
While the election was very close, with a margin of around 20,000 votes, that is well outside the range that normally would be considered promising for a recount.
MORE: I did an interview with Dan Proft and Amy Jacobson on Chicago’s AM 560 The Answer early this morning, talking about the election results and where we go from here. I think it was a good conversation; here it is:
MORE ON ARIZONA: Arizona definitely seems to be in play.
Hang on a sec. https://t.co/NrJK6tNPu7
— Tom Bevan (@TomBevanRCP) November 4, 2020
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