AP: Biden wins Michigan, flipping another state
Democrat Joe Biden has carried Michigan and its 16 electoral votes, further dismantling Donald Trump's Rust Belt wall of support that helped deliver him the presidency four years ago.
The flip from red back to blue was a huge blow to Trump, whose victories in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania in 2016 sent him to the White House. Biden also carried Wisconsin, though Pennsylvania hasn't been called yet.
Biden's victory in Michigan pushes him to 264 Electoral College votes, six short of the 270 needed to win the White House. Trump is at 214 electoral votes. Nevada, which has 6 electoral votes, is among the states Democrat Hillary Clinton won in 2016 that hasn't yet been called.
Biden's campaign had particularly focused on turning out Black voters in Detroit, who failed to show up for Democrat Hillary Clinton in the numbers that Barack Obama received during his two presidential bids.
Despite needing to win Michigan, Trump took frequent swipes at the state's Democratic governor, Gretchen Whitmer, who was the target of an alleged kidnapping plot that was foiled by federal law enforcement. Chants of "Lock her up!" toward Whitmer echoed at Trump's rally, and he railed against the governor on Twitter for her cautious approach to the coronavirus pandemic.
Earlier in the day, The Associated Press called Wisconsin for Biden after election officials in the state said all outstanding ballots had been counted, save for a few hundred in one township and an expected small number of provisional ballots.
Trump's campaign has requested a recount.
Statewide recounts in Wisconsin have historically changed the vote tally by only a few hundred votes; Biden leads by .624 percentage points out of nearly 3.3 million ballots counted.
The victory for Biden bumps him up to 248 electoral votes, while Trump has 214. It takes 270 to win the presidency.
In 2016, Trump won Wisconsin by fewer than 23,000 votes, a breakthrough that along with wins in Michigan and Pennsylvania helped hand him his first term in the White House.
Democrats were determined to reclaim Wisconsin, a state that before Trump hadn't gone for a Republican since Ronald Reagan in 1984.