Biden edges closer to win as Trump launches lawsuits and rages about ‘fraud’

WASHINGTON/WILMINGTON, Del. (Reuters) – Democrat Joe Biden crept nearer to victory over Donald Trump on Thursday in an exceedingly close U.S. election that hinged on razor-thin margins in a handful of states, while the Republican president escalated his legal efforts hoping to slow down his opponent.

Biden, the former U.S. vice president, was continuing to cut into Trump’s leads in Pennsylvania and Georgia while retaining slim margins in Nevada and Arizona.

Ballot counting dragged on in those battleground states two days after polls closed, with protesters from both sides staging street demonstrations in major cities over the vote counting.

Trump, who during the long and rancorous campaign attacked the integrity of the U.S. voting system, again alleged voting fraud without providing evidence and accused Democrats of aiming to “steal” the election. His campaign has filed several lawsuits and called for a recount in Wisconsin. His latest move was a lawsuit announced on Thursday alleging voting fraud in Nevada.

The vote counting was the latest tense chapter in a dramatic campaign focused on whether Americans should give Trump four more years in office after a tumultuous first term or turn to Biden, a figure on the national stage for a half century who promised to deliver steadiness rather than turmoil.

Trump tapped into discontent and pursued “America First” populism while Biden vowed to reverse many of Trump’s actions at home and repair overseas alliances.

Some legal experts called Trump’s challenges a long shot unlikely to affect the eventual outcome of the election, one of the most unusual presidential races in modern U.S. history due to the coronavirus pandemic. Concern about the virus caused a huge jump in people voting by mail, delaying the results.

Biden was leading in Wisconsin, Nevada and Arizona and closing in on Trump in Georgia and Pennsylvania.

“Be patient, folks,” Biden wrote on Twitter. “Votes are being counted, and we feel good about where we are.”

Multiple Trump lawsuits and a recount request would have to succeed and find in some cases tens of thousands of invalid ballots to reverse the result if Biden does prevail.

“What we are seeing on these legal suits are that they are meritless, and nothing more than an attempt to distract and delay what is now inevitable: Joe Biden will be the next president of the United States,” Biden’s campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon told reporters.

REUTERS