Biden Secures Foothold in Rust Belt... 'Nevada and Arizona' Race Draws Maximum Attention

Biden, 253 Electoral Votes... Needs 17 More to Reach Magic Number
Securing Nevada and Arizona Ensures 270 Votes... Confirms Presidential Victory
Focus on Mail-in Ballot Results

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] In the Rust Belt region, where President Donald Trump's victory was expected, Democratic candidate Joe Biden showed strong momentum and won consecutively. Arizona, with 11 electoral votes, is also leaning towards Biden, making Nevada (6 votes) and Pennsylvania (20 votes), where the two candidates are in a neck-and-neck race, the biggest battlegrounds. If Biden wins Nevada in particular, his victory will be confirmed regardless of the results in other key swing states such as Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Georgia. Nevada was also a closely contested state in the 2016 presidential election, where the Democrats narrowly won. Since mail-in ballots are still being counted and ballots received by the 10th are accepted, it is still too early to conclude the results.

According to foreign media including The New York Times (NYT) on the 4th (local time), Biden secured victories in Wisconsin and Michigan, states where President Trump had been leading, bringing his total electoral votes to 253 so far. The late-stage comeback by Biden was possible as the delayed mail-in ballot results were combined. In Wisconsin, where Trump had been leading, Biden won with 49.4% of the vote compared to Trump's 48.8%, a narrow margin of just 0.6 percentage points. In Michigan, where Trump was ahead, Biden won with 50.3% against Trump's 48.1%, a 2.2 percentage point difference.

Biden needs to secure only 17 more electoral votes to reach the magic number of 270, the threshold for winning the presidency. If he wins in Arizona (11 votes) and Nevada (6 votes), where he is currently leading, he can secure the presidency regardless of the outcomes in other key swing states such as Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Georgia. Some foreign media have reported that Biden has already won Arizona, meaning he only needs 6 more electoral votes to reach the magic number.

Biden's gain of 1 electoral vote out of 5 in Nebraska the previous day is also considered a masterstroke. Unlike the winner-takes-all system used in most states, Nebraska follows a different state law. The candidate who wins the statewide vote gets 2 electoral votes, and the remaining 3 votes are distributed based on the winner in each congressional district. In Nebraska, Trump secured 4 electoral votes with 57.7% of the vote, while Biden, despite losing by a large margin with 40.2%, won in the 2nd congressional district and thus secured 1 electoral vote. The Washington Post (WP) reported that if Trump had swept all Nebraska electoral votes, there was a possibility that both candidates would have tied with 269 electoral votes each.

As of 10 a.m. Korean time, Arizona has counted 82% of votes, with Biden at 51% and Trump at 47.6%. Some foreign media such as WSJ and AFP have already declared Biden the winner in Arizona, reporting that he has secured 264 electoral votes.

Attention now turns to Nevada. With 86% of votes counted, Nevada is in a tight race with Biden at 49.3% and Trump at 48.7%, a difference of about 7,000 votes. It is difficult to declare a winner before the early voting results are fully reflected. Nevada was also a closely contested state in the 2016 election, where Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton narrowly defeated Trump by about 2 percentage points and approximately 20,000 votes. The election results are expected to be known only after all votes are counted. Especially since Nevada accepts mail-in ballots received until the 10th, if the race remains close, the winner may only be determined after the 10th.

However, there is still a possibility that President Trump could overturn the results. If Biden wins only in Arizona but loses Nevada, he will not reach the magic number, and the presidential winner cannot be confirmed until the results from remaining swing states such as Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Georgia are announced. In these states, Trump is still ahead of Biden, but many early votes have yet to be counted, making the outcome uncertain.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.