The presidential election: Stand by for key results
Despite securing 213 Electoral College votes of the necessary 270, President Donald Trump falsely declared victory early Wednesday. He has not won the election. Some battleground states are still on the table and mail-in ballots could delay a result in the presidential race. We're standing by for key results from Alaska, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Trump has won Texas, Florida, Ohio, Iowa and Montana. He also secured wins in Idaho, Utah, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Louisiana, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Kentucky, West Virginia, Indiana, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama and Arkansas. Meanwhile, Democratic nominee Joe Biden has won Arizona — turning the state blue for the first time in 24 years — Minnesota and Hawaii. He also won California, Oregon, Washington, New Hampshire, Colorado, the District of Columbia, New Mexico, New York, Virginia, Vermont, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Maryland, Illinois, Delaware and Connecticut. Either candidate will need 270 electoral college votes to win the election. As of 4:56 a.m. EDT, Biden held 238 votes to Trump's 213, according to the Associated Press. USA TODAY Network journalists are closely watching election results and protests across the country. Follow for live updates and analysis.
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The battle to control the Senate got tighter. Here's where things stand.
Republicans have fended off challenges in a number of key Senate races, putting a damper on Democratic hopes of taking control of the chamber. Democrats need at least three wins to flip the Senate — four if President Donald Trump wins reelection. Republicans currently hold 53 seats, while Democrats have 45, plus two independents who caucus with them. There were 35 Senate seats in the election but only about 14 were truly in play. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report rated 12 Republican-held seats as competitive, while just two Democratic-held seats were in that category. Democrats won two seats held by Republicans: in Colorado and in Arizona. But Republicans held off liberal challengers in Iowa, Montana and South Carolina and flipped a Democratic seat in Alabama. Election results in some states could take days to finalize because of the unprecedented volume of mail-in ballots. Additionally, at least one Senate race in Georgia is headed to a January runoff; a second could follow.
Democrats expected to retain control of the House
Democrats are expected to retain control of the House of Representatives, but optimistic projections that they would be expanding their already robust margin are falling short. Instead, Republicans have enjoyed some bragging rights, unseating freshmen incumbents in South Florida, New Mexico, Oklahoma and South Carolina, while successfully defending what looked to be several vulnerable seats in Texas and elsewhere. And early Wednesday, the GOP claimed its biggest prize by knocking off 15-term Democratic Rep. Collin Peterson of Minnesota. It's a stark contrast to 2018, when Democrats picked up key seats — many in suburban areas — that helped flip the House from Republican control to a Democratic majority.
Protesters clash outside White House, gather in L.A., Raleigh, Portland
Protesters clashed outside of the White House into Wednesday morning, while dozens marched through streets in Los Angeles and crowds of 200 or more gathered in Raleigh, North Carolina, and Portland, Oregon, late Tuesday. There were no signs of serious violence or widespread unrest across the Unites States in the hours immediately after the polls closed, the Associated Press reported. More than 520 events have been organized nationwide by Protect the Results on Wednesday and beyond if Trump either declares victory before all votes are counted or refuses to accept election results. Protect the Results is a coalition of more than 165 grassroots organizations, advocacy groups and labor unions led by activist groups Indivisible and Stand Up America. Businesses across the country are also bracing for the fallout from the presidential election after a year roiled by a pandemic and protests for racial justice.
Religious freedom v. LGBTQ rights: Supreme Court faces major test
With a new justice on the bench, the Supreme Court on Wednesday will hear an argument on whether foster care agencies can turn down gay and lesbian couples. At issue is the city of Philadelphia's decision to stop referring children in need of foster care to Catholic Social Services, for decades one of its most reliable contract agencies, after discovering that it would not place kids with same-sex couples. The dispute pits the Constitution's guarantee of religious freedom against government bans on discrimination. The addition of Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett gives the court's conservatives a 6-3 majority, putting at risk a 30-year-old Supreme Court precedent that made it difficult for religious groups to avoid neutral laws that apply to everyone. Several justices are eager to overturn the precedent – written, ironically, in 1990 by conservative Associate Justice Antonin Scalia.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Election results, Supreme Court: 5 things to know Wednesday