Joe Biden defeats President Donald Trump in 2020 election

USA TODAY'S coverage of the 2020 election continues this weekend as states work to finish counting the ballots.

All eyes continue to be on battleground states that will ultimately decide the election. Be sure to refresh this page often to get the latest information on how things are going.  

USA TODAY will have live election results from across the country.

Biden defeats Trump in presidential election

Democrat Joe Biden defeated President Donald Trump to become the 46th president of the United States on Saturday, positioning himself to lead a nation gripped by historic pandemic and a confluence of economic and social turmoil.

His victory came after more than three days of uncertainty as election officials sorted through a surge of mail-in votes that delayed the processing of some ballots. Biden crossed 270 Electoral College votes with a win in Pennsylvania.

– The Associated Press 

New vote totals show Trump gaining on Biden in Arizona

President Donald Trump is gaining on Democratic challenger Joe Biden in Arizona but it might not be enough.

The latest batch of votes released around 11 a.m. EDT/ETshowed Trump getting 26,992 and Biden receiving 19,513, which dropped the former vice president’s lead to 20,573 out of nearly 3.3 million cast.

This is the last large release of results expected from Maricopa County, which has 70% of the state's population.

Arizona had about 171,000 votes entering Saturday. with roughly 123,000 votes left to count. that means Trump will have to win about 60% of the remaining votes to catch Biden.

– Ledyard King and The Arizona Republic

Pennsylvania expected to update vote count Saturday morning

Pennsylvania is set to release its latest batch of newly tabulated votes as the presidential count creeps into its fifth day.

Former Vice President Joe Biden leads President Donald Trump in the Keystone State by 28,877 out of more than 6.6 million votes cast. A little more than 89,000 ballots remain to be counted, according to the State Department website.

Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald told CNN that Pittsburgh still has about 20,000 mail ballots to count – and about 17,000 provisional ballots. He said both of those ballot categories are trending about 80% for Democratic candidate Joe Biden.

If the margin holds or expands, that would give Biden the 20 electoral votes he needs to reach 270 and win the presidency.

Pennsylvania is one of five states that have yet to be called.

Biden has secured 264 electoral votes and President Donald Trump has won 214 electoral votes. Biden could reach the threshold with a win in one of these states: Nevada, Georgia, Pennsylvania or North Carolina. Trump would need wins in all of those states.

– Ledyard King, USA TODAY and Scott Fisher, USA TODAY Network Pennsylvania Capitol Bureau

Where the presidential election stands as of Saturday morning 

Georgia: Biden’s lead has grown to slightly more than 7,000 votes with provisional ballots still to be counted. Regardless, the state is headed to a mandated run-off under its election rules.

Nevada: The Silver State has counted about 87% of its vote, with results still coming in from Clark County, the state's most populous county that leans Democratic. Biden has been leading in the state by nearly two percentage points, over 22,600 votes. Updates are expected around noon EST Saturday.

North Carolina: Biden trails Trump by more than 70,000 votes, but as many as 150,000 more absentee ballots have yet to be counted. Most analysts expect Trump to win.

Alaska, with three electoral votes, also has yet to be called. And Arizona, which the Trump campaign still believes is in play, is expected to provide an update around 11 EST from Maricopa (Phoenix), its largest county.

Biden in a speech on Friday said he was on the verge of winning.

"We don't have a final declaration, a victory yet, but the numbers tell us a clear and convincing story: We're going to win this race," the Democratic nominee said in a speech Friday night.

Meanwhile, the Trump campaign is pursuing a number of legal challenges as updated vote totals in several states point to a narrowing path to victory.

– Ledyard King

Trump campaign legal fund also used to pay down debt

Over the last four days, the Trump campaign, as well as the Republican National Committee, have sent a flurry of text messages and emails urging supporters to contribute to the president's court challenges.

But a disclaimer on the website states that 50% of any donation will go toward the campaign's general election debt retirement and the other half toward the campaign's recount account, The Wall Street Journal first reported.

A separate fundraising effort by the "Trump Make America Great Again Committee" states that 60% of contributions will go toward campaign debt while 40% goes to the RNC.

"President Trump is FIGHTING BACK to defend the integrity of this Election, but he can't do it alone," one email reads. "He needs YOU to step up and join him by contributing to our critical Election Defense Fund."

Joe Biden's campaign has also launched a fundraising effort in anticipation of a drawn-out legal battle. While the fine print does not include any disclaimer about retiring campaign debt, it does indicate that a portion of the donation would go toward the Democratic National Committee and the remainder would benefit the former vice president's recount account.

USA TODAY has reached out to both campaigns for comment. The RNC and DNC typically play a key role in supporting election litigation efforts.

– Courtney Subramanian

Biden remains close to required electoral college votes

Democratic nominee Joe Biden is still in need of six or more electoral college votes to push him to the required threshold of 270 needed to win the presidency.

As it stands, Biden has secured 264 electoral votes from presidential races in states that have been called, and President Donald Trump has won 214 electoral votes. Biden could reach the threshold with a win in one of these states: Nevada, Georgia, Pennsylvania or North Carolina. Trump would need wins in all of those states.

"We don't have a final declaration, a victory yet, but the numbers tell us a clear and convincing story: We're going to win this race," the Democratic nominee said in a speech Friday night.

Which states haven't been called yet?

While there are several states still counting ballots, eyes are on a few battleground states that remain uncalled: Georgia, Nevada, Pennsylvania and North Carolina. Alaska also has not been called but is more likely than not to go for Trump.

In Georgia, Biden gained the lead over President Donald Trump early Friday morning. Over 4,000 votes currently separate the two candidates, or about 0.1%, as of 4 a.m. EST Saturday. Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, said Friday morning the state would have a recount because of the slim election margin.

Nevada, meanwhile, has counted about 87% of its vote, with results still coming in from Clark County, the state's most populous county that leans Democratic. Biden has been leading in the state by nearly two percentage points, over 22,600 votes. Updates are expected throughout the weekend.

Pennsylvania sees Biden leading by a margin of 0.4%, more than 28,800 votes. He surged ahead of Trump on Friday as results were updated with mail ballot counts that heavily favored the former vice president.

North Carolina, where Biden still trails by more than 70,000 votes, remains uncalled as election officials prepare to count late-arriving absentee ballots over the coming days. The outcome might not be final for another week as election officials count what could be more than 150,000 more absentee ballots.

Trump seeks to undermine Biden's lead with uncertain legal strategy

Trump's tweets on Friday showed he sees the courts as his best path forward to reelection, but experts say his campaign's lawsuits in battleground states lack a discernible strategy.

"I had such a big lead in all of these states late into election night, only to see the leads miraculously disappear as the days went by," Trump tweeted, reiterating a claim that has been widely debunked for days. "Perhaps these leads will return as our legal proceedings move forward!"

Trump's early lead was reversed in key states because officials counted in-person, day-of votes first, and those favored Trump. But after the president spent months pushing baseless claims that mail-in voting leads to widespread fraud, record numbers of mail ballots were enough to give Biden the lead in most of the remaining battlegrounds.