The Trump campaign has declared victory in Pennsylvania.
Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien said that the president is declaring victory in Pennsylvania, though no major media outlets or election watchers have called the race for President Trump.
“We are declaring a victory in Pennsylvania. This is not based on gut or feel. This is based on math,” Stepien told reporters on a press call on Wednesday afternoon.
Bill Stepien on press call: "We are declaring a victory in Pennsylvania. This is not based on gut or feel. This is based on math."
— Tessa Berenson (@tcberenson) November 4, 2020
Trump is currently up in the state over Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden by nearly 400,000 votes, or by about 8 points, with 82% of the vote in, according to The New York Times. Stepien argued that with the number of ballots still outstanding, and taking into consideration where those ballots are from, the campaign believes that Biden cannot make up the difference and overtake Trump in the state.
Stepien also said that the campaign is suing to stop the state of Pennsylvania from counting mail-in ballots. Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar said during a Wednesday press conference that the state has counted roughly half of its mail-in ballots, according to CBS News.
“Really could not have gone more smoothly in the middle of a pandemic,” she said after many expressed concern over Pennsylvania’s ability to cope with the expected flood of mail-in ballots in the weeks leading up to the election. “We’re exactly where we said we would be.”
“We are going to accurately count every single ballot,” Boockvar said.
The Trump campaign has already filed suit in Michigan to stop counting ballots, though the president trails Biden in the current vote count by less than 40,000 votes with 94% of the vote in, according to The New York Times.
“As votes in Michigan continue to be counted, the presidential race in the state remains extremely tight as we always knew it would be,” Stepien said in a statement on Wednesday. “President Trump’s campaign has not been provided with meaningful access to numerous counting locations to observe the opening of ballots and the counting process, as guaranteed by Michigan law. We have filed suit today in the Michigan Court of Claims to halt counting until meaningful access has been granted.”
“We also demand to review those ballots which were opened and counted while we did not have meaningful access. President Trump is committed to ensuring that all legal votes are counted in Michigan and everywhere else,” he added.
The Trump campaign has also said they will “immediately” request a recount in Wisconsin, where Trump is trailing Biden by about 20,000 votes.
“Despite ridiculous public polling used as a voter suppression tactic, Wisconsin has been a razor thin race as we always knew that it would be,” Stepien said. “There have been reports of irregularities in several Wisconsin counties which raise serious doubts about the validity of the results. The President is well within the threshold to request a recount and we will immediately do so.”