“Regardless of who wins, an election should be a time for optimism and fresh approaches.”—Gary Johnson

IT appears that former Vice President Joseph Biden will be declared as the 46th president of the United States of America.

This possibility came after he wrested the two prized swing states: Wisconsin (10 Electoral College votes) and Michigan (16 Electoral College votes).

Losing these two battleground states that turned red in 2016 hurt Mr. Trump deeply.

As we went to bed, Biden had a commanding 264 Electoral College votes as against President Donald Trump’s 214 Electoral College votes after Mr. Biden flipped the decisive Arizona (11 Electoral College votes).

The U.S. President Election 2020 will be over if Nevada (6 Electoral College votes), which is expected to submit its results noontime on November 5 (U.S. time), will go for Biden, who will romp off with the magic 270 Electoral College votes.

If Mr. Biden, 77, will win Nevada and was expected to collect another 20 Electoral College votes in Pennsylvania (pending the canvassing of the 2.5 million mail-in votes), he will run away with 290 Electoral College votes, more than enough to clinch the White House.

If Mr. Trump, 74, will win North Carolina (15), Georgina (16), and Pennsylvania (20), they will only give him additional 51 Electoral College votes. Plus his 214 before we went to bed, it’s only 265 Electoral College Votes.

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But Pennsylvania was penciled to slip away from Mr. Trump making his chances of being reelected nil.

Thus Mr. Trump wanted governors in the remaining pivotal key battleground states to rev up his attempt to delay Mr. Biden’s possible clinching of the states’ Electoral College votes by filing electoral suits claiming without evidence that the election in these states had been rigged.

The governors, concerned for their political future, were adamant to obey Mr. Trump thus he reportedly deployed some of his lawyers to the disputed battleground states in the hope to collect “evidence” of an unproven fraud.

So far, only Mr. Trump was crying “he was robbed” while most of his Republican allies refused to validate his allegations which were not substantiated.

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As expected, Mr. Trump has carried the crucial battleground states of Florida, Texas, Ohio, and Iowa, but Biden has finally bagged Arizona, Wisconsin and Michigan.

Some states’ results may not be known for days or even weeks because of the many postal ballots cast in this election compared to the number of votes cast in 2016 when Mr. Trump thumped Hillary Clinton.

More than 100 million Americans voted early or by post, suggesting a record turnout.

In another development, the Democrats’ hopes of gaining control of the Senate were fading after Republicans held on to closely fought seats in South Carolina and Iowa.

It was reported that control of the Senate may come down to a Georgia special election that will be decided in a run-off in January.

Three Senate seats have flipped: Democrats ousted Republican incumbents in Colorado and Arizona, while Republicans gained a seat in Alabama.

The Democrats are poised to maintain control of the House of Representatives.

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‘SAYANG SI TRUMP.’ Norvin Verzosa, 50, a former member of the Philippine Air Force and one of Mr. Trump’s Filipino-American supporters told this writer yesterday he “grieved” for President Trump’s impending defeat but he wants all Fil-Ams who voted for Mr. Biden and Mr. Trump to unite and move on.

“This is only an election. Whoever is our president, it doesn’t matter as long as we are all united,” said Versoza, who hails from Ilog, Kabankalan, Negros Occidental.

Mr. Trump, he said, has long campaigned on “America First” principles, and has pushed for bringing jobs and manufacturing back to the US.

During his first campaign, Versoza said Mr Trump promised huge tax cuts for working Americans, to lower the corporate tax rate, to shake up the trade status quo and to revive American manufacturing.

On some of those, he has delivered.

“He was a very good leader before the pandemic came,” Verzosa said.

In the last four years, Mr. Trump reportedly rolled back federal regulations on businesses, enacted corporate and income tax cuts and signed executive orders supporting preferences for domestic-made products.

Since January 2017, the US has added more than 480,000 manufacturing jobs, though analysts say growth in the sector is slowing down and Mr Trump’s related policies—like tariffs—have not addressed the structural issues at play.

Verzosa said he is willing to support Mr. Biden if he will be officially declared as the new president.

The author who is now based in New York City is a former editor of two dailies in Iloilo