Carlos Barria/Reuters
- President Donald Trump’s campaign falsely claimed on Wednesday afternoon that the president had won Pennsylvania, even as hundreds of thousands of ballots have yet to be counted in the state.
- “We are declaring a victory in Pennsylvania,” Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien told reporters during a press call on Wednesday afternoon.
- The president had a six-point lead in Pennsylvania as of Wednesday afternoon, but Gov. Tom Wolf said that at midday on Wednesday about 50% of two million mail-in ballots still needed to be counted.
- Mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania were disproportionately cast by Democrats this cycle.
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President Donald Trump’s campaign falsely claimed on Wednesday afternoon that the president had won the key battleground state of Pennsylvania, even as hundreds of thousands of ballots have yet to be counted in the state.
“We are declaring a victory in Pennsylvania,” Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien told reporters during a press call on Wednesday afternoon.
On the same call, Trump campaign adviser Jason Miller appeared to slightly walk back the campaign’s false claims, instead saying it “believes” Trump will win Pennsylvania. Trump needs the state’s 20 electoral votes in order to win reelection.
White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany and Trump’s son Eric also echoed Stepien’s false claim on Twitter.
The president had a six-point lead in Pennsylvania as of Wednesday afternoon, but Gov. Tom Wolf said that at midday on Wednesday about 50% of two million mail-in ballots still needed to be counted. Democrats believe they’re on track to take the state, but Biden doesn’t necessarily need Pennsylvania to get to 270 electoral college votes.
Because many more Democrats requested mail-in ballots than Republicans this cycle, Biden is favored to win the majority of the remaining mail-in votes.
This comes after Trump wrongly announced himself as the winner of presidential election during remarks in the early hours of Wednesday morning. Trump also said he wanted states to stop counting votes on Wednesday and falsely claimed the election was a "major fraud in our nation."
Wolf, a Democrat, insisted on Wednesday morning that his state would count all the ballots and condemned the president's claims.
"I promised Pennsylvanians that we would count every vote, and that's what we're going to do," Wolf said. "Let's be clear: This is a partisan attack on Pennsylvania's elections, our votes, and democracy. Our counties are working tirelessly to process votes as quickly AND as accurately as possible. Pennsylvania will have a fair election, and we will count every vote."