President Trump vowed to fight on as contested battleground states were declared for Democratic challenger Joe Biden, and many Republicans were ready to man the barricades with him as long as there remain legal options to pursue.
“President Trump should not concede under any circumstances until we know the final and fair vote tally in each of these critically close states,” said conservative strategist Chris Barron. “We elected Trump because he is a fighter — for far too long, Democrats would fight like hell after elections to make sure their votes were counted, while spineless Republicans simply whimpered away. If, for some reason, Trump comes up short, he should immediately announce his intention to run again in 2024.”
“I think Trump has to explore every legal angle and contest every vote that he can,” said Republican strategist John Feehery. “Not just because he thought he won, but also because his voters think he won. Transparency is about the only thing that will help the country to move forward.”
Trump supporters went to sleep across the country with the president leading in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, the trifecta of Upper Midwestern states that tore down the blue wall and secured his Electoral College majority in 2016. When they awoke, it was all slipping away. Wisconsin and Michigan were called for Biden on Wednesday.
The Trump campaign has now filed lawsuits against Michigan and Pennsylvania while requesting a recount in Wisconsin. “We are declaring a victory in Pennsylvania,” Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien told reporters on a Wednesday afternoon conference call. “Democrats are scheming to disenfranchise and dilute Republican votes,” deputy campaign manager Justin Clark said in a statement. “President Trump and his team are fighting to put a stop to it.”
“They are working hard to make up 500,000 vote advantage in Pennsylvania disappear — ASAP,” Trump tweeted. “Likewise, Michigan and others!” Twitter flagged the president’s message as misleading.
Trump later weighed in on Michigan’s Senate race. “Wow! It looks like Michigan has now found the ballots necessary to keep a wonderful young man, John James, out of the U.S. Senate,” he tweeted, referring to the Republican running against Sen. Gary Peters, a Michigan Democrat. “What a terrible thing is happening!”
Trump once again exceeded expectations and overperformed his poll numbers. With many analysts forecasting a Biden landslide, Trump fought him to a draw or better in the key swing states, and the presidential race remains too close to call a day later. Trump is even on track to exceed his 2016 share of the popular vote, despite trailing Biden by 7.5 points in the final RealClearPolitics national polling average, which predicted he would win just 44%. Biden is currently up by 2 points.
But as early and mail-in votes were tabulated after a strong showing by Trump in in-person Election Day voting, Biden began to catch up to and surpass the president in many of these states. Biden now sits on the cusp of an Electoral College majority. “We’re winning the election. We’ve won the election. And we’re going to defend that election,” said Bob Bauer, former White House counsel under President Barack Obama and now a lawyer for the Biden team.
Trump early Wednesday morning expressed concern that Democratic-led states would keep accepting new ballots until they could declare Biden the winner. He has long been critical of mass mail-in voting. Democrats and state officials have described these claims as wholly without merit, saying they are merely counting votes that have already legitimately been cast.
Still, Republicans have a longstanding skepticism about Democratic vote-counting that dates back to the old urban political machines. It was magnified by Tuesday night’s break in the counts while Trump was still ahead.
“It is more than a bit fishy that the Democrats in big cities in battleground states would magically all decide that they couldn’t count the votes through the night but would have to take a break,” Feehery said. “Most Americans have just enough cynicism that they see through these types of charades.”
Republican insiders nevertheless think Trump should tread more carefully.
“Trump should keep quiet and let the lawyers do their work,” said a Republican operative. “The campaign is over, and he’s not changing any minds with his bullying rhetoric. They may find something to litigate — some of these states changed their rules in the middle of the game — but his public statements need to stop in order for him to have any credibility.”
“I suggest the campaign and election lawyers for the president hold a press conference where the political operatives explain what is happening and the lawyers explain in plain English what is being considered with regard to legal actions, why it is necessary, and how long will it take,” said Republican strategist Bradley Blakeman.
