On Nov. 2, 2020, the United States had its 59th presidential election. The election will determine if the incumbent candidate Donald Trump, a Republican, will win or lose the White House to the Democratic nominee, Joe Biden. This is considered one of the most intense elections in American History due to the nature of current events like race, immigration, economics, foreign policy, healthcare, education and the Coronavirus pandemic. From polarizing issues, to controversial presidential debates, the build up has been intense. So without a further ado, here was Election Night 2020:

Preceding the election, the biggest voter turnout in American history occurred. Approximately 150 million registered voters voted, which included the largest group of mail-in and absentee voters in history. The largest group of minority voters in history voted in the 2020 election. 

Around 5 p.m. ET on November 3, the first polls closed in the eastern United States and parts of the midwest. Gradually, as the night went on, polls around the country closed. Indiana, Kentucky and Vermont were the first three states to announce results, with the former two in favor of Trump, and the latter in favor of Biden. As the night progressed, safe Republican states such as Wyoming, Tennessee and Utah went to Trump, and safe Democratic states such as Illinois, California and Washington went to Biden. In crucial battleground states like Pennsylvania, Michigan, Florida, North Carolina and Wisconsin, because of state laws regarding the timing of elections and early voting, vote counting could only start early Tuesday morning, with results delayed into later last week as it will take days to count every single vote.

Going into November 4, Biden lead Trump in the Electoral College 238-213. As many battleground states were being called, like Wisconsin and Arizona, Biden’s lead increased by 10 electoral points, and Trump gained one electoral vote to end the night at 248-214 in Biden’s favor. Disputing results due to a rumor of voter fraud, the Trump Campaign filed lawsuits in select battleground states, including Pennsylvania, Michigan, Nevada, Arizona and will file a lawsuit in Wisconsin on Thursday. At the same time, a group of Trump supporters protested outside of the election headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona, disputing the legitimacy of the election, and calling for a recount, while on the other side of the political spectrum, groups associated with Black Lives Matter and ANTIFA launched protests to encourage the states to count every vote, as they believe some votes are being ignored purposefully.

On November 5,, the whole country woke to Biden’s lead increasing in the Electoral College, where he is currently at 264 electoral votes to Trump’s unchanged 214 votes after Biden won Michigan. Later today, Nevada will release its election results, where Biden is currently leading based off of preliminary results. 

On November 6, Pennsylvania’s election results were called, as Biden narrowly defeated Trump by .6%: a very narrow victory.  (A place where the margin of victory was even narrower was in Georgia, where it was tied at 49.4% overnight.) Later that day, Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announced that they will recount the votes in Georgia as the margin of victory was too close, while the Senate elections for Georgia between David Perdue and John Ossoff in the regular election, and Raphael Warnock and Kelly Loeffler in the special election  will go to a runoff, as they were close to call.

On November 7 at around noon ET, the Associated Press, who is considered the official news source for elections, unofficially called the election in Biden’s favor. Assuming this result is confirmed in the Electoral College, Biden will be elected the 46th President of the United States, winning 290-214, and putting an end to one of the most polarizing elections in American history.