Washington: US President-elect Joe Biden on Friday won the state of Georgia, becoming the first Democratic candidate to do so since 1992, and further cementing his victory in the most closely fought presidential elections in American history.
The win in Georgia now gives Mr Biden a total of 306 electoral college votes further increasing the gap against President Donald Trump who is projected to win the state of North Carolina, taking his count of electoral votes to 232, still falling way short of 270, the number required to win the presidency.
Mr Biden’s 306 votes equal Mr Trump electoral college votes in 2016 when he won the presidential race against Hillary Clinton and had called it a “landslide”.
Mr Trump, who has so refused to concede defeat and hand over power, for the first time on Friday hinted at the possibility of allowing for a smooth transition of power in Washington, even though he just stopped short of conceding the race.
Georgia and North Carolina were the last states to be called in the race for the White House.
A manual recount will be carried out in Georgia because of the narrow margin dividing the two candidates, but the Biden team said they were confident that will not change the results in any way.
President Trump has launched a flurry of legal challenges in key states and levelled unsubstantiated allegations of widespread electoral fraud. His team dropped a lawsuit in Arizona on Friday after it became clear his rival’s lead was unassailable.
