LIVE: The Ebbtide Watched Races Locally and Nationwide

Joshua Groom, Copy Editor

1:50 a.m. PST — The Ebbtide is signing off for the night. Copy Editor Joshua Groom wrote a roundup of the key points of the night and each candidate’s pathway to victory. You can find it here.


12:00 a.m PST — The Associated Press has called Arizona for Biden, bringing Biden’s electoral vote total to 236, compared to Trump’s 213. As we mentioned earlier in the night, this is the first time the state has voted blue in nearly a quarter of a century.

The projection expands Biden’s path to victory: with Arizona, he no longer needs to win Pennsylvania or Georgia to win the 270 electoral votes needed to win the election. Those two states are the closest, though Biden lead Pennsylvania in the polls prior to the election. Alaska has not yet been called, but is expected to go to Trump.

The call came just after Trump denounced a Fox news projection, which had stood alone in its forecast for Arizona prior to the AP call. Fox stood by their projection all night, despite outcry on the right that it was too early.


11:45 p.m. PST — Biden and Trump offered dueling takes on the results reported this far, with both projecting confidence in their path forward. Biden leads on the electoral map, with 225 to Trump’s 213 electoral votes projected by the Associated Press.

Biden pointed to votes out in democratic-leaning counties in the rust belt as a path forward, and celebrated Fox News’ Arizona projection. No other news outlets have made a projection for Arizona.

Trump pushed back on the Fox projection and declared himself the victor in Georgia and North Carolina. Both states are too close to call.

He then baselessly declared himself victor in the election overall. Both candidates have a pathway to victory, with 7 states too close to call, according to the AP’s current projection, which does not include Arizona.


10:45 p.m. PST — Jay Inslee will serve a third term as governor of Washington state, the Associated Press projects. He currently holds 59% of the vote.

Further down the ballot, the Seattle Times projects that Denny Heck will defeat Marko Liias for lieutenant governor. Both were Democrats. Bob Furguson is projected to take another term as state attorney general. The rest of the state executive positions were too close to call.

K-12 schools in the state will be mandated to teach age-appropriate sex education, as the Times projects a referendum to repeal a legislation mandating the practice will fail.

Correction: An earlier version of this update included the wrong legislative district for Shoreline.


8:39 p.m. PST — Fox News has called Arizona for Biden and Florida for Trump. Arizona is the first state of the night to flip from its 2016 results. It is the first time the state has elected a Democrat since 1996.

With the latest projections, voters are turning their eyes to Pennsylvania to decide the election, and to a lesser extent Michigan and Wisconsin, with both too early to call.


7:47 p.m. PST — Lots of movement since the last update, but so far no calls in any of the battleground states. According to the New York Times latest projections, President Trump hold 108 electoral votes to former Vice President Biden’s 131.

The Times reports that Trump is up 3% in Florida with 94% reporting. He also leads North Carolina and Ohio. Biden is leading Arizona by 9%, with 75% reporting. Those races are all too close to call.

Biden is underperforming his polls in many of those states. Poll aggregating site FiveThirtyEight projected Biden victories in Florida and North Carolina, though with a high margin of uncertainty.

With Trump leading in key battleground states, Biden’s chances of a decisive victory are dwindling. Democratic voters are turning their eyes toward Pennsylvania and Arizona as their pathways to victory narrow. Pennsylvania’s results are not expected to be determined for several days, but Biden led polling in the state by 4.7% in FiveThirtyEight’s final average ahead of the election.


4:50 p.m. PST — Florida is reporting 80% of its vote, but the race is still to close to call. The New York Times is reporting Biden up 49.7% to Trump’s 49.3%. If Biden flips the state, it will narrow Trump’s path to victory substantially.

The Times has called Vermont and Virginia for Biden, and Kentucky and West Virginia for Trump. Those were expected safe states.


4:45 p.m. PST — Welcome to The Ebbtide’s live coverage of the 2020 electi0n. We’ll be posting updates and analysis on local and presidential election results as the night progress. Follow us on Twitter at @ebbtidescc for more coverage.