Michigan Called For Joe Biden, as Trump Sues to Halt Vote Count

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has won back for the Democrats the key swing state of Michigan, after the state flipped red for President Donald Trump in 2016. Multiple networks include CNN and CBS called the state for Biden on Wednesday afternoon.

With 97 percent of the vote counted, Biden leads Trump by a margin of 1.2 percent, 49.8 percent to 48.6 percent, bringing CNN to call the state for the Democratic contender. As the nation's 10th-most populous state, Michigan holds 16 electoral votes—a significant prize in the race to victory in the Electoral College.

Trump narrowly won Michigan in 2016 by a margin of just 0.2 percent. The president's previous win in the state was viewed as an upset, as polls had indicated Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton would come out on top. President Barack Obama had previously carried the state by nearly 10 percentage points in 2012, and by more than 16 points in 2008. Four years ago, Trump was the first Republican to win in the state since 1988.

Ahead of Election Day, polls suggested that Biden was favored to win. The Real Clear Politics polling average for Michigan showed the Democratic challenger ahead by just over 5 percentage points on November 2. Polling by Morning Consult had Biden ahead by about 7 percentage points—with the backing of 51.8 percent of Michigan voters, compared with just 44.5 percent supporting Trump. But polling by the Trafalgar Group had Trump narrowly ahead by 2 percentage points.

Trump and Biden, as well as campaign surrogates, visited the Midwestern state multiple times in the final days of the campaign. While the president aimed to hold on to territory he'd narrowly won in 2016, the Democratic challenger worked to energize voters that many thought Clinton took for granted in 2016.

Beyond the polls, Democrats were optimistic about the state—as they made gains there during the 2018 midterm elections. Michiganders elected Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer and a slate of other Democrats to take over the executive leadership in Lansing. Michigan Democrats also managed to flip two GOP-held congressional seats in the midterms—electing Elissa Slotkin of Holly and Haley Stevens of Rochester Hills to the House of Representatives.

Before the election, Michigan's governor expressed confidence that Biden would carry her state.

"I'm confident," Whitmer said during a Saturday interview with ABC's Good Morning America. "[Representative] Debbie Dingell and I talk all the time, and we're of course concerned; we're taking nothing for granted. But here's the thing about Joe Biden: his plan around getting the American economy back up and running in concert with getting our arms around COVID, that's how we really get things done," she said.