| We inch closer to naming the new president, the U.S. passes another COVID-19 milestone and more news to start your Thursday. |  | | |  | | | It ain't over yet | | We inch closer to naming the new president, the U.S. passes another COVID-19 milestone and more news to start your Thursday. | | | | | | | | | | | | Good morning, Daily Briefing readers! If you just woke up, we're all still sitting, waiting and wishing as votes continue to be counted. I'm Jane Onyanga-Omara, bringing you Thursday's news. | | In the 11th hour, things are getting complicated with Arizona's 11 electoral votes. Protesters on both sides chanting "count every vote" and "stop the steal" have begun making their voices heard. And long after the election is over, we'll still be talking coronavirus: 100,000 cases have been reported in the U.S. in a single day, and England is going back under lockdown. | | Plus: An age-old question as Thanksgiving draws closer: are yams and sweet potatoes the same? (No, this is not a joke about politics.) | | Here's today's news: | Presidential election: Race to 270 electoral votes still on | | Former Vice President Joe Biden is just six electoral votes away from reaching 270 in the presidential race after he was named the winner in Wisconsin and Michigan. The race is now down to Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada, and North Carolina, while interesting numbers also emerge from Arizona. President Donald Trump has 214 electoral votes, and his team has filed lawsuits in Pennsylvania and Georgia to prevent the counting of ballots. With votes still being counted, Biden has broken the record for most votes received by a candidate, amassing nearly 72 million. As of Wednesday evening, he was leading Trump by more than 4 million. | | Biden maintained a lead in Arizona over Trump, but his margin shrunk in a new batch of results posted Wednesday evening and early Thursday. The Associated Press has defended their early call that Biden is projected to win Arizona despite calls from the Trump campaign to retract. Arizona's 11 electoral votes are factored into USA TODAY's electoral college count. Trump and his supporters have alleged voting irregularities and other issues. There is no evidence of any vote counting issues in Arizona. | | | More protests planned across United States | | Protesters are expected to hit the streets again on Thursday, after a number turned out — sometimes violently — in cities across the U.S. on Wednesday for a second night in a row, many from progressive groups calling on officials to "count every vote." Tensions ran high into the night , with reports of "widespread violence" leading to the National Guard being deployed in Portland, Oregon. Arrests were also made in Minneapolis and New York City, with the NYPD confiscating weapons. Meanwhile, a group of Trump supporters gathered at the Arizona Capitol and Maricopa County elections center in Phoenix to demand election workers keep counting ballots. In Nevada, about 75 Trump supporters gathered for a brief protest outside the Clark County Election Center where poll workers were certifying ballots. They chanted "Stop the Steal." More than 100 events are planned nationwide through Saturday, organized by local partners of Protect the Results, a coalition of more than 165 grassroots organizations, advocacy groups and labor unions. The group, led by activist groups Indivisible and Stand Up America, has decided not to hold hundreds more events that were initially planned. | | | Senate race: Republicans likely to keep control | | Several Senate races are still undecided as of Thursday. Alaska, Georgia and North Carolina have not yet declared winners. So far, Republicans have fended off challenges in a number of key races. In Georgia, one Senate race is headed to a runoff while the other is too close to call. Meanwhile, in North Carolina, Republican incumbent Thom Tillis is just two percentage points above his Democratic challenger Cal Cunningham. Even after polling predicted a blue wave would tilt the balance of the Senate in the Democrats' favor , it is likely to remain controlled by Republicans. There were 35 Senate seats at stake in the election. Democrats would need a net gain of three or four seats to win a majority in the Senate, which is currently held by Republicans with 53 senators. Democrats count 45 senators and there are two independent senators who caucus with them. | | | House Democrats didn't see 'blue wave' to expand majority | | While Democrats will likely hold their control of the House of Representatives, Republicans had big wins for Tuesday's election that could narrow Democrats' majority. Speaker Nancy Pelosi was on track to keep control of the House, but saw her majority shrinking and her leadership called into question. Republicans flipped back several key seats that Democrats won in the 2018 midterms, unseating freshmen incumbents in South Florida, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Iowa, as well as a Minnesota lawmaker who was one of the chamber's longest-serving members. GOP candidates also defended key seats in Texas, many that were thought to be vulnerable in suburban areas, while Democrats captured two previously Republican seats that were redistricted under court order and a third seat in the Atlanta suburbs. | | | US passes 100K single-day COVID-19 count, England enters new lockdown | | A fall surge of COVID-19 — the one experts warned for months was likely — appears to be here, as the U.S. passed 100,000 cases reported in a single day according to Johns Hopkins University on Thursday. It's a new record for the country that's already confirmed more cases than any other nation. Cases continue to rise at an exponential rate just a couple days after Americans went to the polls to elect a president, though the virus wasn't on most voters' minds: only 1 in 6 cited the pandemic as most important to their vote. Meanwhile, England on Thursday began a four-week national lockdown aimed at halting a surge of COVID-19 cases. The plan was announced Saturday after new projections showed that hospitals could be swamped with patients in a matter of weeks. The lockdown will close nonessential retail shops, pubs, restaurants and entertainment businesses, though schools will remain open. The U.K. has Europe's deadliest outbreak of COVID-19, with 46,807 deaths recorded through Sunday. | | | In other news: | | | A burning, age-old question, answered 🥔 | | November means turkey, mashed potatoes and bright orange candied yams or, depending on who you ask, candied sweet potatoes. While some may use sweet potato and yam interchangeably, botanically speaking, they are completely different vegetables. Even though both are starchy tubers, sweet potatoes and yams are not the same species or even in the same family. Now you know (if you didn't before). | | | | | | | |
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