The 2020 United States presidential election between Republican incumbent Donald J. Trump and Democratic challenger, former Vice President Joe Biden, began on November 3, 2020.  As of November 7, Joe Biden is presumed victorious and will take office in 2021.  His running mate, Kamala Harris is set to become the first female vice president.

In this year’s election, the act of voting took on a major overhaul, as according to the U.S. Elections Project, an estimated 100 million Americans voted early, mainly by mail, due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Because of this change, the election could not be decided on the night of November 3, and votes continued to be counted throughout the rest of the week.  

States such as Pennsylvania, Georgia, Arizona, and Nevada proved to be the closest, and Trump and Biden both found themselves exchanging leads as days went on. However, Biden ultimately is projected to get the needed 270 electoral votes to win the election, making Trump the first one-term president since George H.W. Bush, who lost in 1992. 

As of November 13, Joe Biden has won 306 electoral votes compared to Trump’s 232, coincidentally matching Trump’s victory in 2016. Biden and Trump also both became the most voted for candidates in American history, as around 78 million Americans voted for Biden, and 73 million for Trump.

However, Biden’s win has not been accepted by the Trump campaign, mainly due to unproven allegations of voter fraud.  The Trump campaign has filed several lawsuits in multiple states regarding these claims. These claims have mainly come from the fact that the majority of mail-in ballots being counted after election day, came from those who primarily vote Democratic.  Trump believes that many of these votes could have come from fraudulent backgrounds.

Nonetheless, Joe Biden and his running mate Harris, both made speeches to the American people, accepting their victory. In an election like no other, in a year like no other, it is unclear how this event will play out, or when a Trump concession will occur.