Biden gains ground in White House vote count as Trump mounts legal challenges

Democrat Joe Biden edged closer to victory in the U.S. presidential race on Thursday as election officials tallied votes in the handful of states that will determine the outcome and protesters took to the streets.

President Donald Trump alleged fraud without providing evidence, filed lawsuits and called for recounts in a race yet to be decided two days after polls closed.

The race was coming down to close contests in five states. Biden held narrow leads in Nevada and Arizona while Trump was watching his slim advantage fade in must-win states Pennsylvania and Georgia as mail-in and absentee votes were being counted. The Republican president clung to a narrow lead in North Carolina as well, another must-win for him.

Trump had to win the states where he was still ahead plus either Arizona or Nevada to triumph and avoid becoming the first incumbent U.S. president to lose a re-election bid since fellow Republican George H.W. Bush in 1992.

Edison Research gave Biden a 243 to 213 lead in Electoral College votes, which are largely based on a state’s population. Other networks said Biden had won Wisconsin, which would give him another 10 votes. To win, a candidate needs 270 votes.

The counting and court challenges set the stage for days if not weeks of uncertainty before the Electoral College meets on Dec. 14 and the next president is sworn in on Jan. 20.

With tensions rising, about 200 of Trump’s supporters, some armed with rifles and handguns, gathered outside an election office in Phoenix, Arizona, on Wednesday following unsubstantiated rumors that votes were not being counted.