Your Daily Roundup for November 4th

Good morning. As the COVID-19 pandemic takes a toll on life in America, our team at Future Majority is tracking the latest updates: 

The outcome for president remains uncertain, but what is clear is that all legal votes must be counted:

State and local election officials are continuing to count mostly mail-in ballots in a few key states that will ultimately decide the winner for president in the Electoral College. As it stands now, former Vice President Joe Biden has secured 227 Electoral Votes to President Trump’s 213. Biden is currently ahead in the total votes counted by 50.1% to 48.2%. With the surge of absentee ballots, it will take more time to count those votes, especially in states that put procedures in place to not begin processing those votes until after polls closed.

There are now razor thin margins in a few key states that will ultimately decide which candidate reaches 270 Electoral Votes: Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. The Future Majority team will continue to track the latest as vote counts come in.

In the Senate, an equally close race continues to unfold:

Democrats’ path to reclaiming control of the U.S. Senate narrowed as more outstanding votes were counted. As it currently stands, Democrats flipped two Senate seats in Arizona (Mark Kelly) and Colorado (John Hickenlooper). Republicans flipped one seat of their own in Alabama (Tommy Tuberville). With 6 seats left to be decided until all of the votes are counted, the Senate is currently a 47-47 tie. In Georgia, Raphael Warnock (D) and Kelly Loeffler (R) advanced to a runoff, while the other seat up for grabs remained too close to call. Also too close or too early to call are elections in Alaska, Michigan, Maine and North Carolina. 

In the U.S. House, Democrats are projected to keep control of the chamber, though Republicans have opportunities to chip away at their majority. 

COVID-19 is still surging:

The virus served as the backdrop and one of the key issues facing voters in the 2020 elections. On Tuesday alone, over 90,000 new cases were reported as several states continue to set records of new cases, and even states in the Northeast are returning back to dangerous levels of the virus they experienced in the spring but fended off over the summer. Very early exit polls show a stark partisan split in how voters view the pandemic. Those who named it as the top issue broke heavily for Joe Biden, while those who cited jobs and the economy broke overwhelmingly for Donald Trump.