No Clear Winner As Presidential Vote-Counting Continues Into
Wednesday Several senators with national-security posts win
re-election.
There was no decisive winner of the 2020 U.S. presidential
election as of midnight on Wednesday night, leaving Americans
anxious, uncertain and wary of potential unrest as votes continue
to be counted in the days to come.
Democratic candidate Joe Biden led President Donald Trump by 213
to 145 electoral votes in the early hours on Wednesday, with key
battleground states like Pennsylvania and Michigan still
outstanding and not expected to report their tallies overnight.
Wisconsin was also too close to call.
Tuesday proved a quiet day at the polls, with few disruptions
either digital or physical. But the unexpectedly close race raised
the specter of days more of vote counting, and potential court
challenges in closely-run states that could prolong a definitive
result even longer.
That, in turn, raised simmering fears of unrest, in particular
from armed militia supporters of President Donald Trump, who have
threatened violence — even civil war — leading up to or after the
election.
Trump and his campaign have stoked those fears. Trump campaign
advisor Jason Miller falsely claimed on Sunday that counting valid
mail-in ballots after Nov. 3 would constitute a Democratic attempt
to “steal” electoral votes. Trump, who has repeatedly declined to
say whether he will accept the results of the election if he loses
to Biden, tweeted Monday night that a recent Supreme Court decision
allowing Pennsylvania to continue counting mail-in ballots
postmarked before the election but received after Nov. 3 “will
allow rampant and unchecked cheating” and “induce violence in the
streets,” adding: “Something must be done!” (Twitter masked the
tweet, requiring viewers to click through and read a warning that
some of its content “might be misleading about an election or other
civic process.”)
The ambiguous end to the evening also leaves the future
of American foreign policy up for grabs.
If Trump wins, it would put American voters’ imprimatur on the
president’s norm-busting and chaotic foreign policy, while delaying
for another four years a debate over the future of the Republican
party and its policies in a post-Trump Washington.
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If Biden wins, it would herald a more traditional foreign-policy
approach to come and lodge a victory for scores of national
security professionals and former administration officials from
both parties who had warned publicly of the dangers of a second
Trump term.
In other ways, a Biden victory may enshrine the Trump
administration’s approach. The 2017 National Security Strategy,
which prioritizes threats from Russia and China over the threat of
terrorism, is expected to remain the broad frame for a Biden
administration’s foreign policy.
And Biden will face many of the same key national security
threats that have confronted Trump. A China that is increasingly
muscular on the world stage. Ongoing Russian and Iranian
provocations. The threat from ISIS and other Islamist terror groups
still active in hotspots around the globe. The economic and public
health fall-out from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Both candidates had called for ending the so-called “forever
wars,” with approaches that were almost identical when it came to
Afghanistan: Pull out the majority of combat troops while
preserving some counterterrorism capabilities through the undefined
use of special operations forces.
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The worst of Americans’ fears about Election Day
violence had not come to pass, at least as of 12 a.m. Wednesday
morning. Americans voted in the tens of millions with few reports
of irregularities. A spokesman for the National Guard Bureau, Army
Master Sgt. Michael Houk, said late on Tuesday morning that
regional rapid response units created in September to respond
quickly to state governor’s requests for law enforcement assistance
received no requests.
By midnight, neither Trump nor Biden had spoken.
That Tuesday night should close without a definitive winner was
not unexpected.
“This is an Election Day that may end up looking like an
Election Week,” Rep. Cheri Bustos, D-Ill., head of the Democratic
Congressional Campaign Committee, told reporters in a Zoom call
Tuesday morning. “I hope [it’s] not a whole lot longer than that,
but if it [is], the goal here is to count every single vote, and we
have a whole team leading up to this.”
Here are the results of notable races with national
security implications:
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Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., the 85-year-old Senate Armed
Services Committee chairman won his reelection bid against
31-year-old Democrat challenger Abby Broyles, a journalist and
attorney Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., ranking member of the Senate Armed
Services Committee, won reelection against Republican challenger
Allen Waters. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., a member of the Senate
Armed Services Committee, beat Republican challenger Corky Messner.
Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, a member of the Senate Armed Services
Committee, beat challenger Theresa Greenfield in one of the most
expensive races in the country. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., vice
chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, won his
re-election over Daniel Gade, a retired Army lieutenant colonel,
according to AP. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a member of the
Senate Armed Services Committee, defeated democratic challenger
Jaime Harrison. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., who has no Democrat
challenger, won reelection. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, a member of
the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, defeated Mary “MJ”
Hegar, a former Air Force combat search-and-rescue helicopter pilot
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell defeated Amy McGrath (D), a
retired Marine Corps pilot. Rep. Adam Smith, D-Washington, House
Armed Services Committee chair, defeated Republican challenger Doug
Basler.
Still unknown at press time
Sen. Martha McSally, R-Ariz. — who was appointed to the seat
after Sen. Jon Kyl, who was appointed to the same seat after Sen.
John McCain’s death — vs. Democrat challenger Mark Kelly, a former
astronaut and Navy pilot. Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., vs. Democrat
challenger Jon Ossoff. Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, vs. Democrat
challenger Theresa Greenfield. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, vs.
Democrat challenger Sara Gideon, speaker of the Maine House of
Representatives.