On November 3, 2020, Election Day in the United States, President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence faced off with the challengers, Former Vice President Joe Biden and his running mate, Senator Kamala Harris, in a tense election. In the end, Biden and Harris were victorious, leaving tens of millions of Americans stunned, whether they were excited or disappointed. Biden had accumulated 290 electoral votes, surpassing the minimum of 270 electoral votes, as opposed to Trump, who earned only 217 votes, losing the election by a significant margin of votes. 

Both candidates had expected victories in solidly red or blue states. Per everyone’s expectations, President Trump conquered much of the Deep South and Midwest, and Biden quickly won northeastern states like New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, and Vermont, along with other historically liberal states like California and Colorado. However, Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin, all former Trump-voting states, ended up surprising Americans by turning blue this time around, giving Biden a clear shot at the presidency. 

Texas and Florida, on the other hand, gave Democrats false hope; earlier in the night, Biden had pulled ahead of Trump by tens of thousands of votes in each of these states, only to fall far behind as the night went on. Referred to by some as a “blue mirage,” these states had counted mailed-in votes earlier, giving Biden a temporary lead before Trump’s vote count skyrocketed due to in-person voters. Had either one of these states with its massive amount of electoral votes turned blue, it would have been a clear victory for Biden, but since the two ultimately remained red, the results of the election came down to five battleground states. 

The apparent battleground states had proved themselves to be just as crucial as they were expected to be. By the end of Election Night, these five states – Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Georgia, Wisconsin, and Michigan – were the toss-ups. Overnight, Wisconsin flipped blue, and between November 4 and 7, as more mailed-in votes were counted, other states gradually flipped blue, including Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Georgia, perhaps the most unexpected blue state. While North Carolina remained red for days, Biden won enough other states, so in the end, President Trump lost enough of his former states – Arizona, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Georgia – to give Biden and Harris the victory. 

Despite this, President Trump published a Tweet on November 7, 2020, at 10:36 a.m. EST that reads, “I WON THIS ELECTION, BY A LOT!” Numerous false claims to victory, lawsuits, recounts, a multitude of allegations of voter fraud, and other unsubstantiated conspiracy theories are circulating the country this week, so the final results are not 100% confirmed. Nevertheless, a vast majority of credible news sources consider Biden to be the projected winner of this controversial election. 

As many Americans are wondering, what’s next for America? Who’s running in 2024? The answers to these questions will be revealed within the upcoming four years. Regardless of what the future holds, later generations will learn in their history classes that Donald Trump was an impeached, one-term president.