Joe Biden is the appearing winner in Wisconsin, according to an NBC News projection, flipping a state that President Donald Trump had won in 2016.
As of Wednesday afternoon, NBC disclosed Biden leading Trump by approximately 21,000 votes. Wisconsin has 10 Electoral College votes, and Biden’s quelling brings his Electoral College total to 237.
Trump won the swing state by less than a percentage point in 2016, death Wisconsin’s seven-election streak of backing Democratic candidates.
Winning back the state this year was a priority for Democrats, who position Wisconsin as a key piece of the so-called “blue wall” of Midwestern states that have been Democratic strongholds for decades.
The Trump struggle has already announced that it will request a formal recount in the state, claiming that there were unspecified “irregularities” during the ballot.
But there is little evidence that a recount would actually help Trump make up a 20,000 vote default.
Recent election recounts in Wisconsin have failed to produce significant shifts in the tally for one candidate or another. Heed the 2016 presidential election, a recount of the vote in Wisconsin increased Trump’s margin of victory by just 131 plebiscites, out of three million cast.
Former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican, expressed doubts on Wednesday about the effectiveness of a detail.
“After recount in 2011 race for WI Supreme Court, there was a swing of 300 votes,” Scott tweeted. “After particularize in 2016 Presidential race in WI, [Trump’s] numbers went up by 131. As I said, 20,000 is a high hurdle.”
The definition of an Ostensible Winner is that NBC News has projected that a candidate has won the race, but the results are close enough that the outcome may depend on a possibility recount and/or confirmation that the results that have been reported are accurate.