10 things you need to know today: November 4, 2020

1. Biden leads in Electoral College but Trump claims victory

The U.S. presidential election remained too close to call early Wednesday as officials in several key battleground states continued to count ballots. Democratic nominee Joe Biden led in the projected Electoral College count, but President Trump prematurely claimed victory. Trump, who won Florida and several other key battlegrounds, claimed without evidence that election officials were trying to steal the election from him, and said he was "going to the U.S. Supreme Court" to stop the counting. Biden said he believed he would win but called for "patience" until all legal ballots are counted. Trump's chances hinge on holding onto North Carolina and Georgia. Biden needs to win at least two of three battleground Northern states — Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin — where counting could take days.

The Washington Post The New York Times

2. Democrats' chances of flipping the Senate fade

Democrats' hopes of winning control of the Senate dimmed on Tuesday as several vulnerable Republicans appeared to have won re-election. Democrats picked up seats in Colorado, where former Gov. John Hickenlooper unseated Republican Sen. Cory Gardner, and Arizona, where former astronaut Mark Kelly beat GOP incumbent Martha McSally. But they lost a seat in deep red Alabama, where former college football coach Tommy Tuberville beat Democratic Sen. Doug Jones. Republicans held on in South Carolina, Iowa, Texas, Kansas, and Montana, sharply limiting Democrats' chances of picking up the seats they need to erase the GOP's current 53-47 majority. "You wasted a lot of money," said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) after defeating Jamie Harrison, who amassed a $100 million war chest in a bid to flip the seat.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

The Associated Press

3. Judge orders USPS to search for missing ballots

A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the U.S. Postal Service to search for misplaced absentee ballots in battleground states and states with tight deadlines for counting mail-in votes. The order came after the USPS said about 300,000 ballots nationwide had received entry scans at mail processing facilities, but not exit scans. U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan for the District of Columbia ordered the checks and heightened supervision at the facilities in 15 states at the request of civil rights groups, including the NAACP and Vote Forward. Voting and postal experts have said the Postal Service should be able to process 97 percent of incoming ballots, but processing scores for the past five days fell from 97.1 percent on Oct. 28 to 89.6 percent on Nov. 2. The USPS said late Tuesday it wasn't complying with the order.

The Washington Post Tampa Bay Times

4. Democrats retain House majority but fall short of expectations

Democrats appeared to have held onto their House majority in Tuesday's election, but Republicans did better than predicted. Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene, an adherent of the right-wing QAnon conspiracy theory, won in Georgia's 14th congressional district against Democrat Kevin Van Ausdal. In another closely watched House race, Republican Madison Cawthorn defeated Democrat Moe Davis in North Carolina's 11th district; Cawthorn will take the seat formerly held by Mark Meadows, who is now White House chief of staff. Democrats flipped two other seats in North Carolina. In Georgia's 6th district, Democrat Lucy McBath beat out Republican Karen Handel. Rep. Lois Frankel (D-Fla.) easily defeated far-right provocateur Laura Loomer. Republicans have flipped two seats in south Florida, ousting Democratic Reps. Donna Shalala and Debbie Mucarsel-Powell.

The Washington Post

5. Stocks mixed as presidential election remains undecided

U.S. stock index futures fluctuated early Wednesday as the U.S. presidential election remained too close to call. The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged down while the S&P 500 rose slightly, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq jumped by 2.4 percent. The three main U.S. indexes all jumped on Tuesday while millions of Americans were at the polls voting in the general election. It was the second-best Election Day for the S&P 500 on record after 2008, though trading has only been taking place on the day since 1984. While there's some indication that Wall Street is anticipating a Joe Biden victory, the upward trend could simply be a sign that investors are betting on a decisive election one way or another, despite fears of a drawn-out contest. If the latter scenario does end up being the case, there's a chance the markets could reverse.

CNBC

6. Hurricane Eta weakens after slamming into Nicaragua

Hurricane Eta hit northern Nicaragua on Tuesday as a potentially catastrophic Category 4 storm with top sustained winds of 140 miles per hour. Eta, only the fifth Category 4 or stronger hurricane to ever make landfall in the Central American nation, ripped roofs off houses and uprooted trees. The storm's heavy rains caused landslides and flooded roads in Nicaragua and Honduras. The storm lost intensity as it moved inland over mountains, weakening to tropical storm force with top winds of 70 mph. It was expected to weaken further to a tropical depression by Thursday before turning northeast and back into the Caribbean.

Weather.com National Hurricane Center

7. 14 arrested, questioned over deadly Vienna shooting

Austrian police arrested and began questioning 14 people Tuesday in connection with a shooting that left four victims and a gunman dead in Vienna. Authorities initially said they believed as many as four attackers could have been involved, but they later said there was no evidence that more than one gunman had participated in the overnight rampage. "The videos evaluated so far do not reveal any evidence of a second perpetrator," Austrian Interior Minister Karl Nehammer said. "Because the evaluation has not yet been completed, however, we cannot finally say how many perpetrators are actually responsible for the crime." Nehammer identified the suspect who was killed as Fejzulai Kujtim, 20. He had a criminal record for ties with a terrorist organization. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack.

NBC News

8. 'Miracle' girl pulled from rubble 4 days after Turkey's deadly earthquake

Rescuers in Turkey on Tuesday pulled a 3-year-old girl from the rubble of an apartment building that collapsed four days ago in a powerful 7.0 magnitude earthquake that hit the city of Izmir. A worker heard the girl, identified as Ayda Gezgin, crying out as a recovery crew slowly removed concrete and other debris, layer by layer. The team immediately put out a call to silence generators and the leader of the team spoke to the trapped girl, who apparently was shielded by a dishwashing machine when the building collapsed. "I'm fine," she replied, according to the Interior Ministry. The rescue work went on despite the danger of another strong temblor. There have been 1,500 aftershocks since the Friday earthquake, which killed dozens. Authorities called the girl "our miracle."

NPR

9. China halts Ant's massive IPO

China on Tuesday abruptly suspended financial technology powerhouse Ant Group's initial public offering of stock, which was on track to raise at least $34.4 billion in what would be the largest IPO ever. China rebuked the company's controlling shareholder, billionaire co-founder Jack Ma, and the Shanghai Stock Exchange postponed the IPO a day after four regulatory agencies summoned Ma and two top Ant executives to a private meeting. The company said its Hong Kong listing also would be suspended, and investors who subscribed to the IPO would get their money back. "Ant Group apologizes for the trouble this has caused investors," the company said in a post on Chinese social media. The unexpected development so close to the listing was "very striking," said Cornell University trade policy professor Eswar Prasad.

The Wall Street Journal

10. New Jersey, Arizona vote to legalize recreational marijuana

New Jersey and Arizona are projected to approve ballot measures legalizing recreational marijuana. Meanwhile, Oregon is expected to take a completely unprecedented step, decriminalizing the possession of some illegal drugs. Several drug-related measures were on ballots across the country, and all those that would loosen drug restrictions are so far winning, including in Mississippi, South Dakota, and Montana. South Dakota is projected to overwhelmingly approve a measure to let people with "debilitating medical conditions" possess 3 oz. of marijuana. The Oregon measure decriminalizes the possession of illegal drugs, such as cocaine, heroin, Oxycodone, and methamphetamine. Separately in Florida, nearly two-thirds of voters have agreed with a constitutional amendment to raise Florida's minimum wage from $8.56 to $15 an hour.

The Associated Press