Joe Biden topped President Trump by nearly 7 million votes, and 74 votes in the Electoral College, but his victory really was stitched together with narrow margins in key states.
The Trump campaign paid $3 million to get recounts in two heavily Democratic counties in Wisconsin. The effort backfired in Milwaukee County, at least, where Biden expanded his margin of victory.
In a blistering opinion, a federal appeals court has thrown out the Trump campaign's challenge to the certification of votes in Pennsylvania. Trump's lawyers say they will appeal to the Supreme Court.
The president has made it clear that he will spend his remaining days in the White House in the same way he spent much of his term in office: fighting.
The campaign is filing for recounts in Milwaukee and Dane counties — and paying $3 million for it. Wisconsin does not have automatic recounts, although a losing candidate can file a sworn petition.
In the 2020 election, the rural-urban divide sharpened even further from 2016, with Republicans consolidating power in rural America which could help them hold onto the U.S. Senate.
The Republican members of the bipartisan Wayne County Board of Canvassers sought to block the certification of the state's most populous county — but they soon relented under withering criticism.
Remarkably few counties shifted in the 2020 election, which saw sky-high turnout. The president's base voted in big numbers in rural areas, but Biden's gains in the suburbs propelled him to victory.