5 things to know for November 4: presidential race, hill & state races, Covid-19, Hurricane Eta

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LANSING, MICHIGAN – NOVEMBER 03: An election worker carries absentee ballots for counting at the Lansing city clerk’s office on election night on November 03, 2020 in Lansing, Michigan. President Trump narrowly won Michigan in 2016, and both he and Joe Biden campaigned heavily in the battleground state in 2020. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

AJ Willingham CNN

(CNN) — Who won the U.S. election: Incumbent President Donald Trump or former Vice President Joe Biden? As of this morning, it still isn’t clear.

Here’s what you need to know to get up to speed and on with your day.

(You can also get “5 Things You Need to Know Today” delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up here.) 

1. U.S. presidential election 

Right now, the electoral map looks fairly predictable, with Trump dominating in the South and Biden the Northeast and West Coast. Trump has also picked up the major swing states of Florida and Ohio, but the key battlegrounds of Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan are too close to call. So are Georgia, North Carolina and Arizona. This was an expected wrinkle, since states are having to add up absentee votes, early votes and day-of votes.

While several electoral combinations could make the difference in the race, you’ll want to keep your eye on those Rust Belt states. If the race remains unclear over the next day or so, things could get ugly. Early this morning, Trump attacked legitimate vote-counting efforts and said he would go all the way to the Supreme Court to get “all voting to stop.” The Trump campaign has also threatened legal action to curtail counting in Pennsylvania, where the typical late start on absentee ballot tabulations could hold up the process.

2. U.S. congressional races 

So far, there haven’t been too many surprises in Senate contests, but the race for control is still on. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Sen. Lindsey Graham retained their seats, and the parties traded a pair of flips: Democrat Doug Jones was ousted by Republican Tommy Tuberville (yes, the former Auburn football coach) in Alabama, and Colorado’s former Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper usurped a Republican Senate seat in his state. In Georgia, the special Senate race between Trump loyalist Sen. Kelly Loeffler and Democrat Raphael Warnock will go to a runoff. Other close races are still going on in Arizona, North Carolina, Maine and Georgia. In the House, prominent Democrats Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib and Ayanna Pressley all held onto their seats.

3. Other U.S. ballot decisions

Some voters had to make other notable decisions for their states:

• Arizona and New Jersey voted to legalize recreational marijuana use, CNN projects.

• South Dakota became the first state to approve both medical and recreational marijuana use on the same day.

• Republican Greg Gianforte will be Montana’s next governor.

• Colorado voters rejected a proposition that would have tightened restrictions on abortion.

• Louisiana voters added language to their constitution stating it offers no protections for a right to abortion or funding the procedure.

• Mississippians approved a new flag design featuring a magnolia and the phrase “In God We Trust.” State leaders decided to replace the old flag, which featured Confederate symbolism, over the summer.

4. Coronavirus  

While Americans voted, watched and waited yesterday, the U.S. recorded 91,000 new coronavirus cases. That’s the country’s second-highest daily case total ever. More than 50,000 Americans are currently hospitalized with the virus, and those numbers are trending upward in the vast majority of states. Overseas, China and Japan are seeing new spikes, as is India’s capital city of New Delhi. There have now been more than 46 million cases of the virus worldwide. Meanwhile, a study has found that pregnant women are more likely to become severely ill and die from Covid-19. Contracting the virus also puts pregnant women at increased risk for premature delivery, it claims. 

5. Hurricane Eta 

Hurricane Eta thrashed parts of Central America and is now headed toward the US Gulf Coast as a tropical storm. Eta brought massive storm surges and widespread damage to Nicaragua and Honduras, and ongoing heavy rains could lead to days of life-threatening flash floods and river flooding. The storm is expected to linger in the region for the next few days, dumping even more rain. Then it will travel over the Caribbean and possibly threaten the Gulf Coast and southeastern US by the end of the weekend.

Check your local forecast here>>> 

The-CNN-Wire

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