Joe Biden on cusp of clinching victory  —  Joe Biden has pulled closer to President Donald Trump in Georgia and Pennsylvania, slowly expanding his pathways to victory as the campaigns brace for the release of results Thursday that could put the contest out of reach for the president.

Dem leaders warn liberal rhetoric could blow Georgia races  —  Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her top lieutenants had a stark warning for Democrats Thursday: swing too far left and they're all but certain to blow their chances in the Georgia runoff that will determine which party controls the Senate.

GOP Senate wins wreak havoc on Biden transition plans  —  Republicans' likely hold on the Senate is forcing Joe Biden's transition team to consider limiting its prospective Cabinet nominees to those who Mitch McConnell can live with, according to people familiar with the matter.

N.Y.P.D. Anti-Harassment Official Accused of Racist Rants  —  The official was relieved of his command after City Council investigators amassed evidence that he posted vitriolic messages online under the name “Clouseau.”  —  For more than 20 years, an online chat board called the Rant …

Long at odds with Trump, Defense Secretary Esper has prepared a resignation letter, say officials  —  WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Mark Esper has prepared a letter of resignation, according to three current defense officials.  —  It's not uncommon for Cabinet secretaries to prepare undated letters …

Biden slightly expands lead over Trump as Nevada releases first results in 24 hours  —  Joe Biden slightly expanded his narrow lead over President Donald Trump in Nevada on Thursday, though the number of outstanding ballots in urban Clark County suggests that the race in the Silver State is still the former vice president's to lose.

Yes, Democrats Are Trying To Steal The Election In Michigan, Wisconsin, And Pennsylvania  —  In the three Midwest battleground states, vote counting irregularities persist in an election that will be decided on razor-thin margins.  —  As of this writing, it appears that Democratic Party machines …

Trump ‘turning up the heat’ with rhetoric does not help his legal case over ballots, says Andrew McCarthy  —  ‘Turning up the heat politically does not help persuade the judges,’ McCarthy argues  —  Fox News Go  —  President Trump's “provocative” comments could dissuade the Supreme Court …

In latest batch, Trump gets share of votes he would need to reclaim Arizona.  But next rounds of ballots present new challenges  —  As Maricopa County released the results from 140,000 more ballots on Wednesday night and Thursday morning, President Donald Trump received almost the exact share …

Trump's Tweeting Isn't Crazy.  It's Strategic, Typos and All.  —  A network of right-wing operatives and activists — and the president himself — spread disinformation about Joe Biden with one simple hashtag.  —  Ms. Dreyfuss is a journalist at the Harvard Shorenstein Center's Technology and Social Change project.

The Repudiation  —  The 2020 election, it appears, was a staggering repudiation of Donald Trump.  Of him.  Personally.  —  You're not hearing this right now because the right is in denial about the results as it works through the stages of Kubler-Ross grief.

French bulldog named Wilbur elected mayor of Rabbit Hash, Kentucky  —  The Kentucky hamlet of Rabbit Hash has a new mayor — Wilbur, a 6-month-old French bulldog.  —  “Rabbit Hash, Kentucky, has never had an actual person or human as a mayor,” Amy Noland, Wilbur's human, told NBC News.

Where Presidential Election Votes Are Still Being Counted … Loading...  With both President Trump and Joe Biden still short of the 270 electoral votes needed to claim victory, anxious Americans are left with little to do but be patient and wait as election officials in key swing states furiously work …

The final implosion of Trump's Fox News propagandists  —  With President Trump mounting a frantic, last-ditch effort to stop the counting of votes that could doom his reelection, his Fox News propagandists are wheeling into action: One after another, they are raging that the election …

Late-night TV hosts express shock at close election: ‘I feel like I overestimated the American people’  —  Most of the late-night TV hosts had a critical caveat when they delivered their monologues Wednesday night.  —  “There's never been a more important time to mention that we tape this show …

Video falsely claims possible voter fraud in Detroit.  It actually shows a WXYZ photographer loading camera gear.  —  (WXYZ) — A video making the rounds on social media and other platforms that claims to show voter fraud and a wagon being loaded outside of the TCF Center in Detroit …

POLITICO Playbook PM: Has anyone seen Donald Trump?  —  IS ANYONE ELSE SURPRISED the president has not done a news conference or interview in the last 24 hours?  As his campaign aides and lawyers fan across the country, President DONALD TRUMP has been uncharacteristically quiet.  (Except on Twitter, of course.)

A Massive “Stop the Count” Facebook Group Has Ties to Republican Operatives  —  For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis, the election, and more, subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily newsletter.  —  A rapidly growing Facebook group falsely accusing Democrats of “scheming” …

Thousands of Omaha-area voters backed Democrat Biden, Republican Bacon  —  Jay C. Jackson describes himself as a pro-life Republican whose Papillion yard sported campaign signs this cycle for Rep. Don Bacon and Sen. Ben Sasse.  —  Next to that pair of Nebraska Republicans, however …

‘A decade of power’: Statehouse wins position GOP to dominate redistricting  —  Democrats spent big to take control of state legislatures but lost their key targets.  Now they'll be on the sidelines as new maps are drawn.  —  Protestors march in front of the Capitol in Austin, Texas …