WGNO

‘We will immediately do so’: Trump campaign to request Wisconsin recount

US President Donald Trump visits his campaign headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, November 3, 2020. - A bitterly divided America was going to the polls on Tuesday amid the worst pandemic in a century and an economic crisis to decide whether to give President Donald Trump four more years or send Democrat Joe Biden to the White House. A record-breaking number of early votes -- more than 100 million -- have already been cast in an election that has the nation on edge and is being closely watched in capitals around the world. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP) (Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)

WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) — President Donald Trump’s campaign manager Bill Stepien says the president plans to “immediately” request a recount in the battleground state of Wisconsin, where the race remains close.

In Wisconsin, if a race is within 1 percentage point, the trailing candidate can force a recount.


On Wednesday afternoon, Biden had a lead of just 20,000 votes. A state election official told NBC News all the votes had been counted.

The Badger State is considered a battleground state, with 10 electoral votes.

Stepien says in a statement Wednesday: “The President is well within the threshold to request a recount and we will immediately do so.”

The fate of the United States presidency is hanging in the balance, with Trump and his Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, battling for three familiar battleground states — Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania — that could prove crucial in determining who wins the White House.

In the race to the 270 electoral votes needed to win, Biden has 238 while Trump has 213.

From the mid-1940s through 1985, Wisconsin has voted Republican a majority of the time. But the state then turned blue when Democrats won seven elections from 1988-2012.

In the 2016 election, Trump won Wisconsin by just 0.7%, beating out Hillary Clinton.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.