President Donald Trump has a narrow path to 270 electoral college votes and Pennsylvania's crucial 20 votes will be too close to call on Election Night, according to political strategist Mark Halperin on Newsmax TV.
"We're not going to know Pennsylvania tonight," Halperin told host John Bachman on the network's special coverage. "Philadelphia is having trouble with counting. There are a lot of absentee ballots, mail-in ballots, still out there."
Pennsylvania was a key battleground coming into the election. It is Democrat Joe Biden's self-proclaimed home state as having grown up in Scranton, and it is led by Democrat Gov. Tom Wolf who has imposed ballot-counting extensions being challenged in cases that might ultimately wind up in the Supreme Court.
"He may not win Pennsylvania," Halperin said. "His team is feeling pretty good about it, but if he wins Pennsylvania, he still needs Arizona."
The early count in Arizona is in Biden's favor, he added, but Trump has "allies" in that state, including GOP Gov. Doug Ducey.
"The governor is a very strong ally of his," Halperin said. "The state legislature is controlled by Republicans. We all know that this process could get very complicated."
Halperin did open his own eyes to the possibility of Michigan given Trump an alternate path to 270 without Arizona or Pennsylvania.
"The president would have to win two of the three, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Michigan, and he would get reelected," Halperin said, noting the Trump campaign's late-night stops in Michigan on the final days might have proven to a game-changer there.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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