Biden Declared Winner in Arizona; Trump Down 11.4K but Says He Will Win with Audit

Several media outlets, including CNN and the New York Times, have called Arizona for Joe Biden (D), who leads President Trump by roughly 11.4 thousand votes, though the president has expressed confidence that he will emerge as the victor if an audit is conducted.

More than a week after the election, several media outlets fell in line with Fox News and declared Biden the victor of the presidential race in the Grand Canyon State. Trump did not hit the markers he needed in Thursday evening’s ballot drop in Maricopa County, taking 43 percent of approximately 4,000 ballots counted. That leaves Trump trailing Biden by 11,434, according to the Arizona Republic, though other estimates vary.

According to Data Orbital, roughly 16 thousand ballots remain, 5.5 thousand of which are provisional ballots:

Multiple Counties:

Cochise – 64.9%/33.2% Trump to Biden (1,122 votes)
Pima – 50.2%/47.6% Trump to Biden (5,589 votes)
Ballots left to count statewide – 16k (5.5k provisional)

Statewide margin: 11,034 for Biden#Election2020 #ElectionResults2020 #AZ

— Data Orbital (@Data_Orbital) November 13, 2020

“Now, Trump has no path to victory in a state that’s long been a Republican stronghold,” the outlet reported.

However, President Trump sees a clear path to victory, which hinges on a statewide audit.

“Arizona — it’ll be down to 8,000 votes, and if we can do an audit of the millions of votes, we’ll find 8,000 votes easy. If we can do an audit, we’ll be in good shape there,” Trump said in an interview with the Washington Examiner’s Byron York.

He expressed a similar sentiment Thursday on Twitter:

From 200,000 votes to less than 10,000 votes. If we can audit the total votes cast, we will easily win Arizona also! https://t.co/3eZHjdZL98

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 12, 2020

This week, Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs (D) rejected Arizona Senate President Karen Fann’s (R) request for an “independent analysis” of voting data, concluding that it would only serve to boost the voices of people who seek to “undermine our democratic process for political gain.”

Hobbs has a well-documented history of expressing disdain for both Trump and his supporters, accusing the president of siding with “Nazis” and referring to his “deplorable” base as neo-Nazis.