How Trump, Biden will spend Election Day

President Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden will watch results come in on Tuesday night in markedly different ways that sum up how the two candidates have approached campaigning during a pandemic the last several months.

Trump is expected to remain at the White House on Tuesday, culminating in a campaign party where hundreds of guests are likely to be in attendance. 

Biden, meanwhile, will make a final pitch to voters in Pennsylvania before taking in the results in his home state of Delaware. He is scheduled to deliver remarks from Wilmington, joined only by family and a small cadre of supporters.

The president’s schedule has him remaining in Washington, D.C., on Election Day after a furious close to the campaign that saw him hold 14 rallies in the last three days.

Trump initially hoped to hold a large party at his downtown hotel alongside family, staff and supporters, but the idea was quashed by local restrictions on large gatherings meant to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

Instead, he will call into “Fox & Friends” in the morning followed by a visit to his campaign offices in nearby Arlington, Va., to meet with staff. Hundreds of guests are expected to file into the White House in the evening.

“The president is very excited to watch election results from the White House, which only an incumbent president gets to do. He’s energetic. He feels the momentum. For a lot of us this feels very similar to 2016,” White House communications director Alyssa Farah said on Fox News.

While most, if not all guests who attend Tuesday night will be tested for the coronavirus, the administration has taken a lax approach to enforcing the use of face masks or social distancing amid the pandemic. That attitude was unchanged even after Trump and several of his top aides contracted the virus.

Biden, meanwhile, will use the first half of Election Day to try to turn out any last minute undecided voters in the crucial swing state of Pennsylvania, the third straight day the Democratic nominee will hold events there.

The former vice president will hold voter mobilization events in his childhood hometown of Scranton and Philadelphia.

Biden’s team has been tight-lipped about what exactly he will do once results start coming in, however, other than to say Biden will address the nation at some point on Tuesday night.

A stage with large video boards was being built outside the Chase Center in Wilmington on Monday, the same site where Biden delivered a speech in August accepting the Democratic Party’s nomination.

Biden will be joined on Tuesday night by his wife, as well as his running mate Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) and her spouse. Other than that, the crowd will likely be limited to family, staff and members of the media.

The contrast in scale of events reflects how the two candidates have approached a campaign defined by the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more than 230,000 Americans. Trump has held packed rallies where thousands of supporters gather close together with few wearing masks, while Biden has opted for smaller events or drive-in rallies where attendees can keep their distance.

With a surge in mail ballots this year due to the pandemic and some states legally unable to start counting those votes before Election Day, it’s unlikely there will be a clear winner on election night barring a landslide victory for one candidate.

That has led to uncertainty over how the evening will play out. There is speculation Trump may try declaring victory if early results indicate he is ahead before mail ballots are counted, though the president and his press secretary denied he planned to do so.

Biden campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon argued on a call Monday that it would be mathematically impossible for Trump to have won on Election Day, based on where they believe early returns to be and the timing of when results will be released in states such as Pennsylvania.

“Under no scenario will Donald Trump be declared a victor on election night, and that’s fundamentally how we want to approach tomorrow,” Dillon said.