Trump supporters demonstrate across the country following Biden-Harris win

Supporters of President Trump gathered across state capitols on Saturday to protest the 2020 presidential election after President-elect Joe Biden was named the winner. 

Biden clinched the state of Pennsylvania and its 20 electoral votes early Saturday, propelling him to the 270 Electoral College votes needed to secure the presidency. 

Shortly afterward, multiple media outlets including NBC, MSNBC, CNN, The Associated Press and Fox News called the race for the former vice president. 

President Trump, however, has refused to concede defeat to his opponent and continued to allege on Saturday that he won the election. 

“THE OBSERVERS WERE NOT ALLOWED INTO THE COUNTING ROOMS. I WON THE ELECTION, GOT 71,000,000 LEGAL VOTES. BAD THINGS HAPPENED WHICH OUR OBSERVERS WERE NOT ALLOWED TO SEE. NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE. MILLIONS OF MAIL-IN BALLOTS WERE SENT TO PEOPLE WHO NEVER ASKED FOR THEM!,” Trump tweeted in all caps. 

Trump has claimed repeatedly and without evidence that the Democrats have tried to steal the election with the president stating as early Wednesday that the contest was a “fraud.”

He has also doubled down on his claims that mail-in ballots have lead to widespread voter fraud. 

His campaign team has filed lawsuits in several battleground states this week as the odds for a Biden victory became increasingly likely. 

Pro-Trump Demonstrators turned up in the battleground states of Georgia, Michigan and Wisconsin on Saturday where Biden was either declared the winner or where he leads in the vote tally. 

About 200 demonstrators gathered in front of the Georgia State Capitol in Atlanta to protest the results of the election, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The crowd included Rep.-elect Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who has expressed support for the QAnon conspiracy theory. She won the election for the Peach State’s 14th Congressional District on Tuesday.  

Georgia “is not a blue state,” Greene said according to AJC. The crowd reportedly chanted “Mar-jor-ie, Mar-jor-ie!”

Greene also pledged to help the president contest the results of the election, the news outlet reported.

“The radical left is the party of violence. They are the party of hate. They are the party of racism,” she said. 

The president-elect is leading the president in the state by a razor-thin margin of just over 7,000 votes, with the Georgia secretary of State earlier this week predicting that officials will likely have to conduct a recount. 

Meanwhile, other supporters gathered in Harrisburg, Pa., to protest the results. Footage taken by HuffPost reporter Christopher Mathias shows the crowd chanting “USA” and some protesters appeared to be armed. 

The MAGA “stop the steal” crowd has moved to the PA capitol steps. An armed militia has joined them pic.twitter.com/CwXuYRycKE

— Christopher Mathias (@letsgomathias) November 7, 2020

Demonstrators also gathered in Madison, Wis. to protest the results.

Biden was declared the winner of the Badger State on Wednesday, leading President Trump by 0.6 percentage points, and more than 20,000 votes. However, the president’s campaign has already signaled that it will request a recount in the state. 

Trump supporters gathered in front of the Wisconsin Capitol building. Speaker is saying something about China. pic.twitter.com/gRhEyqx2Cr

— Ken Klippenstein (@kenklippenstein) November 7, 2020

Across the country in Salem, Ore., hundreds of protesters also gathered outside of the Oregon State Capitol for a similar rally. Biden won the traditionally blue state handily, and the race was called for the former vice president on election night. 

“We’ve got to dig deep,” one demonstrator says. “Nothing is given to you, nothing’s given to us.”

About 400 people at the Oregon capital, similar rallies are taking place nationwide pic.twitter.com/mIfjYs44e6

— Sergio Olmos (@MrOlmos) November 7, 2020

The demonstrators were joined by Republican Jo Rae Perkins, who unsuccessfully tried to unseat Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), according to the Salem Statesman Journal. She said the results are not final until all ballots are certified.

“This is an appeal to Heaven,” she said according to the news outlet. “We need to pray for Trump, for his family and for his Cabinet.”

More footage of the Oregon rally revealed protesters chasing down a cameraman and pepper-spraying a woman. 

Trump supporters shove photographer pic.twitter.com/cyY1g9K5HU

— Sergio Olmos (@MrOlmos) November 7, 2020

Protesters in Lansing, Mich., showed demonstrators praying together, according to bystander footage taken by The Guardian reporter Lois Beckett. Beckett added on Twitter that the president’s supporters did not believe he had lost and cast doubt on the validity of the election results. 

As news outlets called the race for Biden today, Trump supporters in Lansing said they did not believe he had lost, and that did not believe they could trust the election results. Here, they said the Lord’s Prayer together. pic.twitter.com/RtFmohTphu

— Lois Beckett (@loisbeckett) November 7, 2020

Later in the day Wednesday, media outlets called the race for Biden in Michigan. The president-elect won the state by over 2 points, one of the largest margins for Biden in any battleground state to date where he’s scored a victory.

The Trump campaign filed a lawsuit in the Wolverine State shortly after the president’s loss seeking to stop vote counting and claiming that Republican election observers did not have close enough access to watch the process take place. On Thursday, a judge dismissed the suit. 

Vote counting continues in Georgia, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Alaska and North Carolina. The president leads Biden in Alaska and North Carolina.