Ohio’s Republican governor says ‘it appears Joe Biden will be the next president’

Only a handful of top Republicans have said Biden is the election winner as Trump digs in on legal challenges

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine recognised Joe Biden as the president-elect on Thursday, becoming one of the few senior Republican officials to do as Donald Trump continues contesting the election’s apparent outcome.

Mr Biden leads the incumbent president by over 5m votes nationally and by tens of thousands each in several key swing states, according to the Associated Press. The former vice president also has garnered 290 electoral votes to Mr Trump’s 217, surpassing the 270 needed to win.

The president’s campaign has filed around 20 lawsuits in battlegrounds like Pennsylvania, Nevada, Michigan and Georgia, arguing various forms of voter fraud occurred there. They have zeroed in on affidavits from election workers and others who claim to have seen fraud first-hand. Some have recanted, and federal judges have been tossing each suit as baseless.

So far, only a handful of GOP senators – including Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Ben Sasse of Nebraska, and a few House members – have said Mr Biden is the rightful next president.

The Ohio chief executive joined them on Thursday morning.

During a discussion on CNN about his state working with the Trump administration on the coronavirus, Mr DeWine credited Vice President Mike Pence for helping state leaders and making top medical experts available to them.

He also signaled he thinks Mr Pence and Mr Trump should concede the election: “It appears Joe Biden will be the next president of the United States.”