Joe Biden Projected Winner In Michigan Over Donald Trump

MICHIGAN — Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden is the projected winner in Michigan, a state President Donald Trump won by fewer than 11,000 votes in 2016 over Hillary Clinton.

The projections, made Wednesday afternoon by CNN and NBC News, made Michigan the second state after Wisconsin in part of the so-called "blue wall" Biden has claimed in 2020 on his effort to reach 270 Electoral College votes.

Trump was ahead early on in Michigan, carrying a lead into early Wednesday morning. But as election officials across the state continued counting ballots, including a large number of absentee and mail-in ballots, the state's totals slowly turned blue.

As of about 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, and with about 99 percent of votes tallied in Michigan, Biden has a growing lead over Trump. Biden has pulled in 2,672,896 votes to Trump's 2,611,661, according to unofficial results provided by The Detroit News.

See the latest results below as they come in:

Biden: 2,672,896

Trump: 2,611,661

In Southeast Michigan, information shows Trump with a firm grab of Macomb County, but Biden leads in Wayne and Oakland counties.

Trump leads Biden 264,467 to 225,509 votes in Macomb County, where 100 percent of precincts are reporting as of 12:42 p.m., according to unofficial totals. The county said it does not provide precinct data until both that respective precinct's Election Day and absentee ballots have been recorded.

Biden leads in Oakland County, where he has collected 438,147 votes to Trump's 328,313, according to the county's unofficial results.

In Wayne County, information from the county clerk shows Biden with a stronger lead over Trump. The president has garnered 253,255 votes, while the clerk's data shows Biden with 552,138.

Patch is updating this article with results as they come in. Refresh this page for the latest. Subscribe to receive free real time results in Michigan.

Michigan had been a blue state for essentially every presidential election over the past 25 years until voting in Trump's favor in 2016.

In 2016, Michigan went with Trump over Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton — but it was close. Trump won the Mitten State by 10,704 votes, his smallest margin of victory in the nation.

Related: Joe Biden Projected Winner In Close Wisconsin Race: AP, NBC

Heading into Tuesday's election, Biden carried a strong lead in Michigan, up about 5.1 points according to RealClearPolitics.

Polls have been in question since 2016, when many pointed to Clinton as the heavy favorite. She held a nearly 4 percentage point lead over Trump into that election. The same could be said in Michigan, where many polls predicted at the time that Clinton coming out ahead of her Republican counterpart. But Trump carried Michigan on his way to a presidential victory.

Due to the issues in 2016, many pollsters altered their polling methods ahead of Tuesday's elections.

The last presidential election cycle also carried many more voters who considered themselves on the fence, according to a poll conducted by The New York Times and Siena College. Michigan polls in 2016 showed that Trump carried narrow majorities of independents.

The Times reports that Trump's popularity isn't what it once was among independents or white voters, leading Biden by just 1 percentage point.

Both candidates have made several stops to the Mitten State trying to sway voters currently undecided. Trump spoke in Muskegon on Oct. 17 in support of law enforcement, then followed that up with his first trip to the Lansing area since 2016 Oct. 27. He spent more time in Midwest over the weekend, holding a rally in Oakland County Friday, another rally in Macomb County on Sunday, and then spent Monday back-and-forth between Traverse City, Kenosha, Wisconin, before wrapping things up in Grand Rapids.

Biden visited Metro Detroit in October and September, with running mate Kamala Harris also taking trips to Oakland County.

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said Tuesday night she expected ballots to be counted in Michigan by Wednesday night, an optimistic claim after originally projecting that votes would be tallied by Friday.

The delay in counting votes and influx of absentee ballots prompted Trump to question some of the legitimacy of Michigan's voting situation.

Trump had already expressed concern after a strong lead in Michigan began to diminish, eventually being overtaken by Biden. He posted on social media accusations about "finding" ballots, when absentee and mail-in ballot totals were added to unofficial election results across the state.

"They are finding Biden votes all over the place — in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan. So bad for our Country!" Trump tweeted.

The president's campaign then took things a step further, filing lawsuits in several states, including Michigan, to halt ballot counting and demanding access to ballots.

Trump's campaign manager, Bill Stepien, said Wednesday that the lawsuit is also demanding to review ballots that were opened and counted while the campaign did not have access.

"As votes in Michigan continue to be counted, the presidential race in the state remains extremely tight as we always knew it would be," Stepien said in a statement. "President Trump's campaign has not been provided with meaningful access to numerous counting locations to observe the opening of ballots and the counting process, as guaranteed by Michigan law.

"President Trump is committed to ensuring that all legal votes are counted in Michigan and everywhere else."

Read More: Trump Campaign Files Lawsuit To Halt Ballot Counting In Michigan