Trump Victory Projected NC Winner: Election Results

This story was updated at 2:55 p.m.

NORTH CAROLINA — President Donald Trump was projected as the winner in North Carolina Friday afternoon, according to NBC News. The projection — one of the last made in the country — comes as the state wrapped up final canvassing and after several public declarations of victory made by the president in the past week.

The victory in the Tar Heel State increased Trump's electoral votes by 15 to 232, NBC said. The win, however, is inconsequential to the outcome of the national race. President-Elect Joe Biden's win is expected to finalized with 306 Electoral College votes.

In Georgia, a hand recount of the general election began Friday, but news networks projected mid-afternoon that Democrat Joe Biden has won the state’s 16 electoral votes. The re-tallying by hand of the nearly 5 million votes cast in the 2020 presidential election is under way. Just after 2 p.m., both CNN and NBC said their projections showed the former vice president, already deemed the President-elect as of Saturday, when vote counts showed he had reached the 270 electoral votes needed to claim the presidency.

While all voting wrapped up in North Carolina Nov. 3, the final results weren't due until Nov. 13 due to the counting of absentee and accepted provisional ballots — a normal procedure that occurs after every major election held in the state.

The delay in winner projections in North Carolina proved to be both a source of frustration for the president and a marketing tool for his campaign.

"We have won North Carolina," asserted a fundraising letter soliciting money for Trump's Election Defense Fund sent out Thursday afternoon. All donations made to the fund under $8,000, however, are routed to Trump and the Republican National Committee for other spending priorities, including a political action committee that pays for a broad array of personal expenses, Reuters reported Wednesday.

"Winning North Carolina is a historic achievement, but we can't stop now. President Trump is calling on his BEST supporters, like YOU, to ensure we have the resources to finish the fight." the fundraising letter said.

In 2016, Trump won the state in his race against Democratic challenger Hillary Clinton by 173,315 votes.

SEE ALSO: NC Voting Was Fair, Accurate: Results of Patch Reader Survey

While the fundraising letter asserted victory, a Tweet sent out by the president earlier in the day unveiled impatience with the state's electoral timeline, codified by law. Thursday was the deadline for election officials to receive all legally valid absentee ballots that were postmarked by Nov. 3.

"What is taking North Carolina so long?" Trump said Thursday morning, via Twitter. The message was flagged by the social media company for including a disputed election fraud claim. "Are they looking for more ballots to fix that one also?"

As of 2:45 p.m. Friday, Trump led Democrat and President-elect Joe Biden by 73,698 votes, according to the North Carolina State Board of Elections.

One of the most hotly contested U.S. Senate races in the country's general election ended earlier this week when Democrat Cal Cunningham conceded the race to Republican incumbent Thom Tillis.

The North Carolina Senate race was touted as the most expensive Senate race in U.S. history, with more than $233 million spent on advertising alone as of Oct. 13. Three days into October, however, North Carolina voters received their own version of a tawdry "October Surprise" when news broke that Cunningham admitted to exchanging sexually suggestive text messages with a woman who's not his wife. Cunningham publically apologized to his wife, family and friends but said he would not drop out of the race.

SEE ALSO: Cal Cunningham Concedes To Thom Tillis In NC Senate Race

"I just called Senator Tillis to congratulate him on winning re-election to a second term in the U.S. Senate and wished him and his family the best in their continued service in the months ahead," Cunningham said in a statement Tuesday, according to WSOC. "The voters have spoken and I respect their decision," he said.

Cunningham made the concession as the state still had uncounted votes. As of 3 p.m. Thursday, Tillis led Cunningham by 94,450 votes.

Deb Belt, Patch staff, contributed