This is a special episode of the The NPR Politics Podcast. President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris addressed the nation after clinching the White House.

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This episode: congressional correspondent Susan Davis, correspondent Asma Khalid, and national political correspondent Mara Liasson.

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BREAKING NEWS: Former Vice President Joe Biden has been elected the 46th president of the United States. A victory in Pennsylvania, where he was born, brought the Biden-Harris ticket over the edge of 270 to clinch the win.

Former Vice President Joe Biden stops short of declaring victory but says he has a mandate as his lead increases. President Donald Trump's efforts to get the courts to intervene in the election and change the outcome have yet to yield results. The number of new daily confirmed coronavirus infections top a record-breaking 120,000 cases.

The focus is now on a handful of states, any one of which could hand Joe Biden the 270 votes needed to claim victory in the 2020 presidential election. Donald Trump is seeking to block that outcome in the courts and undermine the process in his statements. Overnight, in Georgia, Biden took a narrow lead over Trump.

With four states still in play and the count ongoing — despite lawsuits filed by the Trump campaign trying to halt the count — the nation watches and waits.

As of this morning there is not yet a winner in the 2020 Presidential contest, the Democrats have held the House and picked up two Senate seats, the Republicans have added one.

Nearly 100 million Americans have already voted by mail or in early balloting. Tens of millions more are expected at the polls today. Against this historical shift in the way we vote, the tabulating gets underway.

Both candidates are keeping a breakneck pace as the clock winds down on the 2020 Presidential campaign. Covid-19 is seeing record spikes around the country. The UK is looking at another Covid-19 lockdown. Parliament votes this week.

Frederick Douglass dreamed of a country where all people could vote and he did everything in his power to make that dream a reality. In the face of slavery, the Civil War and the violence of Jim Crow, he fought his entire life for what he believed was a sacred, natural right that should be available to all people - voting.

The presidential candidates hold multiple rallies as they fight for every last vote. Despite lawsuits and disinformation campaigns, people are voting early, and in record numbers. A third wave of the coronavirus infections is sweeping the United States, with over 90,000 confirmed new cases in a single day.