Biden takes lead in Pennsylvania – US media

Democrat Joe Biden has taken the lead in key battleground state Pennsylvania, where a victory for the former vice president would push him past the threshold of electoral votes needed to win the White House, US media said Thursday.

More ballots are yet to be counted, but shortly before 1400 GMT, CNN and The New York Times reported that Biden had moved ahead of incumbent President Donald Trump by more than 5,500 votes.

Biden currently has at least 253 electoral votes. The magic number is 270. If he wins Pennsylvania — a state won by Trump in 2016 — and its 20 electoral votes, he would pass that threshold.

Biden is also currently in the lead in key states Georgia and Nevada.

The US Secret Service has increased its protective bubble around Joe Biden as chances increased that he will be the next US president, the Washington Post reported Friday.

The Secret Service sent an extra squad of agents to Biden’s campaign headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware as expectations rose that the Democratic candidate would be able to declare victory over President Donald Trump as early as Friday, the Post reported.

The Secret Service, an agency under the Department of Homeland Security, is in charge or protecting the White House and senior government officials, visiting high officials, and others.

It had already deployed some agents to protect Biden around early July after he triumphed in the Democratic Party’s presidential primaries.

As a former vice president, Biden could have requested Secret Service protection before then, but reportedly did not.

If Biden becomes president-elect, Secret Service protection is expected to ramp up to a higher level.

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