Team Biden’s mood changes dramatically as vote counts shift

Joe Biden’s campaign breathed a sigh of relief Wednesday morning, as the Democratic nominee, in a dramatic turnabout, was able to overtake President Trump in key battleground states that could deliver him the White House. 

Aides and allies to the campaign were more bullish publicly and in private conversations, saying they believed they had won Wisconsin, a state Trump led until early Wednesday morning. And they said they felt good about maintaining an “insurmountable” lead in Michigan, another key state where Biden had trailed in the count for hours before pulling head Wednesday morning.

On a Zoom call with reporters on Wednesday, campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon said Biden was “on track” to win the race by the afternoon. 

“He will be the president of the United States,” O’Malley Dillon said. 

Biden’s campaign manager also said it had not lost hope in winning Georgia and North Carolina, where votes are still being counted. Trump is ahead in both states, though Georgia in particular is seen as a state that could still turn as votes are counted.

Other Biden allies who were feeling skeptical about a win late Tuesday night and into the morning also said they felt like Biden would be president.

“We’re winning and we’re going to win this thing,” one Biden ally said. Hours earlier, the ally was skeptical if Biden could in fact pull off a win, dropping obscenities about polling.

“What a difference a few hours make,” the source said. 

One Biden ally was feeling “pretty confident,” given the counts in various states.

“We have the burden of relying on the vote that takes the longest to count,” said one Biden ally, who did acknowledge being “disappointed it’s this close.”

“But the campaign always knew it would be,” the ally said, adding that “the strategy of building multiple pathways to 270 turned out to be the right one.”

Another Biden fundraiser also signaled a victory: “We’ve got this. No doubt about it.”

On the Zoom call, O’Malley Dillon acknowledged that because the vote in Wisconsin is within 1 percent, “the loser can request a recount.”

Still, she said of Wisconsin, “We have a lead and a lead that will continue.”

Bob Bauer, a legal adviser on the Biden campaign, added, “We’re winning the election. We have won the election.”

He also said he expected Trump to take legal action, adding confidently that “he’ll lose.”