Joe Biden has won Georgia and its 16 electoral votes, an extraordinary victory for Democrats who pushed to expand their electoral map through the Sun Belt.
The win by Biden pads his Electoral College margin of victory over President Donald Trump. Biden was declared the winner of the presidential election on Nov. 7 after flipping Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin to the Democrats’ column.
Biden now has 306 electoral votes to Trump’s 232.
President-elect Joe Biden, accompanied by Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, speaks at The Queen theater, Thursday, Nov. 19, 2020, in Wilmington, Del. (AP PhotoAndrew Harnik)
Trump won Georgia by 5 percentage points in 2016 over Democrat Hillary Clinton.
In 2020, Democrats had focused heavily on the state, seeing it in play two years after Democrat Stacey Abrams narrowly lost the governor’s race. Both of Georgia’s Senate seats were on the ballot this year, further boosting the state’s political profile as well as spending by outside groups seeking to influence voters. Those two races are headed to a January runoff.
Georgia hadn’t voted for a Democratic presidential candidate since Bill Clinton in 1992.
President-elect Joe Biden walks out of The Queen theater, Thursday, Nov. 19, 2020, in Wilmington, Del., after participating in a meeting with the National Governors Association's executive committee with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. (AP PhotoAndrew Harnik)
Cobb County Election officials handle ballots during an audit, Monday, Nov. 16, 2020, in Marietta, Ga. (AP PhotoMike Stewart)
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Landslides hit a campground and a house in New Zealand and emergency crews were trying to rescue people buried in rubble, officials said Thursday.
Emergency services were called to the slide at the base of Mount Maunganui on New Zealand’s North Island after 9:30 a.m. The rubble hit Beachside Holiday Park in a town named after the extinct volcano.
Police Superintendent Tim Anderson said the number of people missing was in the “single figures" but didn't say further how many were affected.
Another landslide hit a house overnight in the nearby Bay of Plenty community. Two people escaped the house but two others were missing, Anderson said. A rescue operation was underway there Thursday.
Further north near Warkworth, a man remained missing after floodwaters swept him from a road Wednesday morning as heavy rain lashed large swathes of the North Island, a police statement said.
New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon urged residents in affected areas to heed local authorities' safety advice during the extreme conditions.
“Extreme weather continues to cause dangerous conditions across the North Island. Right now, the government is doing everything we can to support those impacted,” Luxon posted on social media.
At Mount Maunganui, no survivor had been recovered three hours after the slide, Fire and Emergency NZ commander William Pike said.
“Members of the public ... tried to get into the rubble and did hear some voices,” Pike told reporters. “Our initial fire crew arrived and … were able to hear the same. Shortly after our initial crew arrived, we withdrew everyone from the site due to possible movement and slip."
No sign of life had been detected since, Pike said.
Emergency Management Minister Mark Mitchell said emergency crews were continuing a rescue operation at Mount Maunganui.
Mayor Mahe Drysdale said those unaccounted earlier had included people who had left the campground without notifying authorities. The campground was closed after the disaster.
Australian tourist Sonny Worrall said he was lazing in hot pools within the campground when he heard then saw the landslide.
“I looked behind me and there’s a huge landslide coming down. And I’m still shaking from it now,” Worrall told New Zealand 1News news service. “I turned around and I had to jump out from my seat as fast as I could and just run.”
He looked back to see the rubble carrying a travel trailer behind him.
“It was like the scariest thing I’ve ever experienced in my life,” Worrall said.
In this image from a video, a police officer with dog searches people near the site of a landlide at the base of Mount Maunganui on New Zealand’s North Island Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. (TVNZ via AP)
In this image from a video, rescuers and fire crews work near the site of a landlide at the base of Mount Maunganui on New Zealand’s North Island Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. (TVNZ via AP)
