Though there are still hundreds of thousands of votes left to be counted in Ohio, NBC and other news organizations have called the presidential race here for Republican President Donald Trump, who has amassed a nearly-insurmountable eight-point lead over his Democratic Party challenger former Vice President Joe Biden.
And though Ohio has proven critical in past presidential contests, Trump's apparent win here doesn't seal his re-election. Results in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin could decide the race — and many election night, mail-in and provisional ballots remain to be counted in those states.
Trump has racked up a roughly 450,000-vote lead in the Buckeye State with almost all precincts reporting. That's big enough, most analysts believe, to best the roughly 246,000 outstanding mail-in and provisional ballots that remain uncounted in Ohio. Many of those ballots have historically favored Democrats, but it is believed there are not enough of them to make up for Trump's commanding lead in the state.
Recent polls had the race closer — within a couple points either way — but like in 2016, Trump turned in a much better performance in rural areas than anticipated and urban turnout for Biden was not as high as expected.
Ohio won't officially certify the election results for at least a week. Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose has set a deadline of Nov. 18 to complete a canvass of the state's votes.
