Current elections in numbers: Who won and when did we know?

Past elections are by no means an indicator of how things will turn out this time. But they can provide useful context about how races have played out in the past. Here's a quick refresher:

2020

Democrats Joe Biden and Kamala Harris defeated Republicans Donald Trump and Mike Pence – 306 electoral votes to 232; 51.3% to 46.8% of the vote.

Biden was projected to win at 11:26 a.m. ET on Saturday, November 7, four days after Election Day. Due to changes in the voting process due to COVID-19, the votes took longer to count.

2016

The Trump-Pence ticket defeated Democrats Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine by the same margin of 306 to 232. While Republicans received 45.9% of the vote, Clinton won 48%.

Trump was projected to win at 2:29 a.m. ET on Wednesday, November 9, the morning after Election Day.

2012

Democrats Barack Obama and Biden won re-election with 332 electoral votes, surpassing Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan with 206 votes. That's 51% of the popular vote compared to 47.2%.

Before Election Day ended, at 11:38 p.m. ET on November 6, Obama was projected to be the winner.

2008

Obama and Biden defeated John McCain and Sarah Palin and won 365 electoral votes, or 52.9% of the popular vote. The McCain campaign won 173 electoral votes and 45.6% of the popular vote.

Obama was projected to win around 11:00 p.m. on Election Day, and McCain conceded at 11:18 p.m. ET.

2004

Republicans George W. Bush and Dick Cheney won re-election with 286 electoral votes, or 50.7% of the vote. The John Kerry-John Edwards ticket won 251 electoral votes and 48.2% of the popular vote.

Kerry called on Bush to concede around 11 a.m. ET the morning after Election Day.

2000

Bush and Cheney narrowly won the election with 271 electoral votes compared to the 266 votes won by Al Gore and Joe Lieberman. But Democrats won the popular vote 48.4% to 47.9%.

The outcome of the race was uncertain for several weeks due to legal disputes over the close tally in Florida. The U.S. Supreme Court ended the recount on December 12, and Gore conceded Bush the following day – 36 days after Election Day.

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