United States Democratic contender Joe Biden on Wednesday expressed confidence for the first time of winning the presidency once all the votes are counted.

“After a long night of counting, it’s clear that we’re winning enough states to reach 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency,” he said, in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware. “I’m not here to declare that we won. But I am here to report, when the count is finished, we believe we will be the winners.”

After the US state of Michigan was called for Biden, Trump’s campaign announced a lawsuit to suspend the vote count. During his address, Biden declared that all votes must be counted. “We the people will not be silenced,” he added with his vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris by his side.

The former US vice president said that he was leading in Michigan with over 35,000 votes, adding that the margin was significantly growing than when “President Trump won Michigan in 2016”. He added that he also felt “very good about Pennsylvania”.

Biden said that he may have campaigned as a Democrat but he will “govern as an American president”, adding that the presidency itself is not a partisan institution.

The race for the next US president took a turn on Thursday as Biden was declared the winner of Michigan and Wisconsin, two important states that Trump won four years ago. Biden has received more than 71 million votes – the most received by a candidate in history.

The margin between Trump and Biden also narrowed in Georgia, where counting is still underway. The state has not backed a Democrat for president since 1992. A Biden campaign adviser told CNN they “feel good” about Georgia, along with Arizona and Pennsylvania. Millions of ballots, however, are yet to be counted.

After falsely claiming victory, Trump’s campaign, meanwhile, filed lawsuits to stop counting of mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Georgia, as his numbers dwindled behind Biden in the hunt for the 270 electoral college votes needed to win the White House.

Also read:

US elections 2020: Feel good about Georgia, says Biden team as Trump’s lead slightly narrows