A top Biden aide said not to expect to hear from Joe Biden until Friday in prime time, assuming the race is called by then.  

Per this aide, Biden is expected to focus his address on themes that have driven his whole campaign: "Unity, healing, coming together as a nation, being a president for all Americans."

A friend and ally of the former vice president described his mood and outlook as “Joe is really Irish so he’s understandably a bit superstitious about not taking anything for granted and waiting for the counting and challenges to resolve even while he’s getting briefed on options for pandemic response and recovery.” 

The campaign said running mate Kamala Harris will speak before Biden.

The Biden campaign held its usual communications staff call earlier Friday, led by Communications Director Kate Bedingfield. One person on it says that where she’s been reserved these last few days, the vibe Friday morning was "we did it."

Staffers had previously been told, "don’t watch the news, keep your head down, do the work." But Friday morning, they were told: "This is the moment when you should be watching the news. They did the work, now enjoy this moment."

For a campaign staff that has tried to be reserved these last 48+ hours, this feels like a breaking of the emotional dam.

The Trump strategy is coming into clearer view: claim fraud (despite no evidence to back that up) and don’t back down an inch. There's been no decision yet on whether the president will speak publicly on Friday. 

The mood at campaign headquarters in Virginia seems grim but determined. Campaign manager Bill Stepien has yet to make any remarks to staff this morning, per a person close to the campaign. Younger staffers are feeling ready for a fight in the courts, but the more seasoned veterans know Trump has likely lost and there is a very, very narrow path left. People aren’t to the point of crying and comforting each other yet, but they aren’t high-fiving, either. Most staffers are still coming into work, but don’t have anything to do, so some are sitting at their computers refreshing results pages.

The public posture of defiance is becoming more clear: economic adviser Larry Kudlow told our colleagues on air at CNBC that he spoke with the president this morning and says he “intends to fight.” White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany says a scenario in which the president concedes is “hypothetical” at this point. And one source close the campaign says there’s “no talk of conceding — no one’s having that conversation," adding the president will fight “to the last second.” 

But there are those in the orbit who understand the endgame is likely near: “I think it’s over,” predicts one outside adviser, “probably goes to the courts in some form and then chips fall where they fall.”

Any concession would likely not happen until all canvassing is done and any recounts and lawsuits are complete, a source familiar with the discussions said.

Larry Kudlow, President Trump's top economic adviser, told CNBC on Friday that, "I think there will be a peaceful transfer of power ... This is the greatest country in the world and we abide by the rule of law, as will the president."

Kudlow also said he spoke to the president earlier Friday morning and Trump “intends to fight.” Kudlow says he personally is taking it one day at a time.

Kudlow says it has been an honor working for Trump for the past three years and it has been a tremendous experience for him.

U.S. voters went to the polls starkly divided on how they see President Donald Trump’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. But in places where the virus is most rampant now, Trump enjoyed enormous support.

An Associated Press analysis reveals that in 376 counties with the highest number of new cases per capita, the overwhelming majority — 93 percent of those counties — went for Trump, a rate above other less severely hit areas.

Most were rural counties in Montana, the Dakotas, Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa and Wisconsin — the kinds of areas that often have lower rates of adherence to social distancing, mask-wearing and other public health measures, and have been a focal point for much of the latest surge in cases.

After Biden pulled ahead of Trump in Pennsylvania on Friday morning, the president's campaign released a statement declaring that the election was not over.

“This election is not over. The false projection of Joe Biden as the winner is based on results in four states that are far from final," the campaign's general counsel, Matt Morgan, said in a statement. "Georgia is headed for a recount, where we are confident we will find ballots improperly harvested, and where President Trump will ultimately prevail. There were many irregularities in Pennsylvania, including having election officials prevent our volunteer legal observers from having meaningful access to vote counting locations."

There is no evidence of ballot harvesting in Georgia and no evidence of irregularities in Pennsylvania where its officials have made clear that vote-counting observers have not been limited in their access to seeing the process underway. 

There's also no guarantee there will be a recount yet in Georgia where Biden pulled ahead of Trump's lead early Friday morning by more than 1,000 votes. In Pennsylvania, NBC News projected that Biden leads in the state, pulling ahead of Trump by more than 5,500 votes Friday morning. If Biden secures Pennsylvania's 20 Electoral College votes, he will win the presidential race. 

Morgan then claimed without any evidence that thousands of people improperly cast ballots in Nevada and that Trump is on track to win Arizona. 

"Biden is relying on these states for his phony claim on the White House, but once the election is final, President Trump will be re-elected," he said. 

Biden needs 17 more electoral votes to win the Electoral College while Trump would need 56 more votes.

With Joe Biden on the cusp of 270 electoral votes — for yet another day — it’s become clear that the Biden camp learned the lessons from the Florida recount from 2000.

And Trump and his campaign didn’t.

Lesson #1: Pick a message and stick with it: In 2000, the Gore team said “count every vote,” while the Bush team said “the election is over,” our colleague Matt Rivera reminds us.

Well, right now, Biden and his campaign have stayed with a consistent message. “We have to count the votes,” Biden said Thursday.

But Trump has been all over the place. First, the president said, “Frankly, we did win this election.” (Which isn’t true.) And then he tweeted, “STOP THE COUNT!”

Get the rest of First Read.

Joe Biden overtook President Donald Trump in Pennsylvania on Friday morning after earlier taking the lead in Georgia.

A win in Pennsylvania, which carries 20 Electoral College votes, for Biden would secure him the election.

The U.S. economy added 638,000 jobs in October, far more than the 530,000 that analysts predicted, but still an indication of the challenges the next president faces in rebuilding the labor market.

The unemployment rate fell to 6.9 percent from 7.9 percent, according to data released Friday from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Overall, the country has replaced about half of the 22 million jobs lost in the spring due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The sluggish hiring comes as the country faces record daily coronavirus infection rates that threaten to slow economic activity, with the U.S. logging 120,000 cases on Thursday.