Democrat Joe Biden apparently will be the next president.

It’s still unofficial — and recounts and legal challenges are expected to string out the process. And there is still a chance for a tie.

But the 77-year-old former vice president was leading in the popular vote as of Wednesday afternoon and was ahead in at least two of the six states that were still counting votes Wednesday. And winning those two states could enable him to claim victory.

The states still counting are Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina and Pennsylvania; Mr. Biden was ahead in Arizona and Nevada, and national news organizations were calling Michigan and Wisconsin for him Wednesday evening.

Mr. Biden also indicated he might pick up Pennsylvania when all the votes are counted, given that most of the uncounted votes are in Democratic-leading areas.

Mr. Biden, who urged patience as it became apparent the count would not be finished, expressed confidence that he would capture the 270 electoral college votes needed to defeat incumbent President Donald J. Trump.

“We feel good about where we are,” Mr. Biden said from his Wilmington, Del., home- town. “I’m here to tell you, we believe we are on track to win this election.”

President Trump separately declared himself the winner about 2:20 a.m., about seven hours after the polls closed. But his claim was quickly branded as false, given that 20 million votes in key states still remained to be counted.

The president also blustered about trying to stop vote counts in Pennsylvania and other states in spreading what were described as GOP lies about state officials’ handling of counts.

As of Wednesday afternoon, President Trump had won 23 states with 213 electoral votes. He also was leading in North Carolina, Georgia and Pennsylvania, although analysts said many of the uncounted votes in those states were in places like Fayetteville, greater Atlanta and Philadelphia that lean Democratic.

If President Trump wins those three states, he could pick up 51 electoral votes, which still would leave him short of the needed 270 to win the election. If he also wins Alaska, he could get to 270.

Meanwhile, as of Wednesday afternoon, Mr. Biden had been called the winner in 22 states, including Virginia, with a combined 253 electoral votes.

Mr. Biden also was leading in Arizona and Nevada, which would give him a combined 17 electoral votes and the push to reach 270. He would need one of the state’s in which President Trump now leads in order to avoid a possible tie.

Mr. Biden noted that he and his vice presidential running mate, U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris of California, now hold a 3 million lead in the popular vote and could finish with more than 70 million votes, which he said would be a record for any presidential ticket.

The big surprise in this election has been the red tide on Election Day that made this a much closer race than many analysts expected based on pre-election polls.

While Democrats appeared to take advantage of the expansion of early voting in Virginia and other states, Republicans seemed to show up in larger numbers to vote in-person on Tuesday to support President Trump and other candidates representing their party.

Democratic stronghold Richmond is a prime example of the low vote on Election Day. More than 76,000 voters cast ballots early by mail or in person, but only about 28,000 people came to the polls on Tuesday.

With nearly 160,000 people on the city’s voting rolls, up 10,000 from 2016, that means at least 50,000 voters, or nearly one-third of voters in the city, failed to cast ballots.

Despite the race for president, U.S. Senate, congress, mayor, City Council and School Board, the total vote appears to have come in equal to the 104,000 votes cast in 2016, according to state data.

The result: A hoped-for Democratic landslide never materialized. Instead, races turned out much closer than projected in some states Democrats were predicted to win, such as Michigan and Wisconsin.

There were suggestions last week that Texas and Iowa might flip Democratic based on the potential for a huge Election Day turnout. That did not happen.

Meanwhile, the Republican surge allowed President Trump to easily capture Florida.

The impact of the GOP surge was visible in the races for U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee had projected picking up 15 seats to expand the 233-member House majority from 2018.

Instead, Democrats lost at last eight House seats and possibly more. At least one seat in Virginia, held by 7th District Rep. Abigail A. Spanberger, was at risk of being lost to a Republican challenger.

And on Wednesday evening, Republicans were poised to retain control of the 100-member Senate, belying predictions that Democrats would win enough seats to secure the majority.