Trump ally Sen. Marsha Blackburn called Biden the president-elect and Harris the vice president-elect, but her office later said she 'misspoke'

• GOP Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee on Friday seemed to acknowledge former Vice President Joe Biden's win over President Donald Trump, calling him the president-elect in a Friday interview with ABC News.
• But Blackburn's office later told The Tennessean she misspoke in calling Biden as the president-elect and Sen. Kamala Harris the vice president-elect.
• While some Republicans have acknowledged the results of the presidential election, the president and his allies for weeks have spread baseless allegations of voter fraud in an attempt to undermine the results.

Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee in a Friday interview on ABC News Live seemed to acknowledge that former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Kamala Harris were the winners of the 2020 presidential election.

"I have not spoken with the president-elect," Blackburn, a known ally of President Donald Trump, told ABC News anchor Juju Chang during a live appearance Friday. "We did have the vice president come to the floor, the vice president-elect come to the floor this week to cast a vote. I was presiding at the time. Didn't get to speak with her."

—ABC News Live (@ABCNewsLive) November 21, 2020

Then, her staff said it was a mistake.

"She simply misspoke — it's nothing more," Abigail Sigler, a campaign spokesperson for Blackburn, told The Tennessean after the outlet published an article about Blackburn's statement. Later in the Friday interview, Blackburn claimed that Trump would've won reelection if "every legal vote is counted," a reference to Trump's baseless allegations of voter fraud in states that he lost.

For weeks, it has been clear that the former vice president had ousted Trump in the race, although the president has refused to concede and has instead repeatedly leveled baseless allegations of voter fraud.

The president and his team have launched numerous legal challenges, nearly all of which have failed to produce any sort of victory for the president or evidence of claims he has alleged about the election, as Insider's Jacob Shamsian previously reported. As the Tennessean noted, Blackburn has helped the president raise funds for the court challenges.

"I will say now is the time for the Trump campaign, if they have their information that they need to present in court, now is the time that they need to be taking that evidence to court," Blackburn told ABC News.

A candidate needs to secure 270 votes to win the election. According to Insider and Decision Desk HQ, Biden secured 306 electoral votes compared to Trump's 232. The president-elect also won the popular vote, earning more than 79 million votes compared to Trump's 73 million.

Both Biden and Trump received more votes than any presidential candidate in US history, a record previously set by former President Barack Obama.

As the Associated Press reported, the number of Republicans who accept Biden as the winner of the election has grown, but many GOP lawmakers still have refused to publicly accept the president's failed bid for reelection. Some prominent Republicans like Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah, and former President George W. Bush have publicly acknowledged Biden's win.