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President Donald Trump looks on to supporters after leaving the Trump National golf club in Sterling, Va., Saturday. [ STEVE HELBER | AP ]<\/p><\/div>By\u00a0<\/span>Associated Press<\/p>\n Chanting “This isn\u2019t over! and \u201cStop the steal,\u201d supporters of President Donald Trump protested at state capitols across the country Saturday, refusing to accept defeat and echoing Trump\u2019s unsubstantiated allegations that the Democrats won by fraud.<\/p>\n From Atlanta and Tallahassee to Austin, Bismarck, Boise and Phoenix, crowds ranging in size from a few dozen to a few thousand \u2014 some of them openly carrying guns \u2014 decried the news of Joe Biden\u2019s victory after more than three suspense-filled days of vote-counting put the Democrat over the top. Skirmishes broke out in some cities.<\/p>\n In Atlanta, outside the state Capitol in the longtime Republican stronghold of Georgia, chants of \u201cLock him up!\u201d rang out among an estimated 1,000 Trump supporters. Others chanted, \u201cThis isn\u2019t over! This isn\u2019t over!\u201d and \u201cFake news!\u201d The streets were awash with American flags and Trump banners.<\/p>\n No immediate violence was reported, though at one point, police moved to separate Trump opponents from supporters. Biden held a slim lead in Georgia, which hasn\u2019t gone for a Democrat since 1992.<\/p>\n Jordan Kelley, a 29-year-old from Murfreesboro, Tennessee, drove three-plus hours to Atlanta to attend the pro-Trump rally.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s election fraud going on here,\u201d said Kelley, claiming that voters in Georgia, a state with a GOP governor and secretary of state, had improperly counted the ballots to put Biden ahead. \u201cEven though I live in Tennessee, I\u2019m an American, and I want to make sure Americans have a voice in the election.\u201d<\/p>\n He planned to make the 10-hour trip to Washington next week to demonstrate on the steps of the Supreme Court, where Trump and his lawyers have vowed to eventually make his case.<\/p>\n Underscoring the hard feelings on both sides of the nation\u2019s deep political divide, anti-Trump protesters in Washington booed, yelled obscenities, shouted \u201cLoser! Loser!\u201d and gave the finger to Trump\u2019s motorcade as the president returned to the White House from a golf outing Saturday.<\/p>\n Two signs posted in front of Trump\u2019s Washington hotel read \u201cDon\u2019t be a sore loser\u201d and \u201cFace Reality.\u201d<\/p>\n Contrary to the claims of Trump supporters, there has been no evidence of any serious vote fraud. And some Republican elected officials around the country began to distance themselves from Trump and urge him to accept the outcome gracefully.<\/p>\n The utter rejection of Biden as the legitimate president by Trump and his supporters appears to represent something new in American political history, said Barbara Perry, presidential studies director at the University of Virginia\u2019s Miller Center.<\/p>\n \u201cWe typically haven\u2019t had a leader who loses the presidency who then tells his followers, `This is false. This has been stolen from us,’\u201d Perry said. \u201cIncumbent presidents have been mad, so mad they didn\u2019t go to the inauguration, but not like this, where they are leading those people to say this is fraudulent.\u201d<\/p>\n A couple of thousand Trump supporters gathered at the Pennsylvania Capitol in Harrisburg. Pennsylvania played a crucial role in Biden\u2019s victory.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we don\u2019t stop this today, it\u2019ll all be over,\u201d Bruce Fields, 66, said of news organizations declaring Biden the winner. \u201cOtherwise we can kiss freedom goodbye.\u201d<\/p>\n About two dozen heavily armed men, some wearing camouflage, joined the rally.<\/p>\n At the Arizona Capitol in Phoenix, a crowd swelled to more than 1,000 within hours. Biden won Arizona on his way to victory in the Electoral College.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s very suspicious that President Trump, with the red wave we\u2019ve been seeing in Arizona, is struggling,\u201d Kelli Ward, former state senator and chairwoman of the Arizona Republican Party, told boisterous pro-Trump demonstrators. \u201cI want to know if there is any discrepancy with the numbers coming out of the machines.\u201d<\/p>\n More than 1,000 people gathered at the Texas Capitol in Austin, with police keeping Trump and Biden supporters on opposite sides of the street. Several hundred demonstrators turned out in Salem, Oregon, for a \u201cStop the Steal\u201d rally.<\/p>\n Even in a place that wasn\u2019t close, Trump supporters gathered in droves to express support for him and vent frustration over the outcome of the election. Outside North Dakota\u2019s Capitol in Bismarck, the state\u2019s all-Republican congressional delegation joined chanting, sign-carrying protesters.<\/p>\n A few skirmishes broke out between Trump backers and pro-Biden and Black Lives Matters demonstrators, with one BLM supporter attempting to handcuff himself to a Trump supporter. The two men began wrestling on the ground.<\/p>\n An officer escorted the Black Lives Matter supporter to a squad car. It was unclear if he had been arrested.<\/p>\n In Lansing, Mich., about 50 Trump supporters and a smaller group of marchers carrying Black Lives Matter flags converged on the state Capitol, where they pushed, shoved and shouted at one another in a tense standoff. But within moments of the race being called, a few from both sides broke into prayer, and at least one pair hugged.<\/p>\n Frank Dobbs, 40, of Henderson, Nevada, brought a bullhorn and a Trump 2020 flag that he wrestled with in a stiff wind during a rally outside the Clark County registrar of voters office in North Las Vegas.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not over until it\u2019s over. There\u2019s still the courts. If ever there\u2019s ever a time to expose widespread fraud, this is the president to do it,\u201d Dobbs said. \u201cThe media doesn\u2019t decide who wins the presidency. The legal voters of this country decide.\u201d<\/p>\n By ANITA SNOW, DAVID GOLDMAN and LISA MARIE PANE Associated Press<\/i><\/p>\n AP journalists Jocelyn Noveck in New York City and Anna Liz Nichols in Lansing, Mich., contributed to this report. Goldman reported from Lansing, Mich., and Snow contributed from Phoenix.<\/i><\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.tampabay.com\/resizer\/-cEE9HD9KzlmuDkT3XiE2Pi2dGs=\/620x0\/smart\/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com\/tbt\/HW5RV3ZC3JFIJLRYORQR54PFY4.jpg\")
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