Republican Donald Trump defeated Democrat Kamala Harris in the battleground states of North Carolina and Georgia in Tuesday's US presidential election, Edison Research projected, taking him closer to completing a stunning political comeback four years after he left the White House.
The outcome remained uncertain in five other states expected to determine the winner.
But Trump was showing strength across broad swaths of the country. He had won 246 Electoral College votes to Harris' 182. A candidate needs a total of at least 270 votes in the state-by-state Electoral College to claim the presidency.
Trump's wins in North Carolina and Georgia left Harris with a narrow path to victory through the Rust Belt trio of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, though she was trailing in all three states. The former president was headed to a convention center near his home in Palm Beach, Florida, to address supporters, a campaign aide told Reuters.
Republicans won a US Senate majority after flipping Democratic seats in West Virginia and Ohio. Neither party appeared to have an edge in the fight for control of the House of Representatives where Republicans currently hold a narrow majority.
Trump went into Election Day with a 50-50 chance of reclaiming the White House, a remarkable turnaround from Jan. 6, 2021, when many pundits pronounced his political career to be over. That day, a mob of his supporters stormed Congress in a violent attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
Trump picked up more support from Hispanics, traditionally Democratic voters, and among lower-income households that have keenly felt the sting of price rises since the last presidential election in 2020, according to exit polls from Edison.
Trump won 45% of Hispanic voters nationwide, trailing Harris with 53% but up 13 percentage points from 2020.
Voters whose top issue was the economy voted overwhelmingly for Trump, especially if they felt they were worse off financially than they were four years ago.
About 31% of voters said the economy was their top issue, and they voted for Trump by a 79%-to-20% margin, according to exit polls. Some 45% of voters across the country said their family's financial situation was worse off today than four years ago, and they favored Trump 80% to 17% for Harris.
US stock futures and the dollar pushed higher while Treasury yields climbed and bitcoin rose, a sign that investors were reading early results as favoring Trump. Still, investors said it was too early and the trades lacked conviction.
"Everyone's trying to take the few inches of data we've got right now and turn it into a mile," said Alex Morris, president and CIO of F/M Investments in Washington.
Trump outperforms 2020
Trump was earning a bigger share of the vote than he did four years ago in nearly every corner of the country, from suburban Georgia to rural Pennsylvania.
By 11pm ET, officials had nearly completed their count of ballots in more than 1,200 counties – about a third of the country – and Trump's share was up about 2 percentage points compared to 2020, reflecting a broad if not especially deep shift in Americans' support for the president they ousted four years ago. He had improved his numbers in suburban counties, rural regions and even some large cities that are historically bastions of Democratic support.
Control of both chambers of Congress is also up for grabs. Democrats had only a narrow path to defend their Senate majority after Republican Jim Justice flipped a West Virginia seat on Tuesday. The House of Representatives looked like a toss-up.
In Florida, a ballot measure that would have guaranteed abortion rights failed to reach the 60% threshold needed to pass, according to Edison, leaving a six-week ban in place. Nine other states have abortion-related measures on the ballot.
Nearly three-quarters of voters say American democracy is under threat, according to the exit polls, underscoring the depth of polarization in a nation where divisions have only grown starker during a fiercely competitive race.
Trump employed increasingly apocalyptic rhetoric while stoking unfounded fears that the election system cannot be trusted. Harris warned that a second Trump term would threaten the underpinnings of American democracy.
Hours before polls closed, Trump claimed on his Truth Social site without evidence that there was "a lot of talk about massive CHEATING" in Philadelphia, echoing his false claims in 2020 that fraud had occurred in large, Democratic-dominated cities. In a subsequent post, he also asserted there was fraud in Detroit.
"I don't respond to nonsense," Detroit City Clerk Janice Winfrey told Reuters.
A Philadelphia city commissioner, Seth Bluestein, replied on X, "There is absolutely no truth to this allegation."
'Am I going to win?'
Trump, whose supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, after he claimed the 2020 election was rigged, voted earlier near his home in Palm Beach, Florida.
"If I lose an election, if it's a fair election, I'm gonna be the first one to acknowledge it," Trump told reporters.
Millions of Americans waited in orderly lines to cast ballots, with only sporadic disruptions reported across a handful of states, including several non-credible bomb threats that the FBI said appeared to originate from Russian email domains.
Trump was watching the results at his Mar-a-Lago club before speaking to supporters at a nearby convention center, according to sources familiar with the planning. Tesla CEO Elon Musk, a prominent Trump backer, said he would watch the results at Mar-a-Lago with Trump.
Trump attended a morning meeting about turnout but appeared bored by the data talk, according to one source briefed on the meeting. All Trump wanted to know, the source said, was: "Am I going to win?"
Harris, who had previously mailed her ballot to her home state of California, spent some of Tuesday in radio interviews encouraging listeners to vote. Later, she was due to address students at Howard University, a historically Black college in Washington where Harris was an undergraduate.
"To go back tonight to Howard University, my beloved alma mater, and be able to hopefully recognize this day for what it is, is really full circle for me," Harris said in a radio interview.
Tuesday's vote capped a dizzying race churned by unprecedented events, including two assassination attempts against Trump, President Joe Biden's surprise withdrawal and Harris' rapid rise.
No matter who wins, history will be made.
Harris, 60, the first female vice president, would become the first woman, Black woman and South Asian American to win the presidency. Trump, 78, the only president to be impeached twice and the first former president to be criminally convicted, would also become the first president to win non-consecutive terms in more than a century.
State results show polarized support
The current results reflect a divided electoral map. Trump has secured victories across states like Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Missouri, South Carolina, Montana, Utah, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, West Virginia, Arizona, and Arkansas. Meanwhile, Harris has won in Democratic strongholds including New Hampshire, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, Maine, and Washington, DC.
Senate and House of Rep update
Beyond the presidential race, control of Congress is also up for grabs. In the Senate, Republicans have won nine new seats, bringing their total to 48, while the Democrats now hold 38 seats after securing six additional wins. With 51 seats needed to claim a majority, both parties are battling for control in the remaining undecided races.
In the House of Representatives, Republicans have won 162 of the 435 available seats, while Democrats have secured 112. Control of the House requires 218 seats, making it another closely watched contest. The results so far indicate a potentially split Congress, as Republicans and Democrats vie for key seats in various districts across the nation.
Historic election amidst deep national divisions
This election comes as the nation remains deeply polarized on issues ranging from economic policy to social rights. According to exit polls, the majority of voters expressed concerns about the state of American democracy and highlighted key issues such as healthcare, abortion rights, and immigration as top priorities.
As more results come in, the race remains tightly contested, with both candidates holding on to multiple pathways to victory. With many key states yet to announce final results, the nation waits to see if Donald Trump will reclaim the White House or if Kamala Harris will make history as the first female president of the United States.
In Florida, a ballot measure that would have guaranteed abortion rights failed to reach the 60% threshold needed to pass, according to Edison, leaving a six-week ban in place. Nine other states have abortion-related measures on the ballot.
Nearly three-quarters of voters say American democracy is under threat, according to national exit polls from Edison, underscoring the depth of polarization in a nation where divisions have only grown starker during a fiercely competitive race.
Trump employed increasingly apocalyptic rhetoric while stoking unfounded fears that the election system cannot be trusted. Harris warned that a second Trump term would threaten the underpinnings of American democracy.
Hours before polls closed, Trump claimed on his Truth Social site without evidence that there was "a lot of talk about massive CHEATING" in Philadelphia, echoing his false claims in 2020 that fraud had occurred in large, Democratic-dominated cities. In a subsequent post, he also asserted there was fraud in Detroit.
"I don't respond to nonsense," Detroit City Clerk Janice Winfrey told Reuters.
A Philadelphia city commissioner, Seth Bluestein, replied on X, "There is absolutely no truth to this allegation. It is yet another example of disinformation. Voting in Philadelphia has been safe and secure."
Trump, whose supporters attacked the US Capitol on Jan 6, 2021, after he claimed the 2020 election was rigged, voted earlier near his home in Palm Beach, Florida.
"If I lose an election, if it's a fair election, I'm gonna be the first one to acknowledge it," Trump told reporters.
His campaign has suggested he may declare victory on election night even while millions of ballots have yet to be counted, as he did four years ago. The winner may not be known for days if the margins in battleground states are as slim as expected.
Millions of Americans waited in orderly lines to cast ballots, with only sporadic disruptions reported across a handful of states, including several non-credible bomb threats that the FBI said appeared to originate from Russian email domains.
Trump was watching the results at his Mar-a-Lago club before speaking to supporters at a nearby convention center, according to sources familiar with the planning. Tesla CEO Elon Musk, a prominent Trump backer, said he would watch the results at Mar-a-Lago with Trump.
Trump attended a morning meeting about turnout but appeared bored by the data talk, according to one source briefed on the meeting. All Trump wanted to know, the source said, was: "Am I going to win?"
Harris, who had previously mailed her ballot to her home state of California, spent some of Tuesday in radio interviews encouraging listeners to vote. Later, she was due to address students at Howard University, a historically Black college in Washington where Harris was an undergraduate.
"To go back tonight to Howard University, my beloved alma mater, and be able to hopefully recognize this day for what it is, is really full circle for me," Harris said in a radio interview.
Abortion, economy and immigration
Tuesday's vote capped a dizzying race churned by unprecedented events, including two assassination attempts against Trump, President Joe Biden's surprise withdrawal and Harris' rapid rise.
No matter who wins, history will be made.
Harris, 60, the first female vice president, would become the first woman, Black woman and South Asian American to win the presidency. Trump, 78, the only president to be impeached twice and the first former president to be criminally convicted, would also become the first president to win non-consecutive terms in more than a century.
In Dearborn, Michigan, Nakita Hogue, 50, was joined by her 18-year-old college student daughter, Niemah Hogue, to vote for Harris. The daughter said she takes birth control to help regulate her period, while her mother recalled needing surgery after she had a miscarriage in her 20s, and both feared Republican lawmakers would seek to restrict reproductive healthcare.
"For my daughter, who is going out into the world and making her own way, I want her to have that choice," Nakita Hogue said. "She should be able to make her own decisions."
At a library in Phoenix, Arizona, Felicia Navajo, 34, and her husband Jesse Miranda, 52, arrived with one of their three young kids to vote for Trump.
Miranda, a union plumber, immigrated to the U.S. from Mexico when he was four years old, and said he believed Trump would do a better job of fighting inflation and controlling immigration.
"I want to see good people come to this town, people that are willing to work, people who are willing to just live the American dream," Miranda said.
