Georgia, a state that Donald Trump narrowly lost in 2020, and North Carolina, a state he narrowly won, moved into the win column for the former president, giving him the first two battleground states in one of the most consequential presidential elections in modern American history.
Republicans also flipped control of the Senate with a string of key victories. In Ohio, Bernie Moreno defeated Sen. Sherrod Brown, a resilient red-state Democrat. The retiring Sen. Joe Manchin, I-W.Va., will be replaced by the state’s Republican governor, Jim Justice. And Sen. Deb Fischer held off a dark-horse challenge in Nebraska from a blue-collar independent, Dan Osborn, eliminating any path Democrats had toward retaining control of the chamber.
In the presidential race, the so-called blue wall states — Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin — remain too close to call. All three would be crucial to Vice President Kamala Harris’ bid to become the first woman elected president.
By locking down the Southeast, Trump took a leap toward making history as the first president in more than 120 years to return to the White House after being ousted four years before.
The crowd at Harris’ election watch party at her alma mater, Howard University in Washington, had already thinned by midnight, and the mood was glum when Cedric Richmond, a co-chair of the Harris campaign, told those who were left that the vice president would not be coming to campus. Her supporters streamed for the exits.
Although the election is not decided, Trump was showing strength across the country, winning Texas and Florida easily and defying recent polls, such as one in Iowa, that seemed to show a surge of support for Harris. Republican leaders in Florida were also able to defeat ballot initiatives expanding abortion access and legalizing recreational marijuana, both of which failed to reach the 60% they needed.
Republican-held Senate seats that Democrats had hoped to at least make competitive — such as Ted Cruz’s in Texas and Rick Scott’s in Florida — were not even close.
Still, many of the states that will decide the next president were still undecided.
A largely peaceful Election Day was marred by bomb threats that roiled polling places in Democratic regions of Georgia, Arizona, and Michigan. Officials said none of the threats appeared credible, but at least in Georgia and Arizona, some polling places stayed open later. Election officials in those states attributed at least some of the threats to Russian actors.
The Democrats did score some landmark wins. For the first time in history, the Senate will have two Black women, both Democrats, serving simultaneously: Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester won her Senate contest in Delaware, while Angela Alsobrooks defeated moderate former Gov. Larry Hogan in Maryland. Sarah McBride, D-Del., was elected the first transgender member of the House.
In the battle for the House, Republicans were holding their own in many key races, leaving control up for grabs.
But state Sen. John Mannion defeated Rep. Brandon Williams, R-N.Y., according to The Associated Press, delivering Democrats the first flipped House seat in the country. And Shomari Figures, a Democrat and former Justice Department official, won election in Alabama’s newly drawn 2nd Congressional District, according to The Associated Press, handing his party a rare pickup in the South.
Jubilant Donald Trump supporters gathered in Florida on election night, expecting the ex-president to speak after he notched key wins in the race for the White House.
Men donning formal suits and women in dresses mingled at the Palm Beach County Convention Center event, where they rubbed shoulders with a die-hard Trump fan sporting their political hero's name emblazoned on a leather vest.
Whether dressed in formal attire or more casual wear, many of the attendees wore Trump's signature red "Make America Great Again" baseball caps.
"I feel like Trump has won this election. This is over, and I feel like the world's about to be much greater," said Moses Abraham, 22.
Trump pushed closer to victory over Kamala Harris on Wednesday, leaving the Democrat the narrowest of remaining paths to stop him from scoring a stunning political comeback.
"This is like 2016. I feel that we are on the same path to win. I feel very optimistic about tonight," said Jo Ann Poly Calvo. "Donald Trump is the perfect fit for America."
But her path to victory was narrowing, and Trump took a significant step toward making history as the first president in more than 120 years to return to the White House after being ousted four years before.
Although the election is by no means over, Trump was showing strength across the country, winning Texas and Florida easily and defying recent polls, such as one in Iowa, that seemed to show a surge of support for Harris.
Republican leaders in Florida were also able to defeat ballot initiatives expanding abortion access and legalizing recreational marijuana, both of which failed to reach the 60% they needed.
For the first time in history, the Senate will have two Black women, both Democrats, serving simultaneously: Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester won her Senate contest in Delaware, while Angela Alsobrooks defeated moderate former Gov. Larry Hogan in Maryland. Sarah McBride, D-Del., was elected the first transgender member of the House.
Republicans flipped their first Senate seat — the state’s Republican governor, Jim Justice, will replace retiring Sen. Joe Manchin. Democrats will likely have to hold onto contested seats in the Republican states of Ohio and Montana to maintain control of the Senate, as Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., was also reelected, and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, appeared to be holding on.
Election officials described the election process as generally smooth, safe, and secure; long lines were present but not widespread, and most glitches caused by machines or human error were swiftly addressed.
Officials at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency rebutted reports of voter fraud in Pennsylvania. “We have no data or reporting to support these claims,” said Cait Conley, a senior official.
In Milwaukee, election officials sought to head off another potential source of disinformation, after discovering that 13 tabulators had the doors covering their power switches and data ports unlocked. Officials said that they would have to tabulate 31,000 votes.
Lara Trump, co-chair of the Republican National Committee, described it as “an unacceptable example of incompetent election administration” in a critical state, but city officials said it was relatively minor.
“The greatest harm you could have done would be to reset the machine,” said Jeff Fleming, a city spokesperson, explaining that the additional step could add an hour or 90 minutes to the night’s count. “The corrective action has much more to do with providing a level of confidence with the results than anything else.”
The very present threat that Trump would try to overturn the results again added to the anxiety being expressed by voters at polling locations throughout swing states, many now equipped with panic buttons and police officers stationed outside.
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