Donald Trump has won two critical battleground states and more than 20 Republican strongholds to narrow a potential path to victory for his Democratic rival Kamala Harris in the 2024 race presidential race.
Vote projections after polls closed on Election Day show a tough road ahead for the vice president, with votes still being tabulated in several must-win swing states that will likely determine who wins the presidency.
Republicans have also seized control of the Senate for the first time in four years after flipping two seats in the Senate, wresting the narrow majority in the upper chamber of Congress from Democrats.
Trump has won Georgia and North Carolina, among a handful of swing states both candidates have been banking to win on their road to victory, according to projections.
Results are soon expected in the swing states of Arizona, Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — battlegrounds that President Joe Biden narrowly carried in 2020.
Harris did not address the nation or supporters from her results-watch party at her Howard University alma mater on Wednesday night, as vote counting carries on into the early morning hours.
Her campaign adviser Cedric Richmond told The Independent he remains “very confident” that the campaign will be in a better place tomorrow. “We left it all on the field,” he said.
Trump, meanwhile, is expected to address supporters and allies from Palm Beach, where congressional Republican leaders and other influential GOP figures are joining him at a watch party.
Trump has won in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Ohio, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming, according to preliminary results.
Harris is projected to win California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and Washington state as well as Washington DC.
She also picked up electoral votes in Maine and Nebraska, two states with a unique split electoral vote scenario, rather than the winner-take-all outcome in other states.
Trump’s victory in Georgia reverses Democratic gains in the state after Biden narrowly defeated Trump there in 2020, when he became the first Democratic candidate to carry the state since Bill Clinton in 1992.
His victory in Florida marks his third consecutive win in the state, nabbing its whopping 30 electoral votes, after Democratic former president Barack Obama carried the state in both 2008 and 2012.
He also is expected to win two of Nebraska’s electoral votes in that state’s split electoral vote count.
Media outlets are making their projections for each state’s winner as election workers count ballots and preliminary voting data is released.The Independent is relying on projections from the Associated Press.
Check back for live updates from The Independent.
Both candidates are gunning for 270 electoral votes, the golden number needed to secure the office of the presidency.
Experts previously told The Independent that the timeline for calling the race largely depends on two things: how close the election is in individual states and the specific laws of those states regarding counting votes and potential recounts, which all vary.
While outlets are expected to publish their final projections in the hours and days after November 5, their determination is only ever a projection. The election will be officially certified by Congress on January 6, 2025.
Voters ranked the state of democracy as their number one issue informing their voting decision, according to exit polls from Edison Research for media outlets in the National Election Pool.
Senate and House races
Election results in House and Senate races across the country will determine the balance of power in Congress — where Democrats currently hold the narrowest majority in the Senate and Republicans maintain a slim majority in the House — and will determine whether the president-elect’s agenda has legislative support.
Voters in Ohio have ousted Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown and elected Republican challenger Bernie Moreno, who previously called the former president a “lunatic” but has since adopted his agenda.
West Virginia’s Republican Governor Jim Justice is projected to win a seat in the Senate, flipping a seat previously held by now-former Democratic Senator Joe Manchin, who is not seeking re-election.
Republican Senator Rick Scott of Florida is also projected to defeat Democratic opponent Debbie Mucarsel-Powell.
In Maryland’s Senate race, Democratic candidate Angela Alsobrooks defeated the state’s former governor Larry Hogan, an anti-Trump Republican.
Alsobrooks is set to become the first Black person the state ever elected to the Senate.
Only 34 of the nation’s 100 seats in the Senate are currently up for election, as senators serve six-year terms with a third being elected every two years. But all 435 seats in the House of Representatives are up for election tonight.
Voters in Delaware have elected Democratic candidate Sarah McBride to fill the state’s single House seat, making her the first openly transgender member of Congress in American history.
Before this election, Democrats had 47 senators and four allied independents, while Republicans had 49.
Of the 34 seats up for grabs, 18 were previously held by Democratic senators, posing a threat to their slim majority.
Battling for the swing states
All eye are on the seven swing states.
Together, they hold 93 electoral college votes, without which neither presidential candidate can win the election.
Results will be refreshed live as they come in. Check back for updates.