Maxim Shemetov

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Pool Reuters via AP

Africans woke up to the news that former President Donald Trump was on course to win the U.S. election, with newspaper headlines raising questions over what it could mean for the continent.

“America elects Donald Trump president, spelling change for [South Africa] and the world,” one headline on popular South African mediawebsite News24 read.

By lunchtime as the results continued to roll in and Trump made his victory speech, African leaders were congratulating the president-elect.

“I look forward to continuing the close and mutually beneficial partnership between our two nations across all domains of our cooperation,” South African President Cyril Ramaphosasaid in a statement.

“In the global arena, we look forward to our Presidency of the G20 in 2025, where we will work closely with the US who will succeed us in the G20 Presidency in 2026,” Ramaphosa, who leads the continent’s most developed economy, continued.

The office of Nigerian President Bola Tinubu alsoposted congratulations on X, saying he believed Trump’s return to the White House would “usher in an era of earnest, beneficial, and reciprocal economic and development partnerships between Africa and the United States.”

The platform many used to share election news is itself owned by someone born in Africa: Elon Musk, who grew up in Pretoria, South Africa, before becoming a U.S. citizen. Musk, who owns X, has been a vocal supporter of Trump — who thanked him in his victory speech.

Many in Africa had been following the election closely with the knowledge that U.S. politics have knock-on effects across the globe, in terms of conflicts, trade, economics and social issues.

South African cartoonist Zapiro summed up the anxiety some were feelingwith a cartoon in a local paper that showed a number of hideous Halloween monster masks, titled “Kinda scary,” juxtaposed to a Trump mask titled “Truly terrifying.”

The South African currency therand tanked on the election news.

Trump raised ire in Africa during his last presidency after U.S. officials said he referred to some African nations as “shithole countries" and for Trump's mispronouncing Namibia’s name and comparing himself to liberation hero Nelson Mandela.

However, he is popular with some Africans who have said they admire his “strongman” style.
Analysts said ahead of the vote that an “America First” Trump presidency could spell bad news for the continent in terms of global trade as well as U.S. funding for health, especially reproductive rights and HIV/AIDS.

Others said it mattered less who was in charge of the U.S., given U.S. leaders from both parties have paid scant attention to Africa. This has left room for other global powers, like China and Russia, to make diplomatic inroads on the continent, analysts said.

In addition to presidential and congressional races, NPR has been gathering election results for state-wide races and ballot issues.

You can find those results onNPR's election results page, by clicking on "state results" and selecting your state.

Patrick T. Fallon

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AFP via Getty Images

Measures appeared on the ballot in 41 states and focused on issues ranging from abortion access, to noncitizen voting and marijuana legalization, to legalization of some psychedelics.

Here's where things stand.

Abortion

There were 11 abortion-related ballot measures this election, a record for a single year, including:

• Arizona:voterspassed a constitutional amendment guaranteeing abortion access.
• Nebraska:Voters opted tokeep a 12-week abortion ban in place.
• Nevada: Voters took the first step toprotecting abortion in their state constitution.
• New York: Votersapproved an amendment to the state constitution designed to protect the state’s current access to abortion.
• Montana:Voters approved a measure that wouldprotect reproductive rights in their state's constitution.
• Colorado: Voters approved a proposal toput protections for reproductive rights into the state constitution.

Here'sa full breakdown on where abortion issues ended up.

Marijuana legalization

Four states voted on marijuana legalization, including for recreational use in Florida, North Dakota and South Dakota.

• Florida: Votersdid not get the necessary 60% of the vote to legalize marijuana.

Same-Sex Marriage

Same-sex marriages became legal nationwide in 2015, but with the overturning of Roe v. Wade, there are concerns that something similar could happen to the legality of same-sex unions. Three states voted to protect same-sex marriage at the state level.

• California:Voters passedProposition 3,guaranteeing the right for same-sex, as well as interracial, couples to marry.
• Colorado:Voters passedAmendment J, repealing aban on same-sex unions.
• Hawaii: Votes are still being tallied on whether or not to repealSection 23 of the state constitution, which saysthe legislature has the power to reserve marriage to opposite-sex couples.
  

Harris called Trump and congratulated him on winning the presidential election, a senior Harris aide told reporters.

Harris talked about the importance of a peaceful transfer of power and being a president for all Americans, the aide said.

She is scheduled to deliver remarks at 4 p.m. ET at Howard University.

John Moore

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Getty Images North America

BOSTON – Massachusetts voters rejected a proposal to legalize natural psychedelic drugs, according to a call by The Associated Press, representing a setback for what’s been a growing legalization movement.

The measure would have allowed people 21 and older to consume psychedelics like psilocybin mushrooms at licensed therapy centers, as well as grow small amounts at home.

The proposal came on the heels of successful campaigns to legalize and regulate psilocybin in Oregon and Colorado. TheNew Approach PAC, a national advocacy group, poured millions of dollars into all three states’ campaigns, and will likely keep pushing similar proposals across the country.

Opponents, including several large medical associations, argued these drugs can beharmful, especially for people at risk for schizophrenia or psychosis. They also feared the law would fuel a black market of home-grown psychedelics.

Advocates point to agrowing body of research that shows psychedelics’ potential as a treatment for conditions like depression and PTSD.

President-elect Donald Trump has won Michigan, according to a race call by the Associated Press.

The victory delivers Trump an additional 15 electoral votes and a solid win through all the so-called “blue wall” swing states that Democrats and Vice President Kamala Harris were hoping to win.

Michigan was considered a critical state for both campaigns.

Michigan is part of the so-called “blue wall” of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania that helped cement success for President Biden in 2020. Biden carried Michigan by 150,000 votes, a major reversal after Trump unexpectedly carried the state in 2016 by just 10,000 votes.

Trump sought to repeat that success by turning out votes in rural counties and through better margins in the Democratic stronghold of Detroit and its suburbs, including among union households and working-class voters in Macomb County.

This year Trump made inroads among groups of voters that have a long history of supporting Democrats, including the state’s sizeable Arab and Muslim-American population that has been angry at the Biden administration over its handling of the war in Gaza. Some prominent Arab-American civic and religious leaders also endorsed Trump.

Republicans were able to overcome a major mobilization effort on behalf of Democrats by unions — including the United Auto Workers whose president Shawn Fain repeatedly told his members at rallies that “Trump is a scab,” a well-known epithet in union circles for someone who is an enemy of labor.

Trump also gained traction with some voters by opposing electric vehicle mandates for carmakers, and promising to use protective tariffs against foreign-based auto companies that sell cars in the US market.

That brings Trump's electoral count vote tally to 292, to Harris' 224.

In Iraq, Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani congratulated Donald Trump and said he wanted to strengthen ties with the United States.

"Iraq reaffirms its steadfast commitment to strengthening bilateral relations with the United States, grounded in mutual respect and shared interests," he said in a statement.

And Iraqi President Abdullatif J Rashid said he hopes the administration can “foster much-needed stability and constructive dialogue in the region”.

In 2021, Baghdad’s investigative court issued an arrest warrant for Trump following the U.S. airstrike that killed the Iranian Revolutionary Guard general Qasem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis — the Iraqi deputy head of the Iran-backed Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces.

Shia militias backed by Iran have major political influence in Iraq. But the Iraqi Parliament’s Foreign Relations Committee said it intends to engage with a Trump administration regardless of the arrest warrant, underscoring that it is in Iraq’s national interest to do so.

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Getty Images

The election results show that the status quo is not a compelling message for voters, leaders of the Uncommitted Movement said in remarks to media this morning.

The Uncommitted Movement is an organization led by Arab and Muslim American Democrats opposed to U.S. support for Israel’s war in Gaza and Lebanon.The group is based in Michigan, where the city of Dearborn is home to one of thelargest Arab American communities in the country.

Organizers Lexis Zeidan and Abbas Alawieh spoke to reporters in Michigan about what they think of the election results and how their work will change during Trump’s term.

“I think our community is about to be subjected to a lot more surveillance and violence and our community won't be alone in that,” Alawieh said.

He referenced a plan known as Project Esther. TheForward, a Jewish American publication, said the plan proposes the federal government train its powers on “virulently anti-Israel, anti-Zionist, and anti-American groups” that it calls the “Hamas Support Network,” or HSN. The proposal suggests using counterterrorism and immigration laws against leaders of groups like Jewish Voice for Peace and Students for Justice in Palestine, theForward wrote last month.

Groups like Uncommitted will stand in opposition to Trump’s agenda for the next four years, Alawieh said, “but it's going to take all of us, and it's going to take the Democratic Party adopting a different approach that mobilizes people and really helps them believe that a different policy to the future is possible.”

The Democratic Party is not safe from the group’s criticism despite the party’s failures at the polls, they said.

“One of the things that I'm intent on doing is laying bare for our communities across the country, and including our community here in the Arab Muslim community, that I believe actually it's Democrats' fault for abandoning our party,” Alawieh said.

“Donald Trump's playing us. Democrats are allowing him to play us. We've got to resist his political project of exploiting our pain, so that he can further marginalize us and other communities,” he said.

Matthew Chattle

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Cover Images via Reuters

LONDON — Calling Donald Trump’s victory a sign of “fascism” and “climate breakdown,” environmental activists vandalized the U.S. Embassy in London on Wednesday, spraying an outer wall with orange paint.

No one was injured. Police say two men, ages 72 and 25, were arrested on suspicion of criminal damage. In an email to NPR, Andy Valentine, the Metropolitan Police's deputy assistant commissioner, called the incident “vandalism purporting as protest” and said the suspects remain in custody.

The protest groupJust Stop Oil claimed responsibility andposted footage on social media.

Ina statement, the group said the “only real winner” of the U.S. election is “corporate power” that puts the fossil-fuel industry over ordinary people. It referred todeadly floods last week in Spain, where “hundreds of bodies continue to be dragged from the mud,” as evidence of “what is to come” if politicians don’t change course.

“As long as democracy is hijacked by corporate interests and billionaires, it will fail to deliver the change people are crying out for,” it said. “This will always leave the door open for fake populists like Trump to exploit the disaffection many feel.”

Just Stop Oil activists have disrupted tennis matches at Wimbledon, blocked parade floats at London’s pride festival andvandalized Van Gogh paintings at the city’s National Gallery to raise awareness of what it calls a climate collapse.

The target of Wednesday’s attack was a relatively new U.S. Embassy complex on the south bank of London’s River Thames, to which diplomats relocated in 2018. Trumponce called it an “off location” and the move a “bad deal.”

Mario Tama

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Getty Images

In an interview with NPR's Steve Inskeep this morning, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said that the Trump administration, which he will likely be a part of, will recommend removing fluoride from the country’s drinking water.

Kennedy, who endorsed Donald Trump in August, is part of the president-elect's transition team and has asked for a role relating to health in Trump’s administration. In October, Trump said he would give Kennedy a role in his administration, but that has not been defined yet.

“We don’t need fluoride in our water,” Robert F. Kennedy said onMorning Edition. “It’s a very bad way to deliver it into our systems.”

Fluoride, a mineral that helps strengthen teeth and reduces cavities, has been added to United States drinking water in some areas since 1945, but the decision to add fluoride is made at the local level. The federal government cannot decide on water fluoridation but can make recommendations for or against its use and in what concentration.Around 70% of the U.S. population has access to fluoridated tap water.

Kennedy also said that one of his immediate priorities would be to review research on vaccines. Kennedy has long been critical of vaccines and vaccine mandates and once said that it was “criminal medical malpractice” to give a child a COVID-19 vaccine. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said that the COVID-19 vaccine is safe for children. Kennedy has also repeatedly claimed that vaccines cause autism,despite a large amount of evidence that vaccines are not to blame.

“Of course, we’re not going to take vaccines away from anybody,” Kennedy said. “We are going to make sure that Americans have good information about vaccines and vaccine safety.

Kennedy, who is related to a long line of famous Democrats, said that the party is run by millionaires and no longer represents the desires of working people, but an elite class.

“The Republican party is now the party of labor unions, the party of working people, of the American poor,” Kennedy said. “And those are the people who voted for Donald Trump and those are the people who he’s going to keep his promises to.”

In Illinois, a non-binding referendum laying out a plan “to create an additional 3% tax on income greater than $1,000,000” and put the money toward cutting property taxes statewide — has won approval.

The advisory referendum passed with around60% of the vote.

Member stationWBEZ reports that a Cook County analysis found that homeowners in some Chicago suburbs were hit with steep property tax hikes this year. In some areas, increases topped 30%.

The station adds, “state revenue officials say could pump at least $4.5 billion more each year into the state’s treasury to then divert to property tax reduction.”

While the referendum doesn’t immediately impose a new tax on the highest earners, it could give momentum to the push for a constitutional amendment in the 2026 vote.

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AP

President-elect Donald Trump successfully courted more Latino voters again this election despite promising mass deportations and continually demonizing migrants from predominantly Latin American countries.

While Trump lost the overall share of Latino votes to Vice President Harris, who won 53%, support for him was up 13 percentage points from 2020, according tonational exit poll data.

Contributing to that is Latinos feeling they are worse off financially now than they were four years ago, according to Evelyn Pérez-Verdía, cultural strategist and founder of We are Mas, a communications firm in Florida.

But she added that Trump's success with Latinos goes beyond economic concerns and may also have to do with how this community perceived the idea that democracy was under threat or the extremes the candidates argued the other represented.

Pérez-Verdía said Latinos may have been turned off by Democrats because of language they have used in recent election cycles. She points specifically to words like "Latinx,"which research shows very few Latinos identify with, and the "progressive" label, a term that Latinos of specific national origins could associate with communism and figures like Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez.

"Well, if it sounds like a duck and it looks like a duck, it must be a duck, which is not the case. Kamala Harris is not a socialist, but that's what they feel," Pérez-VerdíatoldMorning Edition.

Yasuyoshi Chiba

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AFP via Getty Images

Marijuana legalization has been a ballot measure in a number of states in recent years. In the 2024 election, the issue showed up on ballots in four states: Nebraska, Florida and North and South Dakota.

Ballot measures to legalize recreational marijuana have failed in Florida and North Dakota, but South Dakota is too close to call. Recreational pot has been legalized in two dozen states.

Nebraska voted to legalize medical marijuana in the state — recreational marijuana was not on the ballot there. The state joins the 38 others that have already legalized marijuana for medical purposes.

Correction: The headline and text on this post originally said that recreational marijuana was on the ballot in five states.

Some residents of the tiny Indian village of Vadluru are celebrating after Donald Trump won his second presidency. That’s because the soon-to-be Vice President JD Vance is married to Indian American Usha Chilukuri Vance, whose grandparents hail from the village.

Chilukuri Vance, 38, isa Yale law graduate and trial lawyer who was raised in San Diego byher Indian immigrant parents. Her mother is a biologist and provost at the University of California at San Diego; her father is an engineer. She and JD Vance met at Yale and married soon after graduating.

“We’re very proud that a woman from our village is in the limelight,” says Raghumanda Srinu, a 43-year-old member of the village council. He says villagers were praying for Trump’s victory.

Another resident, who goes by the name P Trimurthulu, a 60-year-old artist, hopes the spotlight on the village might lead to more development. But he concedes, “that might not be possible, as Usha Vance is in the United States.”

Chilukuri Vance is not known to have visited Vadluru, a place her family left for better fortunes more than five decades ago — indeed, one woman reached by NPR asked: “Usha who?”

Still,local media report Vance’s parents had donated money to build a Hindu temple in the village, which is located in the southern coastal state of Andhra Pradesh.

The celebrations are in stark contrast to another tiny village in southern India, Thulasendrapuram in the state of Tamil Nadu, the ancestral village of Kamala Harris’ maternal grandfather. Villagers had posted up Harris’ picture and hoisted banners in the streets, praying for her victory. After the loss became clear, one resident told NPR: “She’ll always be our president.”

More broadly, what the two villages highlight is the growing prominence of Indian Americans in U.S. politics, nearly reaching the highest possible political position.

Alfredo Estrella

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AFP via Getty Images

MEXICO CITY — Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said her government is waiting for firmer results to issue an official statement about the U.S. elections. However, during her morning press briefing, she called Mexicans everywhere to keep calm.

“To all Mexicans, there is no reason to worry. To our brothers and sisters living in the U.S., to their family members living here, to the business people, there is no reason to worry,” she said. “Mexico will always prevail. We are a free, independent, sovereign nation and there will be a good relationship with the United States. I am convinced of that.”

It was a statement designed to assuage concerns over what Mexico may face in the coming Trump years. Mexico is the United States'leading trade partner. The countries are joined at the hip, yet Trump has made Mexico his bogeyman — one of his biggest targets on the campaign trail.

During his first term, Trump strong-armed Mexico into instituting tougher immigration policies by threatening to shut down the border, not just to immigrants but for trade. Just a few days ago, he threatened something similar, saying if Mexico does not stop migrants and drugs from reaching the U.S. border, he would impose tariffs on Mexican exports.

“If they don’t stop this onslaught of criminals and drugs coming into our country, I’m going to immediately impose a 25% tariff on everything they send into the United States of America,” Trump said at a rally this week.

During Trump’s first term, Mexico's government took a conciliatory approach. Its leaders avoided antagonizing Trump and they mostly fell in line with his policies. Sheinbaum, who has been in office for a little more than a month, seems to be taking that same approach. Over the past few days, she has said repeatedly that Mexico and the U.S. will continue to have a good relationship regardless of who is in power.

Every four years, U.S. presidential elections act as a compass on where the country is headed — but also, every four years, political pundits tend to misread the election’s meaning, according to Jon Stewart.

“We’re gonna come out of this election and make all kind of pronouncements about what this country is, and what this world is — and the truth is, we’re not really gonna know s***,”Stewart said Tuesday night.

The Daily Show host revisited a string of post-election perspectives about the nation’s political future, including:

• 2008, when a “post-racial America” was prognosticated;
• 2016, when experts recommended a younger Democratic candidate; and
• 2020, when pundits declared the end of Donald Trump’s political career.

Stewart acknowledged his own frustration with the 2024 election results.

“But this isn’t the end,” he added. “I promise you, this is not the end. And we have to regroup, and we have to continue to fight, and continue to work day in and day out to create the better society for our children, for this world, for this country, that we know is possible. It’s possible.”

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AFP via Getty Images

Vice President Harris will deliver remarks at 4 p.m. ET at Howard University in Washington, D.C., according to the White House.

Earlier today, her team told NPR she wouldcall President-elect Donald Trump to concede.

Alex Wroblewski

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AFP via Getty Images

Final polls in the lead-up to Election Day showed a tight race, and some even favored Vice President Harris.

But in the end, the small sliver of undecided Americans who live in key battleground states favored former President Donald Trump and propelled him back to the White House.

Margie Omero, a Democratic pollster, toldMorning Edition that exit polling data shows late deciders and people who didn't vote in the previous election went for Trump. In 2020, she said, they favored Biden.

"I know that the race looks decisive today as people are waking up and looking at what's happened in the Electoral College, but all the battleground states were ultimately within a few points," Omero said, adding that the results aren't far off from the margins of error in polling.

In Michigan and Wisconsin have both been called for Trump; about a percentage point separated the two candidates, according to the Associated Press.Trump won Pennsylvania by about two points.

"Every poll we did where we tried different types of messaging, public polling, focus groups, there wasn't that much that seemed to move the race," Omero said. "It's consistent with a locked-in, tied race ...[where] the margin of error broke for Trump leading to where he is today."

Patrick T. Fallon

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AFP via Getty Images

While the presidential election has been called, and Republicans have won the majority of seats in the Senate, several races in the House of Representatives are still too close to call. Democrats will need to win 41 seats to gain a majority, while Republicans need 21.

In Pennsylvania, Democrat Susan Wild has conceded the race to Ryan Mackenzie, a Republican candidate who ran on an "America First" campaign. While Wild raised much more money than Mackenzie, she was unable to hold the state's competitive seventh congressional district seat.

Here are some of the closest races:

California is a state that Democratic presidential candidates have reliably won for decades. But Republican Ken Calvert has found a consistent home in California’s 41st district: He has served more than three decades in the House. He is in a rematch of 2022 as well: Democrat Will Rollins came close to beating Calvert that year.

Another close rematch is happening in Iowa, where Republican incumbent Mariannette Miller-Meeks is facing Christiana Bohannan, a state representative who campaigned on a platform of protecting abortion rights.

In Arizona, state representative Amish Shah is taking on David Schweikert, who is serving his seventh term in office and is seeking re-election. This race will most likely not be called any time soon: Arizona is still counting their mail-in ballots.

Seth Wenig

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AP

RIO DE JANEIRO — South American heads of state have been congratulating President-elect Trump. The most fervent felicitations, however, have come from some of the hemisphere’s most conservative leaders.

Argentina’s far-right libertarian President Javier Milei, who shares a similar brash style with Trump, called the victory "formidable." Milei urged Trump to, “Now, Make America Great Again.”

Milei, who has pledged to carry out a foreign policy with only two nations, the U.S. and Israel,posted on social media, “You know that You can count on Argentina to carry out your task.”

Similarly, Brazil’s former far-right President Jair Bolsonaro posted videos of himself with Trump and longadorations of the president-elect, calling him a “true warrior.” He added, “May Trump’s victory inspire Brazil to follow the same path.”

Bolsonaro has been barred from running for office until 2030 for spreading disinformation during his failed reelection bid in 2022. Like Trump, Bolsonaro never accepted the defeat. Bolsonaro supporters stormed government buildings on Jan. 8, 2023, in an attempt to overturn the election results. Eduardo Bolsonaro, the former president’s son and a current legislator, spent last night at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago campaign celebration.

Brazil’s leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva also congratulated Trump, yet with more muted enthusiasm.Posting on social media platform X, Lula wrote, “Democracy is the voice of the people and must always be respected.”

Lula had openly endorsed Vice President Harris, equating a Trump victory with a return to fascism. The Biden administration had been seen as instrumental in pressuring Brazilian institutions, including the military, to not support Bolsonaro supporters who stormed the capital.

While Lula is not a fan of the former president, Brazil could benefit financially under Trump. He has promised a trade war with China. That could increase Chinese demand for Brazilian grain exports, a definite boon to the South American country’s influential agricultural sector.

Vice President Harris is set to call President-elect Donald Trump to concede, and later will give public remarks, a source familiar with the plan tells NPR’s Deepa Shivaram.

The source spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of the private call.

Screenshot by NPR

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South Dakota State Historical Society

South Dakota’s constitution has dozens of references to men holding the highest offices in the state, as in, “He shall have power” and “the duties of his office.” But the state also has women holding some of its highest offices -- including Gov. Kristi Noem.

The 2024 election gave voters a chance to remove the presumptions of masculinity from their governing document. They declined to do so, with 58.4% of the ballots castrejecting Amendment E.

“As a mother of a little girl in South Dakota, I want all young women to realize that they can grow up to do anything they set their mind to,” state Sen. Erin Tobin, a Republican, said as she urged a "Yes" vote in the state's official pamphlet aboutthe proposed amendment.

The amendment reached the ballot due to a joint resolution of the state legislature. It had the governor’s backing and initially met with little resistance. But then it was opposed byseveral female Republican lawmakers. State Rep. Liz May said Amendment E was unnecessary and would waste money on changing documents.

“The reference to ‘he’ in our Constitution is simply a singular pronoun,” May said. “The historic use of gereric [sic] male pronouns in our constitution is proper style and form and clearly does not exclude or hinder women from holding public office.”

The male-centric language dates to 1889, when the state’s constitution took effect upon joining the United States. It survived when the state grantedwomen the right to vote in 1918, one year before Congress approved the 19th Amendment.

Despite the male-oriented text, South Dakota votersin 1923 made Gladys Pyle the first woman to serve in the state’s House of Representatives. In 1938, they elected her to a brief stint in the U.S. Senate (to finish out the term of her late husband, Peter Norbeck).

Tiziana Fabi

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AFP via Getty Images

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has offered her “most sincere” congratulations to Donald Trump and said the U.S. and Italy are “sister” nations with “unshakeable” ties.

Her deputy prime minister, Matteo Salvini was positively gleeful writing: “The battle against illegal immigration; cutting taxes; Christian roots and a return to peace; freedom of thought and the rejection of the political process. Also in the United States good sense, passion and the future have won out! Good work, President Donald Trump.”

Italy’s right-wing populist leadership is in some ways naturally aligned to a Trump administration. Before the election result, Prime Minister Meloni was careful to try to maintain good relations with both the Trump and Harris campaign. But Meloni carefully courted Donald Trump when he was president, and her administration has reportedly kept in contact with senior Trump foreign policy advisors. Some analysts in Europe believe the Meloni government could be well placed as a key bridge between Europe and Washington.

Hungary’s nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is also among those European leaders celebrating a Trump victory. Orbán was one of the first foreign leaders to congratulate Trump. In his decades in power Orbán has been accused of amassing power to himself at the expense of democratic institutions, Hungary’s judicial system and civil society institutions. Posting on X, Orbán called the US election result a “much needed victory for the World!”

Alexander Nemenov

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AFP via Getty Images

Russian President Vladimir Putin has no plans to congratulate Trump on his election victory yet, the Kremlin said on Wednesday — citing ongoing tensions with the U.S. over its military support for Ukraine.

“Let’s not forget that we’re talking about an unfriendly country that is both directly and indirectly involved in a war against our state,” said spokesman Dmitry Peskov in his daily briefing with reporters.

Trump has repeatedly voiced skepticism over continued U.S. military aid to Ukraine and said he would end the war in Ukraine “in 24 hours” after his election — feeding concerns in Kyiv and European capitals that Trump plans to force a political solution unpalatable to many Ukrainians.

It’s a position clearly cheered by some in Moscow.

The head of the foreign affairs committee in the Russian parliament, Leonid Slutsky, was quoted by the country's state-run news agency, RIA Novosti, saying that Trump's electoral victory could mean there was now "a chance for a more constructive approach to the Ukrainian conflict.”

Slutsky said the Trump campaign's rhetoric suggested a new administration is "not going to send more and more American taxpayers' money into the furnace of a proxy war against Russia.”

Yet Russian political observers cautioned Trump’s plans for a quick end to the Ukraine crisis bordered on unrealistic.

“In the case that attention and money from Washington will be diverted from Ukraine — that will have a big impact on the battlefield and probably create a composition for a new hypothetical deal,” says Fyodor Lukyanov, editor ofRussia in Global Affairs magazine, in an interview with NPR.

"But not immediately,” he adds, noting it would be “very difficult” to imagine a wider improvement in U.S.-Russian relations without some resolution to "the Ukrainian crisis.”

Skepticism in Moscow is also fueled by memories of the election of 2016 — when Trump’s vows to improve relations tanked amid allegations of Russian attempts to interfere in the vote.

The Kremlin’s spokesman suggested it would wait and see until Trump actually took the oath of office before judging prospects for real change in Washington’s policies toward Russia.

“Whether it will be done and how it will be done, you and I will see after (Trump’s inauguration) in January,” said Peskov.

Alex Wroblewski

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AFP via Getty Images

The gender gap took center stage in this year’s election: Vice President Harris attempted to woo female voters by emphasizing the party’scommitment to reproductive freedom, while former President Donald Trump focused his efforts on getting men to vote.

Trump’s strategy has seemed to be successful: His appearances on podcasts with mostly male audiences, likeThe Joe Rogan Experience andFull Send Podcast, have emphasized his position as the “man’s candidate,” according to Jackson Katz, the creator of the documentaryThe Man Card.

“The message being sent to young men was ‘I see you, I care about you, and the other side thinks you're toxic,' ” Katz told NPR’s Morning Edition.

Meanwhile, Harris may have struggled to recruit female voters afterTrump relaxed some of his positions on federal abortion bans. Last month, Trump said he would veto a federal abortion ban, which may have eased female voters' concerns about reproductive freedoms.

“I think women sort of said, ‘OK, well, maybe that's taken care of and we can vote with our pocketbooks,’ ” said Elaine Kamarck, the director of the Center for Effective Public Management at the Brookings Institution.

Armend Nimani

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AFP via Getty Images

KYIV — Ukraine is facing a seismic change in its relationship with its biggest and most crucial single ally, the U.S., after Donald Trump’s resounding election win.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he congratulated Trump early in the day. Writing on social media, Zelenskyy explained that he and Trump had a “great” meeting in September and that he appreciated what he calls Trump’s “peace through strength” approach in global affairs.

“We are interested in developing mutually beneficial political and economic cooperation that will benefit both of our nations,” he wrote.

However, many Ukrainians do not trust Trump, who has said he wants to cut aid to Ukraine and expressed admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is behind the invasion of Ukraine.

Vice President-elect JD Vance has said Ukraine should give up land already occupied by Russia as well as its NATO bid in exchange for peace.

Oksana Tsupii, a 53-year-old trader, says such a move would be an incredibly painful and enervating moment for Ukrainians, who have already sacrificed so much.

“It’s difficult to look at the graves of our boys who have been killed, to think of all our cities Russia wiped off the face of the Earth,” Tsupii says. “But we are so small in this world of politics, and unfortunately, our lives are worth nothing.”

Meanwhile, Andrii, a 35-year-old soldier who didn’t give his last name in accordance with military protocol, says Trump’s election hasn’t changed how he views the war.

“If we have to adapt, we will do it,” he says. “Our people have already shown so much resilience and will rely on our strength and focus.”

Ukrainian lawmakers and business leaders have taken notice of divided politics in the U.S. and have reached out to Senate and congressional Republicans for bipartisan support.

Oleksandr Kalenkov, who leads an association of Ukrainian companies involved in the metal industry, said Ukraine respects the choice of the American people.

“And we have to deal with the outcome of this choice,” Kalenkov said.

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With the 118th Congress on track to bethe least productive in modern history, lawmakers next year will face a new, low bar.

As of November,just 106 laws were enacted, less than a third of the 365 enacted laws by the preceding, 117th Congress. When sitting members return to a lame duck session later this month, they’ll have a long to-do list but are unlikely to undo this new distinction.

Still, if Washington enters a new season of divided government next year, as seems likely, Congress could be on track for an even less productive future.

“Is this Congress going to be any better at solving public problems than the one that preceded it?” says Sarah Binder, politics professor at George Washington University. “It’s a pretty low bar ... [the 118th Congress] really only managed to reach agreement on ... the must-pass measures.”

And those same must-pass measures will be part of the first wave of urgent questions facing the next Congress.

That includes addressing the U.S. debt limit yet again after lawmakerssuspended it in 2023 and kicked the can to next year. On Jan. 2, the debt ceiling will be reinstated, starting a new clock for the U.S. to default on its debts, which would threaten to plunge the U.S. economy into crisis. It will be up to the Treasury Department to warn how much time is left before that limit is breached.

Follow House results from AP here.

U.S. stock markets were poised to soar on Wednesday after former President Donald Trump claimed victory in the presidential race. Highly watched stocks such as Tesla and DJT were popping in pre-market trading.

Overall, markets are cheering the election results. Major U.S. stock indices are expected to open higher, with Dow futures up almost 3%. Many European indexes also made gains. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 rose by 1,005 points.

Elon Musk, an outspoken Trump supporter, saw Tesla shares rise by more than 12% in pre-market trading.

Shares of the Trump Media & Technology Group rose by even more: 40%. The company, which reflects Trump’s Truth Social platform, had seen its DJT stockhammered on Tuesday, even before it reported a revenue decline.

Trump’s win also rippled through the cryptocurrency market, with Bitcoin up about 10%.

Trump has promised to impose higher import tariffs after returning to the White House. As markets absorbed news of his win, the U.S. dollar rose sharply, putting it on track for one of its strongest days in recent years.

NPR's Business Desk contributed to this report.

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South Korea and Japan quickly pledged to strengthen ties with the next U.S. administration. Former President Donald Trump has criticized both allies, saying they pay too little of the cost of defending them.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol congratulated Trump on X, saying the future of the alliance “will shine brighter” under his strong leadership.

Japanese government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi called the alliance with the U.S. the linchpin of Japan’s foreign and security policies.

Privately, Seoul and Tokyo have long voiced concerns about being abandoned by the U.S., possibly forcing them to acquire nuclear weapons, or share them with the U.S.

There’s been no reaction yet out of Pyongyang. Diplomacy between Trump and North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Un, fell apart in 2019.

Kim now has a bigger nuclear arsenal, and he is believed to have sent troops to fight in Ukraine, to cement ties with Russia.

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AFP via Getty Images

TEL AVIV, Israel — “Congratulations on history’s greatest comeback!” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahutweeted.

Officials throughout the Middle East welcomed Donald Trump’s victory — amid anticipation and anxiety across the region over how he could change the course of the wars raging from Gaza to Lebanon and beyond.

Netanyahu, who met and spoke with Trump during his campaign, had been hoping for him to win and will likely take steps to end the wars in Gaza and Lebanon as a gesture to the incoming president, an Israeli official told NPR, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

Lebanese Information Minister Ziad Makary told NPR that he personally believes that Trump is someone with the ability to close deals. "Maybe a deal between the United States and Iran and a deal for a two-state solution" that would create a Palestinian state, he said.

He added that any U.S.-Iranian agreement and movement on negotiations with Palestinian leadership would create a more positive climate for a cease-fire agreement between Lebanon and Israel. "The Democrats did nothing" to stop the war in Gaza, Makary said. "We hope the Republicans can do better."

Trump has said he wants the Gaza war to end. Analysts in Israel estimate Trump will give Netanyahu the freedom to end it on Netanyahu’s preferred terms.

Senior Hamas official Basem Naim said Trump’s election is a “private matter for the Americans” but said Palestinians look forward to an “immediate” end to the Gaza war.

In Gaza, some Palestinians fear the war will intensify with Trump in office.

“The strikes and the killing will continue and increase … the relationship between Trump and Netanyahu is strong,” Gaza resident Mohammed Al Hasany said in a market in central Gaza.

In the West Bank, an Israeli settler leaderexpressed hope that Trump would back an Israeli move to permanently annex the occupied land that Palestinians want for a state — an idea former Trump ambassador to Israel David Friedman promotes in his new book,One Jewish State. Palestinians in the West Bank told NPR they feared that outcome.

Trump could prevent Israel from striking Iran’s nuclear facilities to prevent a regional war, according to apost-election analysis by the Institute for National Security Studies, an Israeli think tank.

Jane Arraf in Beirut, Anas Baba in Gaza, Nuha Musleh in Ramallah and Itay Stern in Tel Aviv contributed to this report.

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AP

LONDON — Donald Trump’s victory is awkward for global leaders who once denounced him.

Among those who’ve sent the president-elect congratulations is British Foreign Secretary David Lammy — who once called him a “racist” and “Nazi sympathizer.”

In 2017, Lammytweeted that if Trump were to visit the United Kingdom, Lammy would “be out protesting on the streets.”

“He is a racist KKK and Nazi sympathizer,” Lammy, then an opposition lawmaker, wrote less than a year into Trump’s first administration. He also penned a2018 magazine article calling the then-president “a profound threat to the international order.”

Buton social media Wednesday, Lammy congratulated Trump. “We look forward to working with you,” he wrote.

In a boisterous session of Parliament, U.K. opposition leader Kemi Badenoch read aloud Lammy’s past statements and called on Prime Minister Keir Starmer to apologize for them.

“The prime minister did not distance himself from the remarks,” she told the chamber.

Several of Starmer’s Cabinet members signedpast petitions seeking to ban Trump from visiting the U.K. oraddressing Parliament. Trump visited Britain in 2018 and 2019, but did not address the legislature.

Wednesday was Badenoch’s first session of so-called PMQs — prime minister’s questions —-since her election last weekend as leader of Britain’s Conservative Party. She is the first Black person to hold that role.

Lammy is also Black.

Starmer alsocongratulated Trump early Wednesday. His center-left Labour Party’s politics are more closely aligned with Vice President Harris. But after a two-hour dinner with Trump in New York in September, Starmer said he would work with whichever candidate won the White House.

Last month, Trump’s campaign accused Starmer’s party of breaking U.S. law by sending staff to campaign for Harris. The Labour Party denies any wrongdoing and has said any members who traveled to the U.S. did so on their own time.

Meanwhile, a far-right U.K. lawmaker, Nigel Farage, who is friends with Trump, has been absent from Parliament this week to attend Republican campaign rallies in Pennsylvania and Florida.

Chip Somodevilla

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President-elect Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election — culminating with the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol — put a spotlight on what are essentially ministerial steps between Election Day and Inauguration Day.

Here are key dates ahead:

• The next few weeks:State election officials confirm results
• Dec. 11:The appointing of electors
• Dec. 17: The meeting of electors
• Dec. 25: The arrival of the electoral votes
• Jan. 3:The swearing-in of the new Congress
• Jan. 6:The counting of electoral votes in Congress
• Jan. 20:Inauguration Day

Read more here about what each step entails.

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AP

“Congratulations to Donald Trump on being elected,” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeausaid on X Wednesday.

“The friendship between Canada and the U.S. is the envy of the world,” he added. “I know President Trump and I will work together to create more opportunity, prosperity, and security for both of our nations.”

Canada’s government got a warning about what a potential second Trump administration might look like on Sunday in comments from Kelly Craft, a former U.S. ambassador under Trump.

"Canada, they need to buckle up. The whole world needs to buckle up because President Trump will continue his policies from 2016,” Craft said, in an interview on Canadian radio,according to the CBC.

In his first term, Trump pressed Trudeau to spend more on defense, in alignment with NATO’s rules. He has also recently spoken about putting tariffs on imports — another issue that would be a sticking point with the U.S. neighbor to the north.

The Associated Press’ Decision Desk says it will not report results from Arizona and Nevada, two swing states this morning. This is because Nevada has stopped reporting votes for now. Counties will resume reporting later in the day, and the Associated Press will update then.

In Arizona, reporting of “late earlies” is next. These are mail ballots that arrived on Election Day or the weekend prior. In order to determine who won these states, AP’s Decision Team will need to review those ballots.

Alamy; Stephen Maturen/Getty Images

The country’s 50th vice president will also be one of the youngest vice presidents.

At 40, JD Vance is just four years older than the nation’s youngest vice president: John C. Breckinridge, who was 36 when he took office in 1857. Breckinridge was the vice president of James Buchanan, who is often criticized for not stopping the South from seceding from the North in the period before the Civil War.

Donald Trump, 78, will be the nation’s oldest president. In 2020, 77-year-old Joe Biden won the election and celebrated his 78th birthday a few weeks later. Trump, who often mocked Biden’s age and fitness, will start his second term in office at the same age Biden did.

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HELENA, Mont. — Montanans have voted to protect reproductive rights in the state’s constitution, according to a call by the Associated Press.

The passage of the ballot initiative won’t change the status quo — abortion remains legal and accessible in the state. Access is protected by a 1999 Montana Supreme Court precedent that found the state’s right to privacy protects the right to terminate a pregnancy.Courts have upheld that precedent in recent years as the state’s Republican-majority government has attempted to restrict abortion.

But reproductive rights advocates say that precedent could be overturned, like in the case ofRoe v. Wade in the U.S. Constitution.

The Montana Constitutionwill now explicitly prohibit the government from burdening the right to abortion before fetal viability — around the 24th week of pregnancy. The measure also guarantees abortion access post-viability to protect the pregnant person’s life or health.

Opponents, including Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte, say the measure is too extreme and argue it would allow abortion “up until the moment of birth.” KFF, an outlet covering health care,says that claim is false.

Montana is one of 10 states voting on abortion.An amendment failed in Florida to reach a 60% threshold. Meanwhile, voters have added reproductive rights protections in Missouri, Colorado and Maryland.

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"Congratulations on history’s greatest comeback!” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahusaid via Facebook after former President Donald Trump’s win in the 2024 election.

“Your historic return to the White House offers a new beginning for America and a powerful recommitment to the great alliance between Israel and America,” Netanyahu said.

In his first term, Trump proved a strong supporter of Israel and Netanyahu. The two have enjoyed famously warm relations. While in office, Trump moved the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem — a hugely symbolic step that reinforced the U.S. backing for Israel.

The Biden administration strongly supported Israel after last year’s Hamas attack, but in recent months, relations have become increasingly frayed over Israel’s handling of the war in Gaza. That strain was evident over the summer, when Vice President Harris skipped Netanyahu’s address to Congress.

A recent poll found that nearly 65% of Israelis believed Trump would be better for Israeli interests than Harris.

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Dissatisfaction with the direction of the country was on voters' minds ahead of election night and that benefited former President Donald Trump, according to GOP pollster BJ Martino.

Exit poll data showednearly 3 out of 4 voters favored Trump as a candidate who can bring change.

Martino, who leads the Tarrance Group, toldMorning Editionthat voters had a clear view and understanding of Trump, through his criminal conviction and other scandals that plagued him since leaving office. They did not feel they knew enough about Harris or her visions for the country, Martino said, and she was simply unable to grasp the mantle of change.

"You look at where voters' ongoing disapproval of the job that Joe Biden was doing as president [was] and then Harris' inability to articulate a single way in which she would differ from Biden left voters wanting," Martino said.

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Navy Seal veteran Tim Sheehy has won against incumbent Democrat Jon Tester in a close Senate race in Montana. Tester was the only Democratic senator in Montana and has served three terms in the U.S. Senate.

Tester’s defeat bolsters the Republican majority in the Senate.

Sheehy, who was endorsed by President-elect Donald Trump, outperformed Tester in nearly every part of the state. The race had striking similarities to the race when Tester first came into office in 2006: He beat a three-term incumbent Republican in a narrow victory.
Correction: A previous version of this post misspelled Jon Tester's first name as John.

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While many of Europe’s political leaders are concerned about what a Trump presidency will mean for the continent’s future, it isn’t preventing them from congratulating him — and sending messages of unity.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the U.S. and Europe are bound by a true partnership between our people, uniting 800 million citizens.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the U.S. and Germany have worked for freedom and prosperity on both sides of the Atlantic and will continue to do so.

French President Emmanuel Macron congratulated Trump,posting on X, “Ready to work together as we did for four years. With your convictions and mine. With respect and ambition. For more peace and prosperity.”

In Hungary, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, an ally of Trump, called his win, “a much-needed victory for the world.”

NATO Secretary General Mark Ruttewrote on X that Trump’s “leadership will again be key to keeping our Alliance strong.”

BERLIN — With Trump on the verge of victory, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz congratulated the former president in apost on X, reiterating how the U.S. and Germany have promoted freedom and prosperity on both sides of the Atlantic.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has also congratulated him.

Alice Weidel, the co-chair of Germany's far-right AfD (Alternative for Germany party), congratulated Trump via video, saying "It was not the woke Hollywood which decided this election, but the working people of America," and she wished Trump good luck and blessings.

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AP

PALM BEACH, Florida — Former President Donald Trump has been elected president again, according to a race call by the Associated Press.

It’s a stunning return to power after the former president falsely claimed the 2020 election was rigged and stoked the Jan. 6 attack on the capital. He is the first convicted felon to win the White House.

Republicans say Trump won the election for one simple reason. Voters felt that they were better off four years ago than they were today.

“Voters have really short memories,” said Alex Conant, a Republican strategist who helped lead Senator Marco Rubio's presidential campaign in 2016. “And while I think everyone is appalled by what happened on January 6, they're also appalled by what they have to pay for eggs today. People think about inflation every single day when they're buying gas, when they're going to the grocery store.”

The former reality star and real estate magnate weathered crisis after crisis, each one career-ending for almost any politician. But he maintained steadfast and unwavering support among his base and convinced just enough Americans to send him back to the White House.

The results were a blow not only to Vice President Harris but also to the legacy of President Biden, whose administration struggled with border challenges, high inflation and increasing uncertainty around the world.

Just before 5 a.m. the race for president remained too early to call in Michigan and Wisconsin, as well as in Arizona and Nevada. The AP’s Decision Team was waiting for updates of late to count votes in Michigan’s Wayne County and the City of Milwaukee in Wisconsin; in both states, Harris had cut into Trump’s lead in results released overnight.

But what happens in the battlegrounds may not matter if officials in Alaska are able to further their vote count; Trump was ahead by about 15 points there with more than two-thirds of ballots counted. The state’s 3 electoral college votes would give him the 270 needed to return to the White House.

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As Election Day neared, social media lit up with users scouring for evidence of election fraud.

Some of those unsubstantiated claims are poised to become grist for Republican lawsuits contesting results should former President Donald Trump lose.

One hub of these efforts is an "Election Integrity Community" on X, formerly Twitter, set up by owner Elon Musk's super PAC, that is inviting users to "share potential incidents of voter fraud or irregularities you see while voting in the 2024 election."

The feed is full of unverified claims and rumors. A video of a Republican poll watcher suggesting — incorrectly — that ineligible noncitizens can vote as long as they can present a driver's license got over a million views.

Other users were suspicious when they were told by election workers to put their ballots into drop boxes, which have been asubject of baseless conspiracy theories since 2020. A surge of posts claimed that voting machines were flipping votes in Georgia and elsewhere, which both theGeorgia secretary of state and the manufacturer have debunked.

"What we're seeing … is a kind of motivated misinterpretation where people [who are] skeptical already … of whether elections are trustworthy — they've been told by some of their favorite candidates in some cases that we can't trust the results … if that candidate doesn't win," said Kate Starbird, a professor at the University of Washington and a co-founder of its Center for an Informed Public, which is tracking election rumors.

While people also gathered alleged evidence of fraud during the 2020 election, those who may challenge the election results are more ready to leverage the material this time around, Starbird said.

"There are lawyers at the ready to go take these rumors, misperceptions, misinterpretations, convert those into affidavits on Election Day or the days following, and try to use that either to contest whether certain votes are counted in certain places … or to use that to try to pressure election officials and others not to certify results," Starbird said.

Here's how elections officials are preparing.

As of 4 a.m. ET, control of the House of Representatives is too close to call.

While there remains a path for Democrats to flip the House, it is a narrow path.

NPR is still watching vote margins, particularly in districts in Arizona and California — where there are still lots of votes out.

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AFP via Getty Images

PHOENIX – Arizonans approved a ballot measure toenshrine abortion rights in the state constitution, according to a call by the Associated Press.

Since 2022, Arizona has enforced a law banning abortions after the 15th week of pregnancy. Proposition 139 will amend the state constitution to guarantee abortions access up to the point of fetal viability — around 24 weeks. The measure also allows exceptions for abortions beyond the point of viability to protect the life or physical or mental health of the pregnant person.

Opponents decried the measure as dangerously broad. They argued the state’s abortion law already allowed enough access, since most abortions take before the 15th week of pregnancy, and said current restrictions made reasonable exceptions for miscarriages and pregnancy-related medical emergencies.

But supporters said the15-week law created traumatic obstacles for women facing complications later in pregnancy and forced some women to leave the state for abortions.

Arizona is one of 10 states where abortion was on the ballot this year.

Multiplepolls leading up to Election Day suggested the measure had enough support among voters to pass.

“I’ve always felt that once we were on the ballot we would win because our position is really popular,” said Chris Love, a spokesperson for the amendment effort.

To qualify for ballots, supporters of the citizen-led initiativegathered over 800,000 signatures — more than double the required threshold — and raised $32 million — 25 times more than opponents raised.

Arizona’s 15-week abortion law is expected to fall once the new constitutional amendment goes into effect.

But Arizona has dozens of other laws on the books regulating abortion. There’s a required 24-hour waiting period for patients, a law barring abortion medication through the mail and a requirement that patients have an ultrasound before the procedure, which may be medically unnecessary. Those laws are now likely to be challenged in court.

“There will be a lot of litigation trying to figure out exactly what it means,” said Barbara Atwood, professor of law emerita at the University of Arizona. “There will be a period of some uncertainty about which of the existing laws – on informed consent, waiting periods, the 15-week law itself — whether those will stand under the new constitutional provision.”

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AP

OMAHA, Neb. — Nebraska voters chose to back the state’s 12-week abortion ban over a competing proposal to allow abortion until fetal viability, according to a call by the Associated Press.

The ballot measure banning abortions in the second and third trimesters, with some exceptions, is bound for the state constitution. It also allows lawmakers to further restrict abortion access.

Nebraska was one of 10 states where abortion was on the ballot this election. But it was the only state where voters faced two competing proposals. While voters passed the amendment for the 12-week ban, they defeated the one allowing abortion to fetal viability, according to the Associated Press.

As in other states, abortion rights supporters had mobilized to put the viability question on the ballot in response to the U.S. Supreme Court overturning the federal right to abortion in 2022. They argued abortion is a private choice for pregnant people and their families - not one for the government to make.

The opposing effort to keep Nebraska’s 12-week ban in place – while allowing for more restrictions in the future – sprang up in response to the fetal viability initiative. 

Its supporters argued it would give voters a choice on the ballot and provide a “commonsense approach.” Nebraska Republican U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts and his mother, Marlene Ricketts, donated more than $5 million to the campaign. 

Elizabeth Rembert reports for Nebraska Public Media.

SHANGHAI — Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning tried to strike a reassuring tone on Wednesday in Beijing as U.S. election results rolled in, saying that Chinese policy toward the U.S. has been consistent and will continue to be handled "in accordance with the principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation” in the wake of the U.S. election.

She declined to comment on the possibility of fresh U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods, calling it a hypothetical. Donald Trump has said he would impose tariffs of 60% or more on all Chinese imports as a way to protect U.S. industry and bring in revenue for the government. As for congratulating Trump, who has claimed victory ahead of a final AP call, Mao said China would handle it "according to convention" when the official results are announced.

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With one exception, the push for election reform has so far had an unsuccessful night, according to race calls by the Associated Press.

Nevada voters turned down an effort to switch to nonpartisan primaries and ranked choice voting in general elections. It would have transformed voting in the key state. A similar measure in Idaho has failed.

In Oregon, voters will not establish ranked choice voting. South Dakota will not switch to nonpartisan primaries. Other measures in Arizona, Colorado and Montana face uphill battles, according to early results. It’s also too early to call Alaska’s effort to repeal nonpartisan primaries and ranked choice voting.

A redistricting reform effort in Ohio — with ballot language many voters found confusing — lost as well.

Reformers’ lone success came in Washington, D.C., which voted in favor of semi-open primaries and ranked choice voting.

You can find the results of all these ballot measures here.

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AFP via Getty Images

RENO – Abortion is one step closer to being constitutionally protected in Nevada after voters approveda statewide ballot question for the first time, according to the Associated Press. The measure would need to pass again in 2026 to be fully approved.

The proposal would add language to the state constitution guaranteeing the right to an abortion by a qualified health care professional until fetal viability — usually about 24 weeks of pregnancy — and to protect the life of the pregnant person.

Though not constitutionally guaranteed, abortion is already largely protected under Nevada law. In 1990, voterslegalized abortions under state law until the 24th week of pregnancy or later if a physician believes it will preserve the pregnant person’s life or health. Dr. Toby F. Frescholtz, a Reno OB-GYN, the protections are still vulnerable without the constitutional measure.

“You may hear that we don’t need this legislation, that Nevada already had sufficient abortion protections, but two and a half years ago, abortion was legal across the country, and now, one in three women of reproductive age live in a state where they cannot access a safe and legal abortion. It’s time to be proactive,” Frescholtz says.

Frescholtz says there aretoo many stories from other states where abortions are outlawed, leading to delays in care, denied treatments for miscarriages, and victims of sexual assault being forced to give birth.

Nevada is one of ten states where abortion is on the ballot this year.

Republican state Sen. Robin Titus, a rural family medicine doctor who opposes the proposed amendment, says the language is too vague.

“I am very anxious about any health care decisions being in a constitution or through a legislative process. This particular bill was just a political act, and all the scare tactics, all these horrendous things that have truly happened in other states have not happened in Nevada because in 1990 that was codified into law,” Titus says.

Even beforeRoe v. Wade was overturned in 2022, Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford saidpatients were traveling to Nevada to access abortions from states with stricter rules.

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PHOENIX – Arizona voters passed a Republican-backed plan to give state and local law enforcement thepower to enforce immigration laws, over the objections of Democrats and Latino advocacy groups who warn the law will lead to racial profiling.

State lawmakers referred Prop. 314 to the ballot after a similar measure wasvetoed earlier this yearby Arizona’s Democratic governor, Katie Hobbs. Critics of the proposalcompared it to SB 1070, the controversial immigration law passed in 2010 that was partially overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court.

But the measure approved Tuesday proved popular with voters fed up with what they see as the federal government’s failure to secure the border.

It’s already illegal under federal law to cross into the United States from Mexico outside of legal ports of entry. But like a billTexas lawmakers approved last year, sheriffs, local police and state law enforcement would have the authority to arrest migrants for illegal border crossings under Prop. 314.

But the law won’t go into effect immediately.

The Texas measure, SB 4,faces challenges in federal court, and Arizona’s version of law, though approved by voters, won’t be allowed to be implemented unless a court upholds Texas’ right to enforce its own provision.

Some Arizona border sheriffs have warned they’re in no position to enforce the law, given there’s no resources tied to funding the measure.

Separately, Prop. 314 creates new penalties for individuals who use fraudulent documents to obtain employment or public benefits, as well as increase penalties for knowingly selling fentanyl – if it came from outside the U.S. and directly leads to another individual's death.

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Former President Trump addressed the summer attempts on his life during the late-night victory speech to supporters in West Palm Beach.

“God spared my life for a reason and that reason was to save our country and to restore America to greatness, and now we are going to fulfill that mission together,” he told the Florida ballroom crowd.

In July at a rally in Butler, Pa., a shooter fired off several rounds in Trump’s direction. One attendee was killed and two others were wounded.

Trump’s ear was nicked and blood streaked the side of his face, leading to an image that many Trump supporters claimed as a photo of triumph.

The Associated Press has not yet called the race for Trump, but he appears to be the likely winner.

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AP

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — South Dakota voters rejected an abortion rights amendment to the state constitution, according to a call by the Associated Press.

Anti-abortion groups called the proposal ‘too extreme.’

The constitutional amendment would have allowed abortion in the first trimester, while allowing the state to regulate and restrict the procedure later in pregnancy.

The vote affirms one of the strictest abortion bans in the country. The only exception is to save the life of the woman. There are no exceptions for health, or pregnancies resulting from rape or incest.

The law was put into place as a so-called trigger law in 2005.State attempts to clarify the law fell flat for some healthcare professionals, who say the law remained unclear.

The abortion rights amendmentdid not have the support of the local ACLU and Planned Parenthood groups.

The campaign for the amendment was quiet, up until the last few weeks before election day. A last-minute infusion of cash from a political action committee associated with Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker helped bolster the campaign in the final days before the election.

Voters in South Dakota and Florida this week failed to pass constitutional amendments to protect abortion rights. Voters in Missouri, Colorado, New York and Maryland, meanwhile, protected abortion rights.

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AP

Donald Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, forecasted a victory for the Republican duo in a speech to their supporters early Wednesday.

“You allowing me to join you on this incredible journey — I thank you for the trust that you placed in me,” he said at a Florida watch party. “And I think that we just witnessed the greatest political comeback in the history of the United States of America. And under President Trump's leadership, we're never going to stop fighting for you, for your dreams, for the future of your children.”

Trump is close to securing the 270 electoral votes needed to declare him president.

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AFP via Getty Images

Former President Donald Trump praised Tesla and SpaceX head Elon Musk during remarks to his supporters in Florida. AP has not yet called the race, but Trump appears to be the likely victor.

“A star is born: Elon,” Trump said of the controversial tech billionaire who has fashioned himself as one of Trump’s biggest allies in the 2024 White House race.

In remarks that follow Trump’s typical meandering style, he first declared himself victorious in the race against Vice President Harris and vowed to make good on his campaign promises.

“Every single day I will be fighting for you and with every breath in my body, I will not rest until we have delivered the strong, safe and prosperous America that our children deserve and that you deserve. This will truly be the golden age of America,” he said.

After briefly giving the stage to his running mate JD Vance, Trump eventually turned his sights to lay flattering praise on Musk and his rocket program, SpaceX.

“Only Elon can do this,” Trump said of watching a recent SpaceX launch.

“That’s why I love you, Elon,” he said, calling Musk a “super genius.”

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Former President Donald Trump addressed his supporters at his Florida watch party in the early hours of Wednesday, claiming victory in the competitive race against Vice President Harris.

Flanked by family and staff, Trump spoke to a convention center ballroom crowd in West Palm Beach after Fox News had projected that he had won –- but before the Associated Press called the race.

“America has given us an unprecedented and powerful mandate,” Trump said, adding that he thought he had won the popular vote as well –- something he was not able to accomplish in his first successful run for president.

Given the current trajectory of the race, Trump is likely the next president. He's expected to win Alaska, which would put him over the top and he leads in all remaining swing states that have not been called by the AP.

Trump has begun speaking to supporters after winning several swing states, including Pennsylvania, according to an AP call.

He has not officially won the 270 electoral votes necessary to win the presidency. He currently has 267 votes, and he's expected to win Alaska, which would put him over the top and he leads in all remaining swing states that have not been called by the AP.

Chip Somodevilla

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Former President Donald Trump has won the key battleground state of Pennsylvania, according to a race call by the Associated Press.

Securing the state’s 19 electoral votes is a major victory for Trump and a major blow to Vice President Harris.

Both candidates saw the Keystone State as critical to their success, each visiting Pennsylvaniamore than a dozen times and spending significant time in the state on the eve of Election Day. Ad spending in Pennsylvania totaled morethan half a billion dollars.

The Trump campaign largely focused its efforts on boosting turnout in the rural and rust belt areas of the state that serve as Republican strongholds. The strategy echoed his 2016 victory, where he was able to win the state by winning over white working class voters and cutting into Democrats’ advantage withunion households.

Both campaigns also prioritized outreach to the state’s growingLatino population. An estimated 580,000 Latinos were eligible to vote in this year’s elections in Pennsylvania,making up nearly 6 percent of the electorate.

Trump carried Pennsylvania in2016 by less than a percentage point, or fewer than 45,000 votes out of about 6 million cast. But President Biden flipped the state in 2020,winning by 1.2 percentage points or about 80,000 votes.

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Early exit polls showTrump leading Harris in support from white women.

Sarah Chamberlain, president and CEO of Republican Main Street Partnership — a nonprofit that supports Republican politicians — offers some theories as to why white women voted for Trump "en masse."

"I think women's health care is extremely important to women, but obviously the economy was important," she told NPR. "And frankly, I think Harris was probably not the best candidate."

Generally, Chamberlain says a lot of female voters her organization spoke with before the election were concerned that Harris wasn't properly vetted.

"She didn't have one vote through the primary, Biden steps off, then they kind of anoint her ... and a lot of people didn't care for that," she says.

Another possible factor, Chamberlain says, is that many women do not believe Trump would enact the radical changes on which he's campaigned.

"They said, 'Oh, we've heard his rhetoric before. He didn't do it the first time he was in office. We don't think he's going to do it this time," she added.

Former President Donald Trump plans to deliver an address to supporters, in the wake of picking up key swing states in the race against Vice President Harris.

Trump so far leads Harris in electoral votes, 248 to the Democrat’s 214.

These numbers will continue to change as more races are called, including in closely watched states like Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

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Republicans have officially flipped the Senate. But it's possible Democrats could flip the House.

NPR's Domenico Montanaro crunched the numbers, and says it looks like Democrats have a "better than even money chance" of picking up the House.

A partyneeds 218 seats for a majority. As of just before 2 p.m. Democrats have 160 and Republicans have 188.

"When I look at the 38 seats that we had that were Democratic-held, right now, Republicans are only leading in three of them where they were competing in," Montanaro says. "Of the Republican held seats there were about 33 that we're looking at, and Democrats are leading right now in 12."

That would give Democrats a net gain of nine seats, for a five-seat majority in the House. That's narrow but significant, especially with a potential Trump presidency and definite Republican-controlled Senate.

"Picking up the House, one of the chambers, for a party that's out of power is vitally important to blocking any kinds of legislation that the president might want to put through," he adds.

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AFP via Getty Images

Voters in Washington, D.C., have voted overwhelmingly in favor of ranked-choice voting and semi-open primaries, according to a call from the Associated Press.

Ballot Initiative 83 will allow for independent voters to participate in the District’s primary elections, a change from the past protocol which only let voters who were registered as either Democrats or Republicans to cast primary ballots for those parties.

The initiative will also introduce ranked-choice voting, which calls for voters to rank their preference of candidates. It requires a candidate to reach 50% of votes to win; short of that, the worst-performing candidate is eliminated. And if a person's first choice for a candidate gets eliminated, their second-ranked candidate then gets the vote.

A number of additional states — including Arizona, Montana and Nevada —are also voting on far-reaching changes to how their elections are run.

While the Harris campaign may have felt more confident in the days leading up to the election, they have largely considered themselves to be the underdogs in the race, NPR’s Asma Khalid reports.

The Harris team has “historically not projected that this was in the can, in the bag for them. And that feels fundamentally different than that 2016 [Hillary Clinton] cycle,” she said.

Clinton lost her 2016 contest against Trump, despite winning the popular vote by almost 3 million votes. He was 77 electoral votes ahead of her.

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LOS ANGELES — In California, voters have passedProposition 3, guaranteeing the right for same-sex couples, as well as interracial couples, to marry, according to a call by The Associated Press.

Colorado voters have also passedAmendment J, repealing a ban on same-sex unions, according to the AP.

California's Proposition 3 removes existing language in the state's constitution that defines marriage as between a man and a woman, which was added as a result ofProposition 8 in 2008.

Voters in Hawaii are deciding whether to repealSection 23 of the state constitution, which says the legislature has the power to reserve marriage to opposite-sex couples.

Same-sex marriages became legal nationwide in 2015 with the U.S. Supreme Court'sObergefell v. Hodges decision, but there areconcerns in the wake of the high court's overturning ofRoe v. Wade that something similar may happen to the legality of same-sex unions. For that reason, proponents in California, Colorado and Hawaii have argued it's time to implement a safety net on the state level for the rights of LGBTQ+ residents to wed.

There has been no major organized opposition to any of the three measures. Only a handful of elected officials and conservative groups have come out against the initiatives, andno money has been raised by opposition campaigns, according to OpenSecrets, a nonpartisan group that tracks campaign funding and lobbying efforts.

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AP

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Democrat Cindy Nava, a former DACA recipient and official in the Biden administration, has won a seat in the New Mexico Legislature, according to a race call by The Associated Press. Nava defeatedRepublican Audrey Trujillo to represent the Albuquerque-area district.

Nava isone of the first former DACA recipients to win public office. Her parents came to the U.S. when she was 7 years old. As a teenager, Nava advocated for policies to support other undocumented youthbefore the 2012 program created federal protections for those brought to the country illegally.

She was the first DACA recipient to receive a White House political appointment, under the Biden administration, where she worked in the Department of Housing and Urban Development. In Washington, she worked on issues such as affordable housing and creating opportunities for first-time homebuyers.

She says she decided to run for office in New Mexico to boost representation of the state's Hispanic-majority population.

As a state senator, Nava says she will tackle high housing prices and homelessness and work to bring a world-class education system to New Mexico.

Harris has won New Hampshire, according to a race call by the Associated Press.

She now has 214 electoral college votes compared to Trump's 247.

Trump has won the final electoral vote from Nebraska’s first congressional district, according to a race call from the Associated Press.

In addition to his victory in Georgia, he now has 247 electoral votes.

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Former President Donald Trump has won Georgia and its 16 electoral votes, according to a race call by The Associated Press, striking a blow to Democrats' chances in the Sun Belt and narrowly flipping a state where he faces criminal charges for trying to overturn his 2020 defeat.

More than 4 million votes were cast before Election Day, led by an initial surge of Republican voters in rural counties heeding Trump's advice to "bank your vote" early.

Many Democratic voters who used mail-in voting during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 also shifted to early voting, with larger urban and suburban counties seeing an influx of voters in the final week of Georgia's 18-day, in-person voting period. But lower Election Day turnout in Democratic strongholds was not enough to overcome the Republican advantage.

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AFP via Getty Images

Harris will not speak at a results watch party at Howard University tonight, campaign official Cedric Richmond said.

"We still have votes to count. We still have states that have not been called yet. We will continue overnight to fight to make sure that every vote is counted, that every voice has spoken. So you won't hear from the vice president tonight. But you will hear from her tomorrow," he said.

As NPR has reported, the mood at the D.C. watch partyshifted from celebratory to "intense focus" as results started rolling in.

Thanks to the quirks of theElectoral College system, a candidate can become president even if they don't win the majority of votes.

Republicans have lost seven of the last eight popular votes, save for George W. Bush in 2004. And yet they've won the presidency three times during that period:

• Bush lost the popular vote to Al Gore by more than 500,000 votes, but after a recount that devolved into weeks of legal disputes, Bush ended up with 271 electoral votes to Gore's 266.
• Bush, running against John Kerry, won both the popular and electoral votes in 2004 — the sole exception to this pattern.
• Trump finished the 2016 election with 304 electoral votes compared with Hillary Clinton's 227. But he lost to her in the popular vote, 46.1% to 48.2%.

There's a chance this trend could repeat again this year.

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Several high-profile lawmakers have won their Senate races.

California Democrat Adam Schiff won his special election race for Senate. He became a national figure as the House Intelligence Committee chairman during Trump's first impeachment.

Republican Sen. Ted Cruz will serve another term in Texas, which he has represented since 2013.

Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar has won another term in Minnesota, where she has served since 2007.

In Virginia, Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine will keep the seat he has held since 2013.

Cruz and Klobuchar both unsuccessfully ran for president. Kaine was Hillary Clinton’s running mate in the 2016 presidential race.

Republicans have now won enough seats to control the upper chamber of Congress, with the race call for GOP Sen. Deb Fischer of Nebraska.

Republicans were favored to flip control of the U.S. Senate, which Democrats currently control 51-49.

Democrats were defending seven seats in swing states or conservative states.

The two races that Democrats were targeting in Florida and Texas have both been called for the Republican incumbents.

As of midnight, Republicans had secured one of their two Democratic targets for defeat — Republican Bernie Moreno won in Ohio over incumbent Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown.

The other seat that Republicans feel confident they can flip is Democratic Sen. Jon Tester's seat in Montana.

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Sen. Laphonza Butler of California, a close adviser to Vice President Harris, said she wasn't surprised that Harris' path to success appears to have come down to the "blue wall" states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

"I genuinely am feeling good," she said, speaking from Howard University, where the Harris campaign is holding its watch party.

Earlier, the Harris campaign sent a memo to staff saying their path forward was most likely through the blue wall. Before Tuesday, the campaign had expressed confidence in a wider array of paths to victory.

"We always knew that this was going to be a night when we needed to pack our patience. The vice president said from the very beginning that she was going to be running this race as an underdog," Butler said. "We've got to let the process play out. I feel good about where we are."

Harris wins the 2nd Congressional District in Nebraska and its one electoral vote, according to the AP.

That brings her electoral vote count to 210. Trump has 230 votes, 40 shy of the number needed to win.

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Republican Sen. Deb Fischer has won the Nebraska Senate race, defeating Independent Dan Osborn, according to a race call by the Associated Press.

With her victory, Republicans have taken control of the upper chamber of Congress.

Every election year brings with it a few surprises, and in 2024 it’s fair to say no one saw a competitive Senate race coming here.

“This race is closer than it should be,” Randall Adkins, politics professor at the University of Nebraska in Omaha, said ahead of election day.

Fischer won in 2012 and 2018 with 58% of the vote in this reliably red state. As a new member of the powerful Appropriations Committee, she helped drive millions of dollars back home last year. But like many electorally comfortable senators, Fischer led a lackluster campaign and unimpressive fundraising.

“Fischer is supposed to have the advantage,” Adkins said. But “she doesn’t come back to Nebraska and claim credit for things she did in Washington. She doesn’t really advertise herself.”

That created an opening for Osborn. His blue-collar, working class campaign highlighted his background as a mechanic and labor leader who was running as an independent to break up the two-party system in Washington.

Osborn pledged to serve truly as an independent, saying he would not caucus with either party, adding a new level of intrigue to which party would ultimately control the Senate.

Democrats, notably, put up no candidates in this race although they explicitly did not endorse Osborn either. Without a major party candidate to dilute the anti-Fischer vote, the race became more competitive.

Vice President Harris’ campaign for the White House, along with an energized campaignthat could unseat a longtime Republican in Omaha has also boosted Osborn’s campaign. Also, the state boasts 270,000 non-partisan voters, which when combined with the state’s Democratic voters, is close to the total GOP registrations.

As the polls closed in Hawaii at midnight E.T., the Associated Press called the state and its four electoral votes for Vice President Harris.

The last polls to close, in the state of Alaska, will close at 1 a.m. ET Wednesday.

Andrew Harnik/Getty Images; Pamela Smith/AP

Two states elected Black women to the U.S. Senate on Tuesday night, making history for themselves and the country.

Maryland elected Prince George's County Executive Angela Alsobrooks, while Delaware elected Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester. Both are Democrats.

Their victories double the number of Black women ever elected to the U.S. Senate, from two to four.

Carol Moseley Braun was the first, in 1992, while Vice President Kamala Harris became the second in 2016.

California Sen. Laphonza Butler is the third Black woman to serve in the chamber, but she was not elected — she wasappointed in October 2023 to finish out the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein's term, which ends in January. She is not seeking reelection.

In other words: Only three Black women have served in the Senate, and never at the same time.

That's set to change when Alsobrooks, 53, and Blunt Rochester, 62, are sworn in next year.

The two have worked in politics in neighboring states for years — Blunt Rochester is in her fourth term in the U.S. House, while Alsobrooks served as state's attorney in Prince George's County before her two terms as executive — but didn't cross paths until recently.

Politico reportsthe two became close during their Senate races.

Blunt Rochester told the outlet that she reached out to Alsobrooks after she won her primary to say "I’m looking forward to hopefully being your sister senator-to-be."

The two have since referred to each other as their "senator sister," and spoken about their shared experiences and motivations when it comes to tackling issues from prescription drug affordability to maternal mortality, whichdisproportionately impacts Black patients.

"The history-making part is good, but the impact is what we’re all going for, to make a difference in people’s lives," Blunt RochestertoldEllein September. "The ability to go to the Senate and be one of 100 — but also as two of only five [Black women senators] in the history of this country — would be incredible."

Harris won the state of Virginia, according to a race call by the Associated Press.

With 82% of the votes counted, Harris had 51.1% of the vote and Trump had 47.3%. As final votes are counted, these number will likely shift.

Virginia was expected to be a blue state but early returns looked more competitive than previously thought.

Biden won Virginia in 2020 with 54.4% to Trump’s 44.2%.

Trump holds 230 electoral votes to Harris' 205.

SEATTLE – Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson, a Democrat, will become the state's first new governor in more than a decade, according to a race call by The Associated Press.

Ferguson defeated his Republican opponent, former Congressman Dave Reichert.

Reichert’s loss dashed Republicans’ hopes of breaking adecadeslong losing streak for the governor’s office.

The race for governor in Washington was one of four considered competitive in 2024 according toThe Cook Political Report.

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Ferguson had been serving as attorney general since his election in 2012. He made national headlines for suing the Trump administration in 2017 over the former president's travel ban on Muslim-majority countries. Ferguson has also joined other states’ attorneys general in lawsuits against the Biden administration that aim to increase access to the abortion pill mifepristone. The Ferguson campaign largely avoided any major controversies ahead of the election, other thanone curious incident around the candidate filing deadline in May, when a conservative activist recruited multiple people named Bob Ferguson to file paperwork in order to appear on the primary ballot. Ultimately, the other Bob Fergusons dropped out.

Ferguson’s campaign focused largely on painting Reichert as "too extreme" for Washington, tying the former sheriff to former president Donald Trump, and highlighting Reichert's personal views and congressional votingrecord on abortion.

Many have seen Ferguson as a natural successor to outgoing Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee. Throughout the campaign, Ferguson largely avoided criticizing his predecessor or any particular policies approved by his administration.

The governor-elect has faced criticism from the right on issues like crime and past remarks on decriminalizing drug possession. In his campaign, Ferguson promised to boost the number of law enforcement officers in the state and focus on reducing the number of opioid deaths.

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Republican Bernie Moreno has won the Ohio Senate race, defeating Sen. Sherrod Brown, the incumbent Democrat, according to a race call by The Associated Press.

It is a major victory for Republicans and a serious blow to Democrats' efforts to maintain their majority in the Senate.

Moreno, a former car dealership owner, tried throughout the campaign to tie Brown to national Democratic figures, including Vice President Harris. Moreno, whose family immigrated from Colombia to Florida when he was a young child, spoke frequently on the trail about immigration issues. In one ad, Trump, who endorsed Moreno, appears on video talking about how Moreno will "secure our border" and how Brown is a "radical left politician."

The race was essentially a dead heat ahead of Election Day, one of the tightest of toss-up races in the country.

Both parties invested historical levels of spending, pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into the state that was considered the nexus of the battle for control of the Senate.

Brown has been in the Senate for nearly 18 years, flipping a seat in 2006. He went on to win parts of the state that then-President Barack Obama failed to carry in 2012. But this was Brown's first election on the same ballot as former President Donald Trump.

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The crowd at former President Donald Trump’s election watch party in West Palm Beach, Fla., is “feeling pretty good,” NPR's Franco Ordonez reports. As more states have been called for Trump, people are cheering, with the music picking up, he reports.

For the campaign, all eyes are on the swing states, with extra focus on North Carolina. While there counting left to be done, the AP called North Carolina for Trump, a win for the campaign with spent significant time in the Tar Heel State in the lead-up to Election Day.

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A memo from Harris campaign chair Jen O'Malley Dillon obtained by NPR says voter turnout across the seven battleground states has been "incredible" but the race remains "razor thin" — as they had expected.

"While we continue to see data trickle in from the Sun Belt states, we have known all along that our clearest path to 270 electoral votes lies through the Blue Wall states," she said, referring to Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.

O'Malley Dillon said the campaign was feeling good about the key state of Pennsylvania because of high turnout. In Michigan, significant results were still to come in, with Detroit results not reported out until midnight.

"We don't expect complete results from Wisconsin until tomorrow morning between 3 am — 5 am," she said in the memo to campaign staff.

She did not mention Georgia and North Carolina in the memo and noted that polls had just closed in Nevada and Arizona.

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According to NPR’s Deepa Shivaram, the mood at Vice President Harris’ election watch party has shifted from celebratory to one of “intense focus.”

When people were first arriving at the event at Howard University, there was a lot of dancing and performances on the main stage. Now, the crowd has turned away from the stage and is watching the TV screens on Howard University’s yard as results come in.

A Democratic source told Shivaram that there “are some nerves” at this point, but that they are not counting anything out yet.

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St. Louis Public Radio

ST. LOUIS – Missourians voted to legalize abortion up until fetal viability and override the state's current ban on nearly all abortions, according to a call by the Associated Press.

Legal challenges are expected from anti-abortion groups but if the Tuesday vote stands it will enshrine abortion rights into the constitution over the objections of the heavily Republican state leadership.

Missouri was the first state to ban abortion - even in cases of rape and only with an exception for medical emergencies - after the fall of Roe v. Wade in 2022. Then abortion rights proponentsgathered hundreds of thousands of signatures for a vote on the amendment to legalize abortion up to fetal viability, which is around 24 weeks.

While Missouri has become a much more Republican state in the past decade, passage of the amendment wasn’t a surprise.It was in part a reaction to the state’s current law. A campaign committee backing the amendment raised tens of millions of dollars — and signed up thousands of volunteers to knock doors and make phone calls.

Missouri is one of 10 states voting on abortion rights this election.

Former President Donald Trump has won the state of North Carolina, according to a race call by the Associated Press.

It is a crucial win for the former president, who carried the state twice before, though by a narrow margin four years ago, defeating President Biden by just about one percent, or 74,000 votes, prompting Democrats to campaign heavily there this cycle.

The call is a blow for Harris, who would have been the first Democratic presidential candidate to win the Tar Heel State since 2008. Harris has repeatedly visited North Carolina, making 20 trips since becoming vice president, 12 of those this year.

In comparison, Trump has visited the state roughly as often this year, according to his campaign.

Drew Angerer/Getty Images; Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Republicans are favored to take control of the Senate because the 2024 makeup of races tilted disproportionately in the Republican Party's favor: Democrats are defending seven seats in conservative or swing states and are targeting just two in the safe Republican states of Texas and Florida.

Democrats right now narrowly control the Senate 51-49. Early Tuesday evening, West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice, a Republican, flipped the open seat left by retiring Sen. Joe Manchin, a Democrat who switched to independent this year.

The top two Democratic targets for defeat are incumbentSens. Jon Tester of Montana andSherrod Brown of Ohio — two campaign-hardened senators in red states but also candidates who have never appeared on a ballot with Donald Trump. A Republican victory in either state would tip the scales to a narrow GOP majority in the next Congress. Tester has trailed in polls all year long.

Democrats are resting their hopes on a theory that voters in these red states will vote for Trump and then cross party lines to support the Democratic senators. It's a risky bet: 68 of the 69 Senate races in the 2016 and 2020 elections mirrored the presidential result in their state. The lone exception was GOP Sen. Susan Collins of Maine in 2020.

There are also competitive Senate races in the "blue wall" states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin, where Trump and Vice President Harris have been statistically tied.

Here's more on the top races to watch.

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SALEM, N.H. — Voters in New Hampshire have elected Republican

, a former U.S. senator and state attorney general, as their next governor, according to a race call by the Associated Press.

Ayotte beat Democrat Joyce Craig in what was described as the country’s most competitive 2024 gubernatorial election this year.

Their battle to replace outgoing GOP Gov. Chris Sununu, who is stepping down after four terms,smashed state spending records, and featured both candidates repeatedly arguing the other “can’t be trusted” on issues ranging from taxes and abortion to immigrationand housing. 

Throughout the race, Ayotte has promised to “keep New Hampshire on the Sununu path” while criticizing Craig’s performance during her three terms as Manchester mayor, including in graphic campaign ads portraying the state’s largest city as beset by crime and homelessness.

Craig meanwhile assailed Ayotte’s voting record in the Senate, where in 2015 she voted for a bill to outlaw most abortions after 20 weeks. In her previous bids for office, Ayotte ran as an opponent to abortion rights. She’s now promising to fight any effort to tighten New Hampshire’s current abortion limits, which allow the procedure for any reason up to 24 weeks.

“Her actions speak louder than her words,” Craig said during a recent debate. “We can’t trust Kelly Ayotte.”

Ayotte’s relationship with former President Donald Trump is complicated: She renounced her support for him in 2016 after the release of theAccess Hollywood footage, but months later, after narrowly losing her re-election, Ayotte returned to Capitol Hill to assist the Trump administration.

During this race, Ayotte endorsed Trump while keeping her distance.

Ayotte has meanwhile worked to cast doubt on Craig’s politics – including her promise to oppose new broad-based taxes – by criticizing her opponent’s ties to Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey, a New Hampshire native who has repeatedly traveled there to campaign at Craig’s side.

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Polls closed in California and Washington and the rest of Idaho and Oregon at 11 p.m. ET.

At poll close time, the Associated Press called Washington and California for Harris. California is Harris’ home state and she previously served as its attorney general and U.S. senator prior to becoming vice president.

Harris also won one of Maine’s electoral votes.

Trump won the state of Idaho, adding to Kansas and Iowa, states he won in the last hour, according to race calls by the Associated Press.

That brings the electoral tally to 214 for Trump and 179 for Harris. A candidate needs 270 to win.

Harris is still favored to win the electoral votes in six of the remaining states, which includes Maine’s statewide votes, for a total of 42 likely votes.

Meanwhile, Trump is only expected to pick up one electoral vote, before key swing states report and that is in Maine’s 2^nd congressional district.

This would bring Harris' total to 221 to Trump's 215 if she wins everywhere she is still favored.

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AP

In Colorado, voters have passedAmendment J, repealing a ban on same-sex unions passed in 2006, according to a call by The Associated Press.

Similar measures are before voters in California and Hawaii. California’sProposition 3 would codify the right for same-sex, as well as interracial, couples to marry. It would also remove existing language in the state’s constitution that defines marriage as between a man and a woman.

Voters in Hawaii are deciding whether or not to repealSection 23 of the state constitution, which says the legislature has the power to reserve marriage to opposite-sex couples.

Same-sex marriages became legal nationwide in 2015 with the U.S. Supreme Court’sObergefell v. Hodges decision, but there areconcerns in the wake of the high court’s overturning ofRoe v. Wade that something similar may happen to the legality of same-sex unions. For that reason, proponents in California, Colorado and Hawaii have argued it's time to implement a safety net on the state level for the rights of LGBTQ residents to wed.

There's been no major organized opposition to any of the three measures. Only a handful of elected officials and conservative groups have come out against the initiatives andno money has been raised by opposition campaigns, according to OpenSecrets, a nonpartisan group that tracks campaign funding and lobbying efforts.

The polls leading into the election showed statistically tied races within margins of error and so far, they are bearing out.

“In the blue wall states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — absolute must-wins for Kamala Harris if she has a path to the White House — the Senate races there are also tracking almost exactly along lines of the presidential race, which tells us that this is a very polarized election environment,” said NPR’s Susan Davis.

There isn't a lot of split-ticket voting as of yet — something Democrats in key Senate races were hoping would happen.  

In Montana and Ohio, Democrats hoped that the personal brands of Democrats Sens. Jon Tester and Sherrod Brown would be enough to motivate Trump voters to split their ticket. Neither senator had been on the ballot with Donald Trump before.

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AFP via Getty Images

There were 19 places in the U.S. that voted for the winner of every presidential election from 1980 to 2016.

All but one of them broke the streak in 2020 by voting for Trump. The only one left is Clallam County, in the northwestern corner of Washington state. Washington's polls close at 11 p.m. ET.

Clallam County is home to fewer than 80,000 residents and is mostly mountains and forest. It's one other major claim to fame is that it's the site of Forks, home of the vampires in the belovedTwilight series. It's not in or near a swing state, nor is it demographically representative of the U.S.: It's whiter, older and more homeowner-heavy.

So what might explain its predictive presidential powers, and which way is the county leaning this year?Follow Clallam County results from the AP here.

It's complicated, asKUOW's Scott Greenstone reports.

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AFP via Getty Images

Democrat Angela Alsobrooks has won the race for the Senate in Maryland, defeating former Republican Gov. Larry Hogan, according to the AP.

With her victory, Alsobrooks becomes the first Black senator to represent the state of Maryland. The Prince George's County executive in suburban Washington, D.C. also becomes one of just four women to win election to the Senate.

No, we still don't know who won the U.S. presidential race. While state results are pouring in, the seven most-watched swing states have not yet been called.

NPR's live coverage on air and on this blog can keep you abreast of every twist, turn and trend as we wait for definitive results. But remember, as NPR's political reporters have long warned, it might be a while.

Looking for something else to watch while you wait? We recommend some classic Tiny Desk concerts.

• Chappell Roan, March 2024
• Usher, June 2022
• Mac Miller, August 2018
• Chance the Rapper, July 2017
• T-Pain, October 2014
• Adele, February 2011

Or if you'd rather fall down a YouTube rabbit hole, the latest episode of our Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast has somesuggestions.

Alex Goodlett

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AP

U.S. Rep. John Curtis has won the Senate seat that will be left vacant by the retirement of Sen. Mitt Romney, maintaining Republican control of the seat in the reliably red state.

Curtis soundly defeated his opponent, Democrat Caroline Gleich, who ran on a platform that prioritized environmental justice and climate reform.

Curtis has also made addressing climate change a legislative priority, forming and leading the Conservative Climate Caucus in the House since 2021.

The victory was an expected but welcomed outcome for Republicans, who hope to wrest control of the Senate from Democrats.

In 2020, as Detroit officials were tallying the vote, a crowd of Republican observers grew increasingly angry as false rumors of voter fraud spread across social media. At one point they were shouting, "Stop the count!"

This year: "It's diametrically different from the experience that we had in 2020," says Daniel Baxter, the Detroit Department of Elections' chief operating officer.

"There's no chaos going on right now, no pandemonium," Baxter says. "Nobody is banging on windows. Nobody is shouting, 'Stop the count!' Do you hear that? I think I hear people singing 'Kumbaya.' It's very peaceful here today."

After the 2020 chaos, the city enacted a number of changes for the vote-counting process, including using a smaller, more secure location.Read more about the changes here.

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While a handful ofcrucial swing states are capturing the public's attention, there are still states with plenty of electoral votes that haven't been called yet.

One of them is California, which holds 54 electoral votes, the most of any state in the country (it actually lost one for the first time after the 2020 Census). Its polls close at 11 p.m. ET.

The state, which is home to some 39 million people, supported Republicans for much of the late 20th century but hasreliably voted blue in recent years.

President Joe Biden won the state by some 30 points over Trump in 2020, the fourth consecutive election in which the Democratic nominee got more than 60% of the California vote.

Californians can take credit for two presidents in particular: Richard Nixon, who was born there, and Ronald Reagan, who served two terms as its governor before reaching the White House.

Of course, another famous resident of the Golden State — and one with presidential ambitions — is none other then Vice President Kamala Harris.

Harris was born in Oakland, spent some of her childhood in California and moved back for law school. She served two terms as California's attorney general from 2011 to 2017, and represented the state in the U.S. Senate from 2017 to 2021.

DENVER, Co. – Colorado voters have approved a proposal to put protections for reproductive rights into the state constitution, according to a call by The Associated Press. The measure won the necessary 55 percent of the vote to pass.

Colorado is already a regional hub for abortion access.

Theamendment is similar to a law Democratic Gov. Jared Polis signed in 2022 and would codify protections for abortion including barring local governments from passing their own laws to try to restrict the procedure. It would also remove Colorado’s current constitutional ban against public funding for abortions. That would allow the state to cover the procedure under Medicaid and add it to state employee health plans.

Colorado was one of 10 states voting on abortion rights. That follows the U.S. Supreme Court overturning the federal right to abortion in 2022 and then many Republican-led state legislatures moving to limit abortion. Meanwhile, Colorado has been a destination for pregnant people banned from abortion treatment in nearby states.

Backers say it’s criticalfor Colorado’s constitution to have explicit language protecting abortion access because, unlike a law that the Legislature could repeal, any change to this measure would require another vote of the people. They also say public employees who need abortions should not be forced to pay out of pocket for the procedure and it should be treated like other legal healthcare services.

Opponents say it’s morally wrong to force taxpayers who oppose the procedure to pay for it.

Voters approved the public funding ban in 1984 but in more than decade have repeatedly struck down efforts to try and restrict abortion access.

Bente Birkelandcovers public affairs for Colorado Public Radio.

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ALBANY, N.Y. — New York voters have approved an amendment to the state constitution designed to protect the state’s current access to abortion along with protections against various forms discrimination, according to a call by The Associated Press.

The measure is titled, “The Amendment to Protect Against Unequal Treatment.”It was placed on the ballot by the Democratic-controlled Legislature as a response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade two years ago.

Although the amendment does not include the word “abortion,”it holds that no one canface discrimination due to “sex, including sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes, and reproductive healthcare and autonomy.”

It expands on protections already in the constitution against discrimination based on race, ethnicity, and religion.

Tucked at the bottom of the ballot,control of several legislatures is up for grabs in several states this year. Republicans are defending vulnerable majorities in Arizona, New Hampshire and Wisconsin, and Democrats are trying to stay on top in Michigan and Minnesota.

Nearly every legislature is controlled by one party or the other, making it easier to pass laws over the objections of political opponents. Republicans control 28 legislatures. Democrats have 20. There are only two capitols where legislative chambers are split between parties -- Pennsylvania, which has tight margins in both the House and Senate, and Alaska, which is controlled by a multiparty coalition.

Political parties and other groups are spending big money to try and influence who gets elected to serve under capitol domes around the country.

The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, the main fundraising arm for statehouse Democrats, set a $60 million budget to support legislative races this year. Forward Majority, a group aligned with Democrats, is planning to spend $45 million this cycle. And The States Project, another progressive group, announced a $70 million goal earlier this year.

The Republican State Leadership Committee, the DLCC’s GOP counterpart, recently announced an increase of their initial $38 million commitment to $44 million, sounding the alarm on the fundraising gap with Democrats in amemo to donors late last month.

“As Democrats pump money into late television, digital, and canvassing efforts to overwhelm our candidates with false attacks, we must double down on our targeted investments to keep our campaigns competitive through Election Day,” the memo states.

Republicans have controlled more legislative chambers since an organized blitz ahead of the 2010 elections, allowing the party to cement control of both statehouse and congressional districtsthrough redistricting in ensuing years.

DLCC President Heather Williams says Democrats have been building back in order to be strongly positioned in the 2030 redistricting cycle when they could be in position to draw voting maps.

“We certainly look at the election in front of us and are identifying where the opportunities are. But we are also responsible for crafting this long-term strategy to win power in the states over the decade,” Williams says.
Republicans have veto-proof supermajorities in 20 states, allowing them to override governors' bill vetoes. Democrats have veto-proof majorities in nine states.

Democrats are targeting supermajorities North Carolina and Kansas, where they think they can break Republican supermajorities this year.

Here's a look atsome of the legislatures where partisan control hangs in the balance this year.

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Delaware state Sen. Sarah McBride is once again making history — she will be the first openly transgender person to serve in the U.S. Congress.

McBride will succeed fellow Democrat Lisa Blunt Rochester as the state's at-large member of Congress. Blunt Rochester handily won her race for Senate earlier on Tuesday night.

McBride has been a rising star in politics. She previously worked for former Delaware Gov. Jack Markell and the late Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden. In 2012, she interned with the Obama administration. Four years later, she became the first transgender person to speak at a major-party convention.

She won her state Senate seat in 2020 with more than 70% of the vote.

Earlier in the year, anAI-generated clone of President Biden's voice in a campaign robocall captured the public's attention about what generative artificial intelligence is capable of. But while it can be used tomanufacture evidence of things that didn't happen, the main use of AI in U.S. political campaigns this year appears to have been to generate memes and visual commentary.

After Hurricane Helene made landfall, images made with artificial intelligence of suffering people and pets proliferated online, some of which were used to criticize the Biden administration. In the days after former President Donald Trump amplified a hateful false claim about Haitian immigrants inSpringfield, Ohio, AI-generated images portraying Trump protecting animals spread on social media, gaining a large number of views on X, formerly Twitter,in part thanks to X's new AI tools.

Even though users quickly flagged some of the images as being AI-generated, at least some of the prominent political figures who shared the images said itdidn't matter to them.

"It's a form of political propaganda, a way to signal interest and support for a candidate, almost like in a fandom kind of style," said Renée DiResta, a professor at the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University, who recently wrote a book about online influencers. "The political campaigns then can pick it up, can retweet it, can boost it and are then seen as being sort of in on the conversation, maybe in on the joke themselves."

There's an arms race underway between the latest generative AI tools and detection technology. So far, the detection tools' reliabilityvaries, and researchers say the public needs to rely on forensic experts to tell whether a piece of media is authentic or synthetic.

Polls closed in Utah, Montana, Nevada and parts of Idaho and Oregon at 10 p.m.

Trump has won Montana and Utah, according to race calls from the Associated Press. So far he has 198 electoral votes to Harris' 99.

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House Speaker Mike Johnson has served in the post for little over a year, but his tenure has been marked with few legislative accomplishments and a series of splits within his conference that stymied his party’s agenda.

His rise to win the gavel was unexpected, and came after three weeks of chaos after the House ousted Speaker Kevin McCarthy last October. Divisions among GOP lawmakers made it hard to coalesce around a replacement, but Johnson rose to the top after other party leaders failed to gain enough support.

Once he took office he faced criticism for doing what got McCarthy booted from the job — working with Democrats to pass a spending deal to avoid a government shutdown. Groups of far-right members frequently worked together to block GOP leaders’ own bills and Johnson faced a threat from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene to remove him.

Earlier this fall Johnson offered reporters a blunt assessment of his job: “by all admission this has been one of the most complicated speakerships in the history of Congress.”

Despite those challenges, Johnson earned praise from his colleagues for his quick work to raise money and campaign across the country to keep the GOP majority. In the month of October he traveled to 65 cities in 24 states.

Johnson, 52, a religious conservative and attorney, served on the House Judiciary Committee and authored a legal brief to challenge the 2020 electoral count. Since becoming speaker he has touted his close relationship with Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, and that support has been critical for Johnson warding off attacks from the GOP base and some of his own colleagues.

Johnson says border security is his top agenda item, followed by an effort to renew the 2017 tax cuts that will expire at the end of 2025. He also suggested the week before Election day that Republicans planned to reform the Affordable Care Act–something Trump later rejected. Johnson later told CNN that his agenda did not include repealing the popular health care law.

Johnsonhas won his race for another term, according to AP. SeeHouse results from the AP here.

As of 9:55 p.m. ET, with over 60% of votes counted inNorth Carolina so far, Trump is leading the state with approximately 52% of the vote, while Harris has approximately 47% of the vote.

With approximately 80% of votes counted in Georgia so far, Trump leads with approximately 52% of the vote. Harris has about 47% of the vote.

Trump is leading in many rural and suburban areas, while Harris has garnered a large percentage of the vote in Atlanta.

With approximately 38% of votes counted so far, Harris narrowly leads inPennsylvania, with 50% of the vote. Trump has just over 48% of the vote.

These results are all according to The Associated Press. These margins will change as more votes are counted.

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Andy Schor, mayor of Lansing, Michigan told NPR’s Juana Summers he’s feeling confident about Vice President Harris’ chances at this point in the night.

 “We saw incredibly high turnout throughout our city,” he said, adding he saw higher turnout this cycle than four years ago.

One issue that has loomed over the Harris campaign in parts of Michigan is the Biden administration's support of Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas. Harris has been working to rally support from Arab American and Muslim voters in Michigan.

"I've seen her three times now in the last two weeks, and she has mentioned it each time," Schor said. "She has said that they certainly want to see the killing stop. She wants to see a truce. She wants to see no more war. She also wants to see the hostages released.”

Schor said he thinks Harris has done enough to distinguish herself from President Biden on the issue.

"She has talked about what Kamala Harris is going to do, not what Joe Biden did,” he said. “She's had good inroads being able to get into the community, talk to some of the leaders, have good dialogue and hear from them.”

Trump won the reliably red state of Missouri, per the AP.

That brings him to 188 electoral votes, compared to Harris' 99.

Another slew of states will see their polls close at 10 p.m. ET.

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In political ads and campaign speeches, supporters of Vice President Harris have a message for Republican women: Your vote is private, and no one will know if you secretly vote for Harris.

“No one gets to know how you're going to vote,” Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin said last week during a campaign stop in Michigan. “No one gets to check it. It's not available online. Right? Your vote is your choice. You don't have to tell anyone.”

Slotkin, who’s running for Senate, was campaigning with former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, who’s also crossed the aisle to endorse Harris.

Their message is aimed at conservative-leaning women like T, whom we’re calling by her first initial. T, who is in her 60s and lives in Wisconsin, asked for anonymity to discuss how living in a politically divided household is affecting her marriage of more than 40 years.

“He’s frustrated with me that I won’t listen to him plead his case. I can’t and I won’t,” she explained.

T says she mailed her absentee ballot from another family member’s home to avoid a confrontation with her husband over her support for Harris.

“It’s not that he would ever stop me or anything, it’s just I just can’t deal with that animosity,” she said with an audible sigh.

T says she’d voted Republican her entire adult life — until Trump became the nominee in 2016. She describes Trump as “misogynistic,” and a “buffoon.”

“My husband will say it’s just what the media has fed me,” T said. “And I’m saying uh-uh. I watched it with my own two eyes. I listened to it.”

NPR spoke to several women who are quietly voting for Harris.Here are their stories.

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BALTIMORE — Marylanders voted to protect reproductive rights in the state constitution Tuesday, according to a call by the Associated Press.

Abortion is already legal in the state. By approving the amendment, though, voters have made it extremely difficult for lawmakers in the future to pass a law that could limit reproductive care without violating the state constitution.

“Today marks a significant victory for the rights, dignity, and autonomy of every person in our state, and those patients and their families who are forced to leave their home communities to travel to Maryland for healthcare,” said Morgan Nuzzo, co-founder of Partners of Abortion Care, a clinic in Maryland.

Reproductive rightsadvocates say the amendment protects Maryland residents and those who travel to Maryland for care.

Gov. Wes Moore, a Democrat, signed a reproductive freedom bill package into law in 2023. Those laws protect electronic health record data, shield abortion providers from prosecution in other states and require public colleges to give students access to comprehensive reproductive care.

Moore’s administration also invested millions of dollars in training abortion providers and created astockpile of mifepristone after a federal court case threatened its availability.

Maryland is one of 10 states with abortion on the ballot.

Withpolls closing across the country and the Associated Press race calls starting to come in, you might be wondering where the night is headed.

Unfortunately for nail-biting viewers, it's still too early to say.

Here's what we do know as of just after 9 p.m. ET:

The candidates have clinched some predictable victories, with Harris winning reliably blue states like Illinois, New York and Massachusetts, and Trump once again dominating in red states like Texas, Ohio and Florida.

Trump holds an early lead, with 178 electoral votes to Harris' 99. A candidate needs 270 to win — and there are still 261 electoral votes waiting to be awarded.

Polls have yet to close in the western part of the country, and votes are still being counted in many eastern and midwestern states.

Key swing states includingWisconsin,Georgiaand Pennsylvania, where results were already expected to take hours or even days, are warning of further delays due to threats and other issues affecting certain polling sites.

NPR's Domenico Montanaro says so far, he's not seeing anything wildly surprising.

"But I think that the Trump team is probably pretty happy with where things are at this point," he said. "Things are maybe in their direction a little bit more than maybe the Harris campaign would like. But we'll have to see, there's a lot more votes still left to count."

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One phrase you've probably heard a lot this election cycle is "Project 2025."

It refers to a controversial plan drafted by the conservative Heritage Foundation to overhaul the U.S. government. The900-page document lays out a roadmap for reorganizing the federal government to promote a conservative agenda.

Democrats haverepeatedly sought to tie Trump to the most controversial aspects of the plan, while Trump has sought to distance himself from it.

While Trump has sought to deny a connection, there is plenty of overlap between Project 2025 and his agenda. It proposes mass deportations of millions of undocumented immigrants. So does Trump.

Trump has called for cuts to the federal agencies like the Department of Education. Project 2025 calls for its elimination.

"He's expressed an interest in adopting certain parts of it and in other parts, he believes that it is too extreme for the nature of his future potential administration, and we at Heritage Foundation find that to be sufficient," Sarah Parshall Perry, senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation, told NPR.

But, there are also differences. On abortion, for example, Project 2025 goes farther with restrictions than Trump has said he would go.

"If President Donald Trump is a successful candidate here and wins the general election, that there are certain parts that he would be keen to adopt based on representations he's already made within public context," Perry said. "And there may be other parts that he doesn't want to have anything to do with."

Read more here.

A ballot question that would have legalized recreational use of marijuana in Florida failed to clear a 60% threshold necessary to pass, according to a call from The Associated Press.

The policy,opposed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and supported by former President Trump, would have authorized the state’smedical marijuana growers and retailers to sell to consumers.

Florida voters approved a medical marijuana ballot measure in 2016. This year supporters of the policyfunneled more than $100 million campaigning for the issue, the most spent on a ballot question in U.S. history. The vast majority of that money came fromTrulieve, the state’s largest medical marijuana operator.

Democratic state officials largely supported it, Republicans opposed it.

Before this year’s elections, 24 states and the District of Columbia hadlegalized marijuana for recreational use. Thirteen of those policies were approved through ballot measures. Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota are also asking voters to weigh in on recreational marijuana this year. In Massachusetts, voters will consider legalizingplant-based psychedelic drugs.

Donald Trump has won the solidly red states of Texas and Ohio, according to race calls from the Associated Press.

The states both have U.S. Senate races that haven't been called yet, including that of Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, who's considered one of the most vulnerable Democrats this election season.

These wins put Trump at 178 electoral votes and Harris at 99.

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Republicans are favored to take control of the chamber next year thanks to a 2024 election map that has Democrats defending seven seats in conservative or swing states and on offense just two in the safe Republican states of Texas and Florida.

Democrats narrowly control the Senate 51-49 today,but have already lost an open seat in West Virginia, according to the AP.

Here are the races to watch:

Arizona:Democratic Congressman Ruben Gallego has consistently polled ahead of Republican Kari Lake in the closing weeks of the election. Gallego has performed particularly well among Latino voters, who have a large, and growing, influence in the state.

Nevada:Incumbent Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen appeared poised to win the race early this election cycle, but in the final two weeks, the Senate Leadership Fund directed more than $6 million to the state in a “Hail Mary” effort to boost Republican challenger Sam Brown.

Michigan:The race was consistently tied through the final weeks of the election as Republican Mike Rogers and Democrat Elissa Slotkin campaigned to replace Sen. Debbie Stabenow, who is retiring. As part of the so-called “blue wall,” Michigan was closely contested by both Harris and Trump.

Montana:Montana has long been considered one of the best opportunities for Republicans to make gains in the Senate. Incumbent Democratic Sen. Jon Tester is facing Republican Tim Sheehy in a state that has grown increasingly conservative in recent years.

Ohio: Incumbent Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown is facing Republican Bernie Moreno in this critical state. The race for the Ohio Senate seat was essentially a dead heat ahead of the election and widely considered to be one of the tightest of toss-up races in the country.

Wisconsin:Sen. Tammy Baldwin, the incumbent Democrat, is facing Republican Eric Hovde in one of the most evenly politically divided states in the country. Baldwin, the first openly gay person elected to the Senate in 2012, keeps a low profile in Washington but was comfortably re-elected back home in 2018. However, she has never faced a candidate as well-funded as Hovde in her prior campaigns.

Pennsylvania:Sen. Bob Casey, the incumbent Democrat, is running against Republican David McCormick in one of the more negative and personal Senate races of the cycle. Pennsylvania — seen as a must-win state for both presidential candidates — has seen staggering sums of political advertising flood its airwaves.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Aballot proposal to allow abortion in Florida up to the point of fetal viability has failed, according to a call by The Associated Press.

Proponents of what would have been an amendment to the state constitution faced a tough challenge, with 60% approval required for passage and the state's Republican leadership arrayed against it.

The vote means the state's current law, which bans most abortions aftersix weeks, will stay in place, which abortion-access supporters worry will delay care and endanger the lives of women.

Florida was one of 10 states voting on abortion rights — part of a trend set in motion after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the federal right to abortion in 2022 and many states limited abortion access.

The amendment's failure leaves abortion access tightly limited across the South, where most states either ban abortion at any time during pregnancy or after six weeks — when many pregnancies are still not even recognized. (North Carolina and Virginia allow more access.)

Florida's ban does include exceptions for rape until 15 weeks and after that for fatal fetal abnormalities and to protect the life of the mother. But abortion-access advocates say theexceptions don't work well.

"A simple exception clause written by a politician without a medical background does not take into account how medically complex patients can be and how clinically nuanced situations can be," said Chelsea Daniels, a physician at Planned Parenthood in Miami.

Daniels said she has had patients with what she believed were life-threatening conditions who were turned away by other providers because of concerns about whether that patient's care would fall under the state's exceptions.

Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis had argued the amendment would make Florida a "radical abortion regime." DeSantis' Agency for Health Care Administration published anad and website saying the amendment "threatens women's safety," and the Florida Department of Health sent a cease and desist letter to television stations that aired an ad in support of the amendment. A stateinvestigation into alleged fraud in the signature-gathering process to put the amendment on the ballot included police knocking on the doors of some of the people who signed.

Regan McCarthy is theassistant news director at WFSU.

These are the latest AP race calls as of 9 p.m. ET:

Trump — 120 electoral votes:Indiana, Kentucky, West Virginia, Florida, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina, Arkansas, Louisiana, Nebraska (statewide), North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming.

Harris — 99 electoral votes:Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maryland, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Delaware, Illinois and New York.

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The FBI says fake videos and press releases are impersonating the bureau to push false claims about the election. On Tuesday evening, the FBI called out three more, which it says are the latest in a series "designed to mislead the American public."

The hoaxes include a fabricated statement from the FBI to journalists and bloggers "against publishing information about violence at polling stations," claiming that doing so could provoke more such incidents.

Another fake is a video, impersonating the FBI and another federal agency, that makes a joint statement suggesting schools suspend in-person classes through Nov. 11 because "the risk of school shooting and riots has increased significantly" due to the election.

A third fake video claims the bureau received "9,000 complaints about malfunctioning voting machines" that were allegedly submitting votes for one candidate.

The FBI said that in each case, the fake is "not authentic, is not from the FBI, and its contents are false."

The bureau has warned aboutother fabricated videos and statements using its name and insignia tospread false claims of voter fraud and security warnings in recent days. Researchers atAntibot4Navalny, which tracks Russian disinformation, have said the fakes were likely created by Russia.

On Monday, a joint statement from federal agencieswarned that Russia is creating such content, saying: "Influence actors linked to Russia in particular are manufacturing videos and creating fake articles to undermine the legitimacy of the election, instill fear in voters regarding the election process, and suggest Americans are using violence against each other due to political preferences."

RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein, a Democrat, has won the state's race for governor, according to a race call by The Associated Press.

Stein defeated Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, whose campaign cratered afterCNN reported that he'd posted pro-slavery, pro-Nazi comments on a pornographic website. Robinson, who had been endorsed by former President Donald Trump, has denied writing the posts — saying they were faked — and issuing CNN for defamation.

Stein will take over in January from two-term Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, who was term-limited from running again. Stein has been the state's attorney general since 2017, and he previously served in the North Carolina Senate. Stein, 58, grew up in Chapel Hill, where his father co-founded the state's first integrated law firm. He will be North Carolina's first Jewish governor.

MORE: North Carolina election results

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Officials in Milwaukee say they are re-tabulating around 34,000 ballots after a snafu with some of their machines.

Ann Jacobs, the chair of the Wisconsin Elections Commission, explained in aseries of posts on X that the doors of the tabulator machines were not locked and sealed this morning as they should have been.

"Both political parties agree that nothing was wrong with the tabulation so far," she added. "However, in the interest of transparency and so that people can have confidence in the tabulation, the decision was made to re-tabulate the ballots run through so far."

That process will delay Milwaukee's reporting, with Jacobs apologizing for what will be "a very late night" in the city.

But she said it was "absolutely the right decision" on the part of election officials, especially considering they did so before getting any results.

"NOBODY knows how the originally scanned ballots were voted," she said.

Jacobs also emphasized that there is nothing wrong with the tabulators themselves.

"They are going to, out of an abundance of caution, recount these 30,000 ballots there, but there has been no sign at all that that means the process is fraudulent or rigged or anything like that," election security correspondent Miles Parks said on NPR's special radio coverage.

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., told NPR that he plans to visit Milwaukee Central Count to speak to poll workers and observers about the delay.

"A machine back popped open, they had to reset the counters and they're counting over again," he said. "Now they're saying we're not going to get the results until the wee hours of the morning."

Wisconsin is one of ahandful of key swing states that could help decide the election. It voted for Trump in 2016 and Biden in 2020.

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Turnout in 2020 was the highest since 1900: 160 million people voted, the most ever. That surpassed the 2008 record of 133 million.

Experts expect the turnout percentage to be lower this year for two reasons: Mail-in voting won’t be as widely available as it was during the pandemic, and some early voting windows have been curtailed.

It seemed clear turnout would be significantly lower when it was Trump versus Biden, but with Harris in the race, Democratic enthusiasm and interest has increased.

There are challenges and opportunities for both candidates.

Harrishas been doing well with older voters and white, college-educated voters. Both are among the highest-propensity voters. But she also relies on younger and nonwhite voters, who turn out at lower rates.

Trumpgot more white, non-college voters to the polls in 2020, but they still voted at far lower rates than whites with degrees.

With 35% of the vote counted in the key state of Georgia, Donald Trump is leading with 56.5% of the vote over Vice President Harris, who has 43%, according to data from The Associated Press.

Of the uncounted votes, the majority are outstanding in the diverse Atlanta metropolitan area. As additional votes are counted, these numbers will change.

President Biden narrowly captured Georgia in 2020, besting Trump by a fraction of a percentage point, or 11,779 votes.

Both candidates, Harris and Trump, have lobbied hard for the state of Georgia, and Democrats on the ground have worked for years to turn the swing state blue.

For more about Georgia, read about thefive groups of voters who will shape the outcome.

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America's geopolitical adversaries, particularly Russia, Iran and China, have been active in trying to influence this year's election, as part of their larger goals to sow chaos and discredit democracy.

Russia isangling to boost Trump, as it did in the previous two presidential elections, whileIran is trying to undermine the former president, intelligence officials and private-sector researchers say.China does not appear to have a preference in the presidential race but has targeted congressional races.

All three regularly seize on divisive issues, from immigration to abortion to Israel's war in Gaza, to exacerbate discord among Americans. And they've all experimented with usingartificial intelligence to churn out moremisleading content.

The stakes could be even higher after Nov. 5, as foreign adversaries are expected to boostelection fraud claims and manufacture their own material to cast doubt on the results.Russia is behind afake video showing ballots being destroyed in Pennsylvania that circulated widely on social media last week, for example.

Foreign countries are better prepared to exploit the potential uncertainty of the post-election period this year, thanks to what they learned from the 2020 cycle and a better understanding of what happens after polls close, a recently declassifiedintelligence assessment concluded.

Russia and Iran could even escalate to inciting violence by stoking threats toward election workers and promoting protests, intelligence officials have said.

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One of the most consequential tasks facing the new president and Congress will be the potential to remake the tax code in 2025.

Republicans structured the2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act to expire at the beginning of the next president's term. The bill was one of then-President Donald Trump's signature pieces of legislation, and the expiration of those tax changes gives whoever is elected the opportunity to revisit major portions of the tax code.

Thelegislation lowered the corporate tax rate to 21%, down from 35%. Additionally, the law allowed businesses to write off new investments, adjusted tax brackets and increased the child tax credit. It also reduced the estate tax and offered tax deductions for business owners — two items that typically help wealthy taxpayers.

Whether — and how — the tax policy gets altered will depend on who's in the White House and the makeup of Congress.

Both Vice President Harris and Trump have proposed extending portions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. A report from the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget found that extending the law would total $3 trillion under Harris' plan and $5.4 trillion under Trump's.

AsNPR's Luke Garrett reported, Harris is proposing that Americans earning less than $400,000 a year will maintain the benefit from the Trump-era tax cuts, but not those making above that level. As for Trump, he has said he wants to "make the Trump tax cuts permanent."

These are the states each candidate has won as of 8 p.m.:

Trump: Indiana, Kentucky, West Virginia, Florida, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina

Harris: Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maryland, Rhode Island

That brings the electoral vote tally to 95 for Trump and 35 for Harris. A candidate needs to 270 to win.

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As Americans cast their ballots in this historic election, some votes — as usual — matter more than others.

This election, there areseven states widely seen as competitive: the "Blue Wall" states ofMichigan,Wisconsin andPennsylvania, and the Sun Belt states ofNevada,Arizona,North Carolina andGeorgia.

The U.S. doesn't elect presidents by popular vote, but rather through the unique electoral college. In the vast majority of states, that means the winner of a state gets all that state's electors, regardless of the margin of their win.

Politics

How swing states came to be critical in U.S. presidential elections

Joe Hernandez

Political campaigns and pundits have long focused on swing states because they offer candidates an opportunity to sway voters off the fence and win coveted Electoral College votes.

In practice, that means that voters in theseswing states — states where the race between the candidates is very close, and could be swayed one way or another — have disproportional impact on the national results.

The list of swing states is far from static: It changes as voting patterns shift. Florida, for instance, was a key swing state for many years, but has trended increasingly Republican and has lost that status.

Polls in several states closed at 8 p.m. ET, including the swing states of Michigan and Pennsylvania.

Some polling places in Pennsylvania will see extended hours aftersome issues earlier today.

The AP will not make any race calls until all the polls in a state are closed — even those with multiple time zones.

Here are all the states where polls closed at 8 p.m. ET:

Statewide:

• Alabama (Central Time)
• Connecticut
• D.C.
• Delaware
• Florida (Central Time)
• Illinois
• Maine
• Maryland
• Massachusetts
• Mississippi
• Missouri
• New Hampshire(Remaining polling locations)
• New Jersey
• Oklahoma
• Rhode Island
• Tennessee

Partial:

• Michigan (Eastern Time)
• Kansas(Central Time)
• North Dakota (Central Time)
• South Dakota(Central Time)
• Texas (Central Time)

West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice has won the state’s open Senate seat, according to a race call by the Associated Press, giving Republicans a boost in their fight to regain control of the hotly contested chamber.

Justice was expected to win the seat in the very conservative state.

He inherits the seat from Sen. Joe Manchin, who for years was West Virginia’s lone congressional Democrat before he announced he was registering as an independent this year.

Justice similarly has changed his political affiliations over the years. He captured the governor’s mansion in 2016 as a Democrat, but in 2017, announced he had registered as a Republican at a rally alongside then-President Donald Trump.

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As results come in tonight, take care when evaluating images, video and audio. They are easily manipulated or taken out of context.

Take this 2020 tweet alleging voter suppression, supposedly evidenced by a photo of a pile of blue U.S. Postal Service mailboxes. It reads, "Photo taken in Wisconsin. This is happening right before our eyes. They are sabotaging USPS to sabotage vote by mail. This is massive voter suppression and part of their plan to steal the election."

UCLA law professor Richard L. Hasen investigated the claim in his 2022 book,Cheap Speech: How Disinformation Poisons Our Politics — and How to Cure It. As it turns out, while the photo is real, the allegation of voter suppression was not. The mailboxes were pictured outside a business thathad a contract to repair old mailboxes for the U.S. Postal Service, not scrap them.

In this day and age, "the old adage … 'seeing is believing' just doesn't really hold truth anymore," said Rachel Moran of theUniversity of Washington's Center for an Informed Public. When you come across a piece of media online, it's worth asking: "Is what I'mhearing orseeing AI generated? Or could it bereal and edited in a deceptive fashion?"

Ultimately, "it's up to us to protect ourselves and our communities [from misinformation] by only sharing what's verified," said Hannah Covington, senior director of education content at theNews Literacy Project.

For more tips on how to avoid spreading election misinformation,read the full article.

President Biden is spending the night with his wife, first lady Jill Biden, watching election results come in from the White House.

Pool reporters said at 4 p.m. that the White House had called an early lid on the day, "indicating that President Biden does not intend to participate in public events."

Meanwhile, Vice PresidentHarris is spending the night at Howard University in Washington, D.C., her alma mater, while former President Donald Trump plans to hold a watch party at a convention center in West Palm Beach, Fla.

Depending on where you're voting, there may be a number of races or ballot measures to consider.

NPR member stations can help.

They've been gathering information for voters, including election guides, and reporting on the news to help you be informed for this year's election.

Click through tofind resources availablefrom your local member station.

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This election could reshape the Supreme Court — or not, depending on retirements, deaths or other unforeseen events. The only certainty is a political struggle.

Depending on who wins the presidential electionand which party wins control of the Senate, the current 6-to-3 conservative supermajority could remain the same, be trimmed to 5-to-4 or expand to an even larger and more lopsided conservative majority.

The public, for the most part, understands that if there is a Supreme Court vacancy, the president's nominee will generally reflect the president's views. But there is a genuine possibility that if the Senate is controlled by the opposition party, the open seat will remain unfilled — not for months, but for years.

Indeed, there is also a real possibility that lower court seats will go unfilled, unless there is significant backroom horse-trading. In short, if power is split between the White House and the Senate, there could be unprecedented gridlock on judicial nominations that extends all the way up to the Supreme Court and down to the appellate and even district courts.

Read more here about the possible outcomes.

The AP called West Virginia for Trump moments after its polls closed at 7:30 p.m. ET.
 
That brings Trump's total electoral votes so far to 23. Harris has 3.

Only four states have been called so far: Kentucky, Indiana, Vermont and West Virginia.
 
In addition to West Virginia, polls also closed at 7:30 p.m. ET in Ohio and the key swing state of North Carolina.

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Polls show that immigration and the economy top voters' lists of concerns, followed by threats to democracy, crime, the environment, health care, political extremism and abortion.

The economy and immigration are issues that favor Republicans in this election cycle: A recentNPR/PBS News/Marist poll found that more voters believe former President Donald Trump would be able to handle these issues compared with Vice President Harris — though Trump holds a 7-percentage point lead on immigration compared with just 4 points on the economy.

Many voters are also highly motivated by women's reproductive rights, which have been a top priority and sort of litmus tests for Democrats since the Supreme Court overturnedRoe v. Wade in 2022.

Harris has also made reproductive rights an issue in this election: $154 million has been spent on messaging around abortion, almost exclusively from Democratic groups, since after Super Tuesday, the unofficial start of the general election this year.

Harris is trusted more on this issue than Trump is on the economy and immigration, and Democrats have won every time it has been on the ballot since 2022.

It's not just about women. College-educated white men also favor Harris for her handling of abortion rights. That's a group Trump won narrowly in 2020, according to exit polls, but that is leaning toward Harris now.

Jacquelyn Martin/AP; Evan Vucci/AP

Here are some fast facts about the 2024 election:

• If Donald Trump wins the presidency again, he will be the same age, 78, as Joe Biden was when he was inaugurated in 2021. Ronald Reagan took office at 69 and left at 77.
• If Kamala Harris wins, she would be only the second vice president in modern history (George H.W. Bush being the other) to successfully become president immediately after his or her predecessor's administration.
• Almost$1 billion was spent in political ads over the last week alone in an election cycle that has seenrecord ad spending.
• Ten abortion-related ballot measures will be voted on, including in Nevada, Arizona, Florida and Montana. Nebraska has competing measures on the ballot, one that would expand abortion rights and another that would curtail them.

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Wisconsin Elections Commission Chair Ann Jacobs shared shortly before 5 p.m. that an issue was discovered with the tabulator machines at Milwaukee's central count. That's where the city's absentee ballots are being counted.

MORE: Wisconsin election results

Because of state law, that counting couldn't start until Election Day — 7 a.m. this morning.

"The tabulator machines have doors that are supposed to be locked and sealed before tabulation. Sadly, that did not occur this morning. Both political parties agree that nothing was wrong with the Tabulation so far. However, in the interest of transparency and so that people can have confidence in the tabulation, the decision was made to re-tabulate the ballots run through so far," Jacobsshared on X.

She added that about 34,000 ballots will be retabulated and that this is the right thing to do, although it will delay learning the voting results for the city of Milwaukee.

Follow thelatest from Milwaukee at WUWM.com.

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All aboard the party bus to the polls. Turning Point Action, the conservative political group founded by Charlie Kirk, rented buses to take voters standing in long lines in Maricopa County, Ariz., to polls with a shorter wait.

Dubbed the “Trump Train,” the fleet included the Wild West Party Bus and a pink bus featuring poles and a neon sign that reads “What happens in Scottsdale, stays in Scottsdale.”

Turning Point Action, which is focused on mobilizing young conservative voters, has becomean organizing force for the Trump campaign in Arizona.

“We are going to make November too big to rig and we are going to overwhelm the ballot boxes,” said Kirk at an event put on by the group in June at a Phoenix megachurch.

Here seven counties to watch — one in each swing state — that might give some idea how the race is going and why one candidate or the other won:

1.Montgomery County, Pa.: This wealthy and highly educated Philadelphia suburb is crucial to Democrats’ chances in the state. Biden netted 40,000 more votes here than Hillary Clinton in 2016, a third of the entire statewide vote shift in his favor.

2. Dane County, Wisc.: This heavily Democratic county has seen tremendous growth in the past decade. It accounted for 1-in-6 Democratic votes statewide in 2020, but 80% of the total vote shift in Biden's favor.

3.Wayne County, Mich.: It's home to Detroit and Dearborn, and may tell the story of whether Vice President Harris was able to turn out Black voters and how much the war in Gaza was a factor. Wayne is home to the largest concentration of Arab Americans anywhere in the country.

4. Henderson County, N.C.: This is one of the more populous Trump-won counties affected by Hurricane Helene in western North Carolina. Turnout there will give some idea of how Trump’s vote is affected.

5. Gwinnett County, Ga.: It has seen a population boom in the past decade, is the most populous suburban county in the state and is now majority non-white. It flipped in 2016 from Republican to Democrat and went by an even wider margin for Biden in 2020.

6. Maricopa County, Ariz.: Biden won Arizona by just over 10,000 votes, a 100,000-vote swing from 2016. And 90% of that came from Maricopa, home to Phoenix.

7.Clark County, Nev.: Almost 70% of all the state's votes come from this county, home to Las Vegas. It will tell us whether Trump’s appeals on the economy to working-class Latino voters worked. It's home to a significant share of Asian American and Black voters Harris also needs to help her win.

Click here to read about even more swing counties.

The AP has called Kentucky and Indiana for Trump and Vermont for Harris, minutes after polls closed in the first batch of states.

As of 7 p.m. ET, Trump has 19 electoral votes and Harris has 3. A candidate needs 270 to win the presidency.

These are the polls that closed at 7 p.m. ET:

• Georgia
• Indiana (Central Time)
• Kentucky (Central Time)
• South Carolina
• Vermont
• Virginia
• Florida (Eastern Time)
• Alabama (Eastern Time)
• New Hampshire (some polling locations)

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Elon Musk said he will spend election night with former President Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago in Florida.

The tech mogul and owner of X, formerly known as Twitter, confirmed his plans on X Spaces, adding that he was heading straight to Florida after he casts his ballot in Texas.

Musk has been a mega-donor and powerful supporter of the Republican nominee. Not only has he put$75 million into a super PAC to support the candidate, Musk has helped with get-out-the-vote operations, including offering multiple giveaways of a million dollars to registered voters in key states who sign a petition.

At a Trump rally in October, Musk said, “The other side wants to take away your freedom. President Trump must win to preserve the Constitution.”

INDIANAPOLIS — Republican U.S. Sen. Mike Braun has won Indiana’s open governor’s race, according to a race call by The Associated Press.

Braun, a Trump ally finishing out his first term in the Senate,beat out Democrat Jennifer McCormick and Libertarian Donald Rainwater.

Earlier in his career, Braun served in the Indiana legislature and as a local school board member. Much of theRepublican's campaign pitch centered on his experience starting and growing a southern Indiana auto parts distribution business into a multi-million-dollar company.

Braun's victory creates a bit of Indiana history: the state has never had governors from one party for more than 20 consecutive years. But Democrats haven't won the governor's race since 2000, and with Braun's win, Republicans will extend their time in the governor's office beyond the two-decade mark.

Current GOP Gov. Eric Holcomb was term-limited from another run, after eight years in office.

NPR reporters will be in the studio bringing you fresh updates and analysis on the presidential electoral vote count updates, as well as AP race calls on key congressional andstate contests and ballot measures on issues likeabortion rights and voting.

Live special coverage starts at 7 p.m. ET as polls begin to close and will continue all night as results come in — as will this live blog.

Here are some of the ways you can tune in:

• Click the audio player at thetop of this page.
• Tune in on many public radio stations.
• Explore election coverage in the NPR app.
• You can also tell your Alexa device to "Ask NPR to play Special Coverage."

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40%

The percentage of white voters that Democrats generally need to win in presidential elections. Because of demographic changes and Latinos and Asian Americans siding heavily with Democrats, Obama was the first person to win the presidency with less than 40% in 2012 (39%), according to exit polls. Hillary Clinton got 37%, though, in 2016 and lost. Biden won 41% of white voters and won the presidency.

60%

Democrats win when young voters turn out, and they win them by a big margin. In 2008, 2012 and 2016, they won 60% of voters 18-29 and won. In 2000, 2004 and 2016, they didn’t and lost.

53%

Women have been a majority of the electorate in every presidential election since 1984. The gender gap could be the widest in history, but Democrats would love to see women make up at least 53% of the electorate and win 57% of them. Biden won 57% of women in 2020, the highest percentage for a Democrat in modern politics. They were 52% of the electorate. They were 52% in 2016 also, but Hillary Clinton only got 54% of women — and lost men by a lot. Obama won twice, though, and both times women were 53%, and he won at least 55% of them.

61%

Trump turned out more rural voters in 2020 than 2016 (19% vs. 17%). But he won them by less in 2020 – 57% compared to 61%. Trump would love to get back to that level, as his campaign has focused on his base voters.

67%+

Similarly, Trump’s base is largely white voters without college degrees. He was able to win them by a wider margin in 2020, but it wasn’t quite enough. He got 67% of them in 2020 and they were 35% of the electorate. Unless he can substantially peel off Latinos, young voters or Black voters, Trump will need to exceed 67% with the group.

👀 For more numbers,here are 10 demographic groups to watch.

Officials in Philadelphia are fact-checking former President Donald Trump in real time, refuting what they say are baseless allegations about cheating — part of a pattern for the former president.

"A lot of talk about massive CHEATING in Philadelphia. Law Enforcement coming!!! heposted on Truth Social shortly before 5 p.m. ET.

Trump did not elaborate on his claims. But Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, a Democrat, was quick to slam them as "unfounded."

"The only talk about massive cheating has come from one of the candidates, Donald J. Trump," he wrote on social media and in a press release. "There is no factual basis whatsoever within law enforcement to support this wild allegation."

Krasner said his office has invited complaints and allegations of improprieties all day.

"If Donald J. Trump has any facts to support his wild allegations, we want them now. Right now," he added. "We are not holding our breath."

Trump's accusations, while vague, circulated across social media in the hours before Pennsylvania polls were due to close.

Cait Conley, who oversees election security at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, was asked about claims of widespread fraud in Pennsylvania circulating online at a media briefing in the early evening.

"We have no data or reporting to support these claims," she said.

Trump has a long history of making baseless claims about fraud in elections past and present, and he and his allies have increasinglyprimed supporters to falsely believe the only way he can lose is due to cheating.