Harris campaign expresses optimism as Trump clinches key battleground state

The Harris campaign is urging its staffers to not panic as Democrats grow anxious on election night.

In a memo sent to campaign staff, Harris campaign chair Jen O'Malley Dillon reiterated that the race between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump is as "razor thin" as they expected. A copy of the memo was obtained by The Associated Press and other outlets on Tuesday night.

In the memo, O'Malley Dillon emphasized that there was a high turnout in Philadelphia, outstanding votes in Detroit and uncounted votes in Dane and Milwaukee counties in Wisconsin. She noted that Harris's clearest path to the White House is the "blue wall" states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

"We have known all along that our clearest path to 270 electoral votes lies through the Blue Wall states. And we feel good about what we're seeing," she wrote in the memo.

"We've been saying for weeks that this race might not be called tonight. Those of you who were around in 2020 know this well: It takes time for all the votes to be counted - and all the votes will be counted. That's how our system works. What we do know is this race is not going to come into focus until the early morning hours," she wrote, according to the copy of the memo posted by The Washington Post's Matt Viser.

"We'll continue to keep you all updated as we get more information. This is what we've been built for, so let's finish up what we have in front of us tonight, get some sleep, and get ready to close out strong tomorrow," she added.

The memo came as The Associated Press called the battleground state of North Carolina for Trump late Tuesday night. Harris was looking to flip the state—which President Biden narrowly lost in 2020—through her multiple trips to the battleground in recent weeks.

Polls were closed in the other battlegrounds, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, Arizona, Wisconsin and Nevada, but the results there were too early to call. Voting continued in the West on Election Day, as tens of millions of Americans added their ballots to the 84 million cast early as they chose between two candidates with drastically different temperaments and visions for the country.

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