Live election updates: Trump wins Pennsylvania
The AP's current count has Trump three electoral votes shy of winning the White House, though he is leading in key battleground states.
"Congratulations on history's greatest comeback!" wrote Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on X. "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."
French President Emmanuel Macron posted on X: "Ready to work together as we were able to do during four years. With your convictions and mine. In respect and ambition. For more peace and prosperity."
Trump, someone whose political career has been defined by division and acrimony, told the audience at his election night party early on Wednesday that it was "time to unite" as a country.
"It's time to put the divisions of the past four years behind us," Trump said. "It's time to unite."
"We have to put our country first for at least a period of time," he added. "We have to fix it."
Most of the important people in Trump's personal and political life have joined him on stage in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Former first lady Melania Trump stood near her husband and was joined by Barron, the former president's youngest son. Trump's older children, Don Jr., Eric, Ivanka and Tiffany, all joined their father on stage, too.
Trump's top political minds, including top campaign advisers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita, joined Trump on stage. And his political allies were on stage, too, including House Speaker Mike Johnson.
Trump also celebrated a few celebrities in the audience and on stage. Dana White, the CEO of UFC, was on stage with Trump, and the former president called golfer Bryson DeChambeau on stage. Trump also shouted out Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of X, who has become one of his most high-profile supporters. "We have a new star. A star is born: Elon," Trump said.
Polls closed in Nevada nearly three hours late after voters waited in long lines to cast ballots, the state's top election official said, and initial election results began to be posted just before 10 p.m. PST.
Polls had been scheduled to close at 7 p.m., but state law allows anyone in line at that time to cast a ballot.
Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar acknowledged Nevada's position as an electoral battleground and promised to keep updating results as the counties receive "and cure" additional ballots.
Mailed ballots are accepted and counted until Saturday, and thousands of voters whose ballots were set aside to allow for signature verification, or "curing," have until 5 p.m. Nov. 12 to validate their vote with election officials.
Aguilar, a Democrat, called Nevada's elections "safe, secure and transparent" and said he was proud of reports of high voter turnout.
The former presidential candidate has arrived at the Palm Beach Convention Center, entering and walking briskly as he made his way near the stage among crowds of supporters.
Trump has said he will play a role when it comes to health policy but has not specified what that would be. Kennedy, who launched his own presidential bid as an independent before dropping out of the race and endorsing Trump, joined him at several rallies in the last stretch of the campaign.
A group of first-time voters at Howard University said they're disappointed that Harris didn't come to her election watch party at the school, but didn't regret staying up past midnight.
"I'm not too frustrated because she's not here," said freshman Rashada Kaba. "I think that because it's not as close of a race as I thought it was going to be and Trump is more in the lead is adding on to the frustration."
The disappointment led to an indelible lesson, though, said freshman Awa Fall.
"Would I do it all over again, honestly? Absolutely," she said. "But all this proves is how much voting was and is important because a lot of people thought that she had it completely in the bag and didn't realize how close of a race it was."
As the election stretched into the early hours of Wednesday, Republicans — seeing a map trending positively for their party — began to point to a shift in demographic support among key voting groups who often lean Democrat.
Preliminary AP VoteCast data suggested a shift among Black and Latino voters, who appeared slightly less likely to support Harris than they were to back Biden four years ago. About 8 in 10 Black voters backed Harris, down from the roughly 9 in 10 who backed Biden. More than half of Hispanic voters supported Harris, but that was down slightly from the roughly 6 in 10 who backed Biden in 2020. Trump's support among those groups appeared to rise slightly compared to 2020.
Republican Sen. Marco Rubio told AP at Trump's election watch party in West Palm Beach, Florida, that he's excited for the exit polling in states like Pennsylvania and Georgia, where Republicans are already seeing overperformance compared to this time in the election in 2020.
"I'm just really excited not just because I think it's going to be a victory but about how we won," the Florida lawmaker said.
Forgive Democrats if they are having a bit of déjà vu.
There are noticeable similarities between then-Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton's election night in 2016 and the one that Harris had planned for tonight at Howard University.
Neither Clinton nor Harris, appeared at their election night party, despite both heading into Election Day believing they were about to defeat Donald Trump.
Both sent top aides to inform the demoralized audience that the woman would not speak. And there were noticeable similarities between what each man 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," Cedric Richmond, Harris' campaign co-chair, told the audience Tuesday. "So you won't hear from the vice president tonight, but you will hear from her tomorrow."
"We're still counting votes," John Podesta, Clinton's campaign chairman, said in 2016. "And every vote should count. Several states are too close to call. So we're not going to have anything more to say tonight."
Even the mood of the events — and the trajectory they took over the course of the night — was similar. The vibe at Clinton's event at Javits Center started jubilantly, with people dancing, smiling and eager to make history — the campaign had even planned to launch reflective confetti in the air when Clinton won to resemble a glass ceiling shattering. The same was true for Harris, with the event resembling a dance party on the campus of the Democrat's alma mater.
By the time Podesta and Richmond had taken the stage, the party had stopped, people had left, and those who remained looked forlorn.
Harris still has a path to the White House through the Northern battleground states, but the map is getting less forgiving.
Harris' campaign has long said her surest way to 270 electoral votes was through Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, states Trump won in 2016 and Biden captured narrowly in 2020.
Harris cannot lose Pennsylvania and reach 270 electoral votes. However, she can lose pieces of the blue wall — so named for its longtime reputation as a Democratic firewall — and still reach 270.
If she loses Michigan, she can make it up by winning Arizona and Nevada. She can lose Wisconsin and make up for it with Arizona.
But the map has surely shrunk for Harris, who cannot lose more than one in the three-state northern arc.
Former President Donald Trump won the swing state of Georgia on Wednesday, returning its 16 electoral votes to the Republican column. Joe Biden narrowly carried Georgia in 2020, but Republicans have won every other Georgia presidential vote since 1996. Trump tried to overturn his 2020 loss in Georgia, setting off a political and legal struggle that led to his indictment in the state. While the state has two Democratic U.S. senators, Trump's victory proves Georgia still has a Republican bent. Six candidates appeared on Georgia ballots, but votes for Claudia De la Cruz and Cornel West weren't counted. The Associated Press declared Trump the winner at 12:58 a.m. EST.
Harris' campaign co-chair, Cedric Richmond, told the audience gathered at what was planned to be the Democratic nominee's election night party at Howard University that the vice president would not speak tonight, but that the campaign was not giving up the fight against Trump.
"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," said Richmond. "So you won't hear from the vice president tonight but you will hear from her tomorrow."
Richmond said Harris would return to Howard "not only to address her supporters but to address the nation."
The event, which began as a jubilant celebration of Harris and the prospect of a new presidency, began to sour as the Democrat's path to victory narrowed.
As Donald Trump racked up more electoral votes, Kamala Harris' campaign co-chair addressed her rally at Howard University, saying there are still votes to be counted and states left to be called and Harris will address the nation on Wednesday.
Elon Musk appeared gleeful about the prospect of gaining influence over the federal government during a potential Donald Trump presidency.
He posted a photoshopped image of himself carrying a sink into the Oval Office, adding, "Let that sink in." It's a reference to when he took over Twitter, now X, and began shaking up operations at the social media company.
Trump has said Musk, the world's richest man, would help him streamline government.
Democrat Kamala Harris won the electoral vote tied to Nebraska's 2nd Congressional District on Wednesday. The sitting vice president defeated Republican and former President Donald Trump in the district centered on Nebraska's largest city of Omaha and its surrounding suburbs. The district has earned the nickname of Nebraska's "blue dot" after having supported two other Democrats for president in the last 16 years – former President Barack Obama in 2008 and President Joe Biden in 2020. Nebraska and Maine are the only two states that split their Electoral College votes based on the popular votes in individual congressional districts. The Associated Press declared Harris the winner at 12:08 a.m. EST.
As midnight approached on the East Coast, the Harris campaign turned off its projected broadcasts of CNN at its election night watch party at Howard University. Instead, various high-energy remixes blared from speakers alongside floodlights flickering in tempo to hype the crowd.
The cheers in the crowd had become less frequent as more results came in from battleground states showing a tight race or victories for Trump.
Some attendees began leaving the event though the vast majority of rallygoers remained. It is unclear if Harris will make an appearance at her alma mater.
