Related Stories
-
Republicans maintain stronghold on Indiana’s congressional seats
-
Republicans take U.S. Senate majority for first time in four years
-
Indiana Supreme Court justices appear to survive retention challenge
-
Central Indiana Statehouse incumbents hang on to their seats
-
Election updates: Economy, immigration top voters’ concerns
Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe Now- 0.25
- 0.50
- 0.75
- 1.00
- 1.25
- 1.50
- 1.75
- 2.00
Former President Donald Trump won Pennsylvania early Wednesday, putting him just three electoral votes shy of defeating Kamala Harris to win the White House.
Trump has 267 of the 270 electoral votes needed to win the White House. A win in Alaska, where he has a big lead, or any of the outstanding battleground states—Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona or Nevada—would send the Republican former president back to the Oval Office.
Trump is leading in Michigan and Wisconsin, where his two clearest paths to victory rely on Harris not winning enough of the outstanding votes in Wayne and Milwaukee counties. The Associated Press is waiting on the next updates from both locations to determine whether Harris has any path to overtake Trump in either state.
Pennsylvania, a part of the once-reliable Democratic stronghold known as the “blue wall” with Michigan and Wisconsin, was carried by Trump when he first won the White House in 2016 and then flipped back to Democrats in 2020. Trump also flipped Georgia, which had voted for Democrats four years ago, and retained the closely contested state of North Carolina.
Trump’s gains sharply curtailed Harris’ path to victory.
Addressing his supporters early Wednesday from his campaign’s watch party in Florida, Trump said, “Every citizen, I will fight for you, for your family and your future.”
Trump added he was going to make people “very happy” and “very proud” of their vote.
“We have a country that needs help, and it needs help very badly,” Trump said. “We’re going to fix our borders. We’re going to fix everything about our country.”
The crowd at Harris’ watch party at her alma mater, Howard University in Washington, began to file out after midnight after a top Harris ally sent supporters home, with no plans for the Democratic vice president to speak.
“We will continue overnight to fight to make sure that every vote is counted. That every voice has spoken,” Cedric Richmond, co-chair of the Harris campaign said. “So you won’t hear from the vice president tonight, but you will hear from her tomorrow. She will be back here tomorrow.”
Trump also won Florida, a one-time battleground that has shifted heavily to Republicans in recent elections. He also notched early wins in reliably Republican states such as Texas, South Carolina and Indiana. Harris won Virginia, a state Trump visited in the final days of the campaign, and took Democratic strongholds like New York, New Mexico and California. Harris also won New Hampshire and an Electoral College vote in Nebraska that was contested by Republicans.
The Trump campaign bet that it would cut into Democrats’ traditional strength with Black and Latino voters, with the former president going on male-centric podcasts and making explicit racial appeals to both groups. Nationally, Black and Latino voters appeared slightly less likely to support Harris than they were to back Joe Biden four years ago, and Trump’s support among those voters appeared to rise slightly compared to 2020, according to AP VoteCast.
The fate of democracy appeared to be a primary driver for Harris’ supporters, a sign that the Democratic nominee’s persistent messaging in her campaign’s closing days accusing Trump of being a fascist may have broken through, according to the expansive survey of more than 110,000 voters nationwide. It also found a country mired in negativity and desperate for change. Trump’s supporters were largely focused on immigration and inflation — two issues that the former Republican president has been hammering since the start of his campaign.
In another positive sign for the GOP, the party took control of the Senate, with Trump-backed Bernie Moreno flipping a seat in Ohio held by Democrat Sherrod Brown since 2007. They picked up another when Republican Jim Justice won a West Virginia seat that opened up with Sen. Joe Manchin’s retirement.
Those casting Election Day ballots mostly encountered a smooth process, with isolated reports of hiccups that regularly happen, including long lines, technical issues and ballot printing errors. Federal election security officials said there were minor disruptions throughout the day but there was no evidence of any impact to the election system. Officials determined that bomb threats that were reported in multiple states were all not credible and did not impact the ability of voters to cast their ballots.
Harris, 60, would be the first woman, Black woman and person of South Asian descent to serve as president. She also would be the first sitting vice president to win the White House in 36 years.
Trump, 78, would be the oldest president ever elected. He would also be the first defeated president in 132 years to win another term in the White House, and the first person convicted of a felony to take over the Oval Office.
He survived one assassination attempt by millimeters at a July rally. Secret Service agents foiled a second attempt in September.
Please enable JavaScript to view this content.
thank God. thank God this country woke up
Woke up to a convicted felon elected running our country. Not sure who woke up. How quick will he release the other felons from prison?
It’s going to be a scary 4 years.
I’m ready to throw up……completely embarrassed.
I am completely embarrassed, as well. Sick to my stomach. Tired of Indiana. Disappointed in the American electorate. Just very sad this morning.
If you are this upset you should be mad at the Democratic party for not even holding a primary to find a viable candidate. Harris didn’t get a single vote when she ran for president in the 2020 primary. Harris was the least popular VP in modern American history. She did almost no interviews or media appearances. She shared little to no details on actual policy and stuck by her time with Biden, which most Americans believe has made life worse and more difficult. When you just wheel out Hollywood paid endorsements it is a slap in the face to the hardworking Americans that are just trying to put food on the table and make life a little easier for their families.
Corey P: +1
Well said. The electorate was open to it, given her surge in August, but when push came to shove, she couldn’t/wouldn’t articulate pragmatic policies, other than “not changing a thing” about current policies.
After not having to run through a nomination campaign to develop such policies, and then her campaign being run by Biden’s staff, of course she couldn’t articulate any changes – and in an environment with inflation and immigration as key frustrations, that handicap lost the day.