Fox News projects Trump wins US presidency

Fox News projected that Republican Donald Trump has won the U.S. presidency, defeating Democrat Kamala Harris and capping a stunning political comeback four years after he left the White House.

Other media outlets have yet to call the race.

In West Palm Beach, Florida, where Trump was expected to speak to his supporters at a convention center, the crowd cheered and chanted, "USA! USA! USA!" when Fox News declared him the winner.

Trump has already won the swing states of North Carolina and Georgia and holds leads in several others, according to Edison Research.

The former president was showing strength across broad swaths of the country, improving on his 2020 performance everywhere from rural areas to urban centers.

Republicans won a U.S. Senate majority after flipping Democratic seats in West Virginia and Ohio. Neither party appeared to have an edge in the fight for control of the House of Representatives where Republicans currently hold a narrow majority.

Trump went into Election Day with a 50-50 chance of reclaiming the White House, a remarkable turnaround from Jan. 6, 2021, when many pundits pronounced his political career to be over. That day, a mob of his supporters stormed Congress in a violent attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Trump picked up more support from Hispanics, traditionally Democratic voters, and among lower-income households that have keenly felt the sting of price rises since the last presidential election in 2020, according to exit polls from Edison.

Trump won 45% of Hispanic voters nationwide, trailing Harris with 53% but up 13 percentage points from 2020.

About 31% of voters said the economy was their top issue, and they voted for Trump by a 79%-to-20% margin, according to exit polls. Some 45% of voters across the country said their family's financial situation was worse off today than four years ago, and they favored Trump 80% to 17%.

Global investors were increasingly pricing in a Trump win late on Tuesday. U.S. stock futures and the dollar pushed higher, while Treasury yields climbed and bitcoin rose - all flagged by analysts and investors as trades that favor a Trump victory.

Republicans won a U.S. Senate majority after flipping Democratic seats in West Virginia and Ohio. Neither party appeared to have an edge in the fight for control of the House of Representatives where Republicans currently hold a narrow majority.

At Howard University, where a large watch party was being held for Harris, supporters were leaving in droves, anticipating that the vice president would not address the crowd on Tuesday night.

Cedric Richmond, a co-chair of the Harris campaign, briefly addressed the crowd, and said Harris would not speak. "We still have votes to count," he said. "We still have states that haven't been called yet."

Supporters of Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump react as they watch early election results at a 2024 U.S. Presidential Election Night Watch Party, in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S., November 6, 2024Reuters

Trump went into Election Day with a 50-50 chance of reclaiming the White House, a remarkable turnaround from Jan. 6, 2021, when many pundits pronounced his political career to be over. That day, a mob of his supporters stormed Congress in a violent attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Trump picked up much more support in the polls from Hispanics, traditionally Democratic voters, and among lower-income households that have keenly felt the sting of price rises since the last presidential election in 2020.

Trump won 45% of Hispanic voters nationwide, trailing Harris with 53% but up 13 percentage points from 2020, according to the provisional exit polls.

Currency and bond markets appeared to bet on Trump returning to power.

US independent turnout tops Democrats

Self-identified independents accounted for a larger share of voters than Democrats and were tied with Republicans, Edison Research showed.

It was the first time since Edison began exit polling in 2004 that independents' share of the vote has exceeded one of the two major U.S. political parties.

The independent share stood at 34% in the latest update of Edison's exit poll, compared with 34% for Republicans and 32% for Democrats.

Muslim votes

South Asian and Arab Muslim voters are also expected to have some impact in this presidential election, particularly in the state of Michigan.

South Asian voters of Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Nepali, and Sri Lankan descent, bring a range of perspectives shaped by their cultural values and immigrant experiences. Many South Asian voters are prioritizing issues like immigration reform, healthcare access, and economic stability, which have a direct impact on their families and communities.

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For these voters issues such as civil rights, foreign policy in the Middle East, and religious freedoms are also top priorities.

How long till we know who won?

While billions of people are anxiously awaiting the results of the U.S. presidential election, a tight race between the two candidates could lead to extended delays before we know who will be the next occupant of the White House.

Delays in announcing official results often arise from close contests in key swing states, such as Arizona, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin. These states are frequently decisive in determining the outcome of the election.

Another contributing factor to potential delays is the processing of absentee ballots, particularly in swing states. These ballots can take several days to count, with four key swing states—Arizona, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin—employing absentee voting procedures that may prolong the process.

Trump says will concede 'if election is fair'

US Republican presidential contender Donald Trump said he would be prepared to concede defeat after Tuesday's vote "if it's a fair election", while again raising concerns about the use of electronic voting machines.

"If I lose an election, if it's a fair election, I would be the first one to acknowledge it... So far I think it's been fair," Trump, repeating a caveat that he has used many times on the campaign trail, told reporters after voting in Florida.

Wearing a red "Make America Great Again" cap, he reiterated his previous criticism of electronic voting machines, suggesting they were less secure than paper ballots and would delay the outcome being known.

Donald Trump flexes his muscles during a campaign rally at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, November 4, 2024.Reuters

"They spend all this money on machines... If they would use paper ballots, voter ID, proof of citizenship, and one-day voting, it would all be over by 10 o'clock in the evening. It's crazy," he told reporters in West Palm Beach.

He added: "Do you know that paper is more sophisticated now than computers? If it's watermarked paper you cannot... It's unbelievable what happens with it. There's nothing you can do to cheat."

Asked about fears of unrest after the election and whether he would call on supporters to avoid violence, he criticized the question.

"I don't have to tell them that, that there'll be no violence. Of course there'll be no violence. My supporters are not violent people," Trump said.

Race to 270

The presidential race between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris barreled towards an uncertain finish on Tuesday as millions of Americans went to the polls to choose between two starkly different visions for the nation's future.

A race whipsawed by unprecedented events - two assassination attempts against Trump, President Joe Biden's surprise withdrawal and Harris' rapid rise - remained too close to call, even after billions of dollars in spending and months of frenetic campaigning.

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The first ballots cast on election day mirrored the nationwide divide. Overnight, the six registered voters in the tiny hamlet of Dixville Notch, New Hampshire, split their votes between Harris and Trump in voting just past midnight.

Elsewhere on the East Coast, polls began opening at 7 a.m. (1200 GMT) in more than two dozen states.

Trump's campaign has suggested he may declare victory on election night even while millions of ballots have yet to be counted, just as he did four years ago. The former president has repeatedly said any defeat could only stem from widespread fraud, echoing his false claims from 2020. The winner may not be known for days if the margins in key states are as slim as expected.

No matter who wins the White House, history will be made.

Infographic shows working of the electoral college in the US.Nukta/AFP

Harris, 60, the first female vice president, would become the first woman, Black woman and South Asian American to win the presidency.

Trump, 78, the only president to be impeached twice and the first former president to be criminally convicted, would also become the first president to win non-consecutive terms in more than a century.

Opinion polls in the campaign's final days have shown the candidates running neck and neck in each of the seven states likely to determine the winner.

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Control of both chambers of Congress is also up for grabs. Republicans have an easier path in the U.S. Senate, where Democrats are defending several seats in Republican-leaning states, while the House of Representatives looks like a toss-up.

Seven battleground states

With Americans in 50 states voting to elect the 47th president, seven key “swing states” could tip the scales. Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, with a total of 93 electoral votes, hold outsized influence in deciding whether the next president is a Democrat or Republican.

These swing states have shifted allegiances over recent elections. In 2012, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan supported Democratic President Barack Obama, turned to Republican Donald Trump in 2016, then swung back to the Democrats with President Joe Biden in 2020. This track record makes their role in the upcoming election more crucial than ever.

Infographic shows electoral college votes for swing states in the 2024 US presidential election.Nukta

In recent months, Trump visited these seven states over 90 times, while Harris visited more than 80 times. In contrast, Harris made only one stop in Democratic-leaning California, and Trump skipped Texas, a Republican stronghold.

Election unrest and security precautions

Concerns about potential political violence have prompted officials to take a variety of measures to bolster security during and after Election Day.

Many of the most visible moves can be seen in the battleground states that will decide the presidential election, states like Nevada where protests by Trump supporters broke out after the 2020 election.

This year, a security fence rings the scene of some of those protests - the Las Vegas tabulation center.

A defense official said on Monday that Alabama, Arizona, Delaware, Iowa, Illinois, North Carolina, New Mexico, Oregon, Wisconsin, and Washington state have current National Guard missions while Washington DC, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia have troops on standby.

In Arizona, a similar metal fence has been erected at Maricopa County vote tabulation center in downtown Phoenix, a flashpoint in 2020 for rigged election conspiracy theories and threats against election officials.

County Sheriff Russ Skinner said his department will be on "high alert" for threats and violence and he has instructed staff to be available for duty.

"We will have a lot of resources out there, a lot of staff, a lot of equipment," he added, noting deputies will use drones to monitor activity around polling places and snipers and other reinforcements will be on standby for deployment if violence appears likely.

He said "polarization" becomes more intense in the days after the election so law enforcement will remain on heightened alert and "there will be zero tolerance on anything related to criminal activity".

Concerned about the potential for protests or even violence, several Arizona schools and churches that served as voting centers in the past will not serve as polling stations this year, a local election official told Reuters.

With input from Reuters and AFP.