US Election highlights
- Republican candidate and former US president Donald Trump has been elected as the 47th president of the United States.
- Trump’s decisive victory over Democratic candidate Kamala Harris came as he won key battleground states including Wisconsin, Georgia, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.
- The Republican Party also took majority control of the US Senate, while the House of Representatives remains up for grabs, though Republicans are leading.
- Democratic candidate Kamala Harris concedes in speech in Washington, DC.
- For a full breakdown of results visit our US Election site.
Key reads
- Kamala Harris’s campaign promised much but is now doomed to infamy
- Cliff Taylor: A Trump win is bad news for the Irish economy. The question is how bad?
- Daniel Geary: Next Trump presidency won’t be as bad as the first one – it will be worse
- Podcast: Why Trump won, with Fintan O’Toole, Jennifer Bray and Steven Carroll
That’s the end of our live coverage for this evening. We’ll be back in the morning for more news, analysis and on-the-ground reporting following the seismic US election.
Former US president Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle – two of Kamala Harris’s highest-profile surrogates in the US election campaign – congratulated Donald Trump and his vice-presidential nominee, JD Vance, in a statement posted on social media.
“This is obviously not the outcome we had hoped for, given our profound disagreements with the Republican ticket on a whole host of issues,” the former US first couple said.
“But living in a democracy is about recognizing that our point of view won’t always win out, and being willing to accept the peaceful transfer of power.”
The Obamas pointed to the disaffection felt by Americans in the wake of Covid-19 and the price hikes that stemmed from the pandemic, noting the feeling that “a lot of folks have that, no matter how hard they work, treading water is the best they can do”.
“These conditions have created headwinds for democratic incumbents around the world and last night showed that America is not immune,” the couple said.
They said that in a country as “big and diverse” as the US, people “won’t always see eye-to-eye on everything”.
“But progress requires us to extend good faith and grace – even to people with whom we deeply disagree.”
And with those words, we are signing off on our live story on a historic day in US politics. Goodnight to all and thanks for following our reporting throughout the day and night.
Mr Sanders laid bare the reasons why the party had failed its base. Some 60 per cent of US workers live from paycheck to paycheck. It’s the only country without statutory paid family or medical leave. It has the most expensive healthcare in the world and yet healthcare is not a human right.
“Will the big-money interests and well-paid consultants who control the Democratic Party learn any lessons from this disastrous campaign?” he asked.
Veteran independent senator Bernie Sanders has long been a thorn in the side of the Democratic establishment.
He did not hold back in his analysis, accusing the party of abandoning the working classes.
“It should come as no great surprise that a Democratic Party which has abandoned working class people would find that the working class has abandoned them. While the Democratic leadership defends the status quo, the American people are angry and want change.”
Kamala Harris directly addressed young people who were upset she did not win.
“Do not despair,” she said. “This is not a time to throw up our hands, this is a time to roll up our sleeves.” She said this was the time “to organise, to mobilise and to stay engaged for the sake of freedom and justice, and the future that we all know that we can build together. It’s going to be okay. The fight for our country is always worth it.” Ms Harris added that “sometimes the fight takes a while - that doesn’t mean we won’t win”.
“Don’t give up,” she told the audience. “You have power.”
She urged people to fight for themselves and for each other.
Ms Harris concluded that there is a law of history through every society and across the ages that only when it is dark enough can you see the stars.
“Some believe we are entering a dark time. I hope it is not the case,” she said.
“We need to fill the skies with the light of optimism, truth and service.”
Kamala Harris began her speech by urging her supporters to accept the result.
She added that they should ensure a peaceful transition.
In a clear reference to president-elect Donald Trump, she said Americans owed their allegiance to the constitution and not to any individual.
She told young people that they shouldn’t be too despondent and that they should always stand up for what they believed in.
“For everyone, this not a time for despair.”
Defeated Democratic candidate Kamala Harris is about to give her concession speech.
She is on her way from the Naval Observatory, the vice-presidential residence, to Howard University in Washington. The former speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi is there.
Howard University was supposed to be where the victory party was going to take place, but it will feel more like a funeral.
Joe Biden has called Donald Trump to congratulate him on his election victory and invite him to the White House. The president “expressed his commitment to ensuring a smooth transition and emphasised the importance of working to bring the country together”, the White House said, adding that the date of the president-elect’s visit will be announced later. Mr Biden also called Kamala Harris, and “congratulated the vice-president on her historic campaign”.
Meanwhile, special counsel Jack Smith is evaluating how to wind down the two federal cases against Donald Trump before he takes office in light of US justice department protocol that says sitting presidents cannot be prosecuted, a source has said.
Mr Smith charged Mr Trump last year with plotting to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and illegally hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
But Mr Trump’s election defeat of Kamala Harris means the justice department believes he can no longer face prosecution in accordance with decades-old department legal opinions meant to shield presidents from criminal charges while in office.
By moving to end the cases before the inauguration in January, Mr Smith and the justice department would avert a potential showdown with Mr Trump. - Guardian and AP
What impact will the election of Trump have on the Irish general election which has just been called?
Our political editor Pat Leahy writes: “The election of Donald Trump may also fuel a fear of change, or a sort of flight to safety, among voters suddenly worried about the future of the Irish economy, more exposed to upheavals in US economic and trade policy than any of its EU counterparts.”
Read Pat’s full analysis article here.
Democratic congressman Brendan Boyle is one of the most prominent Irish-American politicians in the United States. His father is from Co Donegal and he is a regular visitor to Ireland. Boyle was re-elected comfortably in the 2nd congressional district for Pennsylvania.
Trump won the state comfortably despite the received wisdom that it was on a knife edge.
Boyle was blunt in his assessment of what went wrong for the Democrats. His party lost white working-class voters 10 years ago. Now that has spread to black and Latino voters too, he told CNN.
“Unless we Democrats address that issue, we will not be able to win as many elections as we want to.”
He was still optimistic that the Democrats will hold the House of Representatives.
Donald Trump won Hispanic men by 10 per cent this year. In 2020 he lost them by 23 per cent.
Trump won 20 per cent of the black vote. He won 13 per cent in 2020 and 8 per cent in 2016. In the swing state of Wisconsin, 92 per cent of the black population voted for Joe Biden; this time around only 77 per cent voted for Harris.
This has corresponded with a decrease in the number of self-declared black Democrats from 77 per cent in 2020 to 66 per cent now. The shift in sentiment among black voters away from the Democrats to the Republicans happened despite Harris being a black woman and the support of Barack and Michelle Obama, who campaigned relentlessly in swing states.
Trump got celebrity endorsements from prominent black Americans including Kanye West, 50 Cent and Lil Wayne.
Commenting on the outcome of the US presidential election, ActionAid Ireland CEO Karol Balfe said today:
“As the climate crisis escalates, communities on the front lines will feel that the outcome of the US election is likely to affect their own lives and safety, too.
“It is the fundamental injustice of climate change that while the US is most responsible for the pollution warming the planet, countries of the Global South are facing the most devastating impacts.
“Having a climate denier in the White House will raise massive new barriers against the international cooperation on climate action needed to secure a liveable planet for all.
“The hatred and extremism espoused by Mr Trump and his cronies will crystallize the need for a vision for our world based on equity, justice and care. The movements for climate, racial, economic, and gender justice within the US and around the world are committed to redoubling their efforts towards that vision.”
Had Kamala Harris been elected, she would have been, not only the first female president, but also the first Gen X president.
Gen Xers are those born between 1965 and 1980. Instead, this generation voted for Trump by margin of 53 per cent to 45 per cent.
Those between 45 and 64 (which roughly correspondents with the Gen X demographic) were the only age group in the US to vote for Trump, but it was enough.
Kamala Harris has called Donald Trump to congratulate him on winning the 2024 presidential election, an aide to the campaign confirmed. The call formally ends the bitter contest between the vice-president and the former president. The aide said Ms Harris emphasised the importance of a peaceful transfer of power and being a president for all Americans. Ms Harris is expected to deliver her concession speech at Howard later - Guardian
There is “shock and disbelief” within the Harris camp about how the election has turned out, according to CNN White House correspondent Priscilla Alvarez.
They honestly believed that independent voters would vote for Harris.
Harris is expected to urge her supporters to accept the result and move on.
This is the take from Aditya Chakrabortty, a Guardian columnist, on the mistakes made by the Democrats in this election.
“Faced with the flames, what would be a left-populist response? It wouldn’t be to resort to pedantry, to correct angry voters by showing them the aggregate figures – but that’s what many Democrat supporters did. Nor would it be to roll back all the benefits extended over the pandemic: the improved child tax credit, Medicaid and unemployment insurance. But that’s what Joe Biden did, even as he shovelled billions into infrastructure. The electoral result was that working- and middle-class voters peeled away from the Democrats. Kamala Harris won the most affluent voters, while Trump took those earning between $50,000 (£39,000) and $100,000 (£77,000). The two tied for those on $50,000 and below. So much for Harris being part of the most pro-worker government since the 1960s.
“Just as the electorate professed fury with the entire political and economic system, she and the Democrats made themselves the system’s defenders. They weren’t change but more of the same. They worried about the future of ‘democracy’; they warned about disrupting free trade. Harris’s slogan of ‘we’re not going back’ said it all: a campaign defined by being anti-Trump rather than for anything. A strategy intended to woo ‘moderates’ left nearly everyone cold.”
This take on the election from the Fox News political analyst Scott Jennings is getting a lot of attention.
Harris’s defeat is a defeat for the “political information complex”, which had got it wrong time after time, he opined.
He criticised Republican voters who didn’t endorse Trump including the Lincoln Project, Liz Cheney and Nikki Haley.
The fundamental issue of the election was inflation and the fact that many working class people who voted for Trump were barely able to make ends meet.
“We have to listen to and talk to the half of the country that rose up and said, ‘we have had enough,’” he told CNN.
There are 3,224 counties in the United States.
In how many of those counties did Kamala Harris outperform Joe Biden?
The answer, according to CNN’s analyst John King, is none, not a single one.
“Literally not one county,” said King.
Though Kamala Harris was soundly defeated by Donald Trump, she could still have got very close if a small number of votes in swing states went the other way.
A 1.2 per cent swing in Pennsylvania of 78,000 votes, a 0.7 per cent swing in Michigan of 38,000 votes and a 0.5 per cent swing in Wisconsin of 18,000 votes would have delivered her those three states. It would have given her 268 electoral votes.
Had results gone her way in other swing states, she could have won the election but lost the popular vote as Trump did in 2016.
Kamala Harris is expected to concede in afternoon speech at 4pm EST (9pm GMT) today, the White House has confirmed. The vice-president is likely to concede the presidential election to Donald Trump, who the Associated Press declared the winner early this morning.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump has won the state of Michigan, reclaiming the battleground state and its 15 electoral votes for the Republican Party after Joe Biden flipped it in 2020. The Associated Press declared Trump the winner at 12.54pm EST. - Guardian
Here’s from the New York Times Peter Barker who wrote a book about Donald Trump.
In her closing rally on the Ellipse last week, Kamala Harris scorned Donald J. Trump as an outlier who did not represent America. “That is not who we are,” she declared.
In fact, it turns out, that may be exactly who we are. At least most of us.
The assumption that Mr. Trump represented an anomaly who would at last be consigned to the ash heap of history was washed away on Tuesday night by a red current that swept through battleground states — and swept away the understanding of America long nurtured by its ruling elite of both parties.
No longer can the political establishment write off Mr. Trump as a temporary break from the long march of progress, a fluke who somehow sneaked into the White House in a quirky, one-off Electoral College win eight years ago. With his comeback victory to reclaim the presidency, Mr. Trump has now established himself as a transformational force reshaping the United States in his own image.
Populist disenchantment with the nation’s direction and resentment against elites proved to be deeper and more profound than many in both parties had recognized. Mr. Trump’s testosterone-driven campaign capitalized on resistance to electing the first woman president.
And while tens of millions of voters still cast ballots against Mr. Trump, he once again tapped into a sense among many others that the country they knew was slipping away, under siege economically, culturally and demographically.
To counter that, those voters ratified the return of a brash 78-year-old champion willing to upend convention and take radical action even if it offends sensibilities or violates old standards. Any misgivings about their chosen leader were shoved to the side.
As a result, for the first time in history, Americans have elected a convicted criminal as president. They handed power back to a leader who tried to overturn a previous election, called for the “termination” of the Constitution to reclaim his office, aspired to be a dictator on Day 1 and vowed to exact “retribution” against his adversaries.
“This election was a CAT scan on the American people, and as difficult as it is to say, as hard as it is to name, what it revealed, at least in part, is a frightening affinity for a man of borderless corruption,” said Peter H. Wehner, a former strategic adviser to President George W. Bush and vocal critic of Mr. Trump. “Donald Trump is no longer an aberration; he is normative.”
Sarah McBride has made history as the first transgender person to be elected to the US Congress.
McBride, a Democratic state senator from Delaware, won the state’s only seat in the House of Representatives.
“Thank you, Delaware! Because of your votes and your values, I am proud to be your next member of Congress,” she wrote on X.
“I think that folks know that I am personally invested in equality as an LGBTQ person, but my priorities are going to be affordable child care, paid family and medical leave, housing, health care, reproductive freedom.”
McBride was the first transgender person to intern at the White House, the first to speak at a national party convention and - in 2020 - the first elected to a state senate.
Previously she has also worked as the press secretary of the Human Rights Campaign, the largest LGBTQ advocacy group in the US.
Kamala Harris’s hopes that women would help to elect the first female president of the United States were confounded by the reality, as Hillary Clinton found too in 2016.
White women voted 52 per cent to 47 per cent in favour of Donald Trump.
While a majority of women in all age groups voted for Harris, not enough of them voted to cancel out Trump’s advantage with men.
Remember how Latinos were supposed to break for Kamala Harris after the Madison Square Garden rally at which Puerto Rico was called a garbage dump in the middle of the ocean?
It turns out that the Latino vote for Democrats collapsed in this election. Biden had a 33 per cent lead with Latino voters in 2020 which was reduced to 8 per cent for Harris.
Trump actually won a majority of Latino men (54 per cent to 44 per cent) though Harris won Latino women with 61 per cent of the vote compared to 37 per cent for Trump.
It appears that Trump’s message of deporting illegal immigrants who enter the United States across the Mexico border actually resonated with a lot of Latino voters.
JD Vance thanks Trump
JD Vance, the next US vice-president, has thanked his wife Usha Vance, Donald Trump and voters following the Republicans’ victory.
Briefly speaking to supporters at Palm Beach in Florida late on Tuesday night, Vance, standing alongside Trump, described the former US president’s victory as “the greatest political comeback in the history of the United States of America”.
Vance then promised the greatest economic comeback in history under Trump’s leadership.
Wall Street hits record high following Trump’s victory
The US stock market has opened at a new all-time high, as investors react to Donald Trump’s electoral win.
Investors are investing in riskier assets, following the Republicans’ win in the race for the White House, and their taking control of the Senate too.
Bloomberg is calling it a “face-ripping rally”. The S&P 500, the broad index of US stocks, has jumped by 1.9 per cent to a new intraday high.
The Dow Jones industrial average of 30 large US companies increased 3 per cent to 43,508 points, also a record high, while the tech-focused Nasdaq is slightly lagging behind in the face-ripping stakes, up 1.8 per cent.
Investors are betting that Trump’s economic policies will stimulate growth, and also inflation (as new tariffs, tax cuts and immigration curbs are all potentially inflationary). – The Guardian
In pictures: US election night
See the US election night in pictures here.
Europe set for ‘bumpy road’, says former trade commissioner
The European Union is set to face a “bumpy road” over the next four years with Donald Trump returning to the White House, a former EU trade commissioner tells Jack Power.
US president-elect Trump has promised to impose tariffs of up 10-20 per cent on all goods coming into the US from Europe and elsewhere, as well as indicating he would end the Ukraine war, possibly by threatening to withdraw military and financial support for Kyiv.
Cecilia Malmstrom, who served as European commissioner for trade from 2014 to 2019, said she felt Trump would certainly move ahead with threatened tariffs. Small open economies, such as Ireland, would be hit harder as big exporters to the US, she said.
Malmstrom was EU trade commissioner during Trump’s first term, when he introduced tariffs on steel and aluminium imports from the EU, which drew retaliatory measures from Brussels.
The former Swedish politician said the EU was in for a “Trumpian few years” given that the Republicans were set to control the Senate and possibly the House of Representatives as well.
“He is very angry with Europe … He is also surrounded by a new kind of Maga supporter, the adults in the room seem to be gone,” she said.
The commission, the executive arm of the EU responsible for trade, needed to signal it was ready to “strike back” quickly if Trump levelled tariffs on imports, she said.
However, the greater fear was what would happen if the US withdrew support for Ukraine in its war with Russia, which Malmstrom said would create an “existential threat to Europe”.
One commission source said EU officials had “prepared a reaction plan for all eventualities and we’ll deploy it as necessary, starting with efforts to find common ground with the second Trump administration, where possible”.
The US embassy in London, meanwhile, has been targeted by Just Stop Oil activists, following Trump’s win.
The losing Democratic nominee Kamala Harris has yet to make a public comment since her defeat at the hands of Donald Trump in Tuesday’s election. Current US president Joe Biden or former president Barack Obama has also yet to make a public comment.
Speaking at Howard University on Tuesday night, her campaign co-chair Cedric Richmond told gathered supporters that Harris would not be making a speech last night.
Richmond told those present at the Harris election watch event that the US vice president would speak publicly on Wednesday. She is expected to address supporters early in the afternoon, US time.
Former Republican congresswoman and Trump critic Liz Cheney, has said citizens, the courts, the press and those serving in federal, state and local governments must now be the “guardrails of democracy”.
Cheney, the daughter of former Republican vice-president Dick Cheney, endorsed Kamala Harris in September due to “danger that Donald Trump poses”.
Voters undo abortion bans in some states, while restrictions remain elsehwere
Voters in Missouri have cleared the way to undo one of the most restrictive abortion bans in the US in one of seven victories for abortion rights advocates, while Florida, Nebraska and South Dakota defeated similar constitutional amendments, leaving bans in place.
Abortion rights amendments also passed in Arizona, Colorado, Maryland and Montana.
Nevada voters approved an amendment but they will need to pass it again it 2026 for it to take effect. Another amendment that bans discrimination on the basis of “pregnancy outcomes” passed in New York.
A measure that allows more abortion restrictions and enshrines the state’s current 12-week ban was adopted in Nebraska and a competing one to ensure abortion rights failed. Results were still pending in Montana.
The Missouri and Florida results represent firsts in the abortion landscape, which underwent a seismic shift in 2022 when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade, a ruling that ended a nationwide right to abortion and cleared the way for bans to take effect in most Republican-controlled states. - Associated Press
Nationalist politicians in Northern Ireland have raised concerns about the impact of Donald Trump’s election victory on the US while unionist leaders have welcomed the “decisive” result, Seanín Graham reports.
SDLP leader Claire Hanna said it was “disheartening” that Trump’s “divisive brand of politics has been so widely endorsed”.
“Donald Trump has repeatedly shown himself as someone with little respect for most people or the high office that he once again holds,” she said.
But DUP leader Gavin Robinson congratulated the 47th American president on “achieving what has rightly been described as the greatest political comeback of all time”.
“Elections can be divisive, as this election has been, but the conclusion has been decisive,” he said.
Mr Robinson expressed hope that the “ties between the US and Northern Ireland remain strong”.
“In President Trump’s last term, the door of the White House was open and indeed many regarded his presidency as one of balance and fairness regarding our own local political divisions. I trust he adopts the same approach to the 47th presidency as he did the 45th.”
Sinn Féin Stormont economy minster Conor Murphy warned that a hike in tariffs on all imports to the US – one of Trump’s campaign proposals – could adversely affect the North’s economy.
“Anything which hinders our ability to trade with a very significant trading partner is not good news, he said.
“Businesses like certainty and if the Trump presidency brings uncertainty that isn’t good news for our companies who do business in the US.”
Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau has joined in congratulating Trump on his victory.
While president in 2018, Trump labelled his Canadian counterpart as “dishonest” and “weak” following G7 meetings.
‘Sad and sobering morning for all progressives’
Europe must strengthen climate action and democracy “to counter far-right autocrats”, the European Green Party has said following Trump’s victory.
The party said Europe must become a beacon of hope and democracy, in response to the US election result, “which poses a profound challenge to global political stability, particularly in Ukraine and the Middle East”.
“This is a sad and sobering morning for all progressives and democrats worldwide, including in Europe.
“With autocrats like Putin in Russia and Trump in the US in power, the European Union will have to stand on its own two feet in terms of support for Ukraine, climate action and the fight for democracy,” the party said in a statement.
European leaders have congratulated Donald Trump on his election to the White House, as EU officials and diplomats privately brace for what will likely be a combative four years, writes Europe Correspondent Jack Power.
In a statement French president Emmanuel Macron told Mr Trump he was “ready to work together as we did for four years. With your convictions and mine. With respect and ambition. For more peace and prosperity”.
German chancellor Olaf Scholz also congratulated Mr Trump on his victory.
“For a long time, Germany and the US have been working together successfully promoting prosperity and freedom on both sides of the Atlantic. We will continue to do so for the wellbeing of our citizens,” he said.
Mr Macron and Mr Scholz also spoke on the phone on Wednesday morning, where the French president said they discussed the need to work towards “a more united, stronger, more sovereign Europe in this new context”.
Giorgia Meloni, the populist right-wing Italian prime minister, offered her “most sincere congratulations” to Mr Trump, while far-right Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban described his election as a “much needed victory for the world”.
Officials in the European Commission have for months now been preparing for how to approach a second Trump term, given he has promised to introduce across-the-board tariffs on imports from abroad, setting the stage for a possible EU-US trade war.
Read Jack’s report on the EU’s plans and preparations for a second Trump term here.
Will Elon Musk join Donald Trump’s new administration?
Elon Musk’s transformation of X, formerly Twitter, into a political machine supporting Donald Trump could see the billionaire rewarded with a place in the president-elect’s new administration.
The SpaceX boss has become Trump’s most vocal fan and one of his biggest financial backers during the US election, which has seen X become an unofficial Republican Party campaign tool.
Musk’s influence has been so stark that, in his speech to supporters on election night in the US after he declared victory, Trump paid a lengthy tribute to Musk, calling him a “star” of the Republican Party and a “wonderful” guy.
Musk has posted relentlessly about his support for Trump to his hundreds of millions of followers in the run-up to the election, claiming the future of civilisation was at stake at the polls.
The Tesla and SpaceX boss has appeared at several Trump rallies, as well as pumping millions of dollars into campaign groups supporting the Republican nominee, and funding controversial sweepstakes in swing states that required people to register to vote and sign a pro-Trump petition in order to be eligible.
Alongside thousands of pro-Trump messages, Musk’s X account, and those of many of his most ardent fans, have also promoted conspiracy theories and misinformation around the key election issues, as well as the Democratic Party and its candidates, often receiving millions of views.
Such has been the swell and relentlessness of the support from Musk that Trump has suggested the tech boss could be given a role in his new cabinet around cost-cutting or government efficiency – a role Musk had previously called to be created to help reduce government spending. – PA
Republicans have taken control of the US Senate and are fighting to keep their majority in the House of Representatives, which would produce a full sweep of power in Congress alongside Donald Trump in the White House.
A unified Republican grip on Washington would set the course for Mr Trump’s agenda or if Democrats wrest control of the House, it would provide an almost certain backstop, with veto power over the White House.
Speaking early on Wednesday at his election night party in Florida, Mr Trump said the results delivered an “unprecedented and powerful mandate” for Republicans.
He called the Senate victory “incredible”.
Vote counting in some races could go on for days, and control of the House is too early to call. – Associated Press
Democrats have now filled 180 seats, while Republicans are at 198. Some 218 seats are needed for control of the House, with 57 yet to be called.
While some have congratulated Trump, Labour leader Ivana Bacik has described his “devastating” victory as a “disaster”.
“A Trump win spells disaster on so many fronts. For Ukraine, for Gaza, for climate. For women’s rights, for migrant rights and for Europe. The US has made a choice – now the impact will be felt worldwide.”
Read Cormac McQuinn’s report here.
Mixed reaction in Northern Ireland following Trump’s win
There has been a mixed reaction to the election of Donald Trump as US president by political leaders in Northern Ireland.
SDLP leader Claire Hanna said there is “serious concern” about what Mr Trump’s election will mean for the US.
“My thoughts today are largely with people in the United States who are fearful about what this might mean for their future,” she said.
“Donald Trump has repeatedly shown himself as someone with little respect for most people or the high office that he once again holds.
“It’s very disheartening that his divisive brand of politics has been so widely endorsed, but we acknowledge the clarity of the election outcome.
“There is serious concern about what this means for the United States, Gaza, Ukraine and indeed the world. In each, the most vulnerable will likely bear the brunt of the decisions the Trump administration will take.”
TUV leader Jim Allister said, however, that he believes Mr Trump had been the better candidate.
“It’s for the American people to make their choice and I do envy the fact that they are entitled to elect those who make their laws, unlike us in 300 areas where laws are made in a foreign parliament,” he said.
“Donald Trump was better than the alternative of Harris.
“On the issues which impact Northern Ireland, I trust that the historic premise of the United States – no taxation without representation – is something which could give him something to think about when it comes to us.
“As a man who respects borders, when he comes to deal with the United Kingdom I suspect he may be surprised we have a partitioning border down the middle of the UK and that may dissipate the inclination to do trade deals.” – PA
French president Emmanuel Macron has proposed a co-ordinated strategy among EU member states following Trump’s victory.
Reuters is reporting that Macron believes the 27 member states should co-ordinate their strategy over how to strengthen Europe after Donald Trump won the US presidential election, citing a French government spokesperson.
Trump declared winner
Donald Trump has been declared the 47th president of the United States by the Associated Press and several US networks.
Trump won the key state of Wisconsin, defeating vice-president Kamala Harris in a critical battleground. The win delivers 10 electoral college votes to Trump.
The Associated Press declared Trump the winner at 5.34am US eastern standard time.
The 78-year-old is the oldest person in US history to be elected president, and will be just the second to run two non-consecutive terms.
Leaders across the world, including Taoiseach Simon Harris, had been congratulating Trump since early Wednesday as the results became clear.
With 87 per cent of the estimated vote tallied, Trump has 51 per cent of the popular vote, with Harris at 47.4 per cent, according to Edison Research.
‘Progress is not inevitable’
Many Londoners will be anxious about the outcome of the election, Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, has said, as Trump nears the finish line.
“Many will be fearful about what it will mean for democracy and for women’s rights, or how the result impacts the situation in the Middle East or the fate of Ukraine. Others will be worried about the future of Nato or tackling the climate crisis,” he said.
“London is – and will always be – for everyone. We will always be pro-women, pro-diversity, pro-climate and pro-human rights.
“The lesson of today is that progress is not inevitable. But asserting our progressive values is more important than ever – recommitting to building a world where racism and hatred is rejected, the fundamental rights of women and girls are upheld and where we continue to tackle the crisis of climate change head on.”
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy, meanwhile, congratulated Trump on his “impressive” victory.
Zelenskiy said he looks forward to an era of a “strong United States of America under President Trump’s decisive leadership”.
“I appreciate President Trump’s commitment to the “peace through strength” approach in global affairs. This is exactly the principle that can practically bring just peace in Ukraine closer. I am hopeful that we will put it into action together,” he said.
Tánaiste Micheál Martin has congratulated Trump, saying he looks forward to working with him in a constructive manner, “as we did during his previous administration”.
“The high level of political bipartisan interest in Irish issues among US politicians and officials is, and will continue to be, invaluable.
“Regular, high level, political engagement, both with the new US administration and on both sides of the aisle on Capitol Hill, will be a high priority for the Government,” he said.
‘God spared my life for a reason’
“Many people have told me that God spared my life for a reason,” Trump told supporters during his address at Palm Beach in Florida.
“And that reason was to save our country and restore America to greatness and now we are going to fulfil that mission together,” he said.
As Pennsylvania brought him just three votes away from the winning line, Trump said the task before him will not be easy.
“But I will bring every ounce of energy, spirit and fight that I have in my soul to the job that you’ve entrusted to me,” he said.
Donald Trump is heading for the White House again and there are some big risks ahead for the Irish economy, Cliff Taylor writes.
Read his analysis here.
Taoiseach congratulates Trump
Taoiseach Simon Harris has congratulated Trump.
French president Emmanuel Macron has joined in congratulating Trump.
“Ready to work together as we did for four years. With your convictions and mine. With respect and ambition. For more peace and prosperity,” he said in a post on X.
Britain’s prime minister, Keir Starmer, has congratulated Donald Trump on his “historic election victory”, Mark Paul reports.
Starmer added that he looks forward to working with him.
“As the closest of allies, we stand shoulder to shoulder in defence of our shared values of freedom, democracy and enterprise,” said Starmer.
“From growth and security to innovation and tech, I know that the UK-US special relationship will continue to prosper on both sides of the Atlantic for years to come.”
What would a Trump victory mean for Ireland?
Ireland, along with its EU partners and the rest of the globe, wakes up to a changed world this morning as the stunning victory of Donald Trump in the 2024 US presidential election takes shape.
Read Pat Leahy’s full analysis here.
AP has called Minnesota for Kamala Harris, bringing her to 224 electoral votes.
Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu has said Trump’s “historic return to the White House offers a new beginning for America” and a “powerful recommitment to the great alliance between Israel and America”.
In Palm Beach on Tuesday evening, nobody was certain what was going to happen, Steven Carroll reports.
But standing behind their candidate were Blacks for Trump, Latinos for Trump, Women for Trump, Teens for Trump and even Canadians for Trump, willing that US president #45 would bridge a four-year gap and become president #47.
Read the full report here.
As Trump continues to address supporters at his campaign headquarters in West Palm Beach in Florida, AP has called Pennsylvania, a critical battleground state worth 19 electoral votes, for him.
His winning of Pennsylvania, Joe Biden’s home state, puts Trump just three electoral votes away from winning the presidency, meaning a win in Alaska would push him over the line.
According to AP, he was leading by 175,000 votes at the time the race was called. Trump cut into Harris’s margins in Philadelphia and its suburbs and expanded his share of the vote elsewhere in the state compared to his performance against Biden four years ago. Harris underperformed Biden’s 2020 performance in almost every county.
‘The golden age of America’
Thanking the crowd as they chant “USA”, Donald Trump said it was “the greatest political movement of all time”.
He promised “the golden age of America”, saying he will fight for every citizen and their families.
“There was no other path to victory,” he said, further remarking how the Republican Party has taken control of the US Senate to applause.
Claiming a “magnificent victory”, Trump thanked his “now vice-president” JD Vance.
Good morning, Jack White here taking over for the morning just as Donald Trump is about to address supporters in Palm Beach.
Donald Trump now looks to be barely a hair’s breadth away from a return to the White House.
That’s all from me for this election. Thanks to Ruaidhrí Croke for his help behind the scenes overnight. I’m passing the torch to Jack White to take you into Wednesday’s coverage. Thanks for sticking with us overnight and follow us for more updates from across the Atlantic during the day on irishtimes.com.
CNN is projecting a Donald Trump victory in the key battleground state of Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania is worth 19 electoral college votes to the Republican candidate, placing him into the final stretch of returning to the White House.
AP has called the second congressional district in Maine and one electoral vote for Trump.
From Keith Duggan in Washington: The Kamala Harris crowd in the yard of Howard University stood around.
They tried to maintain the mood of a party that never fully began, even as it began to dawn on everyone that Donald Trump is on the cusp of returning to the city, with the winter winds of January, as the 47th president of the United States.
It was around then, clocks striking 12, down at the Trump party in Mar-a-Lago, that the crowd erupted when North Carolina was called, by the liberal-leaning CNN broadcaster, for the Republicans.
Read his piece in full here.
The scenes in Florida contrast starkly with those in Washington, where Harris’s supporters have dispersed from the grounds of Howard University.
The crowd at Trump’s watch party in West Palm Beach looks to be growing with the faces of Robert F Kennedy jnr and Nigel Farage among them.
Trump himself is expected to address the crowd shortly.
AP calls New Hampshire for Harris.
CNN are now projecting that the Republican Party will take majority control of the US Senate.
AP calls Nebraska’s first congressional district in and one electoral vote for Trump.
AP has also called a Trump win in Georgia as the last polls close in Alaska bringing an end to voting in this battle for the White House.
Trump is expected to pick up the state’s three electoral college votes given that it has long been a Republican stronghold.
Both CNN and NBC have projected that Trump will win the battle for the key swing state of Georgia.
Co-chair and top adviser to Kamala Harris Cedric Richmond has addressed the vice-president’s supporters gathered at Howard University.
Richmond told supporters that Harris will not address them tonight. Live footage on Sky News showed the already dwindling crowd dispersing from the Washington university campus.
“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,” Richmond said.
The US election fight between Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump remained tight as results rolled in on Tuesday night, with a victor in the election unlikely to emerge until Wednesday or even later in the week.
Here are some takeaways as polls close across the country and votes are tabulated.
AP reports that Donald Trump is heading from his Mar-a-Lago residence to the results watch party in nearby West Palm Beach in Florida.
Trump has been hosting a private gathering at his residence earlier in the evening. The guest list includes former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, world’s richest man Elon Musk and Reform MP for Clacton Nigel Farage.
All three guests appeared in a live broadcast from Mar-a-Lago on X earlier tonight.
Republicans won a US 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.
AP has called the second congressional district in Nebraska and one electoral vote for Kamala Harris.
The race is becoming increasingly tight.
With AP’s call on Hawaii, Harris is now standing on 209 electoral college votes while Trump is currently on 230.
Trump is just 40 electoral votes away from securing his second term as US president. If he is successful, he would be the first president since Grover Cleveland in the late 19th century to serve two non-consecutive terms.
Cleveland’s first term ran from 1885 to 1889 while his second term was between 1893 and 1897.
AP calls Hawaii for Kamala Harris.
The latest from Enda O’Dowd in New York:
There’s a small but celebratory crowd of around 25 Trump supporters at Trump Towers on Manhattan’s 5th Avenue. A rotating carousel of international journalists latch on to a flag-waving member for comment but to the side is Jeffrey Smith, a gentlemen in a fitted suit who wouldn’t give his age but accepted he was in his 70s. He stressed he had all the “New York attitudes”.
Smith believes “Trump is unique, but he is returning to the patriotic movement prior to the rise of conservatism in the 1950s”.
Smith said a Trump presidency would be a protecting force for America.
The final polls in the US are set to close at 5am Irish time.
Hawaii has traditionally voted Democrat and is worth four electoral college votes white Alaska is usually a safe bet to vote Republican and is worth three electoral college votes.
AP calls Virginia for Harris.
AP calls the state of New Mexico for Kamala Harris.
Race boiling down to swing states
As was expected, Harris has picked up some electoral college votes from the west coast’s blue wall. Her camp will be hoping to pick up more in Michigan and Pennsylvania.
The race for the White House is now boiling down to the seven key swing states.
Trump has already taken one of these (North Carolina) and we’re still waiting for news out of the others – Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada.
Remember, 270 electoral college votes are needed to secure the presidency.
AP has now called Oregon for Harris.
AP has called North Carolina for Donald Trump.
North Carolina is one of the seven key swing states in this year’s election.
It’s the first of these states to have its race called.
Trump takes early lead as polls close
Donald Trump appeared to take an early lead over his presidential rival Kamala Harris as polls closed across US states.
The Republican candidate inched ahead in the early hours of the race, with predicted wins in solidly red states including Florida, Texas and Alabama outnumbering Harris’s wins in Democrat strongholds including New York and Illinois.
There have been no major surprises in the election so far, but crucial battleground states including Georgia, Pennsylvania and North Carolina are yet to be called, and could tip the balance in the contest to be the next US president.
Seven states are considered so-called swing states in this year’s election, with Nevada, Arizona, Michigan and Wisconsin also among them.
Under the US voting system, a total of 270 votes in the college are needed to win the presidency.
The election has largely unfolded smoothly across the US, despite some voters suffering delays in casting their ballots, and a spate of what the FBI described as non-credible bomb threats.
The economy – and reducing inflation – is a key issue for Americans according to exit polling, but other areas of concern for voters include immigration, protecting democracy and abortion rights.
As they take part in the presidential poll, 10 states across the US are also voting on whether to enshrine the right to abortion in law.
In Florida, efforts to amend the state’s constitution to add abortion rights failed, but New Yorkers voted in favour of a similar amendment.
Concerns about the future of American democracy have emerged largely as a result of Mr Trump’s attempts to overturn his loss in 2020, and the actions of his angry supporters in January 2021, who stormed Washington DC’s Capitol building.
Trump said on Tuesday that he had no plans to tell his supporters to refrain from violence if Ms Harris wins because they “are not violent people”.
The neck-and-neck race will have a sweeping impact on global politics. – AP
AP has called three states:
- Harris takes California and Washington
- Idaho for Trump
AP called Maine’s first congressional district and one electoral college vote for Harris.
Polls will close in California, Oregon, Washington and Idaho at 4am Irish time. All these states bar Idaho are likely to provide a boost to Harris’s electoral college votes.
AP calls both Kansas and Iowa for Trump.
As we wait for the next round of poll closures, let’s take a quick glance at which locations have been called for which candidate.
Kamala Harris
Vermont, Illinois, Colorado, Maryland, Delaware, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Jersey, District of Columbia
Donald Trump
Florida, South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming
AP has called the District of Columbia, a long-time Democratic stronghold, for Kamala Harris.
High turnout expected
Tens of millions of Americans will have already voted by the time that polls close on November 5th, but tens of millions more will cast ballots in person on election day. In 2020, more than 150 million Americans voted in the presidential race, as turnout hit its highest level since 1992.
This year, election experts expect voter turnout to be similarly robust, with Americans eager to make their voices heard in what will probably be a very close contest between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.
Voters will also have the opportunity to weigh in on thousands of other elections happening at the federal, state and local levels. – Guardian
AP calls Colorado for Kamala Harris.
From Enda O’Dowd in New York City:
There were cheers at the NYC New Liberals Election trum Party in Manhattan a bar as Illinois was called for the vice-president, but people here admit to “freaking out” as the Harris wave has not materialised and said the mood is reminiscent of “Hillary in 2016″.
Elsewhere across midtown Manhattan, there’s an indifference to the election as most people perched on high stools face the sports channels.
Another attendant at the watch party said they don’t “feel the dread of 2016, but maybe I didn’t have my hopes up as much”.
AP has called both Montana and Utah for Donald Trump. Both have continuously voted Republican for decades.
Polling is about to end in three states – Montana, Utah and the key swing state of Nevada.
AP calls the state of Missouri for Trump.
AP has called Nebraska’s third congressional district for Trump, which would secure him one of the state’s five electoral college votes.
Nebraska’s other two districts have yet to be called.
The outcome of the race remains uncertain with critical battleground states unlikely to be called for hours or even days.
The early results were as anticipated, with the contest expected to come down to seven swing states: Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin. Opinion polls showed the rivals neck and neck in all seven going into election day. – Reuters
Ohio has been called for Trump by AP.
AP calls New York for Kamala Harris.
As 15 more states close their polls, AP has projected Trump to win in North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming and Louisiana.
We’re about to see another big swathe of polls closing across the continental US at 2am Irish time:
- Arizona
- Colorado
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Louisiana
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Nebraska
- New Mexico
- New York
- North Dakota
- South Dakota
- Texas
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
AP has also called the state of Illinois for Kamala Harris.
Just as we get word from our man in Washington, AP has called both New Jersey and Delaware for Harris.
From our Washington correspondent Keith Duggan at Howard University:
There’s a celebratory mood tempered by nervousness in the main yard of Howard University, where Kamala Harris will spend the final hours of her election campaign. Those who scored passes to attend the event began to gather from late afternoon and are enjoying live performances and DJ sets on what is a beautifully mild November evening in Washington.
Harris is one of the most celebrated graduates from Howard, the historically black university in the Shaw area of the city. Right now there is a terrific gospel set taking place, a good distraction from the slow process of watching the projected state results as polls close across the country.
Guests of the campaign are saying the same thing at this early stage: they are very hopeful. And very nervous.
AP has called Arkansas for Donald Trump.
So far tonight, the states that have been called are on track with their historical voting patterns.
Harris has picked up the traditionally blue states of Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhose Island and Maryland as well as the District of Columbia. The vice-president is sitting on 35 electoral college votes just before 1.15am Irish time.
Trump meanwhile, is sitting on 95 electoral college votes, picking those up from Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, West Virginia, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Alabama, Florida and – one of the key swing states – South Carolina.
AP has called South Carolina for Trump.
Trump projected to pick up five more states, Harris projected for two and DC
Several races called as polls closed in 16 states at 1am Irish time.
Trump is projected to win Florida, Alabama, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Missouri, Edison Research says.
Harris projected to win Washington DC, Maryland and Massachusetts, according to Edison.
Florida, which has 30 electoral college votes, was formerly considered a swing state. Trump, who lives in Florida, got 51 per cent of the vote in the state in 2020, compared to 48 per cent for Joe Biden. – Reuters
Democratic nominee and sitting US vice-president Kamala Harris posted a similar message on X tonight.
Republican candidate and former US president Donald Trump urged his supporters to “stay in line” in video posted on X in the early hours of Wednesday.
“We’re doing really well,” Trump says in the video.
“If you’re in line, stay in line. Don’t let them take you off that line. Vote ... we’re gonna win it big.”
Polling day has unfolded relatively smoothly across the United States with only scattered disruptions and delays.
Leading into Tuesday, more than 82 million Americans had already cast their ballots in a largely successful early voting period with high turnout despite some hiccups and frustrations in the presidential battleground of Pennsylvania.
When the final day of voting came, the problems that cropped up were “largely expected routine and planned-for events,” said Cait Conley, senior adviser to the director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. She said the agency was not currently tracking any national, significant incidents affecting election security.
Issues affecting voters on Tuesday included typical election mishaps, from a worker forgetting a key in Arizona’s largest county to an election judge failing to show up at the polls in Pennsylvania’s Allegheny County. Some precincts around the country faced issues with voter check-in processes and e-pollbooks, causing some delays for voters trying to cast ballots. Some areas had ballot printing mistakes and were printing new ballots and extending voting hours accordingly.
Extreme weather across the middle of the country also caused flooding and some other isolated problems, including knocking out power for at least one Missouri polling place that resorted to a generator to keep voting up and running.
Still, in various states affected by rain, voters enthusiastically huddled under umbrellas as they queued up to cast their ballots.
In the western part of the key swing state of Pennsylvania, a few counties saw reports of issues with tabulator machines that scan and count paper ballots filled in by voters. A Pennsylvania state judge ordered polls to remain open for two extra hours in Cambria County, which voted 68 per cent for Trump in 2020. The county sought the extension after a software malfunction affected the ballot-scanning machines, though county officials said no one was turned away from the polls and all ballots would be counted.
In Georgia, another presidential swing state, fewer than a dozen precincts were set to stay open late because of delayed openings or evacuations due to alleged bomb threats that were found to be non-credible, according to secretary of state Brad Raffensperger. That included two precincts in Cobb County, which is northwest of Atlanta. They were staying open until 7.20pm local time because they opened late due to equipment issues. – AP
Polls have also closed in North Carolina and Ohio.
West Virginia called for Trump
The AP has called the state of West Virginia for Donald Trump.
Polls are about to close in the key swing state of Georgia and in Florida, where Steven Carroll reports from Palm Beach:
Trump supporters dressed in their Sunday best are gathering here for an event that some of TV networks have speculated Donald Trump may not attend. He is a short spin away at his Mar-a-Lago residence where there’s a party for members of the exclusive club, his friends and family and donors and supporters with the guest list understood to include Elon Musk, UFC chief Dana White and Robert F Kennedy jnr.
The Associated Press has also called that Trump will win in Indiana.
The first races have been called. Donald Trump is projected to win Kentucky, according to Edison Research. Kamala Harris is projected to win Vermont.
Vermont, which has three electoral college votes, has gone reliably for Democrats in recent presidential elections. Since electing Bill Clinton in 1992, the northeastern state has been considered a safe Democratic stronghold.
Kentucky, which has eight electoral college votes, has been reliably Republican since the 1950s. – Reuters
Hoax bomb threats linked to Russia target polling stations in key states, says FBI
Hoax bomb threats, many of which appeared to originate from Russian email domains, were directed at polling locations in four key election states, the FBI has said in a statement.
The polling locations affected were in Georgia, Michigan, Arizona and Wisconsin
“None of the threats have been determined to be credible thus far,” the FBI said in a statement, adding that election integrity was among the bureau’s highest priorities.
From our own Enda O’Dowd in New York tonight:
A wax work thrusting Trump is being driven around New York. In a city that can be difficult to grab attention, a thrusting Trump is getting quite a lot.
Trumps left hand became dislodged in transit, but remains gripped on the wax brunette ankle.
He interviewed the artist behind the piece, Alison Jackson.
The magic number
There’s one key figure to watch for tonight: 270.
That’s the number of electoral college votes a candidate needs to clinch the presidency by majority.
Swing states – namely Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Georgia, North Carolina, Arizona and Nevada – are crucial in this year’s electoral college battle.
The number of electors reflects a state’s population. All bar two states employ a winner-takes all approach to their number of electors. Maine and Nebraska send electors on a more proportional basis.
A total of 93 electoral college seats are up for grabs between the seven swing states.
See Hugh Linehan’s explainer for more details here.
Milwaukee to recount 31,000 ballots
Election officials in Milwaukee, Wisconsin said they will recount about 31,000 of 106,000 ballots because poll workers failed to properly lock doors covering controls on 13 tabulating machines at the city’s central vote-counting location, Timothy Aeppel reports.
Seals underneath the doors were still in place, and there was no evidence of tampering, Jeff Fleming, a spokesman for Milwaukee mayor Cavalier Johnson, said.
He said the recount was done “out of an abundance of caution” and attributed the issue to “human error”. – Reuters
Here’s some more details on the exit poll by Edison Research. These were some of the key issues on voters’ minds and how they viewed the two candidates.
Forty-four per cent of voters nationwide said they had a favourable view of Trump, compared with 46% who said so in Edison Research’s 2020 exit poll. 54% viewed him unfavourably, compared with 52% in 2020.
Forty-eight per cent of voters nationwide said they had a favourable view of Harris, compared with 52% who said the same of Biden in Edison Research’s 2020 exit poll while 50% viewed her unfavourably, compared with 46% who viewed Biden that way in 2020.
Seventy-three per cent of voters nationwide said they think democracy in the US is threatened. Twenty-five per cent said it is secure.
Thirty-one per cent of voters nationwide said the economy mattered most in deciding how to vote in the presidential election. Eleven per cent said immigration, 14% abortion, 34% foreign policy.
Forty-five per cent of voters nationwide said their family’s financial situation was worse off than it was four years ago, compared with 20 per cent who said so in Edison Research’s 2020 exit poll. Some 24% said they were better off than they were four years ago, compared with 41 per cen in 2020. Thirty per cent said their financial situation was unchanged.
Fifty-one per cent of voters nationwide said they trust Trump more to handle the economy while 47 per cent said they trust Harris more. – Reuters
As the first polls close, it’s worth taking a few minutes to check our explainer on swing states and how their votes will impact the outcome of this tightly contested election.
The first polls have closed in the US, with voting wrapping up in most Indiana counties and in Kentucky’s eastern half.
Voting will finish in the rest of the two red states at 7pm, at which point it will also conclude in a handful of other states – including swing state Georgia. – Guardian
Reuters reports that Elon Musk was sued in a proposed class action on Tuesday by registered voters who signed his petition to support the US constitution for a chance to win his $1 million-a-day giveaway, and now claim it was a fraud.
The complaint filed by Arizona resident Jacqueline McAferty in the Austin, Texas, federal court said Musk and his America PAC organisation falsely induced voters to sign by claiming they would choose winners randomly, though they were predetermined.
She also said the defendants profited from the giveaway by driving traffic and attention to Musk’s X social media platform, and by collecting personal information such as her name, address and phone number that they could sell.
A lawyer for Musk and lawyers for McAferty did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the complaint.
McAferty sued one day after a Philadelphia judge denied a request by that city’s district attorney Larry Krasner to end the giveaway, which Krasner called an illegal lottery.
That ruling was largely symbolic because Musk has no plans to give out more money following the US presidential election.
Musk opened the giveaway to voters in seven battleground states who signed a petition to support free speech and gun rights. Tuesday’s lawsuit seeks at least $5 million in damages for everyone who signed.
Musk is a Texas resident and his electric car company Tesla is based in Austin.
He has supported Republican Donald Trump in the presidential race against Harris. – Reuters
Exit poll shows most voters believe US democracy is under threat
Nearly three-quarters of voters in Tuesday’s presidential election believe American democracy is under threat, according to national exit poll data from Edison Research, reflecting the deep anxiety that the nation faces after a contentious campaign between Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump.
Democracy and the economy ranked by far as the most important issues for voters, followed by abortion and immigration, the data showed. The poll showed 73 per cent of voters believed democracy was in jeopardy, against just 25 per cent who said it was secure.
The figures reflect just a slice of the tens of millions of people who have voted, both before and on election day, and the preliminary results are subject to change through the course of the night as more people are surveyed.
The two rivals were hurtling toward an uncertain finish after a dizzying campaign as millions of American voters waited in calm, orderly lines on Tuesday to choose between two sharply different visions for the country. – Reuters
Good evening, it’s Glen Murphy here taking you into the early hours of the morning. Thanks to my colleague Fiachra Gallagher for manning the fort earlier tonight.
The first indications of who might take the White House are expected after midnight Irish time.
Here are some shots from polling stations across the US.
Kamala Harris made an unexpected stop at the Democratic National Comittee headquarters in Washington DC, where she dropped in on a phone banking event.
After refusing to concede the 2020 election and earlier accusing Democrats of trying to steal this year’s vote, Trump struck a more slightly more conciliatory tone after casting his vote in Florida earlier on Tuesday. “If I lose an election – a fair election – I’ll be the first one to acknowledge it,” he said.
“I may regret that statement, but I’m hearing we’re doing very well,” Trump added. Addressing concerns of civil unrest once the results are known, Trump said there would be no violence.
‘My supporters are not violent people,” he said. “I certainly don’t want any violence.” – Bloomberg
Police at the Capitol Building, seat of the United States Congress in Washington DC, arrested a man on Tuesday afternoon.
The FBI said that phoney bomb threats targeting polling locations across the US appeared to originate from Russian email domains.
“None of the threats have been determined to be credible thus far,” the FBI said in a statement, adding that election integrity was among the bureau’s highest priorities.
At least two polling sites targeted by the hoax bomb threats in the election battleground state of Georgia were briefly evacuated on Tuesday. – Reuters
Elon Musk will spend election night with Donald Trump, the New York Times is reporting.
Billionaire owner of X Musk has thrown his full weight behind Trump, donating over $100 million in recent months to America Pac, a political action committee he founded that supported the former president’s campaign. Musk also appeared at several of Trump’s election rallies in recent weeks, and he often posts in support of Trump to his 203 million followers on X.
If you’re looking for some company on election night, Democrats Abroad Ireland are hosting an election watch party at the Arlington Hotel, on Bachelors Walk in Dublin’s city centre. The event kicks off at 10pm, and will run right through the night – you’ll probably have a good idea of who’s going to be the 47th president by the time they kick you out at 7am.
Our videographer Enda O’Dowd is in New York and he has been speaking to voters.
From midmorning New York time Donald Trump fans started arriving outside Trump Tower in anticipation of a night of celebrations. Elsewhere in the city the mood was anxious among voters not only to the outcome of tonight’s election but whether the results would be accepted by the former president and his supporters. – Enda O’Dowd
Voters in the US will also decide the make-up of the Senate and the House of Representatives in today’s ballot.
Republicans currently control the House with 220 representatives to 212 Democrats, while the Democrats have the upper hand in the Senate with 51 seats (including four independents who caucus with them), to 49. All 435 seats are up for grabs in the House, while 34 are in play in the Senate.
Intelligence agencies warn of foreign interference threats
Federal officials are bracing for an increase in efforts by foreign adversaries to undermine the US elections but said they had not seen any national-level threats so far.
On Monday night, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the FBI and intelligence agencies issued an unusual warning that adversaries, led by Russia, were conducting additional influence operations.
On Tuesday, Cait Conley, a senior official with the cybersecurity agency, told the New York Times she expected an increase in the “scope and scale” of the influence efforts.
“Adversaries have taken lessons learned from previous cycles to understand which narratives would be most effective,” she said. – New York Times
Trump and Harris cast their ballots
Voters are going to the polls across the US and the two candidates have already cast their ballots.
Donald Trump voted in Palm Beach, Florida, near his Mar-a-Lago club, and said afterwards that he was feeling “very confident”.
“It looks like Republicans have shown up in force,” the 78-year-old told reporters, wearing a red Make America Great Again baseball cap.
Kamala Harris cast her vote by mail ballot to California. – PA
A tight and fiercely contested battle is approaching the end as the remaining voters across 50 states record their preference into the ballot box, with results set to start rolling in through the night.
The first of those results can be expected at around 11pm Irish time when the polls close in Indiana and Kentucky – both solidly Republican states so expect no surprises there.
The first swing state to announce results is likely to be Georgia at around midnight Irish time with the biggest block of results likely to come in around an hour later. For more on what time you can expect results and how the US election system works, read Hugh Linehan’s US election night guide.
Our Washington correspondent Keith Duggan, as well as reporter Steven Carroll and videographer Enda O’Dowd, will be sending updates from the ground overnight in what could be a drawn-out process before a winner is declared.
Welcome to our live coverage of the 2024 US election as Americans decide whether Donald Trump or Kamala Harris will become their 47th president.
A race that was originally due to see Joe Biden battle Trump for a second term in the White House has taken numerous twists and turns over the summer months and into autumn and now sees Harris aiming to become the first woman president of the United States.
Along the way Trump has survived an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, seen another attempt thwarted by the Secret Service, claimed that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio are stealing and eating people’s pet cats and dogs, filled Madison Square Garden for a rally at which comedian Tony Hinchcliffe called Puerto Rico “a floating island of garbage” and hit out at a poll that showed Iowa – thought to be a solidly Republican state – leaning towards Harris in the final days of the election.
Both sides claim that democracy is on the ballot paper and if the other side wins this could be the last presidential election in the US. As the months slipped by the debate has become more divided and bitter, leading to a feeling of angst across the country as election day looms.
Our Washington correspondent Keith Duggan has been across it all and on Saturday wrote this piece about just what is at stake today.
