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The stories that matter on money and politics in the race for the White House
The US presidential election between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump was on a knife-edge after polls closed on Tuesday night in the critical swing states of Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan and North Carolina.
Early counts in the battlegrounds gave little indication of the electorate’s choice, even as Trump handily won Indiana, Kentucky and West Virginia, three reliably Republican-leaning states, and Harris notched Vermont.
Polls also closed in Virginia, South Carolina, Ohio and most of Florida, as well as states across the south and Midwest, including Texas and Illinois.
Exit polls conducted for the US broadcast networks and released at 5pm ET showed the fate of American democracy was the top issue for 35 per cent of voters, followed by the economy on 31 per cent. Abortion was cited by 14 per cent and immigration by 11 per cent.
Trump voted in his adopted hometown of Palm Beach, Florida, and then told his backers to wait patiently at voting locations nationwide. “Republicans: We are doing GREAT! Stay on Line. Do not let them move you. STAY ON LINE AND VOTE!” he wrote on X.
Harris, who will watch the returns at her alma mater Howard University in Washington, DC, did a series of local radio interviews in battleground states, then stopped at the Democratic party headquarters to thank staffers and make calls to likely voters.
“Generations of Americans led the fight for freedom — including the freedom to vote. Now, the baton is in our hands. Don’t miss your chance,” Harris wrote on X.
The presidential campaign has been marked by high tension and sudden, dramatic incidents, including two assassination attempts on Trump and President Joe Biden’s exit from the race and endorsement of Harris.
Election day was less dramatic, though the FBI warned in the early afternoon that it was investigating “bomb threats to polling locations in several states”, saying they appeared to “originate from Russian email domains”.
Several locations were temporarily closed in Georgia because of the threats, but a state judge extended voting in those Atlanta-area precincts to make up for the lost time. Just before polls closed, authorities in DeKalb county, which includes Atlanta, said seven voting sites had received threats.
In the final days of the race, both Harris and Trump claimed they were on the cusp of victory, but polls have pointed to an excruciatingly close race within the margin of error nationally and in the battleground states.
Trump and his allies have repeatedly warned — without any evidence — that there would be widespread fraud in this year’s election, raising fears that he would seek to overturn the result as he did in 2020.
Speaking to reporters at his polling station on Tuesday, Trump said he was prepared to concede defeat, depending on the circumstances. “If I lose an election, if it’s a fair election, I’d be the first one to acknowledge it,” he said.
For all the uncertainty around the outcome, the stakes in the election have been unusually high given the stark contrast between the candidates.
Trump has proposed sweeping tax cuts and tariffs, a crackdown on immigration and has threatened retribution against domestic foes.
A Harris victory would mark the election of the first female president in US history and largely bring continuity with the Biden administration’s policies nationally and internationally.
Additional reporting by Joe Miller in Atlanta
