US election 2020 live results: Donald Trump and Joe Biden await final verdict

Gulf News brings you live updates as America decides between Donald Trump and Joe Biden in one of the closest and most divisive US elections in history. Follow all the latest, breaking news right here. Refresh for updates ...

Michigan secretary of state says Trump lawsuit 'frivolous'

Michigan’s secretary of state said on Wednesday that a lawsuit by US President Donald Trump seeking to halt counting of votes there was “frivolous.” CNN and NBC projected Democrat Joe Biden the winner of Michigan on Wednesday afternoon, giving him 16 electoral votes toward the 270 he needs to win the presidency as ballot counting goes on in several other key states.

With 99 per cent of votes counted, Biden led Trump with 50.3 per cent to 48.1 per cent of votes cast, or by nearly 120,000 votes — far more than the Republican president’s margin of victory in Michigan in 2016, when he won the state by just over 10,000 votes.

Campaign officials for Trump have said that they filed lawsuits in Michigan to stop the counting there and gain greater access to the tabulation process.

“I do believe its frivolous,” Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said of Trump’s lawsuit at an afternoon news conference.

Trump launches third lawsuit, this time in Georgia

President Donald Trump's campaign and the Georgia Republican Party have filed a lawsuit against the Chatham County Board of Elections asking a judge to order the county to secure and account for ballots received after 7pm on Election Day.

State party Chairman David Shafer said in a statement Wednesday night that they planned to sue in a dozen counties.

The lawsuit alleges that a Republican observer watched a poll worker take unprocessed absentee ballots from a back room and mix them into processed absentee ballots waiting to be tabulated.

In Georgia, ballots must be received by 7pm on Election Day in order to count. Chatham County contains Savannah and leans Democratic.

Georgia is among a handful of states that The Associated Press has not called. In the race to the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency, Democrat Joe Biden currently has 264 while Trump has 214.

AP has Biden on 264 electoral votes because it has called Arizona in the Democratic candidate's favour. Almost every other US network and election watcher is yet to call Arizona, putting Biden on 253 electoral votes.

Nevada says more results to be released Thursday

The top elections official in Nevada's most populous county says more results will be released Thursday morning that include mail-in ballots received on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Clark County Registrar of Voters Joe Gloria said at a news conference Wednesday afternoon that he did not yet know how many ballots had been received but uncounted in the Las Vegas area.

Early results showed Democrat Joe Biden with a slim lead over President Donald Trump in Nevada, but it was too early to declare a winner in the race Wednesday with a large number of ballots yet to be counted.

The Nevada secretary of state's office initially said a new batch of results would be released Thursday morning. But Deputy Secretary of State for Elections Wayne Thorley said in a text message that the state would likely release some additional results Wednesday afternoon but that he did not know how many would be included.

Gloria said he would be holding daily 10am news conferences until all ballots were counted, including provisional ballots that were cast by voters taking advantage of same-day registration, electronic ballots sent to overseas voters or ballots for disabled voters.

Trump team wants more Michigan vote inspectors

President Donald Trump's campaign has accused a Michigan election official of failing to ensure that challengers and bipartisan observers watch the processing of absentee ballots.

The Republican campaign filed a lawsuit Wednesday seeking to stop the count, which was mostly centered in Detroit, until Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson allows more inspectors. There was no immediate response from a Court of Claims judge.

Trump's allies chanted, "Stop the count!" inside TCF Center, where ballots were being handled. The Detroit elections department was expected to finish counting absentee ballots by Wednesday evening.

Democratic Attorney General Dana Nessel says, "Michigan's elections have been conducted transparently, with access provided for both political parties and the public, and using a robust system of checks and balances to ensure that all ballots are counted fairly and accurately."

More than 3 million absentee ballots were cast in Michigan in the first major election since a new law made them available to any voter. But local election clerks couldn't start counting them until after polls closed Tuesday.

Biden flips another state, wins in Michigan

Democrat Joe Biden has won the crucial battleground state of Michigan, US networks projected Wednesday, meaning the former vice president has flipped another state won by President Donald Trump in 2016.

CNN and NBC News projected the win for Biden in the Midwestern state, which unexpectedly went to Trump by less than half a percentage point in 2016 in one of the stunning state defeats suffered by Hillary Clinton.

With Michigan's 16 electoral votes, Biden now has a total of 264 - six shy of the magic number of 270 needed to win the US presidency, according to US network projections.

Biden believes he will get the votes to win

Democrat Joe Biden said on Wednesday he expects to win the presidential election, saying he believes it is clear his campaign is winning enough states to win the presidency.

“After a long night of counting, it’s clear that we’re winning enough states to reach 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency,” Biden said. “I’m not here to declare that we’ve won, but I am here to report that when the count is finished, we believe we will be the winners.”

Biden addressed reporters Wednesday afternoon from Wilmington, Delaware, alongside his running mate, California Sen. Kamala Harris.

Biden says, “Every vote must be counted.” He added, “We the people will not be silenced.”

Biden also tried to sound like a president-elect, promising to reach out to political opponents and insisting that the presidency “itself is not a partisan institution.”

Biden did not take questions. President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign has filed lawsuits in Pennsylvania and Michigan as ballots continue to be counted in both states.

Trump sues to stop count in Pennsylvania

President Donald Trump’s campaign says it’s suing to temporarily stop the vote count in Pennsylvania, claiming lack of “transparency.”

Justin Clark, Trump’s deputy campaign manager, said in a statement Wednesday that the campaign is “suing to stop Democrat election officials from hiding the ballot counting and processing from our Republican poll observers.” He said the campaign wants “to temporarily halt counting until there is meaningful transparency and Republicans can ensure all counting is done above board and by the law.”

Clark also said the campaign would seek to intervene in an ongoing Supreme Court case involving the deadline for receiving mail-in ballots.

There have been no reports of fraud or any type of ballot concerns out of Pennsylvania. The state had more than 3.1 million mail-in ballots that take time to count, and an order allows them to be counted up until Friday if they are postmarked by November 3.

Biden flips battleground Wisconsin

Joe Biden has defeated President Donald Trump in battleground Wisconsin, securing the state's 10 electoral votes and reclaiming a key part of the blue wall that slipped away from Democrats four years ago.

The Associated Press called Wisconsin for Biden after election officials in the state said all outstanding ballots had been counted, save for a few hundred in one township and an expected small number of provisional ballots.

Trump's campaign has requested a recount. Statewide recounts in Wisconsin have historically changed the vote tally by only a few hundred votes; Biden leads by .624 percentage points out of nearly 3.3 million ballots counted.

The victory for Biden bumps him up to 248 electoral votes, while Trump has 214. It takes 270 to win the presidency.

In 2016, Trump won Wisconsin by fewer than 23,000 votes, a breakthrough that along with wins in Michigan and Pennsylvania helped hand him his first term in the White House. Democrats were determined to reclaim Wisconsin, a state that before Trump hadn't gone for a Republican since Ronald Reagan in 1984.

Trump files lawsuit to halt Michigan count

President Donald Trump's campaign says it has filed a lawsuit trying to halt the vote count in battleground Michigan.

The latest counts gives Trump's Democratic challenger Joe Biden a small lead, but the race is still too early to call.

Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien says in a statement Wednesday that the campaign "has not been provided with meaningful access to numerous counting locations to observe the opening of ballots and the counting process, as guaranteed by Michigan law."

He says a suit was filed Wednesday in the Michigan Court of Claims "to halt counting until meaningful access has been granted."

Michigan is a critical battleground state that helped deliver Trump the presidency four years ago, along with Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. Neither Wisconsin or Pennsylvania has been called yet.

Trump to ask for recount in Wisconsin

President Donald Trump's campaign said Wednesday it was demanding a recount in Wisconsin, where early returns show Democrat Joe Biden with a slender lead.

"There have been reports of irregularities in several Wisconsin counties which raise serious doubts about the validity of the results," campaign manager Bill Stepien said in a statement. "The president is well within the threshold to request a recount and we will immediately do so."

Wisconsin is one of a handful of states where the fate of the US election now hangs in the balance.

Biden leads Trump in key Midwest states

Biden extended his narrow lead in Michigan while maintaining a slight edge in Wisconsin on Wednesday, according to Edison Research. The Republican president won the two pivotal battleground states in 2016. Michigan officials continued to count mail-in ballots that surged amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Wisconsin officials said they concluded their counting, but a winner had yet to be declared.

Together with Nevada, another state where Biden held a small advantage with votes still left to be tallied, those states would deliver Biden the 270 votes needed in the state-by-state Electoral College to win the White House. But Trump still had a path to victory with those states officially undecided.

Trump alleges 'surprise ballot dumps' in states where he was leading

US President Donald Trump alleged on Wednesday that there had been "surprise ballot dumps" in states where he had been leading Democrat Joe Biden in the race for the White House.

"Last night I was leading, often solidly, in many key States, in almost all instances Democrat run & controlled," Trump tweeted. "Then, one by one, they started to magically disappear as surprise ballot dumps were counted."

Trump did not offer any evidence for his allegation of "ballot dumps" and there have been no reports of any irregularities.

The leads in numerous states have shifted back-and-forth between the candidates as votes are counted.

Hopes fade for Democratic control over Senate

Hopes fading for Senate control, Democrats had a disappointing election night as Republicans swatted down an onslaught of challengers and fought to retain their fragile majority. Several races remained undecided into Wednesday and at least one headed to a runoff in January.

It was a jarring outcome for Democrats who had devised an expanded political map, eager to provide a backstop against President Donald Trump and his party's grip on the Senate. The races attracted an unprecedented outpouring of small-dollar donations from Americans apparently voting with their pocketbooks to propel long-shot campaigns.

While Democrats picked up must-win seats in Colorado and Arizona, they suffered a setback in Alabama, and Republicans held their own in one race after another - in South Carolina, Iowa, Texas, Kansas and Montana, dramatically limiting the places where Democrats hoped to make inroads.

Tight races in battleground states

The fate of the United States presidency hung in the balance Wednesday morning, as President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden battled for three familiar battleground states - Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania - that could prove crucial in determining who wins the White House.

It is unclear when or how quickly a winner could be determined. A late burst of votes in Wisconsin gave Biden a small lead in the state, but it was still too early to call the race. Hundreds of thousands of votes were also outstanding in Michigan and Pennsylvania. The high stakes election was held against the backdrop of a historic pandemic that has killed more than 230,000 Americans and wiped away millions of jobs.

Biden team ready to fight Trump in court

Democrat Joe Biden's campaign says it will fight any efforts by President Donald Trump's campaign to go to the US Supreme Court to prevent ballots from being tabulated.

In a statement sent before 4 am Wednesday, Biden campaign manager Jen O'Malley Dillon called Trump's statement that he will "be going to the U.S. Supreme Court" and that he wants "all voting to stop" "outrageous, unprecedented and incorrect."

O'Malley Dillon says the Biden campaign has "legal teams standing by ready to deploy to resist that effort." And she says, "They will prevail."

There are still hundreds of thousands of votes left to be counted, and the outcome hinges on a handful of uncalled battleground states.

Senate: Kelly win gives Arizona 2 Democratic senators

Democrat Mark Kelly has won the Arizona Senate seat once held by John McCain. The former astronaut defeated Republican Sen. Martha McSally, who was appointed to the seat after McCain's death in 2018.

It's the second election night contest in which a Democrat beat a GOP incumbent. The other was in Colorado.

The Arizona race was a special election to finish McCain's term, so Kelly could be sworn in as early as Nov. 30, when the results are officially certified.

Kelly flew combat missions for the Navy during Operation Desert Storm before becoming a test pilot and later an astronaut. He flew four missions to the International Space Station.

He is the husband of former Democratic US Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot in the head and wounded in an attempted assassination during a constituent event in Tucson in 2011.

Kelly's victory gives Democrats both Senate seats in Arizona. He will join Kyrsten Sinema in Washington.

Biden takes Wisconsin

In Wisconsin, Biden took a small lead around 4:30 a.m. New York time, as several metropolitan areas submitted their absentee ballot counts.

As expected, the Democrat took a large haul from Milwaukee, the state's biggest city - crucial to potentially overcoming Trump's strength in smaller towns and rural areas. An influx of nearly 170,000 absentee votes from the city of Milwaukee erased the solid lead from in-person voting that Trump had maintained since the polls closed at 8 p.m.

The president, who carried Wisconsin by 0.8 percentage points in 2016, trailed Biden in by 0.3 percentage points in the latest figures with some precincts still outstanding

Race too close to call

President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden are battling it out for the White House, with polls closed across the United States - and the American people waiting for results in key battlegrounds still up for grabs.

As it stands, there are seven states still left uncalled, including major prizes such as Pennsylvania and Wisconsin - meaning both Trump and Biden still have a path to victory.

US media outlets have projected wins for the Republican incumbent in 23 states including big prizes Florida and Texas, as well as Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri and Ohio - all states he won in 2016.

Biden has captured 20 states including his home state Delaware and big prizes California and New York, as well as the US capital. The former vice president has flipped one state won by Trump in 2016 - Arizona, in the southwest.

Nebraska split its electoral votes between the two - four for Trump and one for Biden. Maine was won by Biden, but so far, he has only three of the four electoral votes on offer, with the last still to be decided.

Biden projected to win Arizona, Maine

Democrat Joe Biden has won in the southwestern US state of Arizona, a traditionally Republican stronghold which was captured by President Donald Trump in 2016, Fox News and the Associated Press projected early Wednesday.

The call for Biden in Arizona, which has 11 electoral votes, came after a speech from Trump, who claimed victory in the nail-biter election despite several key states not yet being called.

Biden has also won the statewide vote in northeastern Maine, US media projected early Wednesday, with at least three of the four electoral votes up for grabs projected to go in the former vice president's column.

The race was called by Fox News and The New York Times. Both have yet to attribute the final electoral vote, which is based on voting in congressional districts, rather than the statewide tally.

One rural county goes big for Trump

As commissioners of Fulton County, Pennsylvania, worked to finish tallying the vote early on Wednesday, the only question was whether President Donald Trump would top the 84 per cent support he received in the rural Republican stronghold in 2016.

The fate of the state - and Trump's chances in the national election - would be for others to decide.

"It will be a few days before we know Pennsylvania," said Randy Bunch, a county commissioner and Trump supporter, after confirming that Trump had won the county with 85.3 per cent of the vote.

"It is what it is." Fulton County is Trump Country. In 2016, the Republican president's overwhelming victory there made it the "reddest" of Pennsylvania's 67 counties. Tuesday's result was a sign the coronavirus pandemic had not dented Trump's popularity in this south-central slice of the state.

Running up the score in areas like Fulton County has been seen as critical to Trump's chances in Pennsylvania, a battleground state also prized by Democratic challenger Joe Biden and which could ultimately determine the election.

As of 2.25am (0725 GMT), Pennsylvania still had more than 1.5 million mail-in ballots left to count and official state tallies were not expected until later this week. The result in Fulton County, however, was never in doubt.

Interviews over the past week with more than three dozen residents of the county, which is 97 per cent white, revealed an almost unshakeable belief that Trump had their interests at heart.

Trump says will fight polls in Supreme Court

US President Donald Trump has said that "a very sad group of people" is trying to disenfranchise millions of his supporters who voted for him.

"A very sad group of people is trying to disenfranchise" the millions of people who voted for Trump, the Republican president said in a statement at the White House.

Trump said he will fight the election in the Supreme Court.

Despite incomplete results from several battleground states that could determine the outcome of the US presidential race, Trump proclaimed victory over Democratic challenger Joe Biden.

"Frankly, we did win," Trump told supporters at the White House.

But election results from some battleground states, including Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan and Georgia, were still not clear and projections from major networks and Edison Research showed Trump still short of the 270 electoral votes needed to win re-election.

Democrat Joe Biden's campaign, meanwhile, responded to Trump speech saying it would fight any efforts by President Donald Trump's campaign to go to the U.S. Supreme Court to prevent ballots from being tabulated.

In a statement sent on. Wednesday, Biden campaign manager Jen O'Malley Dillon called Trump's statement that he will “be going to the US Supreme Court” and that he wants "all voting to stop'' “outrageous, unprecedented and incorrect.''

O'Malley Dillon says the Biden campaign has “legal teams standing by ready to deploy to resist that effort.'' And she says, ``They will prevail.''

Trump wins 4 of 5 Nebraska votes, Biden gets 1

President Donald Trump has won four of Nebraska's five electoral votes, while Democrat Joe Biden has won one electoral vote from the state.

The 1st Congressional District was called for Trump early Wednesday. He also won the 3rd Congressional District earlier, as well as the statewide vote. Trump gets one electoral vote for each congressional district, plus two electoral votes for winning the statewide vote.

Biden's win in the 2nd Congressional District, which includes Omaha, is a flip from 2016, when Trump narrowly won it against Democrat Hillary Clinton.

While Trump easily carried the state itself, Nebraska is one of only two states that divides its electoral votes. The other is Maine. In 2016, Trump won all five of Nebraska's electoral votes.

Protesters gather near White House, no wide unrest seen

More than 1,000 people protesting President Donald Trump converged on Black Lives Matter Plaza on Tuesday night, just a block from the White House, while hundreds more marched through parts of downtown Washington, sometimes blocking traffic and setting off fireworks.

Scattered protests also took place from Seattle to New York City, but across the US there were no signs of serious violence or widespread unrest in the hours immediately after the polls closed, with the outcome still unknown.

The demonstrations in Washington were largely peaceful, with people shouting, "Whose streets? Our streets!" and "If we don't get no justice, they don't get no peace!"

At one point, the marchers stabbed the tyres of a parked police van to flatten them.

Hundreds of people marched in anti-Trump demonstrations in Portland, Oregon, and Seattle, with several arrested.

In Seattle, police said they arrested several people, including someone who put nails in a road and another who drove over a barricade and into a police bike lane. No one was injured.

Trump wins Texas despite Democrats' efforts

President Donald Trump has won Texas and its 38 electoral votes despite a furious, late push by Democrats to turn America's biggest red state blue, AP has projected.

An avalanche of early votes fed Democrats' high hopes of ending decades of losses in Texas, where polls showed Joe Biden running unusually close. But Trump carried Texas for a second straight year.

Trump won Texas by 9 percentage points in 2016 and all but took a win here for granted. He didn't swing through Texas for campaign rallies or swamp television airwaves, and his conservative allies on the ground scoffed at Biden's chances as a far reach.

Trump sought to make an issue out of Biden's answer during their final presidential debate that Biden would "transition away from the oil industry" if elected president. Texas is among the swing states with voters who depend on the oil industry to make a living.

Trump wins big prize Florida

President Donald Trump has won Florida and its 29 electoral votes, the biggest prize among the perennial battlegrounds and a state crucial to his reelection hopes.

A victory in Florida means reelection is within Trump's grasp. A loss in the state would have made it nearly impossible for Trump to reach the 270 electoral votes needed to retain the White House.

Democrat Joe Biden's campaign had hoped the devastating toll of the coronavirus pandemic, particularly among older adults, would put him in a strong position in a state popular with retirees.

Trump moved his official residence to his Palm Beach estate Mar-a-Lago from New York last year.

Trump narrowly beat Democrat Hillary Clinton in the state in 2016.

Donald Trump expects 'big WIN'

President Donald Trump early Wednesday said he expected a "big win".

Biden optimistic about outcome

Joe Biden has said that he is optimistic about the outcome of the race.

"We are feeling good about where we are... We are going to win Pennsylvania. I am optimistic about the outcome. Keep the faith, we are going to win this," Biden told the press pool that covers him in Wilmington, Delaware.

Biden has spent the night watching the returns come in from his home. Biden began his day early Tuesday with a handful of campaign stops across the all-important state of Pennsylvania as voters went to the polls.

Donald Trump wins Iowa and Montana

President Donald Trump has won Iowa and Montana. The Republican nominee on Wednesday was awarded six electoral votes from Iowa and three electoral votes from Montana.

Trump won Iowa by more than 9 percentage points four years ago against Democrat Hillary Clinton, but his support eroded significantly over his handling of the coronavirus pandemic and the overall direction of the country.

Trump rallied in Iowa in the final stretch of the campaign, going so far as to announce he would be awarding the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Iowa wrestling legend Dan Gable. In an appeal to the state's farmers, he told them he was responsible for $28 billion in aid designed to help offset damage stemming from his trade war with China.

Biden wins Minnesota, turning back Trump push

Joe Biden has carried Minnesota, turning back a strong push by President Donald Trump and holding on to a state narrowly won by Democrat Hillary Clinton four years ago. Biden was awarded the state's 10 electoral votes on Tuesday.

Biden made up for his campaign getting a late start in Minnesota compared with Trump, who held several campaign rallies in the state this election cycle. The former vice-president took advantage of anti-Trump sentiment and organising efforts by the state's Democrats, who stressed COVID-19 and health care issues.

Trump came within 1.5 percentage points of carrying Minnesota in 2016 and made winning the state this time a personal priority. Republicans invested time and money in building a field organisation to boost GOP turnout, focusing on conservative rural Minnesota and suburban areas that were once mostly Republican but have become swing territory.

The last Republican presidential candidate to capture the state was Richard Nixon in 1972.

Joe Biden wins Hawaii

Democrat Joe Biden has won the state of Hawaii. He was awarded its four electoral votes on Tuesday.

Hawaii is a reliably Democratic state and last went for a Republican presidential candidate in 1984, when it was won by Ronald Reagan.

Trump projected to win Ohio

President Donald Trump defeated Democrat Joe Biden in the battleground state of Ohio, Fox and NBC projected.

No Republican has won the presidency without also winning Ohio, which Trump won by more than 8 percentage points four years ago. The state accounts for 18 Electoral College votes.

Trump leads in Florida, Biden pins hopes on 'blue wall'

President Donald Trump was leading Democratic rival Joe Biden in the vital battleground state of Florida on Tuesday and in several other competitive swing states that will help decide the election, including North Carolina, Ohio and Texas.

Fox News network projected Trump would win Florida, a state seen as a must-win in his quest for the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win another four years in the White House.

Biden, searching desperately for states to recapture from Trump, was eyeing the so-called "blue wall" states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania that sent Trump to the White House in 2016, but vote counting could stretch for hours or days there.

Trump held early leads in those three states, but much of that was built on Republican-heavy Election Day voting. The counting of mail-in ballots in all three states was expected to take hours or days. In Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, mail-in ballots cannot be processed until Election Day.

Fox News projected Biden would win Arizona, giving him a potential path to victory with the "blue wall" states.

Supporters of both candidates called the election a referendum on Trump and his tumultuous first term.

Georgia special election moves to runoff with Loeffler, Warnock

The Georgia Senate special election moved to a runoff between Republican incumbent Kelly Loeffler and Democrat Raphael Warnock, the Associated Press projected.

No candidate in the all-party race won more than 50% of the vote, meaning the top two will face off in January. The contest is a race to see who will serve the last two years of retired Johnny Isakson's term after Loeffler was temporarily appointed to the seat by the state's governor.

Georgia's other Senate seat was also up for grabs this year.

Nerves set in for Biden supporters gathered at White House

Several hundred Joe Biden supporters rallied near the White House Tuesday, but by nightfall a festive atmosphere was giving way to nervous tension as people fixed their attention on giant screens showing disappointing early results.

As the battleground state of Florida looked increasingly certain to go to President Donald Trump, Democratic party voters in the overwhelmingly blue capital Washington put on brave faces and said they were preparing to dig in for a long haul.

"We wanted to come out to support Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, hoping for a celebration," said Tammi Girgenti, a 51-year-old retired government official, adding: "I'm a little disappointed with Florida, that's my home state."

"I'm feeling okay, a little bit nervous and a little apprehensive, but I think Biden can squeeze it out by the end of the night or tomorrow or the next day," she laughed.

Trump was also leading in several other key battleground states including Pennsylvania.

Jake, a 22-year-old undergraduate student who came with a group of friends, summed up their mood: "We're not feeling too good, but I know that the mail-in the early voting was always going to be kind of later, and so I went in tonight bracing for an early Trump lead, but I think that Biden can still pull it off."

Donald Trump wins Utah

President Donald Trump has won the state of Utah. The Republican nominee on Tuesday was awarded its six electoral votes.

Utah hasn't supported a Democratic presidential candidate since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964.

Trump won Utah in 2016, but independent candidate Evan McMullin had a strong showing in the state owing to widespread distaste of both Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton. McMullin captured more than 20% of the vote.

Biden wins California, Oregon, Washington state, Trump takes Idaho

Democrat Joe Biden has won California, Oregon and Washington state, while President Donald Trump has won Idaho. California, Oregon and Washington are all liberal states, while Idaho is conservative.

California has 55 electoral votes, the biggest haul of any state. It's also the home of Biden's running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris. She served as the San Francisco district attorney and the state's attorney general before winning election to the Senate in 2016.

Biden nets 74 electoral votes for the three Western states, while Trump takes four electoral votes from Idaho.

Biden wins New Hampshire, holding it for Democrats

Democrat Joe Biden has won New Hampshire and its four electoral votes, holding on to a state that President Donald Trump only narrowly lost in 2016.

The state was considered a 2020 battleground despite not going for a Republican presidential candidate since George W. Bush in 2000.

Four years ago, Democrat Hillary Clinton won the small state over Trump by roughly 2,700 votes. That's less than 1% of the 732,000 ballots cast, and it was the second-closest margin of victory in the country.

Republicans reclaim US Senate seat in Alabama 

A retired American football coach won his US Senate race Tuesday in Alabama, providing Republicans a vital win as President Donald Trump's party scrambles to preserve its majority in the chamber.

Tommy Tuberville, 66, handily defeated Democratic Senator Doug Jones - seen as the most vulnerable Democrat this election cycle - in the Gulf Coast state, ABC News and NBC News projected.

Jones had faced very steep reelection odds in a ruby-red southern state after winning in a special election upset in 2017 against Roy Moore, a flawed Republican candidate who had faced sexual misconduct allegations.

Tight race, but no upsets yet

President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden were locked in tight races in battleground states across the country as votes were being counted.

From coast to coast, races were too early to call in the most fiercely contested states on the map, including Florida, North Carolina, Georgia and Pennsylvania. Both candidates each picked up some predictable victories, with Trump taking states including Kansas and North Dakota and Biden's haul including Colorado and Virginia, two former battlegrounds that have become Democratic strongholds.

Early results in several key battleground states were in flux as election officials processed a historically large number of mail-in votes. Democrats typically outperform Republicans in mail voting, while the GOP looks to make up ground in Election Day turnout. That means the early margins between the candidates could be influenced by which type of votes - early or Election Day - were being reported by the states.

Donald Trump wins Missouri

President Donald Trump has won the state of Missouri. The Republican nominee on Tuesday was awarded its 10 electoral votes.

In 2016, Trump beat Democrat Hillary Clinton in the state by 18 percentage points.

Burst water pipe delays vote count in Atlanta

While Election Day voting appeared to go smoothly in most places, there were some scattered glitches.

One of the most potentially consequential glitches occurred in Fulton County, Georgia, at the State Farm Arena polling centre in downtown Atlanta, where a burst water pipe delayed the vote count by at least two hours.

No ballots were damaged, but the snafu in the most populous county of Georgia, a toss-up state, was likely to hamper efforts to call a winner Tuesday night.

Senate: Lindsey Graham survives challenge, McConnell wins seventh term

Republican Lindsey Graham of South Carolina has secured a fourth term in the Senate, defeating Democrat Jamie Harrison.

Some polling in the campaign's closing weeks showed a head-to-head race, and Harrison's massive fundraising broke records. But Graham mustered support across South Carolina, where all statewide offices are held by Republicans and support for President Donald Trump remains strong.

Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has won a seventh term in Kentucky.

The 78-year-old McConnell defeated Democrat Amy McGrath, a retired Marine combat pilot who challenged him as a political outsider. McConnell is the longest-serving Republican leader in Senate history.

As President Donald Trump's top ally on Capitol Hill, McConnell led efforts to defend the president during his impeachment acquittal in the Senate. He also worked with Trump on a tax overhaul and orchestrated Senate confirmation of more than 200 judicial appointments, including Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court.

Donald Trump wins Kansas

President Donald Trump has won the state of Kansas. The Republican nominee on Tuesday was awarded its six electoral votes.

In 2016, Trump coasted to victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton by 20 percentage points in the state.

Trump's former White House physician heading to Congress

President Donald Trump's former White House physician is heading to Congress. Republican Ronny Jackson has won a House seat in West Texas, where he moved after leaving the White House in 2018. The solidly Republican district is currently held by Mac Thornberry, one of six GOP congressmen in Texas retiring this year.

Jackson was a surprise pick by Trump to lead the Department of Veteran Affairs in 2018. But his nomination was derailed by allegations of drinking on the job and over-prescribing drugs, claims that he has strongly denied.

Jackson returned to the White House medical office, retired from the Navy in 2019 and launched his bid for Congress, winning Trump's endorsement. Jackson defeated Democrat Gus Trujillo.

Biden wins Colorado

Joe Biden has won the state of Colorado. He was awarded its nine electoral votes on Tuesday.

The state, which went for Democrat Hillary Clinton four years ago, has trended sharply to the left since President Donald Trump's 2016 election.

The state also has a competitive Senate race between Republican incumbent Cory Gardner and the state's former governor John Hickenlooper. Gardner is considered one of the nation's most vulnerable senators.

Biden wins District of Columbia

Democrat Joe Biden has won the District of Columbia.

He was awarded its three electoral votes on Tuesday.

District voters have been allowed to cast presidential ballots since 1964 and have always voted overwhelmingly Democratic. Hillary Clinton’s win in the District over Republican Donald Trump in 2016 was the widest margin ever.

Trump wins 5 more states, Biden adds 2

President Donald Trump has won Louisiana, Nebraska, Nebraska's 3rd Congressional District, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming, while Democrat Joe Biden has won New Mexico and New York.

Nebraska, one of two states that divides its electoral votes, has five total electoral votes up for grabs. Trump won the statewide vote, which is good for two electoral votes. He also won the 3rd Congressional District, which nets him a third vote.

Nebraska's 1st and 2nd congressional districts haven't yet been called.

Trump nets 20 electoral votes from his wins in Louisiana, Nebraska, Nebraska's 3rd, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming, while Biden takes 34 electoral votes for winning New Mexico and New York.

AP calls Indiana for Donald Trump

President Donald Trump has won the state of Indiana.

The Republican nominee on Tuesday was awarded its 11 electoral votes.

Indiana is the home state of Trump's running mate, Vice President Mike Pence.

Trump won Indiana by 19 percentage points in 2016 over Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Trump wins Arkansas

President Donald Trump has won the state of Arkansas.

The Republican nominee on Tuesday was awarded its six electoral votes.

Arkansas is a reliably Republican state that hasn't gone for a Democratic presidential candidate since Bill Clinton in 1996.

Nevada judge: Some voting sites can remain open

A judge in Nevada has ordered 30 Las Vegas-area voting sites to remain open for an extra hour after President Donald Trump’s campaign and Nevada Republicans cited reports that some locations did not open on time.

Clark County District Court Judge Joe Hardy Jr. in Las Vegas heard immediate arguments in an Election Day lawsuit filed to extend voting times to 8pm for 22 specified sites, which had been scheduled to close at 7pm.

Hardy added eight additional sites at the request of attorneys for Democrats.

Clark County has 125 voting centres in and around Las Vegas. The judge ordered that anyone in line at the 30 sites at 8pm will be allowed to cast a ballot.

All results as expected so far

Of all the states called so far, none have gone against what was expected and none have reversed what happened in the US election four years ago.

All eyes are on first Florida and then Pennsylvania, both important swing states expected to give an indication of where this election is going.

Many analysts go so far as to say if Trump cannot win Florida, his route to victory is difficult to see.

Slew of states called: 4 for Trump, 7 for Biden

President Donald Trump has won Alabama, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Tennessee, while Democrat Joe Biden has won Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Rhode Island.

The results were not a surprise. Biden is very strong in the states that went for him, just as Trump is strong in the states he won.

Trump takes 33 electoral votes for winning those four states, while Biden adds 69 electoral votes to his total for winning seven states.

South Carolina called in favour of Donald Trump

President Donald Trump has won the state of South Carolina.

The Republican nominee on Tuesday was awarded its nine electoral votes.

Trump handily won the state in 2016 over Democrat Hillary Clinton. South Carolina hasn't voted for a Democratic presidential candidate since Jimmy Carter in 1976.

Joe Biden's victory in the South Carolina primary in February started a wave of wins that helped cement his status as Democrats' presidential nominee. South Carolina Republicans didn't hold a primary, an early sign of their support for Trump's reelection.

Biden wins Virginia: AP

Democrat Joe Biden has won the state of Virginia.

He was awarded its 13 electoral votes on Tuesday.

Democrat Hillary Clinton won Virginia over Republican Donald Trump in 2016, helped in part by her choice of running mate: Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine.

Virginia has grown increasingly liberal over the last four years, and as a result of the 2019 elections, Democrats now control every branch of government in the state.

Trump wins West Virginia: US media

President Donald Trump has coasted to victory in West Virginia, taking its five electoral votes.

The Republican nominee defeated Democrat Joe Biden on Tuesday in a reliably conservative state.

The last Democrat to win a presidential race in West Virginia was Bill Clinton in 1996.

Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton in West Virginia four years ago by 42 percentage points, one of his highest margins of victory in the nation. Many in the state credit him for his conservative populism and promises to help the declining coal industry, even as few expected he could bring back jobs in a dying field.

Trump campaign wants voting extension in Nevada

The Trump campaign and Nevada Republicans are asking a state court judge to extend voting by one hour at 22 Las Vegas-area locations, citing reports that those sites did not open on time Tuesday morning.

An Election Day lawsuit filed in Clark County District Court was getting an immediate hearing before Judge Joe Hardy.

Polls are scheduled to close at 7pm Pacific time, but election officials keep sites open until the last person in line at that time can vote.

Clark County has 1,150 precincts bunched into 125 voting centers in and around Las Vegas.

The lawsuit filed against Clark County Registrar of Voters Joe Gloria points to a Twitter message posted by the Nevada Secretary of State elections division at 7.22am referring to several polling locations having technical problems that delayed opening.

The message urged people in line to be patient, saying the sites would open soon.

The Trump campaign and Nevada GOP have been involved in several legal fights in Nevada, including an appeal on Tuesday to the Nevada Supreme Court, seeking to stop the mail-in ballot count in Democratic-leaning Las Vegas.

Trump wins Kentucky, Biden carries Vermont: AP

The Associated Press says President Donald Trump has won Kentucky, while Democrat Joe Biden has carried Vermont.

They are the first two states called in the 2020 presidential election.

Kentucky is reliably conservative, while Vermont is considered one of the most liberal states.

Trump wins eight electoral votes from Kentucky, while Biden takes three for winning Vermont.

Trump calls into radio talk shows in battleground states

President Donald Trump called into talk radio shows in the battleground states of Pennsylvania and Wisconsin just hours before polls closed.

Trump projected confidence Tuesday that he will win key states like North Carolina and Florida and said he’s expecting a “great” evening.

He was set to call into conservative host Mark Levin’s show minutes after the first two interviews, but Levin abruptly said Trump would not be appearing. Levin said he was told the president couldn’t come on the show but gave no further details.

Trump told Wisconsin host Vicki McKenna that he is expecting a strong night based on lines of people waiting to vote. Trump has sown doubts about mail voting, without evidence, and is expecting most of his supporters to turn out on Election Day.

At the same time, his campaign was hosting a call with reporters in which they projected confidence but predicted a tight race that would come down to turnout.

Republican governor votes Biden

Vermont Gov. Phil Scott says he voted for Joe Biden for president, making him the first Republican governor in the nation to acknowledge voting for the Democratic presidential candidate.

The Republican governor told reporters Tuesday after casting his ballot in his hometown of Berlin, Vermont, that he had never voted for a Democrat in his life.

“As many of you knew, I didn’t support President Trump. I wasn’t going to vote for him,” Scott said. “But then I came to the conclusion that it wasn’t enough for me to just not vote. I had to vote against.”

He says he “put country over party, which again wasn’t an easy thing to do in some respects.”

A couple of other current Republican governors have said they aren’t voting for Trump, but they said they weren’t voting for Biden, either. Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker says he left his ballot blank for president. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan says he voted for President Ronald Reagan, who died 16 years ago.

Biden making no predictions

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden isn’t making any predictions about the outcome of the election as the final hours of voting tick down.

Speaking to reporters Tuesday outside a Delaware community centre, Biden said he’s “superstitious” about offering predictions for election night but remains “hopeful.” He says he’s heard from aides that there’s “overwhelming turnout” among young people, women and older Black adults in places like Georgia and Florida.

He says, “The things that are happening bode well for the base that has been supporting me - but we’ll see.” Still, he admitted, “It’s just so uncertain” because of how many states are in play.

Biden also wouldn’t commit to commenting on any results on election night, even if President Donald Trump weighs in on the vote. “If there’s something to talk about tonight, I’ll talk about it,” Biden said. “If not, I’ll wait till the votes are counted the next day.”

Biden capped off a day of last-minute campaigning in his hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania, and in Philadelphia with a couple of local stops in Wilmington, Delaware. He spoke to the CEO of a community center for teens and visited a pool where he worked as a teenager, closing out a day that began before the sun rose.

Kamala Harris heading to Delaware

Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris is heading to Wilmington, Delaware, after spending the afternoon campaigning in battleground Michigan.

She reminded voters at a Detroit church on Tuesday how slim Donald Trump’s margin of victory was in the state in 2016. She urged them to try to get two other people to vote as well.

She also urged people to remember why they are voting if they are stuck in long lines.

Earlier Tuesday, she campaigned alongside Democratic Sen. Gary Peters, who is up for reelection, Sen. Debbie Stabenow and Rep. Brenda Lawrence in Southfield. Peters is in a competitive race against Republican John James.

She will join Joe Biden in Delaware on Tuesday night.

Hand sanitizer jams ballot scanner in Iowa

A spokesperson for the Iowa secretary of state says hand sanitizer on voters’ hands caused a ballot scanner to jam at a polling place in Des Moines.

Spokesperson Kevin Hall says some voters’ hands were moist when they handled the ballots and the buildup of sanitizer eventually caused the scanner to stop working.

The machine was fixed in about an hour.

To prevent another breakdown, poll workers moved the sanitizing station farther back in the line so voters’ hands would be dry when they first touched the ballots.

It was a problem unique to the coronavirus era. Iowa is considered one of the tossup states in Tuesday’s election between President Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden.

USPS told to sweep mail facilities

A federal judge in Washington, DC, has ordered US Postal Service inspectors to sweep more than two dozen mail processing facilities for lingering mail-in ballots and for those ballots to be sent out immediately.

The order, which includes centers in central Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Detroit, Atlanta, south Florida and parts of Wisconsin, comes after national delivery delays leading up to the election and concerns the agency wouldn’t be able to deliver ballots on time.

The Postal Service’s ability to handle the surge of mail-in ballots became a concern after its new leader, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, a major GOP donor, implemented a series of policy changes that delayed mail nationwide this summer. Delivery times have since rebounded but have consistently remained below the agency’s internal goals of having more than 95 per cent of first-class mail delivered within five days, with service in some battleground areas severely lagging, according to postal data.

Biden running mate Harris in Michigan

Joe Biden's running mate, Senator Kamala Harris is in battleground Michigan to get out the vote on Election Day.

She touched down in Detroit, a majority Black city, about six hours before polls were to close. As Joe Biden's running mate, Harris has focused heavily on motivating Black voters to turn out. She told reporters she's in Michigan so Detroit voters know "that they are seen and heard by Joe and me."

Trump won Michigan in 2016.

Asked how confident she was, Harris said, "Listen, the day ain't over."

"I'm just here to remind people to vote because the election is still happening right now. It's not over," she said.