Election briefing: Kamala Harris watch party falls silent as Trump takes decisive lead

Donald Trump has won the swing states of North Carolina and Georgia, significantly narrowing Kamala Harris’s path to victory, as Republicans also gain control of Senate

Don’t miss important US election coverage. Get our free app and sign up for election alerts
US election 2024 – latest updates
US election results 2024: live map and tracker

As the clock ticked into Wednesday morning on the US east coast, two of the seven swing states – Georgia and North Carolina – had been called for Donald Trump.

The mood at the Kamala Harris campaign party at her alma mater, Howard University, in Washington DC shifted from jubilant to quiet as Trump appeared to be in a stronger position than Harris to claim the White House. Her campaign co-chair Cedric Richmond addressed the crowd and said, “we still have votes to count. We still have states that have not been called yet”, but made clear that the Democratic candidate wouldn’t be speaking.

Donald Trump has won the swing states of North Carolina and Georgia, the only two of the seven swing state called in the race so far. Trump has 246 of 270 electoral college votes needed to win, and Kamala Harris has 210 electoral college votes. The vice-president now cannot win the election without winning the state of Pennsylvania, in which Trump holds a lead, with 90% of the vote counted.

Harris has won the following states so far: Virginia, Hawaii, New Mexico, California, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington DC and Maine’s first congressional district.

Trump has won the following states so far: North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, Wyoming, Kansas, Idaho, Iowa and the third congressional district in Nebraska.

Republicans have retaken the majority in the Senate, the Associated Press reported, after picking up seats in Ohio and West Virginia, and fending off challenges to their candidates in Texas and Nebraska. Republicans will control Congress’s upper chamber for the first time in four years. Should Donald Trump win, they will be in a position to confirm his supreme court justices, federal judges and appointees to cabinet posts. If Harris wins the White House, they can hold up her appointees, or block them outright.

There were decisive victories for Democrats elsewhere in the election. The US will have two Black women serving as senators for the first time in American history, with the election of Lisa Blunt Rochester from Delaware and Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland.

Sarah McBride, a Delaware state senator, also made history as the first out transgender person elected to the US House of Representatives. McBride, 34, won Delaware’s at-large House seat in Tuesday’s general election against the Republican candidate John Whalen III, a former Delaware state police officer and businessman. The House seat, Delaware’s only one, has been Democratic since 2010.

When do polls close?

When we’ll know the results

What to watch for tonight