US election: Trump wins first big prize as Harris struggles

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Donald Trump took the first critically important swing state to be called in the U.S. presidential election and is ahead in vote counting across the country, in a blow to Democrats’ hopes of keeping the White House. 

The Republican former President Trump won North Carolina, the first of the seven marginal states to be called. While a lot can still change, the emerging picture for Vice President Kamala Harris is looking worse than at the start of the night.

For America, the election marks a historic fork in the road: when the counting is done, either the disruptor-in-chief Trump will be on his way back to power, emboldened and vowing “retribution” against his foes, or the U.S. will have elected its first woman as president.

The vote is pivotal for the rest of the world, too, with the future of European security and global trade in the balance. Trump has threatened to pull the U.S. out of the NATO military alliance and boasted about ending Russia’s war on Ukraine in a day. European governments have been trying to prepare for what — for some — will be the nightmarish prospect of a second Trump term.

The president is not chosen by popular vote whereby the candidate with the most support across the U.S. wins. Instead, there are 50 state-wide contests and one in the District of Columbia, in a system known as the “Electoral College.” The winner is the candidate with the most Electoral College votes across the country.

Pollsters and political experts reckon most of the states are sewn up for one candidate or the other, with only seven truly competitive battlegrounds. These are the so-called Rust Belt states, the former industrial heartlands of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania; and the Sun Belt states of Georgia, North Carolina, Nevada and Arizona in the southern and western parts of the country.

Voters across the country say their top priority this time was “democracy,” according to exit polling reported by NBC News, followed by the economy, abortion and migration. Trump is making inroads winning support from black and Latino men, in two crucial swing states — North Carolina and Georgia, surveys suggested.

The weeks and days leading up to the election have been tense. The campaign split the country with many voters feeling they have a terrible choice to make between the outlandish and unpredictable Trump and Harris, who has struggled to define herself or set out what she would do differently to President Joe Biden if she wins. 

Name-calling and violence

The two sides have traded insults, with Harris branding Trump a fascist, while he has called her a “sleazebag.” The specter of violence has haunted the political atmosphere, too. Trump was targeted twice by would-be assassins, once escaping by the narrowest of margins as a bullet cut his ear. He has also indulged in his own violent rhetoric in recent days, suggesting Harris should fight Mike Tyson and one of her supporters should be shot at. 

Security forces in America are on high alert, especially after the Jan. 6 riot in 2021 when a Trump-backing mob stormed the Capitol in Washington, D.C. after he refused to accept his defeat in the 2020 election. 

This year, too, Trump and his team have been stoking the narrative that the contest is unfair or corrupted, without providing evidence that has satisfied the authorities. A judge in Georgia threw out Republican complaints over the process Tuesday. 

Bomb threats believed to originate from Russian disinformation peddlers targeted Georgia and potentially Michigan, both critical battlegrounds. 

Pollsters say the most important of the seven swing states this year is likely to be Pennsylvania in the east of the United States. The state remains too close to call. But its 19 Electoral College votes could be decisive, especially for Harris’ chances.

There are 538 Electoral College votes in total, spread over 50 states and the District of Columbia. A simple majority — 270 votes — in the Electoral College will be enough for victory. 

Trump is spending election night at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, watching the results come in on his favorite and most supportive TV station, Fox News. Guests are sipping champagne. Among those seen at the club were Elon Musk, the tech billionaire and vocal Trump backer, and Nigel Farage, the British MP and Reform UK party leader.

This story is being updated. Steven Shepard and Meredith McGraw contributed reporting.