Trump wins North Carolina, holding off Harris challenge
WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump won the battleground state of North Carolina on Tuesday, fending off a challenge from Kamala Harris, who was looking to flip the state and expand her pathways to 270 electoral votes.
The former Republican president had made stops to the state in each of the last three days of the campaign to deprive Harris of the pickup, as a divided America made its decision in a stark choice for the nation’s future Tuesday. The Democratic vice president’s campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon told staff in a memo that the “blue wall” of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin was now the Democrat’s “clearest path” to victory, according to a copy obtained by The Associated Press.
Polls were closed in the other battlegrounds, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, Arizona, Wisconsin and Nevada, but the results there were too early to call. Voting continued in the West on Election Day, as tens of millions of Americans added their ballots to the 84 million cast early as they chose between two candidates with drastically different temperaments and visions for the country.
Trump won Florida, a one-time battleground that has shifted heavily to Republicans in recent elections. He also notched early wins in reliably Republican states such as Texas, South Carolina and Indiana, while Harris won Virginia and took Democratic strongholds like New York, New Mexico and California.
Black and Latino voters appeared slightly less likely to support Harris than they were to back Joe Biden four years ago, and Trump’s support among those voters appeared to rise slightly compared to 2020, according to AP VoteCast.
___
The Latest: Trump wins North Carolina while votes are still being counted in other key states
Republican Donald Trump won North Carolina, capturing one of the seven heavily contested battlegrounds while votes in six other swing states were still being counted. In the race for Senate control, Republicans picked up a crucial wins in West Virginia and Ohio. Top House races are focused in New York and California, where Democrats are trying to claw back some of the 10 or so seats where Republicans have made surprising gains in recent years.
Follow the AP’s Election 2024 coverage at: https://apnews.com/hub/election-2024.
Here’s the latest:
Jen Easterly, the director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure and Security Agency, told reporters late Tuesday night that the election process endured “minor disruptive activity throughout the day” but that that activity was anticipated and planned for.
“At this time, we’ve seen no evidence of malicious activity impacting the integrity … of election infrastructure,” she said.
___
Early election takeaways: Trump weakens Democrats' coalition
WASHINGTON (AP) — Even with the outcome uncertain Tuesday night, the 2024 presidential election already has exposed the depths of a fractured nation as the candidates navigated political shifts based on class, race and age under the near-constant threat of misinformation and violence.
Early data suggests that Republican Donald Trump may benefit from some of the shifts more than Democrat Kamala Harris. And the Republican former president may have also benefited from frustrated voters' focus on the economy.
The biggest conclusions from the election so far, however, may be the most obvious.
The United States is poised to elect either its first female president in Harris or its first president with a felony conviction in former president Trump, whose enduring political strength through chaos — much of it his own making — has carried few political costs so far.
With votes still being counted across the country, here are some early takeaways:
___
Republicans are one seat away from a Senate majority with Cruz win in Texas and a pickup in Ohio
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans were one seat away from seizing the Senate majority late Tuesday after firebrand Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas defeated Democrat Colin Allred, pushing the GOP closer to wresting control of the chamber.
While Texas hasn’t elected a Democrat statewide in almost 30 years, Allred, a Dallas-area congressman and former NFL linebacker, positioned himself as a moderate and leaned into his support for reproductive rights amid Texas’ abortion ban, which is one of the strictest in the nation.
Cruz's victory came after Democratic efforts to salvage their Senate majority slipped further out of reach when Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown in Ohio lost his reelection to Republican Bernie Moreno, a wealthy Trump-era newcomer.
Brown’s loss to Moreno, an immigrant from Bogota, Colombia, who built a fortune as a luxury car dealer and blockchain entrepreneur, puts the Democrats on the edge of losing Senate control. A three-term senator, he is the first incumbent to lose reelection.
The Ohio race between Brown and Moreno, who was backed by Donald Trump, is the most expensive of the cycle, at some $400 million.
___
Bomb threats briefly disrupt voting in swing states as Trump makes baseless Election Day claims
WASHINGTON (AP) — A series of bomb threats across multiple battleground states and baseless claims of wrongdoing by former President Donald Trump disrupted an otherwise smooth Election Day that capped a tumultuous presidential campaign.
The bomb threats in parts of Arizona, Georgia and Pennsylvania on Tuesday turned out to be hoaxes, but they forced some polling places to evacuate and extend hours, and delayed the counting of some ballots.
The threats were reported throughout the day at polling locations in three metro Atlanta counties, all with large numbers of Democratic voters, and into the evening at Pennsylvania polling places and election offices where ballots were being counted. Bomb threats also were reported at several voting locations in two Arizona counties, according to the secretary of state’s office.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said in an evening news conference that the hoaxes posed no danger to the public — or to the election. “Every legal, eligible vote will be counted and counted accurately, and the will of the people in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania will be respected," said Shapiro, a Democrat.
Neither Shapiro nor Pennsylvania State Police gave details about who might be behind the hoaxes.
___
Missouri amendment clears way to overturn abortion ban while Florida keeps ban in place
WASHINGTON (AP) — Voters in Missouri cleared the way to undo one of the nation's most restrictive abortion bans, while Florida defeated a similar constitutional amendment, leaving in place a law barring most abortions after the first six weeks of pregnancy.
Those were perhaps the most impactful results on an Election Day when abortion amendments were before voters across the U.S. Abortion rights amendments also passed in Colorado and Maryland. Another that bans discrimination on the basis of “pregnancy outcomes” prevailed in New York.
Results were still pending in five other states with abortion measures on the ballot.
The Missouri and Florida results represent firsts in the abortion landscape, which underwent a seismic shift in 2022 when the U.S. 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.
Missouri is positioned to be the first state where a vote will undo a ban that's already in place. It's not guaranteed, though: Advocates now have to ask courts to overturn laws to square with the new amendment.
___
Marijuana legalization fails in Florida as numerous states approve citizen voting amendments
A costly campaign to legalize recreational marijuana in Florida failed Tuesday as voters in dozens of states weighed more than 140 measures appearing on the ballot alongside races for president and top state offices.
Florida was one of several states deciding high-profile marijuana measures and was among 10 states considering amendments related to abortion or reproductive rights. Voters in several states gave resounding approval to amendments specifically barring noncitizens from voting. Other state measures affected wages, taxes, housing and education, including a school choice measure that was defeated in Kentucky.
Many of the ballot measures were initiated by citizen petitions that sidestep state legislatures, though others were placed before voters by lawmakers.
The Florida marijuana amendment fell short of the 60% supermajority needed to approve constitutional amendments. It would have allowed recreational sales of marijuana to people over 21 from existing medical marijuana dispensaries, with the potential for the Legislature to license additional retailers.
The campaign was funded predominantly by Florida’s largest medical marijuana operator, Trulieve, which had provided almost $145 million of the $153 million campaign through the end of October. The measure was opposed by the Florida Republican Party and Gov. Ron DeSantis, who said it would reduce the quality of life by leaving a marijuana stench in the air.
___
AP VoteCast: Harris voters motivated by democracy, Trump supporters by inflation and immigration
WASHINGTON (AP) — Voters for Kamala Harris and Donald Trump who cast their ballots for Tuesday’s presidential election had vastly different motivations — reflecting a broader national divide on the problems the United States faces.
AP VoteCast, an extensive survey of more than 115,000 voters nationwide, found that the fate of democracy appeared to be a primary driver for Vice President Harris’ supporters. It was a sign that the Democratic nominee’s messaging in her campaign’s closing days accusing Trump of being a fascist may have broken through.
By contrast, Trump’s supporters were largely focused on immigration and inflation — two issues that the former Republican president has been hammering since the start of his campaign. Trump has pledged that tariffs would bring back factory jobs and that greater domestic oil production would flow through the economy and lower prices.
Overall, the presidential candidates’ coalitions, based on race, education and community type, appeared largely similar to the 2020 results. Preliminary AP VoteCast findings, however, hinted at some shifts among demographic groups that could be meaningful for the ultimate outcome, including among younger, Black and Hispanic voters.
Voters’ conflicting views on key priorities set up a challenge for whoever ultimately wins the election to lead the world’s premier economic and military power. Voters saw the qualities of each candidate differently. They were more likely to describe Trump as a strong leader than they were Harris, but she had an edge over him on being seen as having the moral character needed to be president.
___
Israel's Netanyahu dismisses his defense minister as wars rage. Protests erupt across country
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday dismissed his popular defense minister, Yoav Gallant, in a surprise announcement that came as the country is embroiled in wars on multiple fronts across the region. The move sparked protests across the country, including a mass gathering that paralyzed central Tel Aviv.
Netanyahu and Gallant have repeatedly been at odds over the war in Gaza. But Netanyahu had avoided firing his rival before taking the step as the world's attention was focused on the U.S. presidential election. Netanyahu cited “significant gaps” and a “crisis of trust" in his Tuesday evening announcement as he replaced Gallant with a longtime loyalist.
“In the midst of a war, more than ever, full trust is required between the prime minister and defense minister,” Netanyahu said. “Unfortunately, although in the first months of the campaign there was such trust and there was very fruitful work, during the last months this trust cracked between me and the defense minister.”
In the early days of the war, Israel's leadership presented a unified front as it responded to Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack. But as the war has dragged on and spread to Lebanon, key policy differences have emerged.
While Netanyahu has called for continued military pressure on Hamas, Gallant had taken a more pragmatic approach, saying that military force has created the necessary conditions for at least a temporary diplomatic deal that could bring home hostages held by the militant group.
___
A week after Spain's floods, families hope that the missing are alive with 89 unaccounted for
SEDAVI, Spain (AP) — Francisco Murgui went out to try to salvage his motorbike when the water started to rise.
He never came back.
One week after catastrophic flooding devastated eastern Spain, María Murgui still holds out hope that her missing father is alive.
“He was like many people in town who went out to get their car or motorbike to safety,” the 27-year-old told The Associated Press. “The flash flood caught him outside, and he had to cling to a tree in order to escape drowning. He called us to tell us he was fine, that we shouldn’t worry.”
But when María set out into the streets of Sedaví to try to rescue him from the water washing away everything in its path, he was nowhere to be found.
The Associated Press
