US Election: Trump Leading Harris in Electoral College Count, Harris Sees Narrowing Possibilities

Former President Donald Trump widened his lead over Vice President Kamala Harris in states expected to support him in the 2024 presidential race, while election officials in the seven battlegrounds continued to tally ballots as at press time Wednesday morning.

As of 5.20 this morning, the ex-US leader had racked up 230 Electoral College votes compared to Harris’ 153, according to several media projections. The Associated Press reported that total of 270 votes are needed to win.

Projections had not yet been made for some key swing states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin at the time of going to press. Trump won North Carolina’s 16 votes and boosted his part to 270 mark as Harris chances narrow.

Trump picked up apparent wins in Iowa, Missouri, Montana and Utah as polls in the western United States closed. The former president also gained a portion of electoral votes in Nebraska, one of two states that is not winner-take-all.

The AP had already projected Trump wins in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia and Wyoming.

Harris gained Colorado and the District of Columbia, after already having picked up Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont earlier in the evening.

All results are unofficial until local election officials across the country verify and certify the outcome in the coming days and weeks. The process of counting ballots and determining a winner could take several more days.

Election night drew to a close an extraordinary campaign season defined by Trump’s divisive rhetoric, his numerous criminal cases and two attempts on his life.

The race took an unprecedented turn when President Joe Biden, following a disastrous debate performance, dropped his re-election bid with just over 100 days until the election, jolting the Trump camp to pivot to Harris.

As projections began rolling in, Trump posted on his Truth Social platform reminders about poll closure times. The former president was spending election night at his Palm Beach, Florida, residence.

Harris was spending election night at her alma mater, Howard University in Washington, D.C., where her supporters gathered.

The presidential campaigns continued to hit swing states, speak to the press and issue statements reminding voters of their rights.

Trump, from his Mar-a-Lago estate, posted a video message to voters on his platform Truth Social reminding them to remain in line if they arrive before polls close.

“Republicans, we’re doing very well. Stay on line, don’t get off line, and vote. Make sure you get through and vote. We’re gonna have a big victory tonight,” Trump said.

Biden, who was the presumed Democratic nominee until he dropped his re-election bid and endorsed Harris just over 100 days ago, did not make any public appearances Tuesday.

Control of both chambers of Congress is also up for grabs. Democrats had only a narrow path to defend their Senate majority after Republican Jim Justice flipped a West Virginia seat on Tuesday. The House of Representatives looked like a toss-up.

Nearly three-quarters of voters said American democracy was under threat, according to national exit polls, underscoring the depth of polarisation in a nation where divisions have only grown starker during a fiercely competitive race.

Trump employed increasingly apocalyptic rhetoric while stoking unfounded fears that the election system cannot be trusted. Harris warned that a second Trump term would threaten the underpinnings of American democracy.

Hours before polls closed, Trump claimed on his Truth Social site without evidence that there was “a lot of talk about massive cheating” in Philadelphia, echoing his false claims in 2020 that fraud had occurred in large, Democratic-dominated cities. In a subsequent post, he also asserted there was fraud in Detroit.

“I don’t respond to nonsense,” Detroit City Clerk Janice Winfrey told Reuters.

A Philadelphia city commissioner, Seth Bluestein, replied on X, “There is absolutely no truth to this allegation. It is yet another example of disinformation. Voting in Philadelphia has been safe and secure.”

Trump, whose supporters attacked the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, after he claimed the 2020 election was rigged, voted earlier near his home in Palm Beach, Florida.

“If I lose an election, if it’s a fair election, I’m gonna be the first one to acknowledge it,” Trump told reporters.

His campaign has suggested he may declare victory on election night even while millions of ballots have yet to be counted, as he did four years ago. The winner may not be known for days if the margins in battleground states are as slim as expected.

Millions of Americans waited in orderly lines to cast ballots, with only sporadic disruptions reported across a handful of states, including several non-credible bomb threats that the FBI said appeared to originate from Russian email domains.

Trump was watching the results at his Mar-a-Lago club before speaking to supporters at a nearby convention centre, according to sources familiar with the planning. Tesla CEO Elon Musk, a prominent Trump backer, said he would watch the results at Mar-a-Lago with Trump.

Tuesday’s vote capped a dizzying race churned by unprecedented events, including two assassination attempts against Trump, President Joe Biden’s surprise withdrawal and Harris’ rapid rise.

Whatever happens, history will be made. Harris, 60, the first female vice president, would become the first woman, Black woman and South Asian American to win the presidency.

Trump, 78, the only president to be impeached twice and the first former president to be criminally convicted, would also become the first president to win non-consecutive terms in more than a century.

Emmanuel Addeh

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