Trump wins Georgia, moving closer to reclaiming White House

Published 12:18 am Wednesday, November 6, 2024

Donald Trump on Wednesday won the battleground state of Georgia, the onetime Republican stronghold that had voted for Democrats four years ago, which along with his win in North Carolina narrowed Kamala Harris’ pathways to victory and expanded his routes to reaching the 270 electoral votes needed to become the next president.

The victory left Harris heavily reliant on the “blue wall” of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin to have a credible path to the White House. The crowd at Harris’ watch party at her alma mater, Howard University in Washington, began to file out after midnight.

A top Harris ally sent supporters home from her rally, with no plans for the Democratic vice president to speak.

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“We will continue overnight to fight to make sure that every vote is counted. That every voice has spoken,” Cedric Richmond, co-chair of the Harris campaign said. “So you won’t hear from the vice president tonight, but you will hear from her tomorrow. She will be back here tomorrow.”

Meanwhile, the Republican former president was set to address supporters early Wednesday from his campaign’s watch party in Florida.

Trump also 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. Harris won Virginia, a state Trump visited in the final days of the campaign, and took Democratic strongholds like New York, New Mexico and California. Harris also won an Electoral College vote in Nebraska that was contested by Republicans.

The Trump campaign bet that it would cut into Democrats’ traditional strength with Black and Latino voters, with the former president going on male-centric podcasts and making explicit racial appeals to both groups. Nationally, 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.