By The Associated Press
Here’s the latest:
Where polls are closing next
At 10 p.m. EST, polls will close in Montana, Nevada, and Utah.
Democrats send out the famous people
Democrats deployed celebrities to keep their voters fired up while they wait in long lines to cast their ballots.
Paul Rudd handed out water to students at Temple University in Philadelphia. Jennifer Garner, Josh Gad, Mark Cuban and Demi Lovato communicated with voters via FaceTime in various battleground states.
Republicans have also encouraged their voters to stay in line, even after polls close.
“Hi, Republicans. We’re doing really well,” Donald Trump said in a social media video. “If you’re in line, stay in line.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson reelected to a fifth term in the House
Johnson became speaker a little more than a year ago after eight Republicans joined with Democrats in booting Kevin McCarthy from the job.
The social conservative inherited many of the same troubles that plagued his predecessor when it comes to unifying the conference. He has had to rely on Democratic votes to keep the federal government open and needed their help to prevent the kind of mutiny that toppled McCarthy.
Johnson tied his political fortunes to Trump, showing up at the latter’s hush-money trial in New York and embracing his claims of political persecution.
Johnson will be favored to remain as speaker if House Republicans maintain their majority, but could face a serious challenge as the Republican leader should the Democrats take control of the chamber.
Historic change as 2 Black women elected to Senate
Only three Black women have held Senate seats in the nation’s history, but that is about to change.
Democrats Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware and Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland have won Senate seats, and they will be the first Black women to serve together in the Senate.
The other Black women who have served as senators are Carol Moseley Braun of Illinois, Laphonza Butler of California and current Vice President Kamala Harris of California.
Ohio key to Democratic hopes of holding Senate
Ohio is sending its electoral college votes to Donald Trump, but the state is also key to Democrats’ bid to keep control of the Senate and win the House.
Sen. Sherrod Brown, the only Democrat to win a nonjudicial statewide race in Ohio in over 10 years, is running for a fourth term by appealing to working-class voters and making access to abortion a top priority.
He is being challenged by Republican Bernie Moreno, a wealthy businessman backed by Donald Trump.
The state could have big consequences for the House as well. Democrats are defending a trio of House seats that are seen as competitive.
No surprises as polls close. Eyes now turn to Eastern battlegrounds
There has been little surprise in results so far with polls across most of the country having closed.
Trump won Republican-leaning states including Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Texas, while Harris won a swath of New England and the Northeast including New Jersey and New York.
Meanwhile, attention is gravitating toward the Eastern battleground states of Georgia, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries reelected to a seventh term
Jeffries succeeded Rep. Nancy Pelosi as the lead House Democrat after Republicans gained control of the chamber in the 2022 mid-terms and Democrats looked for a generational change in leadership.
Jeffries made sure Democrats delivered the votes necessary to prevent a federal default and to subsequently keep the government open.
But he declined to provide Kevin McCarthy with the Democratic votes he needed to stay on as speaker when eight members of the GOP revolted against McCarthy.
If Democrats are able to gain the House majority, he would almost assuredly be elected the next House speaker.
Kim, elected to Senate from New Jersey, says he’s ‘humbled and grateful’
Democratic Rep. Andy Kim, who won election to Senate from New Jersey, said that “as a son of immigrants” he never imagined he would become the first Korean American to serve in the chamber.
“I’m deeply humbled and grateful to NJ and for everyone who got us here,” Kim wrote on X, the website formerly known as Twitter. “I promise I’ll serve with honor and integrity as a public servant for all.”
Biden congratulates Democrats on their victories
President Biden made a round of congratulatory calls to Democrats who have emerged victorious on Election Day.
According to the White House, he’s called Lisa Blunt Rochester, who won a U.S. Senate seat in his home state of Delaware, and Matt Meyer, who was elected the state’s governor. He also called the outgoing governor, John Carney, who was elected mayor of Wilmington.
Other calls went to Andy Kim, who will be a senator from New Jersey, and Josh Stein, the next governor of North Carolina.
Chinese accounts boost Russian election disinformation
Russian disinformation aiming to reduce trust in the U.S. election received some last-minute help from China, according to research from the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab.
Investigators identified several videos linked to Russia that made false claims about voting. Some of the videos mimicked legitimate U.S. news outlets and featured fake audio clips of law enforcement officials supposedly acknowledging widespread voter fraud.
The researchers found the videos were being amplified by a network of fake social media accounts that originated in China. The accounts had spread pro-China propaganda in the past and shifted their focus to the U.S. election only recently.
Republican Mark Robinson loses North Carolina gubernatorial bid after tumultuous campaign
Mark Robinson, the North Carolina Republican gubernatorial candidate rocked by a CNN report indicating he posted racist and explicit messages on a pornography site more than a decade ago, has lost his race against Democrat Josh Stein, AP projects.
The loss is a cap on a turbulent run for Robinson, the state’s lieutenant governor, who rocketed to conservative fame in 2018 by seizing on Trump’s MAGA movement.
His campaign was continually tagged with controversial comments Robinson made about everything from abortion to race to gay rights. Trump compared Robinson to Martin Luther King Jr. before his pornography site scandal, and did not explicitly back away from him after the scandal engulfed the North Carolina Republican’s campaign.
Stein, the state’s Attorney General, will succeed Roy Cooper, North Carolina’s popular two-term governor who was term-limited. The race was one of the most closely watched governor’s races in the nation this year.
Pennsylvania officials urge patience when it comes to a lengthy vote-counting process
State officials are preaching calm and patience in the counting of votes in the face of large voter turnout across the state and a spate of disruptive bomb threats at polling locations and government buildings.
Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, said at a Tuesday night news conference that every legal, eligible vote will be counted. He says that takes time and that the state’s goal is to do it right and accurately.
Al Schmidt, the state’s top elections official, said in-person turnout numbers will not be available Tuesday night. He said the state’s counties could not even begin processing and opening the millions of returned mail ballots until 7 a.m. EST Tuesday and that the last of them would not have been received until 8 p.m. EST.
AP Race Call: Constitutional amendment that protects abortion fails in Florida
A measure that would have protected abortion rights in Florida’s state constitution failed Tuesday after not meeting the 60% threshold to pass.
The rejection of the measure makes Florida the first state where a measure protecting abortion rights failed after Roe V. Wade was overturned in 2022.
The initiative would have prevented lawmakers from creating and enforcing restrictions or prohibitions on abortions before viability or when necessary to protect the patient’s health.
Amendment supporters were hoping to overturn Florida’s current six-week abortion ban.
The rejection of the measure makes Florida one of the first states where voters opposed protecting abortion rights after Roe V. Wade was overturned in 2022.
The Associated Press declared the amendment was rejected at 9:06 p.m. EST.