U.S. election night: Trump takes early lead over Harris with reliable red state wins | CBC News

THE LATEST: 

• CBC News calls Alabama, Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia for Donald Trump.
• Kamala Harris wins D.C., Maryland, Massachusetts and Vermont.
• Current electoral vote tally is 99 for Trump and 27 for Harris.
• Presidential candidates need 270 electoral votes to win.
• Polls now closed in 26 states, including battlegrounds Georgia and Pennsylvania.
• Polls will shut in 16 more states by 9 p.m. ET.

One of the most divisive races for the White House in recent memory is coming to an end as Americans head to the final hours of voting, tasked with choosing between two candidates who have each framed the election as a fight for the nation’s character, democracy and security.

With polls now closed in more than two dozen states, Republican candidate Donald Trump has won nine reliable red states to take an early lead over Democratic candidate Kamala Harris. The remainder of poll closing times vary by state, but the last one shuts in Alaska at 8 p.m. local time (1 a.m. ET).

CBC News has called Alabama, Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia for Trump, while Harris will hold the reliably blue states Maryland, Massachusetts, Vermont and the District of Columbia.

Each candidate needs 270 electoral votes to become the next president.

The results are so far unsurprising.

The key results will come from the seven swing states, which are anyone’s game:

• Arizona.
• Georgia.
• Michigan.
• Nevada.
• North Carolina.
• Pennsylvania.
• Wisconsin.

In the past, the results have been obvious within a matter of hours on election night. If the presidential race is extremely close and mail-in ballots become a deciding factor, there will be no clear winner on Tuesday.

Unlike Canadians, Americans vote directly for who they want to see as president — though it is the electoral college which ultimately elects the winner. Their choices this year were Harris, Trump or a third-party candidate.

More than 80 million voters cast their ballots early.

Harris, 60, said she had intended to vote early to show voters the different options available. Her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, did the same, casting his ballot last week in his home state. President Joe Biden also voted early in his home state of Delaware.

Trump, 78, had previously said he would vote before election day but instead cast his ballot in Florida on Tuesday. 

Voting has largely gone smoothly, but the FBI said hoax bomb threats on Tuesday, many of which appeared to originate from Russian email domains, were directed at polling locations in three U.S. battleground states: Georgia, Michigan and Wisconsin.

The bureau said the threats were not credible but at least two polling sites in Georgia were briefly evacuated. 

How the candidates are spending the night

Harris is spending election night at a party at her alma mater, Howard University, a historically Black school in Washington, D.C.

“The first office I ever ran for was freshman class representative at Howard University,” Harris recalled in an interview on Tuesday with the Big Tigger Morning Show on V-103 in Atlanta. “And to go back tonight to Howard University, my beloved alma mater, and be able to hopefully recognize this day for what it is — really it’s full circle for me.”

WATCH | Harris spends election day at phone bank:

Harris thanks voters, volunteers at DNC headquarters

Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris visited the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington on election day, where she chatted on the phone with voters and addressed a cheering crowd of phone bank volunteers. ‘This truly represents the best of who we are,’ Harris said.

Trump said he would watch the election results with “a very special group of people” at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Fla., and a few thousand people at a nearby convention centre.

Speaking to reporters after voting in Palm Beach, Trump said he had no plans to tell his supporters to refrain from violence should he lose.

WATCH | Trump speaks to reporters after casting vote:

Trump says his supporters ‘are not violent people’

In response to a reporter’s question, Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump said he doesn’t think he needs to tell his supporters to refrain from violence if he loses the election. ‘I certainly don’t want any violence, but I certainly don’t have to tell [them]’ because they ‘are not violent people,’ he said at a Palm Beach, Fla., polling centre, where he cast his vote.

“I don’t have to tell them” because they “are not violent people,” he said.

Trump also planned to visit a nearby campaign office to thank those working on his behalf.

The next U.S. president will be consequential for Canada, too: The countries are top allies, side by side on the world stage and one another’s largest customers with billions of dollars annually in trade.

WATCH | Why the next U.S. president will be decided by just 7 states:

Why 0.008% of the U.S. population might determine the election | About That

Voters in seven swing states will determine the outcome of the U.S. presidential election in November. Andrew Chang breaks down each of the states in play for Kamala Harris and Donald Trump and their pathways to 270 electoral college votes.

At his own event on the eve of the election on Monday, Walz said voters’ choice will have implications far beyond the next presidential term.

“The thing is upon us now, folks,” Walz said at a rally in La Crosse, Wis. “I know there is a lot of anxiety, but the decisions that are made over the next 24 to 36 hours when those polls close will shape not just the next four years — they will shape the coming generations.”

WATCH | How the U.S. electoral college works:

Want to understand the U.S. electoral college? It’s just like tennis | About That

The U.S. presidential election in November is the only election in the country that doesn’t use the popular vote to determine a winner; instead it uses the slightly confusing — and often controversial — electoral college. Andrew Chang explains how the numbers add up and why winning an election can be just like winning a tennis match.