2024 US election: Trump At 266 Electoral Votes, Harris At 195

That gives him 266 electoral votes, just shy of the 270 needed to win the presidency. Fox News has already called the race in Trump’s favour.

Harris has so far captured 195 electoral votes, including big prizes California and New York — as well as the US capital Washington.

Related news: Harris and Beyoncé ignite Houston Rally against Trump 

The magic number to win the presidency is 270. Observers expect the hotly contested race for the White House to come down to a handful of key battleground states.

The following is a list of the states won by each candidate and the corresponding number of electoral votes, based on the projections of US media including CNN, Fox News, MSNBC/NBC News, ABC and CBS.

Jubilant supporters greeted Donald Trump at an event in Florida early Wednesday as he claimed victory in the US presidential vote, reveling in their apparent win even as most major news networks held off on calling the race.

Throwing his arms in the air dancing, Ted Sarvanis, 68, told AFP he felt “extraordinary.”

“This is the greatest American political story in the history of the country,” he said.

Sarvanis was speaking near the stage where Trump had just claimed his win in a speech — though Fox News was the only television network projecting the result of Tuesday’s vote at the time.

Joined by vice presidential pick JD Vance, Trump, poised for a stunning return to the White House, declared a “a political victory that our country has never seen before.”

It was a far cry from an event for Kamala Harris at Howard University, where supporters of the Democrat trudged home in the dark Washington night after the campaign announced the vice president would not be speaking on election night.

“I am scared, I am anxious now,” Charlyn Anderson told AFP earlier in the evening.

“We won’t give up until it’s done but I’m scared.”

As the night wore on, Trump’s numbers in the all-important electoral college grew, with three of the seven key battleground states called in his favor, taking him to the brink of victory.

At the Trump event, men donning formal suits and women in dresses mingled at the Palm Beach County Convention Center, where they rubbed shoulders with one die-hard Trump fan sporting their political hero’s name emblazoned on a leather vest.

Whether dressed in formal attire or more casual wear, many of the attendees wore Trump’s signature red “Make America Great Again” baseball caps.

“I feel relieved. I was a little bit scared, because you never know how things are going to turn out,” said Stacy Kurtz, 45.

‘Going to be dangerous’

In battleground Pennsylvania, however, the mood at a Democratic watch party turned despondent.

“I’m just pissed off,” said Lynn Johnson, 65, as he watched cable news channels.

“It’s going to be dangerous if he wins. I don’t feel safe.”

In Atlanta, what started as a raucous watch party at the Hyatt Regency, with balloons and beer, sobered up around midnight.

Organisers switched off TV screens and asked people to exit the ballroom.

In Washington, Howard University, Harris’s alma mater and where she had been set to spend election night, was left strewn with empty fencing as crowds cleared out.

If the scenes at the Trump and Harris rallies seemed worlds apart, so did the attendees.

“He’s a terrible candidate, so it just doesn’t make sense,” said Harris supporter Ken Brown.

“I don’t know who’s voting for him.”

AFP