2024 US election results: Hugs, calls and celebration at Trump’s watch party

Washington: All 2024 election polls are now closed, leaving voters to wait and see whether Donald Trump or Kamala Harris will win a historic presidential election.

Trump supporters gathered at his election night watch party were hugging one another, making calls, jumping up and down, and throwing their MAGA hats in the air every chance they got to celebrate as results continued to trickle in.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. joined Trump's watch party, entering and walking briskly as he made his way near the stage among crowds of supporters.

Guests are still arriving at the convention centre in West Palm Beach.

Kamala Harris wins New Hampshire

Vice President Kamala Harris won New Hampshire on Wednesday, continuing the state’s two-decade-long streak of awarding its four electoral votes to Democrats.

New Hampshire has backed Democrats in seven of the last eight presidential elections. Harris’ win comes nine months after the Democratic National Committee bypassed New Hampshire as the leadoff presidential primary.

It’s the third time that Republican Donald Trump has won New Hampshire’s GOP primary but lost the state in the general election.

As the election stretched into the early hours of Wednesday, Republicans — seeing a map trending positively for their party — began to point to a shift in demographic support among key voting groups who often lean Democrat.

There are serious 2016 echoes in Harris’ 2024 election night

Forgive Democrats if they are having a bit of déjà vu.

There are noticeable similarities between then-Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s election night in 2016 and the one that Harris had planned for tonight at Howard University.

Neither Clinton nor Harris, appeared at their election night party, despite both heading into Election Day believing they were about to defeat Donald Trump.

Both sent top aides to inform the demoralized audience that the woman would not speak. And there were noticeable similarities between what each man said.

Harris’ path to the White House is growing less forgiving

Harris still has a path to the White House through the Northern battleground states, but the map is getting less forgiving.

Harris’s campaign has long said her surest way to 270 electoral votes was through Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, states Trump won in 2016 and Biden captured narrowly in 2020.

Harris cannot lose Pennsylvania and reach 270 electoral votes. However, she can lose pieces of the blue wall — so named for its longtime reputation as a Democratic firewall — and still reach 270.

If she loses Michigan, she can make it up by winning Arizona and Nevada. She can lose Wisconsin and make up for it with Arizona.

But the map has surely shrunk for Harris, who cannot lose more than one in the three-state northern arc.

Donald Trump wins Georgia

Former President Donald Trump won the swing state of Georgia on Wednesday, returning its 16 electoral votes to the Republican column.

Joe Biden narrowly carried Georgia in 2020, but Republicans have won every other Georgia presidential vote since 1996.

Trump tried to overturn his 2020 loss in Georgia, setting off a political and legal struggle that led to his indictment in the state. While the state has two Democratic U.S. senators, Trump’s victory proves Georgia still has a Republican bent.

Six candidates appeared on Georgia ballots, but votes for Claudia De la Cruz and Cornel West weren’t counted. (AP)