The first polls have closed in the United States, with voting wrapping up in most Indiana counties and in Kentucky’s eastern half.
Voting will finish in the rest of the two red states at 7pm, at which point it will also conclude in a handful of other states – including swing state Georgia.
Key events
We’re minutes away from the first polls closing anywhere in the United States.
Most counties in Indiana and several in eastern Kentucky will wrap up voting at 6pm ET. Both generally vote Republican and not considered swing states this year. Voting in the remaining counties will finish at 7pm.
Alice Herman
Reporting from Milwaukee, Wisconsin:
Serina Jones, 30, pulled over her minivan in West Milwaukee and flagged down a canvasser walking down the street in a reflective jacket.
“Are you all doing voter stuff?” she asked.
Jones, who is a mother of three, had not registered to vote yet but was determined to cast a ballot – and had plans to get her husband to the polls, too.
After plugging in her address and making a plan to vote, she told me she has “mixed feelings” about the election.
“I’m fired up,” said Jones, who is voting for Kamala Harris and said she worried about the consequences of a second Donald Trump presidency for her three children’s education and livelihood.
“But I have a lot riding on this,” she said. “I’m trying to make sure we got a future for our babies.”
Seth Bluestein, a Republican Philadelphia city commissioner, called Donald Trump’s claim of “cheating” in the city “disinformation”, and said the vote so far has been “safe and secure”.
Bluestein is one of three officials on the board tasked with overseeing voting in Philadelphia. Here’s what he had to say:
There is absolutely no truth to this allegation. It is yet another example of disinformation. Voting in Philadelphia has been safe and secure. pic.twitter.com/wMiPnAgO17
— Seth Bluestein (@SethBluestein) November 5, 2024
We have been in regular contact with the RNC. We have been responsive to every report of irregularities at the polls to ensure Philadelphians can vote safely and securely.
— Seth Bluestein (@SethBluestein) November 5, 2024
Philadelphia neighborhoods where many Puerto Ricans live have seen high voter turnout, the Harris campaign says, after a speaker at a Donald Trump rally last month referred to the US territory as “a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean”.
It could be a positive sign for the vice-president’s chances of winning Pennsylvania, perhaps the most vital of the three “Blue Wall” swing states along the Great Lakes. Victories in the Keystone state along with Michigan and Wisconsin would probably provide enough electoral votes to make Harris the next president.
The campaign also sees high turnout by students at universities nationwide, including in Pennsylvania. In battleground state North Carolina, fewer rural Republicans appear to have voted, but many people have cast ballots in the Democratic-leaning city of Durham.
Joan E Greve
Democrats are counting on young voters to turn out at the polls today to help deliver wins for not just Kamala Harris but congressional candidates and ballot measures across the country.
“Young people will decide this election. From local ballot initiatives to federal races, we know this critical bloc is showing up for their futures and making their voices heard,” said Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez, president of the youth voting group NextGen America.
According to NextGen’s data, the group registered more than 130,000 young voters this election cycle, while more than 171,000 young voters signed pledges to vote.
“We are proud of our work this cycle on-the-ground and online to educate, mobilize, and empower young voters, contributing to a culture of civic engagement that will extend beyond this election,” Ramirez said.
“Young people are showing up, turning out, and using their collective power to elect leaders that represent our values – today and into the future.”
The state of American democracy and the economy were the top issues on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots in the 2024 presidential election, according to an NBC News exit poll.
The poll’s preliminary results show 35% of voters said democracy mattered most to their vote, while 31% said the economy.
Abortion (14%) and immigration (11%) ranked as the next-most important issues, while just 4% named foreign policy.
ABC News’ preliminary exit poll also shows that the state of democracy prevailed as the most important issue to voters. More voters said they see American democracy as threatened than secure – 73% to 25%, the poll shows.
Voters described the economy as being in “bad shape” by 67%-32%, with 45% of respondents saying that their own financial situation is worse now than four years ago.
Carter Sherman
Reporting from Phoenix, Arizona:
Alison Folsom has cast her ballot at the same library in downtown Phoenix for years. This is the first year, Folsom said, that she had to wait in line – for 40 minutes.
But Folsom was delighted, especially because so many of the other people in line seemed to be between the ages of 18 and 25.
“We know that they’re one of the most important, consequential voting blocks, but seeing them come out and vote on election day that was special,” said Folsom, who wore a purple shirt that read “ABORTION RIGHTS ARE HUMAN RIGHTS” and works for the Movement Voter Project, which helps Democratic and progressive donors give to grassroots campaigns.
Arizona State University students Joy Leon, a 19-year-old Arizona voter, and Kaya Clark, a 18-year-old Idaho voter, said that they had both voted for Kamala Harris in large part because of their support for abortion rights.
“I like having the choice. It’s kind of strange that stuff about human rights and the choice of your body is considered controversial,” said Clark, who carried a handmade flag that read “VOTING IS BRAT” in green and black.
She added: “I don’t really want to vote for a convicted felon. I’m for the girlies.”
New York City mayor Eric Adams has named Kamala Harris as his candidate of choice in the presidential election, in what the New York Times said is the first time in recent memory.
For the first time in recent memory, Mayor Eric Adams explicitly named Kamala Harris as his candidate of choice in the presidential election, before voting at a Brooklyn public school. pic.twitter.com/8e2BTdFwVJ
— Dana Rubinstein (@danarubinstein) November 5, 2024
Callum Jones
Wall Street rose on a quiet last day of trading before polls close. The benchmark S&P 500 finished up 1.2% on Tuesday.
While trading was broadly muted, there was a notable exception: it was another volatile day for Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), owner of the former president’s tiny Truth Social media empire.
Trading in TMTG was repeatedly halted. The stock – which has been on a wild ride in recent weeks – surged by nearly 18% during early trading, before falling into the red. It finished the day down 1.2%.
The economy has taken center stage in this campaign. While the last few months have been filled with great news, according to economists, many Americans still think the economy stinks, as Lauren Aratani reported.
It’s a disconnect that could ultimately decide who takes the White House.
Lorenzo Tondo
The traditional first tally of the 2024 US presidential elections in the tiny village of Dixville Notch, in New Hampshire’s northern tip, ended in a deadlock: three votes to Kamala Harris and three for Donald Trump.
It took approximately 12 minutes to count and certify the votes of the six residents of this tiny community near the Canadian border, which has been casting its ballots at midnight on election day for decades.
The result marks a significant shift from four years ago, when all five votes went to Joe Biden – even though this year four of the registered voters are Republicans and the other two are independents, according to the Washington Post.
Dixville Notch, in the White Mountains, started its early voting in 1960. The tradition originated in the nearby town of Hart’s Location, to accommodate rail workers who had to be at work before normal voting hours.
Although the town’s result doesn’t always predict the eventual winner – in 2016, Hillary Clinton beat Trump here by four votes to two – this time the result chimes with what most polls say is an extremely close election and evenly divided electorate.
Maanvi Singh
Nevada is one of 10 states with abortion is on the ballot – and reproductive rights could be a deciding issue in this key swing state.
Outside the library voting site on the University of Nevada Las Vegas campus, both Alexis Rivera-Valenzuela, 18, and his partner Jasmine Mata, 19 said abortion rights were at top of mind as they cast their ballots.
Both voted for Nevada’s abortion ballot measure, and for Kamala Harris – because she had promised to protect access.
Donald Trump, who appointed three of the US supreme court justices who overturned Roe v Wade and has branded himself as “the most pro-life president”, could further restrict abortions or enact a de-facto national abortion ban by prohibiting the mailing of abortion medication and materials.
Rivera-Valenzuela said he wasn’t too worried, as a Nevada resident. “If Trump wins, he might change things at the federal level, but I think if we get the protections passed here, it won’t matter as much what he does,” Rivera-Valenzuela said.
Sairy Cruz, 21, who was about to cast her first vote, said she hoped Harris would pull through in this deadlocked swing state.
“I feel like a woman deserves to have the right to her own bodily autonomy, and no man should have a say in that. That’s the bare minimum,” said Cruz. “I feel like as a person of color and also a woman, I’d like to see another woman of color in the office.”
Clark County, Nevada is a bellwether in this election – with polls showing Harris and Donald Trump virtually tied. About 50% of Nevada’s electorate lives here, and they could determine the outcome in this key swing state.
Though several students said they weren’t particularly worried. “To be honest I’m so focused on finals, so we don’t have much time to really think about,” Cruz said. She had, however, avoided looking at the polls.
Maanvi Singh
Reporting from Las Vegas, Nevada:
The line of students waiting to vote snaked all around the third floor of the University of Nevada Lied library.
School staff were on hand to hand out candy, chips and drinks to have while they waited. The wait time was upwards of an hour, and students occasionally dipped out of line to sprint to class – with the intention of perhaps returning later.
Alexis Rivera-Valenzuela, 18, said it was quite a thrill when he finally cast his ballot. “Everyone cheered because I was a first time voter,” he said. “I’m feeling pretty good right now.”
Meanwhile Darcy Morales, 18, was bracing herself for the wait. “I’m nervous and I’m excited,” she said. “It’s my first time, so I’m just like, ‘Oh am I making the right choices?’”
She’s planning on voting for Kamala Harris, as well – because she believes the vice president has better policies to address rising costs. “And the fact that she’s a woman – that’s also really exciting. It’d be a really big change if she does end up winning the election.”
Here some of the key images sent from the newswires on Election Day:
The first polls tonight will close at 6 pm ET and are in the eastern counties of Indiana and Kentucky.
At 7pm ET, polls will close in Georgia, South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia, parts of Florida, and the rest of Indiana and Kentucky.
Thirty minutes later, at 7:30pm ET, polls in North Carolina, Ohio and West Virginia will close.
At 8pm, polls will close in Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, the District of Columbia, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Missouri, parts of Michigan, North Dakota, South Dakota and Texas, and the whole of Florida.
By 9pm ET, polls will close in Arkansas, as well as Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Wisconsin, Wyoming, the whole of Texas, Michigan, South Dakota and North Dakota.
At 10pm ET, polls in Montana, Nevada and Utah will close. At 11pm ET, polls in California will close, as well as Idaho, Oregon and Washington.
At midnight ET, polls in Hawaii will close and finally, at 1am ET, polls will close in Alaska.
Hello US politics readers and welcome to our live coverage of the 2024 election, where the first polls will close in about an hour on the east coast.
Here’s our hour-by-hour election guide for what to expect tonight and our complete guide to everything you need to know about the 2024 presidential election.
In the meantime, here’s a recap of the main developments so far:
Before the polls opened on Tuesday morning, more than 80 million Americans had already voted and cast early ballots, with just under 45 million voting early in person and about 38 million voting early by mail.
Donald Trump and Kamala Harris have tied with three votes each in Dixville Notch, the tiny New Hampshire town which traditionally kicks off voting on election day.
Harris, who voted by mail ahead of election day, made a surprise visit to the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington DC on Tuesday afternoon. Earlier she told a radio interview that her first order of business if elected would be “bringing down the cost of living for folks”.
Harris’s running mate, Tim Walz, said the election was “razor close” but said he was feeling “good about this.” America has “the fairest, the freest, the safest elections,” Walz said as he visited a diner in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania earlier on Tuesday.
Trump and his wife, Melania, cast their ballots in Florida, earlier on Tuesday. Asked if he would call on his supporters not to engage in violence, Trump said: “I don’t have to tell them that there will be no violence,” adding his supporters “are not violent people”. He added that he felt “very confident”.
Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, cast his ballot in Cincinnati, Ohio, earlier on Tuesday. Vance said his attitude “is the best way to heal the rift in the country is to try to govern the country as well as we can”.
The FBI said they are aware of bomb threats to polling locations in several states, many of which, they said, appear to “originate from Russian email domains”. The bureau said none of the threats have been determined to be credible thus far.
A man was arrested by US Capitol police officers during a screening process at the Capitol visitor center in Washington DC, police said. The man “smelled like fuel” and had “a torch” and “a flare gun”, police said.
Trump has been told by some advisers that he should prematurely declare victory on election night if he’s sufficiently ahead of Harris in key battleground states like Pennsylvania, according to people close to him, though whether he will heed that advice remains unclear.
Electoral college votes
Electoral college votes
First results expected after 18.00 EST (15.00 PDT or 23.00 GMT)
The winner of the election is determined through a system called the electoral college.
What is the electoral college and how does it work?
Each of the 50 states, plus Washington DC, is given a number of electoral college votes, adding up to a total of 538 votes. More populous states get more electoral college votes than smaller ones.
A candidate needs to win 270 electoral college votes (50% plus one) to win the election.
In every state except two – Maine and Nebraska – the candidate that gets the most votes wins all of the state’s electoral college votes.
Electoral college votes correspond to electors from each state. These electors vote directly for the president, based on the results in the general election in their state. In early January, following the presidential election, Congress convenes in a joint session to count and certify the electoral votes.
How do people vote in the US election?
Elections in the US are administered by each state. Whether by mail-in ballots or voting in person on election day, people effectively vote in 51 mini-elections in the presidential election.
Due to the electoral college rules, a candidate can win the election without getting the most votes at the national level. This happened in 2016, when Trump won a majority of electoral college votes although more people voted for Hillary Clinton across the US.
A handful of races are run with a ranked choice voting system, whereby voters can rank candidates in their order of preference. If no candidate gets more than 50% of the vote, then the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and their supporters’ votes will be counted for their next choice. The Guardian has marked these elections where applicable above, and shows the results of the final result with redistributed votes.
How are the votes counted?
Vote verification and counting involves many processes to ensure oversight and security, and it runs before, during and after election day.
As soon as the polls close, local precincts count the ballots cast in person on election day, alongside any absentee or mail-in ballots that have been verified. Processes vary by state, but typically this involves verifying mail-in voter signatures and ensuring ballots are properly filled out. Provisional ballots, used when there are questions about a voter’s eligibility, are set aside for later verification.
Verified ballots are then counted, usually digitally but in some cases manually. The counts are then transmitted to county election offices for aggregation and verification.
This process involves thousands of local election officials who are either appointed or elected, depending on the state. Partisan and nonpartisan observers can monitor vote counting.
State election authorities then compile the county-level results and, after another round of verification, certify the final results.
Results are communicated through media – the Guardian receives results data from the Associated Press.
Official results can take days or weeks to be fully finalised. This is often because of the verification process of absentee, mail-in and provisional ballots. In some states, mail-in ballots can be received and counted several days after election day. High voter turnouts and potential recounts in close races can also slow down results publication.
The election results on this page are reported by the Associated Press (AP). AP “call” the winner in a state when they determine that the trailing candidate has no path to victory. This can happen before 100% of votes in a state have been counted.
Estimates for the total vote in each state are also provided by AP. The numbers update throughout election night and in the following days, as more data on voter turnout becomes available.
Illustrations by Sam Kerr. Cartograms by Pablo Gutiérrez.
The death of Democratic Rep. Donald Payne Jr. in April created a vacancy in New Jersey’s 10th congressional district. Party nominees will be chosen Tuesday, with a special general election on September 18.
The winner of the special election will serve through the end of the year.
Polls close at 8:00 PM Eastern.
Democratic Primary
Democrats outnumber Republicans 6 to 1 in this Newark-area district; Payne won his final term by a 78% to 20% margin in 2022. As such, this primary has drawn a lot of interest.
Eleven Democrats are on the ballot. Most of the party establishment is behind Newark City Council president LaMonica McIver.
Other notables include “Hudson County Commissioner Jerry Walker (D-Jersey City), former East Orange Councilwoman Brittany Claybrooks, Linden Mayor Derek Armstead, and state economic development official Darryl Godfrey.”
In a related note, Payne’s death occurred after ballots were printed for the state’s regular June primary. Payne was unopposed, and was posthumously renominated for the November general election.
Party officials in the affected counties (Essex, Hudson, Union) will choose a ballot replacement at a convention this Thursday. It could be the same person that wins Tuesday’s primary, although it is not required to be.
Republican Primary
Businessman Carmen Bucco is unopposed for the Republicans. He also had no opposition in the June primary, so will be on the ballot again in November.
Down-ballot primaries will continue through early September. The remaining ones are listed below, along with other contests we’ll be tracking during that period.
In Michigan, Trump then goes on to talk insultingly about President Joe Biden, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and representative Adam Schiff, the lead investigator in Trump’s first impeachment.
“Joe Biden in one of his crazy moments said that we were all garbage,” Trump remarked adding “They stole the election from a president,” in apparent reference to Biden’s dropping out of the campaign to be replaced by Harris.
He then says of Pelosi “she’s a crooked person … evil, sick, crazy b… oh no! It starts with a ‘b’ but I won’t say it! I wanna say it.”
He said of “Adam Shifty Schiff”: “He’s got the biggest head, he’s an unattractive guy both inside and out.”
Key events
After touting Joe Rogan’s endorsement of him, Trump has invited his daughter-in-law Lara Trump, the co-chair of the National Republican Committee, to take the mic.
She says “we send a loud and clear message” to “the mainstream media” and “the swamp” among other people “that it is we who get to choose the president”.
She says it has been “a very special night for our family”, adding “it has been my honour to be a part of this family, to be out speaking on behalf of a man whom I love … who is going to save this country and is going to save the world.”
It’s approaching 2am in Michigan.
Trump has now called his family up to the stage, including his sons Eric and Donald Jr, Tiffany Trump and her husband Michael Boulos and Eric’s wife Lara, who is the co-chair of the National Republican Committee.
His daughter Ivanka Trump, who was a White House advisor to him during his first term, and his wife Melania, are notable by their absence.
Trump has given shoutouts to a list of people supporting him, including Arkansas governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders and the ambassador to Germany during his time in office, Rick Grenell.
He goes into a story about former chancellor Angela Merkel, saying that when Grenell “was taken out it was the happiest day of her life”.
At one point he adds as an aside, “We can’t let them forget that we stopped that big Chinese plant in Mexico!” and “Let’s put it this way if they build it theyre going to lose their ass”. It wasn’t clear who or what plant he was referring to – see our earlier post.
The crowds are reportedly beginning to thin out at Trump’s rally in Michigan. He’s been talking for over an hour now.
As the clock ticked past 1am in Grand Rapids, the crowd at this final Trump rally began to thin. Trump has brought much more energy here than he did in Pittsburgh but it’s getting laaaate.
— Garrett Haake (@GarrettHaake) November 5, 2024
It’s 1.30am in Michigan and Trump has now moved back to talking about cutting energy prices and the cost of groceries again.
He tells a familiar story about an old woman going into a shop to buy three apples but only being able to afford two and having to put one back in the fridge (“refrigeration”). It’s not clear where or when this happened.
“That shouldn’t be happening in our country,” he says.
After some more insults hurled at Kamala Harris and California governor Gavin Newsom, Trump begins making further inflammatory remarks about immigration, accusing Harris of wanting open borders and of allowing an “invasion” of immigrants including those from “mental institutions”.
“The day I take office the migrant invasion ends,” he says, later adding that we “live in an occupied country”.
He also repeats his call for the death penalty for any illegal immigrant who kills and American citizen and his plan to ban sanctuary cities.
Trump has promised to restore and expand his most controversial immigration policies, including the travel ban aimed at mostly Muslim countries. He has consistently promised to stage the “largest deportation operation in American history”.
Trump talks briefly about groceries (“People say ‘groceries,’ right? I haven’t used tha … it’s such a sort of an old term.”)
Then he talks for a while about the attempt to assassinate him in Pennsylvania in July. He calls his survival a “miracle” and at one point mentions that “illegal immigration saved me” although I didn’t catch how.
He then moves into an anecdote about visiting Abraham Lincoln’s bedroom with Melania Trump. He says that the assassinated president suffered from “melancholia” and adds that: “He was very tall, he was six foot six, that’s the equivalent of a Barron Trump today … the bed was very long.”
After a few asides about Melania’s book, he returns to the theme of the attempt on his life.
Trump has returned to the theme of plants and Mexico, telling a convoluted story about a businessman friend and China’s intention to build a plant in Mexico which was going “to destroy Michigan”.
He says that his threats to “put a 100% tariff on every single car coming out of that plant” had led to a decision not to build the purported plant.
“I saved Detroit and Michigan a lot and I did that without even being president,” he claims.
It’s not clear what plant he’s referring to. Newsweek has previously reported after similar remarks he made at the end of last month that his campaign could not confirm what plant it was but that it appeared to be one planned by auto manufacturer BYD and that there was no evidence the claim was true.
Jonathan Yerushalmy
Kamala Harris and Donald Trump have tied with three votes each in the tiny New Hampshire town which traditionally kicks off voting on election day.
Since the 1960’s, voters in Dixville Notch, located close to the border with Canada, have gathered just after midnight to cast their ballots. Votes are then counted and results announced – hours before other states even open their polls.
According to CNN, four Republicans and two undeclared voters participated took part in the vote just after midnight on Tuesday.
Trump then launches into some familiar insults of Kamala Harris and Hillary Clinton of whom he says, “She called me and conceded [presumably eight years ago] and then spent seven years saying how she was a good sport.”
He calls Harris a “low IQ person” and then begins on a long story about Elon Musk and his rockets.
In Michigan, Trump then goes on to talk insultingly about President Joe Biden, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and representative Adam Schiff, the lead investigator in Trump’s first impeachment.
“Joe Biden in one of his crazy moments said that we were all garbage,” Trump remarked adding “They stole the election from a president,” in apparent reference to Biden’s dropping out of the campaign to be replaced by Harris.
He then says of Pelosi “she’s a crooked person … evil, sick, crazy b… oh no! It starts with a ‘b’ but I won’t say it! I wanna say it.”
He said of “Adam Shifty Schiff”: “He’s got the biggest head, he’s an unattractive guy both inside and out.”
In Michigan, Trump claims to have done 930 rallies during his campaign, which I can’t confirm. Then he continues:
If you make one slip up and you know I wrote a beautiful speech I haven’t even gotten to it yet … rarely do they ever catch me making a mistake!
Those ellipses are covering for a series of meandering comments which included remarks on his use of teleprompters and the state of the country.
Trump starts his rally in Michigan apparently talking about his first election run, saying “we were given a three per cent chance” in Michigan and then begins a series of rambling remarks about Detroit, (“I’ve heard a lot about Detroit”) and adds “We killed the plant in Mexico”. It’s not clear what he was referring to.
He then moved on to immigration, saying the US was suffering the “invasion of some of the biggest criminals in the world… we’re going to end that immediately.”
“We don’t have to live this way,” he adds.
Then he moves on to Kamala Harris, mocking her and claiming, “Nobody knew who the hell she was.” He then made some more inflammatory comments about transgender people .
Trump has finally arrived at his final rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, almost two and a half hours behind schedule.
Rachel Leingang
A few dozen conservative voters gathered at a Phoenix park to launch a canvass with Turning Point Action the night before the election, pulling up an app to get names and locations of voters they could talk to and convince to head to the polls.
Turning Point, the conservative youth organization, has run its “chase the vote” program in Arizona and Wisconsin to reach low propensity voters. Monday’s “super chase” canvass involved a data-driven approach to a part of town that the group says has right-leaning voters who haven’t yet turned in ballots.
“We actually modeled this program around a lot of what the Democrats have built in years prior,” said Andrew Kolvet, the group’s spokesman.
People from 47 states have come to Arizona and Wisconsin to volunteer with the group to turn out voters, Kolvet said. At the Phoenix park, teams of at least two – often wearing red Maga hats and toting clipboards – set off to knock some doors.
“The job is not to convince a swing voter necessarily, or to convince a Democrat to vote Republican,” Kolvet said. “These are people that we know are probably our people that just haven’t got their vote in.”
Registered Republicans have so far turned in more ballots than their Democratic counterparts in Arizona, a reversal of the last two cycles when Republicans trailed in early voting (though Republicans before 2020 often had a lead in early votes).
“We’re feeling as good as we could feel,” Kolvet said. “I’m not predicting victory. I’m just saying we have done the hard work and set the state up to have a really good day tomorrow. Anything could happen.”
Lauren Gambino
Dispatch from Philadelphia: Kamala Harris has run a remarkable 107-day presidential campaign, the shortest in modern political history.
It began on a Sunday morning with a call from the president saying he was stepping down. On election eve, hours before polls opened, she finished the final speech of a campaign she cast as a fight for American democracy.
But Harris has also sought to inject hope and optimism into her campaign.
“Tonight, then, we finish, as we started with optimism with energy, with joy,” she said.
“Generations before us led the fight for freedom, and now the baton is in our hands,” she said.
“We need to get to work and get out the vote,” she concluded.
A Georgia poll worker was arrested on Monday on US charges that he sent a letter threatening to bomb election workers that he wrote to appear as if it came from a voter in the presidential election battleground state. Reuters reports:
Federal prosecutors said Nicholas Wimbish, 25, had been serving as a poll worker at the Jones County Elections Office in Gray, Georgia, on Oct. 16 when he got into a verbal altercation with a voter.
The next day, Wimbish mailed a letter to the county’s elections superintendent that was drafted to appear as if it came from that same voter, prosecutors said. The letter complained that Wimbish was a “closeted liberal election fraudster” who had been distracting voters in line to cast ballots, according to charging papers.
Authorities said the letter, signed by a “Jones county voter,” said Wimbish and others “should look over their shoulder” and warned that people would “learn a violent lesson about stealing our elections!”
Prosecutors said the letter ended with a handwritten note: “PS boom toy in early vote place, cigar burning, be safe.”
Wimbish was charged with mailing a bomb threat, conveying false information about a bomb threat, mailing a threatening letter, and making false statements to the FBI, prosecutors said. A lawyer for Wimbish could not be immediately identified.
Georgia is one of seven closely contested states expected to decide the outcome of Tuesday’s presidential election match up between Republican former President Donald Trump and Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris.
Concerns about potential political violence have prompted officials to take a variety of measures to bolster security during and after Election Day.
After a quiet month, the down-ballot primary calendar restarts this week with the Arizona primary on Tuesday. The Tennessee primary follows on Thursday.
The remaining 16 states will hold their contests between August 6 and September 10.1
Polls close at 7:00 PM local time. That’s 10:00 PM Eastern for all but Navajo Nation, which observes Daylight Savings Time. Those polls close at 9:00 PM Eastern.
On this page, we highlight some of the key races. More Arizona Primary Results >>
Elected as a Democrat in 2018, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema became an independent in 2022. She subsequently decided not to seek reelection.
Rep. Ruben Gallego (AZ-03) is unopposed for the Democratic nomination.
Republican Primary
Endorsed by Donald Trump, Former television anchor Kari Lake is favored over Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb. Lake previously ran a high-profile race for governor in 2022, narrowly losing to Democrat Katie Dobbs.
A poll released on Monday showed Lake ahead of Lamb by 50% to 38%.
District 1 (Democratic)
Republican David Schweikert is seeking an 8th term. In the state’s most competitive U.S. House race in 2022, Schweikert was reelected by less than a 1% margin.
Another closely-contested general election is expected this year, with six Democrats vying to take on the incumbent.
The only other competitive general election seat in the state is in District 6. Rep. Juan Ciscomani is expected to be renominated for a second term. Former state legislator Kirsten Engel is unopposed for the Democrats. This will be a rematch from 2022, when Ciscomani won by about 1.5%.
District 2 (Republican)
Rep. Eli Crane is seeking a second term. Crane was one of eight Republicans that voted to oust former Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Supporters of McCarthy are attempting to repay the favor by supporting Crane’s challenger, Jack Smith.
Crane will probably be renominated, but it is worth keeping an eye on.
District 3 (Democratic)
Incumbent Ruben Gallego will be the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate. Three are looking to succeed him; the winner will be heavily favored in November.
There are three candidates on the ballot, with the nominee likely to be either Yassamin Ansari, a former Phoenix vice mayor, or former state Sen. Raquel Terán.
District 8 (Republican)
Tuesday’s marquee U.S. House primary will select a nominee to succeed Rep. Debbie Lesko, who is retiring from this safely Republican district.
Most of the attention has been on the bitter rivalry between former prosecutor Abe Hamadeh and venture capitalist Blake Masters. Both lost elections in 2022: Hamadeh for Attorney General and Masters for U.S. Senate.
Donald Trump endorsed Hamadeh early in the campaign – December of last year. However, in an unusual turn of events, Trump made an updated endorsement this past weekend of both Hamadeh and Masters.
The last-minute shift may owe to a thaw in the relationship between Trump and billionaire Peter Thiel after Trump’s selection of Sen. JD Vance as his running mate. In addition, Masters worked for Thiel for several years, including as president of his foundation. He resigned during the 2022 Senate campaign, which Thiel helped underwrite.
Other notables in the race include Arizona House Speaker Ben Toma and former Rep. Trent Franks, who held this seat prior to Lesko. Franks resigned in 2017, and is attempting a comeback. It isn’t completely off the table that Trump’s dual endorsement splits the vote enough to bring one of these others into contention.
Recorder (Republican)
Arizona became a hotbed of election denialism after the 2020 presidential election. While conspiracy theorists have not yet had much general election success here, those efforts continue.
That ongoing conflict has created an unusually high profile GOP primary for Maricopa County Recorder.
Among other things, this office oversees elections. The incumbent, Stephen Richer, took office in 2021 and has been a defender of the integrity of the County’s elections. That has brought him criticism and harassment, as well as two challengers in Tuesday’s primary.
Maricopa County, which includes the Phoenix area, is home to more than 60% of the state’s population.
Four Arizona cities among the nation’s top 100 by population hold mayoral elections. These contests will either be resolved Tuesday or in a top-two runoff on November 5. Live Results>>
Down-ballot primaries will continue through early September. The remaining ones are listed below, along with other contests we’ll be tracking during that period.
Tennessee holds its primary Thursday, giving us a second primary day this week. The Arizona primary was Tuesday; two of the more interesting contests there remain uncalled as of the publication time of this article.
The remaining 16 states will hold their contests between next Tuesday and September 10.1
Polls close at 8:00 PM Eastern Time. The state is divided between the Eastern and Central Time Zones. As all polling places close simultaneously, locations observing Central Time close at 7:00 PM local time.
The most interesting contests look to be the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate, and the GOP nomination fight in the 5th congressional district. All Tennessee Primary Results >>
Republican Primary
Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn is seeking a second term. She has a nominal primary challenge.
Democratic Primary
Winning a second term in 1990, former Vice President Al Gore was the last Democrat elected to the U.S. Senate from Tennessee. Despite long odds for that to change this year, a field of four Democrats is vying to challenge Blackburn.
The frontrunner is state Rep. Gloria Johnson, who gained a national profile as a member of the “Tennessee Three” after a 2023 school shooting in Nashville.
Also on the ballot is Marquita Bradshaw, who was the party’s nominee in 2020, losing to Republican Bill Hagerty.
District 5 (Republican)
Republicans flipped this district in 2022 after it was moved significantly to the right in post-Census redistricting. Andy Ogles emerged from a nine-candidate primary, and won the general election by a 14% margin.
Ogles largest hurdle to reelection may well be this primary. He has drawn an unexpectedly strong challenger in Nashville Metro Council member Courtney Johnston. She has outraised Ogles, who, for his part, has come under scrutiny for his campaign finances.
Down-ballot primaries will continue through early September. The remaining ones are listed below, along with other contests we’ll be tracking during that period.
Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, and Washington are up next with their primaries on Tuesday. Another dozen states will hold contests through September 10. See the calendar >>
Note that in Washington, all candidates appear on a single ballot. The top two finishers advance to the general election. The election is also conducted entirely by mail.
Use the links below for full results. Displayed are the poll closings converted to Eastern Time.
* 7:00 PM local time. The vast majority of Kansas and Michigan are in the time zone closing at 8:00 PM Eastern.
On this page, we’ll highlight some of the key races to watch, organized by office.
Michigan, Missouri, and Washington each have a Senate seat up this year. At this point, only Michigan looks to be competitive in the general election.
Michigan
Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow is retiring after four terms in office. Her party primary pits Rep. Elissa Slotkin (MI-07) against actor Hill Harper. Slotkin is a strong favorite to win the nomination.
For the Republicans, a larger field early in the campaign has shrunk as several prominent names withdrew. One of those, Sandy Pensler, withdrew too late to be removed from the ballot. Of the other three active candidates, Former Rep. Mike Rogers (MI-08) is favored over former Rep. Justin Amash (MI-03) and physician Sherry O’Donnell.
This article summarizes both primaries in a bit more detail.
Missouri
Republican Sen. Josh Hawley is unopposed for renomination. Most forecasters see him as likely to win a second term in November.
Lucas Kunce, who leads a nonprofit, is favored to win the Democratic nomination. Kunce ran for the state’s other Senate seat in 2022. He finished second to Trudy Busch Valentine in a large primary field that year.
Washington
Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell is favored to win a 5th term. She is joined by ten others on the all-party ballot, including five Republicans, three independents, and one Democrat.
Cantwell and Republican Raul Garcia are expected to advance to the general election. Garcia previously ran for governor in 2020, finishing fifth out of 36 (!!) candidates on the primary ballot that year.
There are two incumbents at risk of losing their seats in Tuesday’s primaries.
Missouri District 1 (Democratic)
The pro-Israel groups that helped oust Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D, NY-16) are looking to do the same here with Rep. Cori Bush. Both are members of “The Squad” of far-left Democrats. Like Bowman, Bush has been a vocal critic of Israel’s prosecution of the war with Hamas.
St. Louis County Prosecutor Wesley Bell has benefited from over $8 million in attack ads against Bush. The support has made this one of the most expensive House primaries in history.
Polling has been limited. A late July survey showed Bell with a 48% to 42% lead over Bush. The same pollster had it 43% to 42% for Bell a month earlier. Taken at face value, this indicates a competitive race perhaps moving toward Bell. However, some caution is warranted as the sponsor of the survey is supportive of Bell.
Washington District 4
Of the ten GOP House members that voted to impeach Donald Trump, only Reps. Dan Newhouse and David Valadao (CA-22) remain in Congress.
Newhouse has seven challengers on the primary ballot. The most notable are fellow Republicans Tiffany Smiley and Jerrod Sessler. Trump endorsed Sessler, a former NASCAR driver, early in the campaign.
Smiley, a nurse, ran for Senate in 2022, losing to Democrat Patty Murray in the general election. She received a late endorsement from Trump.
Given a split Democratic field in a strong GOP district, there’s a decent chance that two Republicans will advance to the general election. Whether the incumbent is one of them remains to be seen.
The remainder of these House primaries are in alphabetical order by state and then district.
Kansas District 2 (Republican)
Rep. Jake LaTurner is not seeking a third term. He won by a 15% margin in 2022 and most forecasters see the general election as safely Republican.
Endorsed by Donald Trump, former Attorney General Derek Schmidt is favored. Schmidt was the party’s nominee for governor in 2022, losing by 2% to incumbent Democrat, Laura Kelly.
Michigan District 8 (Both)
The retirement of six-term incumbent Democratic Rep. Dan Kildee has most forecasters rating this district a general election toss-up.
Three candidates are seeking the Democratic nomination; state Sen. Kristen McDonald Rivet appears to be the frontrunner.
The Republican field also numbers three. Paul Junge, who was the 8th district nominee in both 2020 and 2022, is expected to get a third opportunity to win the seat. Junge is a former TV news anchor and prosecutor.
The nearby 7th district is the state’s other toss-up general election race. Incumbent Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin is running for Senate. Democrat Curtis Hertel and Republican Tom Barrett have no primary opposition.
Michigan District 10 (Democratic)
Open after Census redistricting, Republican Rep. John James won this district in 2022 by about 0.5% over Democrat Carl Marlinga. James is unopposed for renomination.
Malinga is looking for a rematch, but must first get by three others on the primary ballot.
Missouri District 3 (Republican)
Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer is retiring after eight terms. This is a safe GOP district; the incumbent won his final election by a 30% margin in 2022. There are seven candidates on the ballot, although state Rep. Justin Hicks has withdrawn from the race.
The nominee is expected to be either Bob Onder or Kurt Schaefer, both former state Senators. Onder has been endorsed by Donald Trump.
Washington District 3
One of the closest general election races in 2022 occurred here. Democratic Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez flipped the district, besting Republican Joe Kent by less than 1%.
Kent had finished second in the top-two primary that year, ousting incumbent Republican Jaime Herrera Beutler.
This primary is expected to result in a general election rematch in November.
Washington District 5
Incumbent Republican Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers is not seeking reelection. Eleven candidates are looking to succeed her. Per The Cook Political Report ($), “Spokane County Treasurer Michael Baumgartner is the only candidate with an almost guaranteed ticket to November. He’s been up on TV since mid-June with a series of ads touting his conservative record in the state senate, and has a $500,000 fundraising lead over his nearest competitor.”
Second place could go to a Democrat or another Republican. Either way, the seat is expected to remain in GOP hands after the November election.
Washington District 6
Incumbent Democratic Rep. Derek Kilmer is not seeking reelection. There are five candidates on the ballot. Three appear to be competitive: state Sen Emily Randall (D), Public Lands Commissioner Hilary Franz (D) and state Sen. Drew MacEwan (R).
The top two finishers could be both Democrats or one of the Democrats and MacEwan. Either way, the seat is expected to be won by Democrats in November.
Missouri
Republican Mike Parson is ineligible to run due to term-limit laws. The winner of the GOP primary will be favored to succeed him in November.
There are nine candidates on that ballot. Polling indicates a very tight race between Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft and Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe. Also seeing significant support is state Sen. Bill Eigel.
All three of these candidates have been endorsed by Donald Trump.
For the Democrats, most of the establishment support is behind House Minority Leader Crystal Quade. However, businessman Mike Hamra has raised more money, largely due to his ability to self-fund.
The only recent public poll ($) showed Hamra leading 23% to 21%. That is well within the margin of error, and may not ultimately be all that predictive given nearly half of those polled were still undecided.
Washington
Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee is not seeking a 4th term. A massive field of nearly 30 candidates is looking to succeed him. However, all signs point to Attorney General Bob Ferguson (D) and former Rep. Dave Reichert (R, WA-08) advancing to the general election.
Although Washington hasn’t elected a Republican governor since 1980, the general election between these two is shaping up to be at least somewhat competitive.
Down-ballot primaries will continue through early September. The remaining ones are listed below, along with other contests we’ll be tracking during that period.
Saturday concludes the Hawaii primary, which has been conducted largely by mail.
Election Day Voter Service Centers are open until 7:00 PM local time, which is also the deadline for all ballots to be received. As the state does not observe Daylight Saving Time, that’s 1:00 AM Eastern Time on Sunday.
We’ve highlighted a few races on this page. Full Hawaii Results >>
Democrat Sen. Mazie Hirono is running for a third term. She has drawn two minor challengers, including Ron Curtis, who previously ran for office as a Republican. Curtis was Hirono’s opponent in 2018, and the 2020 nominee in the first congressional district.
Six are seeking the GOP nomination. The most notable is former state Rep. Bob McDermott, who was the party’s nominee for the state’s other Senate seat in 2022. He lost by a 71% to 26% margin to Sen. Brian Schatz.
Whoever advances from this primary will likely not fare much better against the incumbent in November.
Democratic Reps. Ed Case (HI-01) and Jill Tokuda (HI-02) should cruise to reelection in November. The GOP primaries in both districts are uncontested.
Case faces a nominal primary challenge.
Democrats hold overwhelming control of both branches. In the State Senate, there are 23 Democrats and two Republicans. Twelve of the seats are up for election this year.
In the State House of Representatives, Democrats have a 44-6 advantage. There is one vacancy. All 51 seats are up this year.
All State Legislative Primaries >>
State House District 25 (Democratic)
House Speaker Scott Saiki faces a challenge from community activist Kim Coco Iwamoto. This is the third time the two have faced off in a primary. Saiki narrowly won both times.
The Honolulu Civil Beat details the importance of this primary. They note that “More than any other local contest this season, [this primary race] has the potential to redistribute political power in Hawaii and redirect the Legislature.”
Politically, Iwamoto is challenging Saiki from the left.
Honolulu is the nation’s 55th largest city – based on 2023 Census Bureau estimates – with a population of about 342,000.
Independent Mayor Rick Biangiardi is seeking a second four-year term. He has drawn three challengers on the nonpartisan ballot, but is expected to be reelected. If Biangiardi doesn’t get a majority, there will be a top-two runoff coinciding with the November 5 general election.
Like last week, four states are on this Tuesday’s primary calendar. Voters in Connecticut, Minnesota, Vermont, and Wisconsin will choose party nominees for the November election. In Wisconsin, this includes a concurrent primary for a U.S. House vacancy.
There are also two ballot measures in Wisconsin.
Use the links below for full results. Displayed are the poll closings converted to Eastern Time.
On this page, we’ll highlight some of the key races to watch, organized by office.
All four states have a Senate seat up this year. Only Wisconsin looks to be competitive in the general election.
Wisconsin
Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin is unopposed for renomination.
Her most likely opponent is businessman Eric Hovde. He previously ran in 2012, narrowly losing the nomination to former Gov. Tommy Thompson. Baldwin would join the Senate after defeating Thompson in the general election. She is now seeking her third term.
Hovde has been endorsed by Donald Trump and has significantly outspent his two rivals on the ballot.
Minnesota
Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar is seeking a 4th term. She has drawn several challengers but is expected to easily win renomination.
The Republican primary ballot is crowded, with eight seeking the nomination. The frontrunners appear to be businessman Joe Fraser and Royce White, a former NBA player. Whoever advances will be a significant underdog against the incumbent.
Connecticut
Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy is seeking a third term. He has no primary opposition and will be favored in November.
Matt Corey and Gerry Smith are competing for the Republican nomination.
Vermont
Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders is seeking a fourth term. He caucuses with the Democrats, and will also be the party’s nominee in this election, running unopposed in the primary.
Opposing him in November will be Gerald Malloy, who was also the GOP nominee for the last U.S. Senate race here in 2022. Malloy lost to Peter Welch by a 68% to 28% margin that year.
Minnesota District 5 (Democratic)
Ilhan Omar, a member of the far left Democratic “Squad”, is seeking a 4th term. In 2022, Omar survived an unexpectedly close primary against centrist Don Samuels, a former member of the Minneapolis City Council.
Samuels is challenging Omar once again. Omar seems to be in a better position this time around, although there has been some late support for Samuels following last week’s defeat of another “Squad” member, Rep. Cori Bush (MO-01).
This is the most Democratic district in the state; whoever wins the nomination should have little trouble prevailing in November.
Wisconsin District 3 (Democratic)
Republican Rep. Derrick Van Orden is seeking a second term. Winning by 4%, Van Orden flipped the district in 2022. It was the closest U.S. House race in the state that year. Van Orden has no primary challengers.
Three Democrats are seeking the nomination in a campaign that has become heated in its closing days.
Wisconsin District 8 (Republican)
This safe GOP seat is currently vacant; Rep. Mike Gallagher resigned in April. Along with the regular primary, voters will choose a nominee to complete Gallagher’s term.
The same three Republicans are on both ballots. Businessman Tony Wied received Donald Trump’s endorsement. Former Senate President Roger Roth and state Sen. André Jacque have more political experience.
The special primary results are below. The special general election is on November 5.
Kristin Lyerly is unopposed on both ballots for the Democrats.
Vermont
Of Tuesday’s primary states, only Vermont has a gubernatorial election this year. Republican Gov. Phil Scott is seeking a fifth term. Vermont, along with neighboring New Hampshire, are the only two states with two-year terms.
Scott is unopposed for renomination and is expected to be reelected in November.
These measures will be on all ballots.
The Republican-controlled Legislature is attempting to limit the power of the governor with regards to how federal dollars are spent. Not coincidentally, the current Governor, Tony Evers, is a Democrat.
There are two proposed amendments to the Wisconsin Constitution on the ballot. In each case, a ‘yes’ vote is supportive of enacting the amendment.
Question 1
Question 1 specifies that the Legislature cannot delegate away its sole power to appropriate money.
Question 2
Question 2 prohibits the governor from spending federal money appropriated to the state without approval of the Legislature.
Minnesota State Senate District 45 (Democratic)
The Minnesota Senate is evenly split with 33 Democrats and 33 Republicans. The District 45 vacancy was previously held by Democrat Kelly Morrison. She resigned in June to run for Congress.
The Democratic nominee will face Republican Kathleen Fowke in the November 5 special election. As the GOP nominee in 2022, Fowke lost to Morrison by a 56% to 44% margin.
The special election will determine control of the State Senate until the next regular elections in 2026 (assuming no further vacancies).
Morrison is unopposed in her primary for the nomination in the 3rd congressional district. That seat – in a heavily Democratic district – is being vacated by Rep. Dean Phillips.
Downballot primaries will continue through early September. The remaining ones are listed below.
