Republican presidential nominee President Donald Trump was in the lead before midnight Wednesday, with results in some swing states still undecided. AP photo

WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump won the battleground state of North Carolina on Tuesday, fending off a challenge from Kamala Harris, who sought to flip the state and widen her path to 270 electoral votes.

The former Republican president had made representations to the state on each of the last three days of the campaign to strip Harris of the pickup, as a divided America made its decision Tuesday in a difficult choice for future of the nation. The Democratic vice president’s campaign chair, Jen O’Malley Dillon, told staff in a memo that the “blue wall” of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin was now the “clearest path” to victory of the Democrat, according to a copy obtained by The Associated Press.

Polls closed in the remaining battlegrounds of Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, Arizona, Wisconsin and Nevada, but the results were too early to call. Voting continued in the West on Election Day, as tens of millions of Americans added their ballots to the 84 million cast in advance, choosing between two candidates with radically different temperaments and visions for the country.

Trump won Florida, a former battleground that has shifted heavily toward the Republicans in recent elections. He also scored early victories in reliably Republican states such as Texas, South Carolina and Indiana, while Harris captured Democratic strongholds like New York, Massachusetts and Illinois.

Black and Latino voters appeared slightly less likely to support Harris than they were for Joe Biden four years ago, and support for Trump among those voters appeared to increase slightly compared to 2020, according to AP VoteCast.

The fate of democracy appears to be the main determining factor for Harris supporters, a sign that the Democratic candidate’s persistent message in the final days of her campaign, accusing Trump of being a fascist, may have broken through, according to a wide survey of more than 110,000 voters across the country. . It also revealed a country mired in negativity and desperate for change. Trump’s supporters were largely focused on immigration and inflation — two issues the former Republican president has emphasized since the start of his campaign.

In another positive sign for Republicans, the GOP moved closer to taking control of the Senate, with Trump-backed Bernie Moreno flipping an Ohio seat held by Democrat Sherrod Brown since 2007. They won another when Republican Jim Justice won a seat in West Virginia. which opened with the retirement of Senator Joe Manchin.

Those who voted on Election Day mostly experienced a smooth process, with isolated reports of problems occurring regularly, including long lines, technical glitches and ballot printing errors.

Harris promised to work across the aisle to tackle economic and other issues without radically deviating from the path set by President Biden. Trump has pledged to replace thousands of federal workers with loyalists, impose drastic tariffs on allies and enemies alike, and stage the largest deportation operation in U.S. history.

Harris and Trump entered Election Day focusing on seven swing states, five of which Trump carried in 2016 before turning to Biden in 2020: the “blue wall” of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin as well than Arizona and Georgia. Nevada and North Carolina, which Democrats and Republicans respectively won in the last two elections, were also hotly contested.

Trump voted in Palm Beach, Florida, near his Mar-a-Lago club. He called a Wisconsin radio station Tuesday night to say, “I’m looking at these results. So far, so good.”

Harris, the Democratic vice president, gave phone interviews with radio stations in battleground states, then headed to the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington with a box of Doritos — her favorite snack.

“It really represents the best of who we are,” Harris told a room full of cheering supporters. Supporters doing phone banking handed her a cell phone, and when reporters asked her how she was feeling, the vice president held up a phone and replied, “I have to talk to the voters.”

The intensity of the race and the number of states in play increased the likelihood that once again the winner would not be known on election night.

Trump said Tuesday he had no plans to tell his supporters to refrain from violence if Harris won because they “are not violent people.” His angry supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, after Trump attempted to overturn his 2020 defeat. Asked Tuesday about accepting the results of the 2024 race, he said: “If the elections are fair, I would be first. to recognize it. He visited a nearby campaign office to thank staff before a party at a nearby convention center.

After her DNC stop, Harris planned to attend a party at her alma mater, Howard University in Washington.

Federal, state and local officials have expressed confidence in the integrity of the nation’s election systems. They were nevertheless prepared to face what they see as an unprecedented level of foreign disinformation – particularly from Russia and Iran – as well as the possibility of physical violence or cyberattacks.

Both sides have armies of lawyers in anticipation of legal challenges on Election Day and afterward. And the country’s law enforcement agencies are on high alert for possible violence.

Harris, 60, would be the first woman, black and person of South Asian descent, to serve as president. She would also be the first sitting vice president to win the White House in 36 years.

Trump, 78, would be the oldest president ever elected. He would also be the first defeated president in 132 years to win another term in the White House, and the first person convicted of a crime to take over the Oval Office.

He survived a millimeter assassination attempt during a rally in July. Secret Service agents foiled a second attempt in September.

Harris, highlighting warnings from former Trump aides, called him “fascist” and blamed Trump for putting women’s lives at risk by appointing three of the justices who overturned Roe v. Wade. In the final hours of the campaign, she tried to adopt a more positive tone and remained all day Monday without mentioning the name of her Republican opponent.

Voters across the country have also decided thousands of other races that will decide everything from control of Congress to state ballot measures on abortion access in response to the Supreme Court’s 2022 vote to overturn Roe v. Wade.

In Florida, a ballot measure that would have protected the right to abortion in the state constitution failed after failing to meet the 60% threshold for passage. It was the first time a measure protecting abortion rights had failed since Roe was overturned. Earlier Tuesday, Trump refused to say how he voted on the measure and lashed out at a reporter, saying, “You should stop talking about that.”

In the Democratic states of New York, Colorado and Maryland, voters approved ballot measures to protect abortion rights in their state constitutions.

JD Jorgensen, an independent voter from Black Mountain, North Carolina, which was hit hard by Hurricane Helene, said voters should have made up their minds before Tuesday.

“I think the candidates, both being in the public eye for as long as they have been, if you’re on the fence, you haven’t really been paying attention,” Jorgensen, 35, said.