Republican candidate and former US president Donald Trump had won 15 states in Tuesday’s extremely close American presidential race, compared to US Vice-President and Democrat contender Kamala Harris’ seven states and Washington, D.C., according to Edison Research forecasts shortly before 10 p.m. EST.
While most of Europe slept in what are the early morning hours of Wednesday, the race remained undecided with the critical seven “swing states” unlikely to be called for hours or possibly days.
Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Wisconsin and especially Pennsylvania will determine the winner.
As of 0230 GMT polls had closed in 41 states and Washington, D.C., with Reuters giving Trump 162 electoral votes to Harris’ 81 electoral votes. The “magic number” for clinching the election is 270 votes in the state-by-state electoral college.
North Carolina was too close to call at the specific time, although Trump was poised to win Georgia – 52.3% to 47.1% with 77% percent of the estimated ballots counted, according to Edison.
According to Reuters, the majority in both chambers of Congress was also up for grabs. Democrats had only a narrow path to defend their Senate majority after Republican Jim Justice flipped a West Virginia race on Tuesday. The House of Representatives is also going neck-to-neck.
