America reaches Election Day and a stark choice between Trump and Harris
WASHINGTON — A presidential campaign marked by unrest and resentment was nearing its finale Election Day as Americans decided whether to send Donald Trump back to the White House or elevate Kamala Harris to the Oval Office.
Polls opened across the country on Tuesday morning as voters faced a difficult choice between two candidates with drastically different temperaments and visions for the world’s largest economy and dominant military power.
Harristhe Democratic vice president, will be the first female president if elected. She has promised to work across the aisle to address economic concerns and other issues without radically deviating from the course set by President Joe Biden. Trumpthe Republican former president, has sworn to replace thousands of federal workers with loyalists, impose sweeping tariffs on allies and enemies alike, and stage the largest deportation operation in US history.
The two candidates brought the decreasing hours of the campaign overlapping in Pennsylvania, the largest battleground state. They tried to energize both their bases and the Americans still on the fence, or debated whether to vote at all.
“It’s important, it’s my civic duty and it’s important that I vote for myself and for the democracy and the country that I spent 22 years of my life supporting,” said Ron Kessler, 54, an Air Force veteran from Pennsylvania. he voted for the second time.
Harris and Trump focused on seven battleground states on Election Day, five of which were carried by Trump in 2016 before going to Biden in 2020: the “blue wall” of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, as well as Arizona and Georgia. Nevada and North Carolina, which were elected by Democrats and Republicans respectively in the last two elections, were also closely contested.
The closeness of the race and the number of states at stake increased the chance that once again a winner would not be known on election night. There was an early harbinger from the hamlet of Dixville Notch, New Hampshire, which traditionally votes after midnight on Election Day. Dixville Notch split between Trump and Harris, with three votes each.
In the 2020 presidential race, it took four days to declare a winner. Regardless, Trump has baselessly claimed that if he were to lose, it would be due to fraud. Harris’ campaign prepared for this try to declare victory before a winner is announced on Tuesday night, or to try to contest the outcome if she wins. Four years ago, Trump launched an attempt to overturn the will of the voters ended in the January 6, 2021 uprising at the US Capitol.
Trump planned to vote in his adopted home state of Florida on Tuesday and then spend the day at his Mar-a-Lago estate before a party at a nearby convention center. Harris already voted by mail in her home state of California. She will have a watch party at her alma mater, Howard University in Washington.
Harris, 60, would be the first woman, Black woman and person of South Asian descent to become president. She would also be the first sitting vice president in 32 years to win the White House.
A victory would mark the end of a whirlwind campaign unlike any other in American history. Harris rose to the top of the Democratic ticket less than four months after Biden, who was under immense pressure from his party after a disastrous debate performance, ended his re-election bid.
Trump, 78, would be the oldest chairman 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.
To have abandoned Washington by some allies after January 6 Trump defeated younger rivals in the Republican primaries and consolidated support from longtime allies and harsh critics within his party. He survived one assassination attempt by millimeters during a rally in July. Secret Service agents foiled a second attempt in September.
A victory for Trump would confirm that enough voters have been set aside warnings from many former Trump aides or instead prioritized concerns about Biden and Harris’ stewardship of the economy or the U.S.-Mexico border.
It would almost keep him from going to jail after being found guilty about his role in covering up hush money payments to an adult film actress during his first bid for president in 2016. His sentencing in that case could come later this month. And when he came to power, Trump was able to do that too end the federal investigation in his attempt to overturn the 2020 election results.
The potential turbulence of a second Trump term has been magnified by his embrace of the far right in the Republican Party and his disdain for longstanding democratic norms.
Trump has used harsh rhetoric against Harris and other Democrats, calling them “demonic,” and they have military action proposed in return for people he calls “enemies from within.”
Harris, pointing to the warnings of Trump’s former aides: labeled him a “fascist” and accused Trump of endangering women’s lives appointment of three of the judges which overturned Roe v. Wade. In the closing hours of the campaign, she tried to strike a more positive tone and continued to mention her Republican opponent’s name throughout the final day on Monday.
Heading into Election Day, federal, state and local officials expressed his confidence in the integrity of the country’s electoral systems. Nevertheless, they were prepared to contend with what they say is an unprecedented level of foreign disinformation — especially from Russia and Iran — and the possibility of physical violence or cyberattacks.
Both parties have armies of lawyers awaiting legal challenges on and after Election Day. And law enforcement agencies across the country are on high alert for potential violence.
The outcome of the race was closely watched around the world, with the future of US support for Ukraine, US loyalty to its global alliances and the country’s commitment to standing up to autocrats at stake stood.
Harris has promised to continue providing support Kiev’s defense against Russia’s large-scale invasion in 2022. Trump has sharply criticized Ukraine, praised Russian President Vladimir Putin and introduced him Russia would be encouraged to attack NATO allies of the US that Trump considers delinquent.
Voters across the country also decided thousands of other races that will decide everything from control of Congress to state voting measures on abortion access.
More than 82 million people voted early — not below the pandemic record of 2020, when Trump encouraged Republicans to keep voting on Election Day. This time, he urged his voters to pre-register their ballots, and they complied en masse.
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Associated Press writers Jill Colvin in Palm Beach, Florida, Darlene Superville and Eric Tucker in Washington, and Marc Levy in Allentown, Pennsylvania, contributed to this report.