Election Day is over, with polls having closed across the country and officials processing both in-person and mail-in ballots.
As Tuesday bled into Wednesday, President Donald Trump and Joe Biden were running a tight race. Trump was projected to win some key battleground states such as Florida, Ohio and Texas, while Biden was projected to win New Hampshire and Minnesota. Meanwhile, election officials in three other key states, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Arizona, still have millions of ballots to count.
This live coverage has ended. Continue reading election news from November 4, 2020.
Read live updates below:
Vote Watch: Twitter takes down network of spam accounts pushing anti-Biden conspiracy theories
Twitter suspended a spam network of about 150 accounts pushing anti-Biden conspiracy theories on Election Day for platform manipulation.
The tweets broke the site’s rules “on spam and platform manipulation, specifically coordinating with others to engage in or promote violations of the Twitter Rules, including violations of our abusive behavior policy,” a Twitter spokesperson told NBC News.
The accounts tweeted identical messages and were flagged to Twitter by the Alethea Group, a company that tracks social media manipulation and had been monitoring disinformation operations that were coordinated on the messaging services Discord and WhatsApp.
"This network was carefully and intentionally built to push particular narratives targeting U.S. political issues and conspiracy theories across both mainstream and fringe platforms,” Alethea Group vice president of analysis Cindy Otis said.
Kaplan said the group “targeted voters in swing states, Spanish-speaking voters, and those on the U.S. right it sees most susceptible to its messaging.”
The spam accounts were pushing users on mainstream platforms such as Twitter and YouTube “to news sites run by Guo Media” and to “direct users to content on fringe platforms like Parler, to push political content that is primarily anti-Chinese Communist Party, anti-Joe Biden, and pro-Donald Trump,” Kaplan said. Guo Media is run by Guo Wengui, a billionaire who fled China amid accusations of bribery and other crimes. Guo is a close associate of former Trump White House aide Steve Bannon, who was arrested on Guo’s yacht in August.
Guo and Bannon have been connected to several anti-Chinese Communist Party disinformation campaigns this year, including one peddling Covid-19 misinformation and another aimed at smearing the former vice president’s son Hunter Biden. Guo and Bannon did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Utah voters promote Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox to state's top job
Utah voters on Tuesday elected GOP Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox as chief executive of the state, NBC News projects.
Cox was well on his way to defeating Democrat Chris Peterson, a University of Utah law professor.
Republicans have won every governor's race in Utah since 1984.
Mnuchin describes feeling inside East Room of White House, where people are watching results
NBC News Exit Poll: In New York, Biden gains among whites, sheds voters of color
NBC News projects that Joe Biden has won New York state’s 29 electoral votes for the Democrats, as has been the case in every presidential election since 1984. But behind Biden’s big win are notable changes in the state’s vote along the basis of race and ethnicity, which mirror shifts nationwide, according to the NBC News Exit Poll of early and Election Day voters.
Biden narrowly won New York state’s white voters, 50 percent to 48 percent. That’s an improvement over Democrat Hillary Clinton’s performance among whites in New York in 2016, when she lost this group with 45 percent to Trump's 51 percent.
But while Biden has built a commanding lead (79 percent to 20 percent) among the state’s voters of color, that’s actually a 6 percentage point shift away from the Democrats compared to Clinton’s performance (85 percent to 13 percent) among these voters in 2016.
This development in New York is similar to what the NBC News Exit Poll is finding nationwide: Compared to 2016, Biden is performing slightly better than Clinton among white voters, while Trump is slightly outperforming his previous levels of support with voters of color.
NBC News Exit Poll: Racial unrest in Wisconsin reflected in voter priorities
In Wisconsin, the presidential campaign has unfolded against a backdrop of civil unrest over the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, followed by the fatal shooting of two protesters. According to the NBC News Exit Poll of early and Election Day voters, Wisconsin voters tend to agree that recent incidents in which police have killed or injured Black people are a sign of broader problems rather than isolated events.
Black Wisconsin voters were more likely to say that the incidents are signs of a broader problem (64 percent), but most white Wisconsin voters (52 percent) express the same view.
Less clear is how heavily this factored into voting decisions. When asked about racism in the U.S., about two-thirds (65 percent) of Wisconsin voters said that it is one of many important problems. Only 12 percent said that racism was the most important problem.
That said, it is clear that this issue deeply affected Black Wisconsin voters. A 41 percent plurality of Black voters in the state cited racial inequality as the issue mattering most to their vote for president, when ranked along with four other issues.
NBC News Exit Poll: Nevada voters split between containing the coronavirus and rebuilding the economy
In Nevada, where the Covid-19 pandemic has dealt a particularly devastating blow to a state heavily dependent on tourism and hospitality, voters are split on whether to focus on rebuilding the economy or containing the coronavirus, according to the NBC News Exit Poll of early and Election Day voters. The presidential race in the state remained too early to call when polls closed at 10 p.m. ET.
Forty-eight percent of Nevada voters said that “containing the coronavirus” is more important, while 47 percent said it would be better to focus on “rebuilding the economy.” That’s a big difference compared to voters nationwide: 52 percent of Americans say it’s more important to contain the virus; 41 percent say they’d rather focus on rebuilding the economy.
What will it take for Biden or Trump to get to 270? Control the path with our tool
It will take at least 270 electoral votes to win the 2020 presidential election. Finish the 2020 map on our interactive page by clicking or tapping an individual state or toggle in order to move it to red or blue. States where NBC News has projected a winner cannot be changed.
Black Lives Matter movement draws some Las Vegas voters to the polls
LAS VEGAS — George Floyd’s death motivated Sally Andalon to come out to the polls Tuesday evening in Las Vegas. While Andalon, 21, said she had never cared much for politics or voting, learning more about racial inequalities in policing convinced her that she wanted her voice to be heard.
“Being a part of the Black Lives Matter movement really made me want to come out,” said Andalon, a first-time voter who cast her ballot in person at a polling site in the Meadows Mall parking lot, in North Central Las Vegas on Tuesday evening. “I went to the protests in May and marched and that motivated me to be more involved in the political system.”
Several Las Vegas voters at the Meadows Mall polling location said the issues most important to them this election had to do with racial inequalities in criminal justice. Andalon, like others, said she cast her vote for Democratic candidates, most likely to bring what they say are much-needed reforms.
“I feel like Trump didn’t really help with the protests or help with calming things down, or at least not as much as he should have” her brother, Julian, said. Also a first-time voter, Julian, 19, said he voted for Joe Biden because he believed he could help improve racial disparities in the criminal justice system.
“Now, we just have to hope for the best,” he said.
Trump takes the lead in Ohio, other swing states. Biden opens up early lead in Arizona.
Trump is leading in Ohio and Texas, though those races remain too close to call. Additionally, Trump is maintaining a lead in swing states such as North Carolina, Florida and Georgia, which also remain too close to call.
Biden has opened up a lead in Arizona with about 75 percent of the vote in.
Other critical states in the upper Midwest remain too close to call.
As of 10:30 p.m. ET, Biden holds a 98 to 86 Electoral College advantage over Trump. It takes 270 electoral votes to win.
Fulton County, Georgia, results will be stalled
ATLANTA — The Fulton County Registration and Elections Department now says it will continue counting ballots tonight, after officials initially said it would stop counting mail-in ballots at 10:30 p.m., and resume the count Wednesday morning. Fulton is Georgia's most populous county, and includes most of the city of Atlanta.
This means there will be no decisive results for Fulton County on Tuesday night, which will affect when the results for Georgia, overall, are known.
Biden wins New Hampshire, NBC News projects
NBC News projects that Biden will win New Hampshire — a contested state that was not called until much later in the night during the 2016 election. That year, Clinton won by a narrow margin.
NBC News Exit Poll: Biden is favorite among voters who suffered Covid-19 financial hardship
Amid an economic downturn brought on by the coronavirus pandemic, 55 percent of voters nationwide say that the coronavirus has caused them a financial hardship — including 17 percent who say it has caused them a severe financial hardship.
According to the NBC News Exit Poll of early and Election Day voters, among those most severely affected financially, Joe Biden is the clear favorite: 72 percent of voters who have suffered a severe financial hardship say they are casting a ballot for the Democratic candidate.
Among those voters who have suffered a moderate hardship, 62 percent say they voted for Biden, while 36 percent voted for President Trump.
But Trump is favored among those who say they have suffered no economic setbacks due to the coronavirus: 55 percent of these voters chose Trump, while 43 percent cast a ballot for Biden.
Voters of color are among the most likely groups to say they have suffered a severe financial hardship as a result of the pandemic: 21 percent of Black voters say they have suffered a severe hardship, along with 36 percent of Hispanic voters. In contrast, just 12 percent of white voters say they’ve taken a severe financial hit due to the virus.
Democrat Mark Kelly leading in Arizona Senate race, but too early to call, NBC News projects
NBC News projects that Democrat Mark Kelly, a former astronaut, is leading in the Arizona Senate special election but is it still too early to call.
Kelly is leading with 55.4 percent of the vote against GOP incumbent Sen. Martha McSally, who received 44.6 percent of the vote, as of 10:20 p.m., with 73 percent of the vote in.
This is one of the crucial seats for Democrats this election, which would make their path to Senate majority smoother. The Democrats picked up a seat in Colorado but lost a seat in Alabama.
Internet outage at Florida election office to delay some voting results
An internet outage hit the office of a central Florida supervisor of elections on Tuesday night shortly before polls closed in the battleground state.
The office, which is responsible for tabulating ballots cast in Osceola County, is working with the cable and internet provider Spectrum to restore internet service, Supervisor of Elections Mary Jane Arrington said. Arrington said that the process of manually uploading the results data from the different polling locations is about halfway done. “It’s going pretty quick and hopefully we’ll be done by midnight,” she said.
Spectrum said that it is trying to resolve the situation.
“A construction crew unrelated to Spectrum severed a bundle of fiber optic cables in Kissimmee that serves the Supervisor of Elections office,” Spectrum said in a statement. “We have crews onsite working to repair the damage and restore service as quickly as possible.”
The internet outage is expected to delay reporting of results in Osceola County.
“They're actually driving their results to the central location for reporting,” a senior Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency official said in a press call.
Republicans flip Alabama Senate seat red, dealing blow to Democrats
Republicans gained a crucial seat Tuesday night, with Republican Tommy Tuberville winning the Alabama Senate race, NBC News projects.
This is a blow to Democrats, who won the seat in 2018 with Democrat Doug Jones. Jones was the first Democrat to represent the state in the Senate in 25 years. This pushed the number Democrats need to win Senate majority from three to four after the party flipped a seat in Colorado.
Democrats keep control of House, NBC News projects
Democrats keep control of the House, NBC News projects.
The party was expected to hold its majority, which was 232-197 going into the election. The result opens the door for Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to seek another two-year term as speaker.
Democrats gained control of the House in 2018 after running on kitchen table issues, such as healthcare and the economy, and, in part, to the unpopularity of President Trump.
Voters of color and traditionally Republican suburban women were seen as key to the Democrats gaining control of the House.
Pelosi has vowed to push an ambitious agenda if Democrats retained control, such as providing more healthcare protections to Americans and more coronavirus-related aid.
Biden wins New Mexico, NBC News projects
Biden will win New Mexico, NBC News projects.
As it stands, Biden now holds a 94 to 72 Electoral College advantage over Trump. It takes 270 electoral votes to win.
NBC News Exit Poll: Latino voters in Florida shift toward Trump
Latinos constitute 19 percent of the electorate in Florida and, compared to Latinos in other states, their vote has tended to be more evenly split between Republicans and Democrats.
An analysis of Latino voting trends in Florida since 2008 suggest that Latinos were moving away from Republican candidates in 2012 and 2016, but have moved back toward Trump this year. According to the NBC News Exit Poll of early and election day voters, 47 percent of Latino voters in Florida supported Trump — up 12 percentage points from 2016.
This pattern seems to be taking place despite the growing number of Puerto Ricans — who lean far more heavily Democratic than Cubans — in Florida’s electorate. Today, nearly 3 out of 10 Latino voters in Florida identify as Puerto Rican. According to the NBC News exit poll of the early and Election Day voters, about a third of Puerto Rican voters in Florida today supported Trump. In comparison, 56 percent of Cuban voters supported Trump.
In addition, about 40 percent of Latino voters in Florida identify as neither Puerto Rican nor Cuban. This subset of Florida’s Latino electorate includes Venezuelans, many of whom left Venezuela due to frustrations with the socialist government and consequently tend to support more conservative governments. About 50 percent of these voters supported Trump, slightly less than Cubans but more than Puerto Ricans.
CORRECTION (Nov. 5, 2020, 12:29 p.m. ET): A previous version of this article misstated the percentage of Latino voters in Florida. They make up 19 percent of the electorate in the state, not 30 percent.
As Michigan tallies its vote, Democrats are encouraged by high voter turnout in Detroit
DETROIT — As election workers continue to tally the vote in Michigan two hours after polls closed, Democrats are encouraged by the apparently high voter turnout in Detroit.
Detroit City Clerk Janice Winfrey, addressing reporters about an hour after polls closed at 8 p.m. ET, said turnout in the city — fueled by an unprecedented flood of absentee ballots — appeared to be between 53 and 55 percent. That's as high or even higher than in 2008 when the opportunity to elect Barack Obama as the nation's first Black president energized voters in this overwhelmingly Black city.
It's a big change from four years ago when low turnout in Detroit — just 48 percent — robbed Hillary Clinton of the support she needed to defeat Donald Trump in this crucial state. He won Michigan by 10,704 votes.
Election Day went smoothly in Detroit, Winfrey said, with few problems at voting precincts where only 15 percent of voters cast ballots in person, and with absentee ballot counting happening faster than many feared in the wake of a botched primary election.
By 7:30 p.m., Winfrey said, 120,000 ballots had been tabulated and she predicted that final numbers would be available by Wednesday.
Georgia special election will go to runoff, NBC News projects
NBC News projects that the Georgia Senate special election will go to runoff as none of the candidates has met the required 50 percent threshold to win the race.
Raphael Warnock, the Democrat in the race, will advance to the runoff. NBC News has not projected which Republican — incumbent Sen. Kelly Loeffler or Rep. Doug Collins — will face off against Warnock.
This is one of the most competitive Senate races. Warnock received 28.5 percent of the vote, Loeffler received 28.7 percent and Collings 23.1 percent as of 10 p.m, with 50 percent of the vote in.
NBC News Exit Poll: Trump and Biden voters sharply divided on questions involving racial justice
Voters in the 2020 election were polarized along racial lines: The NBC News Exit Poll of early and Election Day voters found that 4 out of 5 voters for President Trump were white, compared to about half of Joe Biden's voters. Biden voters were more than twice as likely to be people of color as Trump voters were.
Voters were also divided on questions involving racial justice. Eighty-seven percent of Biden voters had a favorable view of the Black Lives Matter movement, while just 24 percent of Trump voters agreed.
And while more than 4 out of 5 Biden voters said they believe the criminal justice treats Black people unfairly, only 1 out of 5 Trump voters said they felt the same.
Biden supporters watch the results roll in
NBC News projects Sen. Ben Sasse wins re-election in Nebraska
NBC News projects that Sen. Ben Sasse will win re-election in his Senate race in Nebraska.
The race was not a competitive race to watch as both parties battle for a Senate majority. However, Sasse has been one of the few Republicans who have attacked President Trump, signaling that Trump may not appeal to as many voters there as he did in 2016.
NBC News has rated the race for president there as too early to call.
New Jersey votes to legalize marijuana, NBC News projects
The state of New Jersey voted to legalize the use and possession of marijuana for recreational purposes Tuesday, NBC News projects.
Voters in the state were asked to decide if recreational marijuana use should become legal for people 21 and older. It was already legal for medical use in the state.
New Jersey was among four states deciding on the legalization of recreational marijuana this Election Day.
NBC News Exit Poll: Gender gap narrows as more men back Biden than supported Clinton in 2016
The gender gap is alive and well but not quite as large as the two prior elections thanks to a notable 8-point increase in male voters’ support for the Democratic candidate.
According to the NBC News Exit Poll of early and Election Day voters, Joe Biden is polling better among both men and women than Hillary Clinton did four years ago. The increase is particularly large among men, who are breaking about evenly between Biden (49 percent) and President Trump (48 percent). Women are supporting Biden (57 percent) by about 3 points more than they did Clinton (54 percent).
For four decades, support for Democratic presidential candidates has been higher among women than men. This gender gap is one of the most durable features of modern American presidential elections.
While Biden is polling well with men overall, perhaps even more striking is his success with a key subgroup: white suburban men. Nationwide about 40 percent of white suburban men are breaking for Biden this year, which is up from 2012 (34 percent) and 2016 (28 percent). Democratic support among white suburban women, by contrast, has remained stable.
Asian markets skittish at open as U.S. election winner remains unclear
Asian stock markets had a skittish start to the day Wednesday, as investors await the result of the U.S. presidential election.
Trader sentiment initially supported a "blue wave" that could lead to swifter economic recovery and approval of a new round of fiscal stimulus, including fresh support for the millions of Americans who are still out of work.
However, election night results show a presidential race that is so far too close to call, with a tightly fought race in many battleground states.
“Markets have taken a step back from the Democratic sweep scenario,” one analyst said.
NBC News Exit Poll: Trump's support among veterans slides
Trump’s support among veterans declined noticeably this year, from 60 percent in 2016 to 51 percent in 2020, according to the NBC News Exit Poll of early and election day voters.
Military veterans have long been a strong base of support for Republicans. But Trump’s numerous controversies surrounding the military raised the prospect that some veterans might flip to Biden.
The exit poll shows that to be the case, as the Republican advantage among veterans is smaller than in recent elections.
Sarah McBride to become first transgender state senator in U.S. history
Sarah McBride has won her Delaware state Senate race, making her poised to become the first and only openly transgender state senator in the U.S. and the country's highest-ranking transgender official.
“I hope tonight shows an LGBTQ kid that our democracy is big enough for them, too,” McBride, 30, tweeted Tuesday night after the election was called. “As Delaware continues to face the Covid crisis, it’s time to get to work to invest in the policies that will make a difference for working families.”
She easily defeated Republican Steve Washington to represent Delaware’s 1st state Senate District. Incumbent Democrat Harris McDowell, who is retiring after 44 years, had endorsed McBride.
The district covers Bellefonte, Claymont and parts of Wilmington, the state’s largest city.
“Tonight, Sarah made history not just for herself but for our entire community,” Alphonso David, president of the Human Rights Campaign, a national LGBTQ advocacy group, said. “This victory, the first of what I expect to be many in her career, shows that any person can achieve their dream, no matter their gender identity or sexual orientation.”
Senate fight at a glance: Dems flip one seat, while Republicans hold on to several incumbent seats
In the state of the battle for the Senate majority, Democrats have flipped one seat while several Republicans in the Senate have sailed to re-election, according to NBC News projections.
Republicans are defending 23 seats and Democrats are defending 12.
Democrats have maintained four seats: New Jersey, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Delaware. The party picked up a seat in Colorado, the first flip of the night.
Despite losing a seat, Republicans have kept eight of their seats red Tuesday night: Kentucky, Texas, South Dakota, Arkansas, Tennessee, Nebraska, Oklahoma and West Virginia.
Trump leads in Texas, NBC News projects
With 74 percent of the expected vote in, Trump currently holds a narrow lead in Texas, NBC News projects.
Trump won Texas by nearly 9 points in 2016. He currently trails his 2016 vote total by about 360,000 votes. Biden, meanwhile, has already topped Clinton's 2016 vote total by about 360,000 votes.
With that in mind, Trump still maintains a lead of less than 1 point.
Meanwhile, Biden is leading in New Hampshire, NBC News projects, though that race is also too early to call.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wins re-election in New York
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez won her first bid for re-election in New York on Tuesday, NBC News projects.
She faced Republican challenger John Cummings, a former teacher and police officer, whose campaign was well-funded despite Ocasio-Cortez being heavily favored to win in her overwhelmingly Democratic district, which runs over parts of Queens and the Bronx.
She became a prominent figure of the progressive wing of the Democratic Party after her upset win in the 2018 midterm election.
NBC News Exit Poll: Biden outperforming Clinton among new voters
Biden is the overwhelming favorite of those who are casting ballots in a presidential election for the first time — and he's faring even better than Clinton did among this group in 2016, according to the NBC News Exit Poll of early and Election Day voters.
The exit poll found that 13 percent of voters casting ballots for president in the 2020 contest have never done so before. These voters make up a slightly larger share of the electorate than they did four years ago.
Today, 68 percent of those who say they are voting for the first time cast a ballot for Biden; just 29 say they voted for Trump.
First-time voters tend to skew younger and more Democratic. Hillary Clinton was a clear favorite among the group,
While Clinton was favored by the group 19 percentage points above Trump, with 57 percent to Trump's 38 percent, that was a considerably smaller margin as compared to this year.
Trump wins South Carolina, NBC News projects
NBC News projects that Trump will win South Carolina, locking up a win in a state that was never much in question but does feature a competitive Senate race.
Biden now holds an 89 to 72 Electoral College advantage over Trump. It takes 270 electoral votes to win.
Trump, Biden supporters face off in Texas
North Dakota re-elects GOP Gov. Doug Burgum, NBC News projects
North Dakota voters on Tuesday will re-elect Gov. Doug Burgum, defeating Democratic challenger Shelley Lenz, NBC News projects.
A Democrat hasn't won the governorship of North Dakota since 1988.
Hickenlooper wins Colorado Senate race, flipping seat from red to blue
Democrat John Hickenlooper, the former mayor of Denver and governor of Colorado, beat first-term GOP Republican Sen. Cory Gardner — a win for Democrats.
Hickenlooper, 68, left office last year after two terms as governor and ran unsuccessfully for president. This was a must-win state for Democrats in the battle for the Senate.
Vote Watch: U.S. Cyber Command took prior action against Russian and Iranian government hackers
The U.S. Cyber Command conducted offensive operations designed to thwart election interference efforts prior to the election, two sources told NBC News. The operations targeted computer infrastructure associated with government hackers in Russia and Iran.
The effort by American military hackers against Iran was first reported by The Washington Post, and the action against Russia was first reported by CBS News.
The sources described cyber actions not as crushing blows to foreign adversaries, but as something of an annoyance to them.
The sources said the operations were similar to what Cyber Command did in 2018, when it took down computers associated with the Internet Research Agency, a Russian troll farm. The impact lasted only a day or two, the sources said, before the disinformation factory was up and running again.
A spokeswoman for Cyber Command declined to comment. Gen. Paul Nakasone, who serves as both director of the National Security Agency and commander of Cyber Command, boasted in a tweet earlier Tuesday: “We know our adversaries better than they know themselves. We stand ready with our partners to generate insights, enable defenses, and when authorized, impose costs on foreign adversaries. Rest assured, if called to, we will act.”
U.S. officials have said they have seen no signs Tuesday of malicious foreign cyber activity targeting the election.
NBC News Exit Poll: Despite 'law and order' appeals, white suburban women say economy, not crime, is top issue
With protests around racial inequality and policing occurring in cities across the country this year, many Republican candidates — and especially President Trump — sought to appeal to suburban white women by emphasizing a commitment to law and order. But according to early results from the NBC News Exit Poll of early and Election Day voters, the economy was a far bigger issue in deciding how this group voted for president.
Only 11 percent of suburban white women said that crime was the issue that mattered most to their vote, about the same share who said racial inequality was the most important issue.
When asked about the Black Lives Matter movement and the criminal justice system, more than half of white suburban women said they hold a favorable view of Black Lives Matter, and nearly half said they believe the justice system is unfair to Black people, the poll found.
NBC News Exit Poll: Biden is ahead with independent voters nationwide
In an era marked by wide divisions between Republicans and Democrats across a host of issues and concerns, a key factor in this election is whom independent voters will favor.
In 2016, President Trump edged out Hillary Clinton among independents by 4 points, capturing 46 percent of independent voters nationwide, compared to the Democratic candidate's 42 percent.
According to results so far from the NBC News Exit Poll of early and Election Day voters, this critical swing group is breaking for Joe Biden by a 17-point margin — 56 percent to 39 percent.
Men are a key constituency for Trump this election.
Former Vice President Biden is pulling in about half of independent men (52 percent), a group that Clinton lost by 12 points in 2016. And Biden is winning over independent women by a wide margin: 61 percent of this group is breaking for him, compared with 35 percent for Trump, a difference of 26 points.
Sen. Mitch McConnell gives victory speech
Gov. Jim Justice wins re-election in West Virginia, NBC News projects
Gov. Jim Justice won re-election in West Virginia on Tuesday, dispatching Democrat Ben Salango, NBC News is projecting.
The former coal executive is best known for having won office in 2016 as a Democrat, only to switch parties in 2017.
Biden holds early Electoral College advantage, but no swing states have been called
Biden currently holds an 89 to 54 advantage over Trump in the Electoral College, yet all of the major swing states remain outstanding.
Biden has so far won New York, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Jersey, Colorado, Maryland, Delaware, Connecticut and Washington, D.C., NBC News projects.
Trump, meanwhile, has won North Dakota, Indiana, West Virginia, Kentucky, Arkansas, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Tennessee, NBC News projects.
NBC News Exit Poll: In Pennsylvania, Trump losing ground with college-educated whites
In 2016, Trump toppled the "blue wall" of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin by running up the numbers with white voters who do not have college degrees. According to the 2020 NBC News Exit Poll of early and election day voters in Pennsylvania, Trump is maintaining his support of non-college whites but losing ground with white voters who have college degrees.
In the 2012 election, there was no education divide among white voters in Pennsylvania. Four years later, Trump won non-college whites handily, with 64 percent of the vote, while breaking even with Hillary Clinton among college-educated whites. This year, the exit poll shows Trump losing the white college graduate vote in Pennsylvania by about 12 points (43 percent to Biden's 55 percent).
Attitudes among white Pennsylvania voters divide sharply on the question of whether Trump has the temperament to serve effectively as president. Most college-educated whites say no (60 percent) while a similar share of non-college whites (58 percent) say yes.
Tensions high as Texans await the results of a tight presidential race
HOUSTON — With Texas in play for Democrats for the first time in decades, the mood is tense among dozens of people who’ve crowded onto a patio at Axelrad Beer Garden for an election night watch party.
Serma Malik, 36, just didn’t want to be alone after the crushing disappointment she felt when Trump won four years ago.
“It’s hard for me to even think about what the next four years are going to be like if Trump wins,” said Malik, who was born in Pakistan and immigrated to the U.S. as a child. “It feels like this election is about who’s welcome in this country, and who isn’t.”
Malik, surrounded Tuesday by close friends and her husband, hasn’t allowed herself to contemplate the possibility that Texas could flip for Biden.
“I’m trying not to set my expectations high so if somehow we flip that will be an exciting surprise,” Malik said. "I felt so burned after the last election four years ago, I just want to prepare myself to be disappointed.”
A moment later, just as the last Texas polling locations closed, an MSNBC anchor announced that the state was still too close to call.
Malik took a deep breath and looked down at her phone.
NBC News Exit Poll: In Texas, Biden is performing better among white voters than any Democrat in decades
Texas and its big cache of electoral votes have remained solidly in the Republican column since 1976, but this year the state emerged as a surprising battleground in the race between President Trump and Joe Biden. That’s in part due to Biden’s historically strong performance among the state’s white voters, according to results from the NBC News Exit Poll conducted with early and Election Day voters in the state.
Trump enjoys a solid lead among the state’s white voters, 65 percent to 34 percent. But Biden’s performance among this group is better than any Democrat since at least 1996, when President Bill Clinton won 31 percent of the white vote in Texas.
Biden is leading Trump among nonwhite voters in Texas, 68 percent to 30 percent, according to the exit poll. Texas remained too early to call when polls closed in the state at 9 p.m. ET.
GOP Sen. Mike Rounds wins South Dakota Senate race, NBC News projects
NBC News projects GOP Sen. Mike Rounds will win re-election in South Dakota, a state President Trump also carried.
This brings the total of seats Republicans have maintained on election night to seven. This was not seen as a competitive Senate race.
Nevada court rejects Trump campaign effort to halt mail ballot processing
The Nevada Supreme Court refused a last-ditch Trump campaign effort to halt mail ballot processing and the use of signature verification software in Clark County, allowing the county to continue processing ballots as planned.
The Trump campaign and the Nevada Republican Party filed an emergency motion this afternoon asking the court for an emergency injunction after their suit in a district court was rejected Monday. The state Supreme Court refused Tuesday evening, writing that the “appellants have not demonstrated a sufficient likelihood of success to merit a stay or injunction.”
The court said that the suit had failed in district court because it lacked “evidentiary support” and standing and that the appeal hadn’t changed that.