Election 2024 updates: With Arizona, Trump sweeps all 7 swing states
The final electoral college count is Trump: 312, Harris: 226.
Just days after former President Donald Trump was projected to have won the presidency, Trump's transition team operation has begun, with transition co-chairs confirming that he will be selecting personnel to serve under his leadership in the coming days.
Trump is also the projected winner in Arizona, a state the former president flipped after losing it to Joe Biden in 2020.
Trump's projected win in the vital swing state marks a sweep of the battleground states.
Key Headlines
- With Arizona, Trump sweeps all 7 swing states
- Steve Witkoff and Kelly Loeffler to lead Trump's inaugural efforts
- Trump to meet with Biden Wednesday
- Maryland election boards receive bomb threats as ballots are counted
- Steve Witkoff and Kelly Loeffler expected to lead Trump's inaugural efforts
- Trump projected winner in Nevada
- Trump announces chief of staff
Fish, family and failure?
Rep. Mary Peltola of Alaska is the Democrat who occupies the Trumpiest House district in the country, and as such, she was a top Republican target. So far, Republicans have to be encouraged by the results. With 68% of the expected vote reporting, Republican Nick Begich has 50.02% of first-place vote to Peltola's 45%. Those decimal places are important because Alaska uses ranked-choice voting to decide its elections if no candidate gets a majority. As of right now, if these numbers hold, Begich would win outright.
Key governors races highlighted by two apparent split-ticket outcomes
We were especially watching four gubernatorial contests tonight — when we weren't distracted by the presidential race (which was practically never, but we try you know?) — and the four races split two-two between the Democrats and Republicans. Interestingly, two of those elections look set to be split-ticket outcomes where the presidential race goes opposite direction of the governor's election. In New Hampshire, Harris leads by about 4 points and looks likely to carry the state, but former Sen. Kelly Ayotte is projected to win the governorship to keep it in GOP hands. In North Carolina, Trump carried the state by around 3 points, but Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein is up almost 15 points, thanks in part to his Republican opponent's scandals. But Republicans easily held the governorship in Indiana and Democrats comfortably held the governorship in Washington.
Michigan Republicans retake the state House
According to Gongwer Michigan, Republicans in the Great Lakes State have flipped the state House, ending Democrats' trifecta. That has big implications on Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's ability to implement her agenda for the last two years of her term.
Montana House race remains interesting
Democrats have had a bad night, and they look to be in trouble in Montana's Senate race, where Tester trails by about 4.5 points with about half the expected vote reporting statewide.
But Montana's 1st Congressional District in the western part of the state also bears keeping an eye on. Trump will very likely carry this seat (he would have carried it by about 7 points in 2020), but the House race is quite close right now. Republican Rep. Ryan Zinke is just about tied with Democrat Monica Tranel at 49 percent, with about 40 percent of the expected vote reporting. With so much vote outstanding, it would not be surprising to see Zinke eventually take and hold a lead to win reelection. Yet there are a similar number of votes left in Democratic-leaning counties in the district as GOP-leaning ones. With some of the curious things happening in House races relative to the presidential race, a Democratic surprise here would be a cherry on top.