Donald Trump returns to White House — as it happened

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Presented and edited by Joseph Kizza
(Time indicated is Ugandan time/EAT)
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 2:00 PM 

 BREAKING NEWS 

Trump wins in stunning comeback

Donald Trump has won the US presidential election, media said Wednesday, defeating Kamala Harris in a stunning political comeback that will send shock waves across the world.

The polarizing Republican's victory, following one of the most hostile campaigns in modern US history, was all the more remarkable given an unprecedented criminal conviction, a near-miss assassination attempt, and warnings from a former chief of staff that he is a "fascist."

"It's a political victory that our country has never seen before," Trump told a victory party in Florida.

Vice-President Harris, who only entered the race in July after President Joe Biden dropped out, ran a centrist campaign that highlighted Trump's inflammatory messaging and use of openly racist and sexist tropes.

But his apocalyptic warnings about immigration and championing of isolationism found their mark with voters battered by the post-Covid economy and eager for a change from the Biden years.

The campaign pointed to a nail-bitingly close contest, but the results came surprisingly fast, delivering a crushing victory that included wins in the swing states of Georgia, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.

Trump is the first president in more than a century to win a non-consecutive second term. He is also the only person to be elected as a convicted felon -- he will face sentencing in a New York court for fraud on November 26.

Already 78, Trump is on course to break another record as the oldest-ever sitting president during his four-year term. He will surpass Biden who is set to step down in January at the age of 82.

Impact on foreign policy

The US dollar surged and bitcoin hit a record high while most equity markets advanced, with traders betting on a victory for Trump as the results rolled in. But turmoil likely lies ahead.

Trump's victory comes with his promise of radical policy shifts -- not just at home but also abroad, where his unrestrained isolationist and nationalist "America First" stance is likely to have enormous consequences.

He has repeatedly suggested he would end the conflict in Ukraine by pressuring Kyiv to make territorial concessions to Russia, and his threat of mass deportations of illegal immigrants has stirred deep concern in Latin America.

He also returns to the White House as a climate change denier, poised to dismantle his predecessor Biden's green policies and jeopardize global efforts to curb human-caused warming.

Even before Trump's stunning victory was fully confirmed, foreign leaders rushed to send congratulations.

These included longtime Trump allies, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Also messaging Trump was Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is predicted to see a rapid reduction in US military aid once Biden leaves office. Zelenksy said he hoped the "impressive victory" would help his country find a "just peace."

NATO's chief, Mark Rutte, said Trump, who has frequently expressed displeasure with the US-led alliance, would make it "strong."

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer joined the stream of well-wishers, while French President Emmanuel Macron vowed to join Trump in working "with respect and ambition."

Showman's instinct

For all his dark promises of political revenge against enemies at home and his criticisms of longstanding allies overseas, Trump remains famously unpredictable when it comes to matching words with actions.

His campaign rallies, filled with grievance, insults and misinformation, featured extreme rhetoric.

But he won positive coverage with viral online moments that played on his everyman appeal and his showman's instinct -- like his appearance at a McDonald's drive-thru and impromptu news conference from a garbage truck.

He campaigned on tax cuts, less regulation and the most significant increase in import tariffs in nearly a century to promote growth and boost manufacturing, despite warnings of trade wars and higher prices for US consumers.

Trump's more mainstream messaging often became overshadowed by his tendency to lurch into foul language and violent imagery. But that hard-charging style played well with his unfailingly loyal base, which sees him as a Washington outsider.

And he gained traction with his hard-line anti-immigration message and outreach to working-class voters hit by Covid-triggered inflation.

When Harris joined the race in July, replacing Biden, she soon managed to close the yawning gap Trump had opened over the president in opinion polls.

Her message of unity, focus on abortion rights and warnings of the threat Trump posed to democracy appeared to resonate, evidenced by a huge surge in fundraising that swelled her campaign war chest way beyond her rival's.

Ultimately, however, she fell short of what would have been a historic win as the first Black woman elected to the White House.
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 1:40 PM 

 BREAKING NEWS 

Trump secures US presidential race victory

Former president Republican Donald Trump has been elected the 47th president of the United States of America, beating Democratic Vice-President Kamala Harris, according to US media projections.

A Trump comeback to the White House is historic — it the first non-consecutive second term for a US president since Grover Cleveland in 1893 and just the second ever.

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 12:05 PM 

Electoral college votes

Donald Trump may be inevitably poised for election victory, but the official call has not been made yet.

At 266 electoral college votes against Kamala Harris's 219, the Republican leader — who has already claimed victory (see entry 10:50am below) — needs only four more votes to reach the magic 270 votes to seal the win.

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 11:50 AM 

Global leaders congratulate Trump

World leaders raced to praise Donald Trump as he claimed a stunning US election victory over Kamala Harris, while financial markets also rose. Here are the first reactions, with the presidential election result still to be confirmed:

Israel

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called it a historic return for the former US leader and a new beginning in the US-Israel alliance.

"Congratulations on history's greatest comeback! Your historic return to the White House offers a new beginning for America and a powerful recommitment to the great alliance between Israel and America. This is a huge victory!" said Netanyahu in a statement issued by his office.

(Below, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with US President Donald Trump, speaks during an announcement of Trump's Middle East peace plan in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC on January 28, 2020)

China

As the results began to go Trump's way, China said it hoped for "peaceful coexistence" with the United States.

"We will continue to approach and handle China-US relations based on the principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence, and win-win cooperation," foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told a regular briefing.

"We respect the choice of the American people."

(Below, US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping shake hands during dinner at the Mar-a-Lago estate in West Palm Beach, Florida, on April 6, 2017)

France

French President Emmanuel Macron congratulated "President Donald Trump", saying he was ready to work with him "with respect and ambition" like "we managed to do for four years".

In a post on X, Macron said that the relationship with Trump, who is leading the US presidential vote, would "take account of your convictions, and mine", adding: "For more peace and prosperity."

Ukraine

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky congratulated Donald Trump on his "impressive victory" and said he hoped his presidency would bring "just peace in Ukraine closer."

"I appreciate President Trump's commitment to the 'peace through strength' approach in global affairs. This is exactly the principle that can practically bring just peace in Ukraine closer," Zelensky said in a statement on social media.

NATO

NATO chief Mark Rutte congratulated Trump and said his return to power would help keep the alliance "strong".

"His leadership will again be key to keeping our Alliance strong. I look forward to working with him again to advance peace through strength through NATO," Rutte said in a statement.

India

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed Trump's "election victory".

"Heartiest congratulations my friend @realDonaldTrump on your historic election victory," Modi wrote on social media platform X. "As you build on the successes of your previous term, I look forward to renewing our collaboration."

(Below, US President Donald Trump (R) walks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi towards a joint press conference in the Rose Garden at The White House in Washington D.C on June 26, 2017)

Financial markets

The dollar surged, bitcoin hit a record high and European stocks rallied. Trump has pledged to make the United States the "bitcoin and cryptocurrency capital of the world" and to put tech billionaire Elon Musk in charge of a wide-ranging audit of governmental waste.

"The markets are scrambling to figure out what happens next, but for the time being, the market is pricing in a higher growth and higher inflation outlook," said Peter Esho, economist and founder at Esho Capital.
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 10:50 AM 

Trump claims victory over Harris

Donald Trump has claimed victory and pledged to "heal" the country as results put him on the verge of beating Kamala Harris in a stunning White House comeback.

His exuberant speech comes despite the fact that only Fox News has declared him the winner, with no other US networks having made the call so far.

As jubilant supporters cheered and chanted "USA", Trump took to the stage at his campaign headquarters in Florida along with his wife Melania and several of his children.

"We are going to help our country heal," the Republican former president said. "It's a political victory that our country has never seen before."

US networks have called the swing states of Pennsylvania, Georgia and North Carolina for the 78-year-old, and he led the Democratic vice president in the others although they have not been called yet.

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 10:30 AM 

Trump addresses supporters in Florida

Former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is addressing his supporters during an election night event at the West Palm Beach Convention Centre in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Trump has closed in on a new term in the White House in a race against Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris.

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 10:15 AM 

Trump on verge of victory over Harris

Donald Trump is on the verge of a decisive victory over Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election, in what would be the most stunning comeback in US political history.

In a further blow to Democrats, Trump's Republican Party also seized control of the Senate, flipping two seats to overturn a narrow Democratic majority.

A Trump victory threatens to cause shockwaves around the world, as US allies in Europe and Asia fear a return of his nationalist policies and his praise of autocrats like Russia's Vladimir Putin.

But the US dollar surged and bitcoin hit a record high while most equity markets advanced as traders bet on a victory for Trump as the results rolled in.

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 10:00 AM 

 BREAKING NEWS 

Fox News makes solo call of Trump win

Fox News declared Donald Trump the winner of the US presidential election early Wednesday, the only network to make the call, after projecting he would win key battlegrounds Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

"Donald Trump elected as the next president of the United States," blared the front page of the Fox News website.

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 9:45 AM 

Mood darkens at Democratic parties

The mood at US election watch parties shifted significantly as results began to show a swing towards Donald Trump in a number of key states early Wednesday.

(Below, former US Representative Cedric Richmond announces that Harris would not address her supporters during the night)

With networks calling North Carolina and Georgia — two of seven swing states — for the Republican candidate, Kamala Harris's path to victory appeared to be narrowing.

"I am scared, I am anxious now," Charlyn Anderson told AFP as she left Harris's election night HQ at Howard University in Washington. "We won't give up until it's done but I'm scared."

Others expressed bafflement, as news filtered in that Harris would not address the crowd during the night.

"He's a terrible candidate, so it just doesn't make sense," said Ken Brown, a former student, of Trump's successes so far. "I don't know who's voting for him."

In Pennsylvania, perhaps the most significant of all the swing states, Democrats at a watch party in the western county of Erie were despondent.

"I'm just pissed off," said Lynn Johnson, 65, as she watched cable news channels. "It doesn't look good for Harris. It's going to be dangerous if he wins. I don't feel safe."

What started as a raucous watch party at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta, with balloons and beer, sobered up around midnight. Organizers switched off TV screens and asked people to exit the ballroom. While insisting "it's not over yet", one of them offered a piece of parting advice: Don't turn on your television tonight.

In Las Vegas, Democrat Pablo Pleitez said he was worried for his fellow Latinos. "So far we are losing... many of the Latino community that are good people... they won't have anyone, they will be affected with Trump's decisions," he said.

(Below, a US flag hangs from a fence after supporters left an election night event for Harris at Howard University in Washington, DC)

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 9:20 AM 

Trump set to address celebrating supporters

Jubilant Donald Trump supporters gathered in Florida on election night, expecting the ex-president to speak after he notched key wins in the race for the White House.

Men donning formal suits and women in dresses mingled at the Palm Beach County Convention Center event, where they rubbed shoulders with a die-hard Trump fan sporting their political hero's name emblazoned on a leather vest.

Whether dressed in formal attire or more casual wear, many of the attendees wore Trump's signature red "Make America Great Again" baseball caps.

"I feel like Trump has won this election. This is over, and I feel like the world's about to be much greater," said Moses Abraham, 22.

Trump pushed closer to victory over Kamala Harris on Wednesday, leaving the Democrat the narrowest of remaining paths to stop him scoring a stunning political comeback.

"This is like 2016. I feel that we are on the same path to win. I feel very optimistic about tonight," said Jo Ann Poly Calvo. "Donald Trump is the perfect fit for America."

Below, a teleprompter is cleaned before the arrival of Trump...

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 9:10 AM 

Republicans seize control of US Senate

Meanwhile, Republicans have wrestled the US Senate from Democratic control, US media projected early Wednesday, ending four years in the minority and providing a huge boost to the party in its quest to dominate every branch of government.

The victory means that the incoming president will get enormous support to enact their agenda and appoint justices to the powerful US Supreme Court if it's Donald Trump — but legislative deadlock if it is his Democratic rival, Kamala Harris.

The US Capitol is divided into the House of Representatives — where all 435 seats are up for grabs — and a 100-member Senate, which has 34 seats at stake this year. Congressional elections run alongside the White House race.

Jim Justice, the sitting Republican governor of West Virginia, delighted Republicans early in the night when he emerged as an easy victor in the Senate race to replace retiring moderate Joe Manchin, an independent who voted with the Democrats.

Ohio then moved into the Republican column after longstanding Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown was defeated by Bernie Moreno, a Trump-endorsed businessman and the son of a one-time high-ranking Colombian government official.

Fox News and ABC called the race for control of the upper house after Republican Senator Deb Fischer fended off an unexpectedly robust challenge from an independent in Nebraska.

"I look forward to working with President Trump and our new conservative majority to make America great again by making the Senate work again," Texas Senator John Cornyn (pictured below, R), a contender to lead the Republican majority from January, said in a statement.

The Justice and Moreno victories reversed the Democrats' 51-49 Senate advantage, with Republicans looking to extend their lead even further with potential pick-ups in Montana, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

Huge power

Democrats were looking to mitigate losses with gains in Texas and Florida, but conceded both as the sitting Republicans notched easy wins.

If Republicans win all of the toss-up races, they'll end the election with 55 of the 100 seats, giving them huge power to usher through Trump's domestic agenda and judicial appointments, should he prevail against Harris.

For the first time in history, two Black women will serve at the same time in the US Senate, following victories from Democrats Angela Alsobrooks and Lisa Blunt Rochester in Maryland and Delaware respectively.

Of the 2,000-plus Americans who have served in the upper chamber, only three have been Black women — including Harris.

Nonpartisan political finance monitor OpenSecrets reports that $10 billion has been spent on candidates for Congress this cycle — a touch less than in 2020 but almost twice as much as the $5.5 billion price tag for the 2024 White House race.

While the Senate approves treaties and certain presidential appointments, such as ambassadors and Supreme Court nominees, all bills that raise money must start in the House, where the majority could take days to be decided.

The Democrats are in the minority, but overall control looks like less of a steep climb in the lower chamber, where they only need to flip four seats.

Sarah McBride will be the first openly transgender politician elected to Congress after beating Republican John Whalen III to take a House seat representing Delaware.
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 9:00 AM 

Trump at 243 electoral votes, Harris at 194

Below is a list of the states won by each candidate and the corresponding number of electoral votes, based on the projections of US media including CNN, Fox News, MSNBC/NBC News, ABC and CBS. The magic number to win the presidency is 270 electoral votes.

 Electoral vote count so far 

TRUMP (243)

▪️ Alabama (9)
▪️ Arkansas (6)
▪️ Florida (30)
▪️ Georgia (16)
▪️ Idaho (4)
▪️ Indiana (11)
▪️ Iowa (6)
▪️ Kansas (6)
▪️ Kentucky (8)
▪️ Louisiana (8)
▪️ Mississippi (6)
▪️ Missouri (10)
▪️ Montana (4)
▪️ North Carolina (16)
▪️ North Dakota (3)
▪️ Ohio (17)
▪️ Oklahoma (7)
▪️ South Carolina (9)
▪️ South Dakota (3)
▪️ Tennessee (11)
▪️ Texas (40)
▪️ Utah (6)
▪️ West Virginia (4)
▪️ Wyoming (3)

HARRIS (194)

▪️ California (54)
▪️ Colorado (10)
▪️ Connecticut (7)
▪️ Delaware (3)
▪️ District of Columbia (3)
▪️ Hawaii (4)
▪️ Illinois (19)
▪️ Maryland (10)
▪️ Massachusetts (11)
▪️ New Mexico (5)
▪️ New York (28)
▪️ Oregon (8)
▪️ Rhode Island (4)
▪️ Vermont (3)
▪️ Virginia (13)
▪️ Washington (12)
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 8:45 AM 

Trump supporters sensing victory

There are all indications that Donald Trump is on course to return to the White House for a non-consecutive second term.

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 8:10 AM 

Trump closes in on victory

So far, US media projections show that Republican former president Donald Trump has garnered 227 electoral votes from 23 states and Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris captured 14 states (189 votes).

The magic number to win the presidency is 270.

The following is a list of the states won by each candidate and the corresponding number of electoral votes, based on the projections of US media including CNN, Fox News, MSNBC/NBC News, ABC and CBS.S.

 Electoral vote count so far 

HARRIS (189)

▪️ California (54)
▪️ Colorado (10)
▪️ Connecticut (7)
▪️ Delaware (3)
▪️ District of Columbia (3)
▪️ Hawaii (4)
▪️ Illinois (19)
▪️ Maryland (10)
▪️ Massachusetts (11)
▪️ New York (28)
▪️ Oregon (8)
▪️ Rhode Island (4)
▪️ Vermont (3)
▪️ Virginia (13)
▪️ Washington (12)

TRUMP (227)

▪️ Alabama (9)
▪️ Arkansas (6)
▪️ Florida (30)
▪️ Idaho (4)
▪️ Indiana (11)
▪️ Iowa (6)
▪️ Kansas (6)
▪️ Kentucky (8)
▪️ Louisiana (8)
▪️ Mississippi (6)
▪️ Missouri (10)
▪️ Montana (4)
▪️ North Carolina (16)
▪️ North Dakota (3)
▪️ Ohio (17)
▪️ Oklahoma (7)
▪️ South Carolina (9)
▪️ South Dakota (3)
▪️ Tennessee (11)
▪️ Texas (40)
▪️ Utah (6)
▪️ West Virginia (4)
▪️ Wyoming (3)
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 7:43 AM 

Trump takes key battleground

There is a huge blow for Vice-President Kamala Harris as US media projects that Republican Donald Trump will win the key battleground state of North Carolina (16 electoral votes).
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 7:20 AM 

Trump at 211 electoral votes, Harris at 153

Projections are tumbling in, with US media calling wins for Trump so far in 22 states including big prizes Texas and Ohio, and other reliably Republican-leaning states.

Harris has so far captured 10 states including big electoral vote prizes California and New York — as well as the US capital Washington.

So far, that gives Trump 211 electoral votes and Harris 153. The magic number to win the presidency is 270. Observers expect the hotly contested race for the White House to come down to a handful of key battleground states.

The following is a list of the states won by each candidate and the corresponding number of electoral votes, based on the projections of US media including CNN, Fox News, MSNBC/NBC News, ABC and CBS.S.

 Electoral vote count so far 

HARRIS (153)

▪️ California (54)
▪️ Colorado (10)
▪️ Delaware (3)
▪️ District of Columbia (3)
▪️ Illinois (19)
▪️ Maryland (10)
▪️ Massachusetts (11)
▪️ New York (28)
▪️ Oregon (8)
▪️ Rhode Island (4)
▪️ Vermont (3)

TRUMP (211)

▪️ Alabama (9)
▪️ Arkansas (6)
▪️ Florida (30)
▪️ Idaho (4)
▪️ Indiana (11)
▪️ Iowa (6)
▪️ Kansas (6)
▪️ Kentucky (8)
▪️ Louisiana (8)
▪️ Mississippi (6)
▪️ Missouri (10)
▪️ Montana (4)
▪️ North Dakota (3)
▪️ Ohio (17)
▪️ Oklahoma (7)
▪️ South Carolina (9)
▪️ South Dakota (3)
▪️ Tennessee (11)
▪️ Texas (40)
▪️ Utah (6)
▪️ West Virginia (4)
▪️ Wyoming (3)
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 6:20 AM 

Dollar gains ahead of vote result

The dollar surged around 1.5 percent against the yen and the euro on Wednesday as traders weighed the budgetary implications of a Donald Trump win in the US presidential election.

The greenback rose 1.51 percent against the Japanese currency to buy 153.89 yen at around 0245 GMT and jumped 1.41 percent to nearly 0.93 euros.

Analysts say the US Federal Reserve could be less likely to aggressively cut interest rates under Trump's budgetary policy.

The Republican former president is battling it out against Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris for the White House.

On Wednesday morning in Asia, polls were gradually closing across the United States, with a long night of waiting for results expected.

"The markets are starting to bet on a return of Trump," with his margin wider than forecast in Florida, said Yugo Tsuboi, chief strategist at Daiwa Securities, quoted by Bloomberg News.

Investors have been jockeying for position ahead of the election, which polls have shown to be too close to call.

Analysts said there was also close attention being paid to Congressional races, adding that a clean sweep for Trump and Republicans would likely boost the dollar and Treasury yields owing to his plans to cut taxes and impose tariffs on imports.
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 6:00 AM 

Trump at 168 electoral votes, Harris at 81

Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican former president Donald Trump are battling it out for the White House, with polls gradually closing across the United States Tuesday and a long night of waiting for results expected.

Results are tumbling in, with US media projecting wins for Trump so far in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia and Wyoming.

Harris has so far captured Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont and the US capital Washington, DC.

So far, that gives Harris 81 electoral votes and Trump 168. The magic number to win the presidency is 270. Observers expect the hotly contested race for the White House to come down to a handful of key battleground states.

The following is a list of the states won by each candidate and the corresponding number of electoral votes, based on the projections of US media including CNN, Fox News, MSNBC/NBC News, ABC and CBS.

 Electoral vote count so far 

HARRIS (81)

▪️ Delaware (3)
▪️ District of Columbia (3)
▪️ Illinois (19)
▪️ Maryland (10)
▪️ Massachusetts (11)
▪️ New York (28)
▪️ Rhode Island (4)
▪️ Vermont (3)

TRUMP (105)

▪️ Alabama (9)
▪️ Arkansas (6)
▪️ Florida (30)
▪️ Indiana (11)
▪️ Kentucky (8)
▪️ Louisiana (8)
▪️ Mississippi (6)
▪️ Missouri (10)
▪️ North Dakota (3)
▪️ Oklahoma (7)
▪️ South Carolina (9)
▪️ South Dakota (3)
▪️ Tennessee (11)
▪️ Texas (40)
▪️ West Virginia (4)
▪️ Wyoming (3)
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 5:30 AM 

📸  Nerves, cheers as vote counting continues

In Phoenix, Arizona, what you are seeing below are pairs of election workers from different political parties busy opening and inspecting mail-in ballot envelopes containing voted ballots after they completed signature verification during processing inside the Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Centre (MCTEC) on Election Day.

Things are looking good for the Trump camp.

In the Harris camp, there are plenty of nervous looks as vote results continue to trickle in.

But others remain hopeful and in good cheer.

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 4:55 AM 

Trump at 105 electoral votes, Harris at 27

Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican former president Donald Trump are battling it out for the White House, with polls gradually closing across the United States Tuesday and a long night of waiting for results expected.

Initial results are coming in, with US media projecting wins for Trump so far in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia.

Harris has so far captured Maryland, Massachusetts, Vermont and the US capital Washington, DC.

So far, that gives Harris 27 electoral votes and Trump 105.

The magic number to win the presidency is 270. Observers expect the hotly contested race for the White House to come down to a handful of key battleground states.

The following is a list of the states won by each candidate and the corresponding number of electoral votes, based on the projections of US media including CNN, Fox News, MSNBC/NBC News, ABC and CBS.

 Electoral vote count so far 

HARRIS (27)

▪️ District of Columbia (3)
▪️ Maryland (10)
▪️ Massachusetts (11)
▪️ Vermont (3)

TRUMP (105)

▪️ Alabama (9)
▪️ Arkansas (6)
▪️ Florida (30)
▪️ Indiana (11)
▪️ Kentucky (8)
▪️ Missouri (10)
▪️ Oklahoma (7)
▪️ South Carolina (9)
▪️ Tennessee (11)
▪️ West Virginia (4)
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 4:50 AM 

Florida: Trump faithful gather for results

There were nerves and prayers among supporters of Donald Trump as they filled a Florida hall for an election results watch party, where the former president was expected to give an address.

Men donning formal suits and women in dresses mingled at the Palm Beach County Convention Center event, where they rubbed shoulders with a die-hard Trump fan sporting their political hero's name emblazoned on a leather vest.

Whether dressed in formal attire or more casual wear, many of the attendees wore Trump's signature red "make America great again" baseball cap.

"This election is so tense and it may be the most important day in our country's history, because this could be the day where our country ends — or where our country begins to thrive for another 100 years," said watch party attendee Will Staten, 18.

"Anything can happen. These polls say 17,000 different things. I don't trust them. What happens, happens — and the only thing I can do is pray."

Behind him, giant screens showed the CNN, Fox and MSNBC cable news channels.

Those networks will compete to break the initial trickle of results that will follow the closure of polling stations across the vast expanse of the United States.

They will also broadcast significant exit polls that may indicate which candidate has the upper hand.

At the convention centre, surrounded by a security perimeter for the occasion, Trump supporter Jill Cohen, 58, said she feared the Republican's opponents would seek to cheat.

"I am afraid of the people who don't understand what's at stake, like peace. President Trump is the most peaceful president we've ever had," she said.

"If there's somebody who's going to stop all the wars and the killing, it's President Trump, because it's certainly not the people who are in power right now."

Florida, located in the southeastern United States, has become a spiritual home for Trump as he has faced a litany of legal woes in his native New York.

He maintains a residence in the Republican stronghold state at Mar-a-Lago which doubles as a members' club.

While some of those at the Palm Beach viewing party were openly nervous about the result of the election, with Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris locked in a dead heat, others were more bullish.

"Donald Trump is going to win," said Rocco Talarico, 68, who wore a "MAGA" cap and a leather vest inscribed with the words "Born to Ride" and "Donald Trump."

"We need that because our country right now has no borders, our crime is bad, our stock market is bad, our gas and food prices are high. Kamala (Harris) did nothing for four years."

Mike McCormack, 50, was even more strident in his criticism of Harris as he awaited a chance to hear Trump speak amid what might be one of the most consequential US election nights in recent history.

"I don't feel Donald Trump could be outside influenced as much, and I strongly feel that Harris is actually owned and manipulated. I have no faith in her," he told AFP.

He also raised doubts about the integrity of the polls, something that Trump has repeatedly raised without evidence, pointing to a conspiracy by his adversaries to deny him the presidency.

"I have some confidence in this election (but) not a whole lot," said McCormack. "There has been some funny things going on. There have been people arrested and convicted for voter fraud. So I don't know."
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 4:40 AM 

Pop-up concerts try to soothe anxious voters

An enthusiastic DJ blared out pop tracks Tuesday, urging voters to bop along with dancers in multi-colored sequined shorts — one small effort outside an Arizona polling station to soothe Election Day nerves running high across the United States.

"I definitely think there's a lot of anxiety around the election," said Elyssa Bustamante, who was producing the event in the key swing state's largest city, Phoenix, along with organization Joy to the Polls.

"Dancing definitely takes away the stress," she told AFP.

Clad in all pink at her stage in Phoenix's central park, the 36-year-old Bustamante called out frequent reminders to young people from the nearby university.

"Polls close at 7:00 pm, make sure you get your vote in!" she shouted.

Very few people leaving the nearby voting location stopped to enjoy the impromptu concert.

But several at least raised a smile — an all-too-rare sight in an unprecedented presidential campaign that has seen rival candidates Donald Trump and Kamala Harris accuse each other of imperiling the future of US democracy.

On the Republican side, Trump has survived two assassination attempts, and frequently uses extremely violent rhetoric about immigrants. Democrat Harris reminds voters the right to abortion is on the line with this election.

As an antidote to these anxieties, music "is a universal language," said Bustamante.

"You might be on two different sides of the aisle... music brings people together," she added. "It doesn't divide us. And so I think we need to use it as a tool."

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 4:35 AM 

Polls close in first six US states

Polling stations closed Tuesday in six US states in the bitterly contested election between Democratic Vice-President Kamala Harris and Republican former president Donald Trump, including in the key battleground of Georgia.

Polling places also closed in Indiana, Kentucky, South Carolina, Vermont and Virginia in a landmark contest that saw tens of millions of Americans cast their ballots early.

US networks projected Trump as the winner in Indiana and Kentucky, and Harris the victor in Vermont.

The United States was in for a long night of waiting for results, which may be known overnight, or not for days.

Harris is seeking to become the first woman US president, while Trump is seeking a return to power after four years out of the Oval Office.

Polls were to close throughout the evening, untill the last votes are cast in Alaska.

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 WEDNESDAY |  4:30 AM 

 LIVE PAGE RESUMES 

Hello and welcome back. It's 4:30am in Kampala (Wednesday) and 8:30pm in Washington DC (Tuesday).

This live page is well and truly back rolling.

As you would expect, it's going to be a nervous, anxious wait for supporters from both the two rival camps.

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 9:15 PM 

 LIVE PAGE PAUSE 

I shall pause this live page and will be back a little later.

For now, I leave you with these two pictures showing respective supporters of presidential race rivals Kamala Harris and Donald Trump expressing their backing for their candidates.

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 9:10 PM 

Election workers are busy organizing tabulated cast ballots inside the Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Centre in Phoenix, Arizona.

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 9:05 PM 

Why Michigan Muslims shunned Harris

Haunted by the daily violence ravaging the Middle East, Soujoud Hamade, a registered Democrat, felt compelled to back Green Party candidate Jill Stein (pictured) in the US presidential election.

"It is very emotional," the 32-year-old real estate lawyer told AFP after casting her ballot Tuesday at a school in Dearborn, the nation's largest Arab-majority city, where voters could prove decisive in the key battleground of Michigan.

"Every time I watch the news or get on social media, I see my people being decimated, I see my home country being destroyed," added the Lebanese-American, disillusioned by the Biden-Harris administration's unwavering support for Israel.

Hamade says she's clear-eyed about the two-way nature of the race between Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican former President Donald Trump. Still, she insists her vote is far more than just a protest.

She's banking on helping Stein crack five percent of the national popular vote, a threshold that would unlock future federal funding for the Green Party and "move the needle forward" toward breaking the two-party hold on US politics.

Dearborn, a Detroit suburb famous as the birthplace of Henry Ford and the home of Ford Motor Company's headquarters, has a population of around 110,000, with 55 percent of residents claiming Middle Eastern or North African heritage.

The city overwhelmingly backed President Joe Biden in 2020, helping him narrowly flip Michigan blue. But recent polling shows a shift away from the Democratic Party among Muslim and Arab-Americans.

That trend was evident in conversations with voters around the city on Election Day.

'Single-issue voter'

Stein, a Jewish physician and the Green Party's perennial left-wing candidate is predicted to do well among Muslims, as well as progressives and youth voters nationwide — potentially acting as a spoiler for Harris.

"She's the only one who's anti-genocide," said Muhammad Hijazi, a 28-year-old engineer who described himself as a "single-issue voter" who had previously voted Democrat but had now "lost faith."

The Democrats, he argued, don't have a plan to bring peace to the Middle East, and he doesn't trust Trump to do any better.

Yet signs suggest Trump, too, may fare better than in past cycles. Unlike Harris, he visited Dearborn, addressing a modest-sized audience last week.

His outreach to Michigan's Muslim community secured endorsements from the Muslim mayors of Hamtramck and Dearborn Heights, while his newfound connection to the community — through Lebanese-American son-in-law Michael Boulos, husband of Tiffany Trump — has further endeared him.

Harris' decision to campaign with former Republican Liz Cheney, a staunch supporter of the Iraq War, was the final straw for Dearborn Heights Mayor Bill Bazzi, he told Trump supporters at the former president’s final Michigan rally.

Charles Fawaz, a 29-year-old first-grade teacher of Lebanese descent who voted for Trump, told AFP he was impressed that the former president "showed up."

"When Trump was president, everything was fine with our foreign policy because other leaders respected our country," Fawaz said.

Even if Trump doesn't deliver on Middle Eastern peace, he hopes Republicans will manage the economy better.

Former Democrats here say they know some liberals will blame them if Harris loses, but they reject the accusation.

"To put the onus on Arab Americans to vote for someone who's directly contributing to the genocide of other people is outrageous," Hamade said.

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 8:30 PM 

Trump says would concede defeat if...

US Republican presidential contender Donald Trump said he would be prepared to concede defeat after Tuesday's vote "if it's a fair election", while again raising concerns about the use of electronic voting machines.

"If I lose an election, if it's a fair election, I would be the first one to acknowledge it... So far I think it's been fair," Trump, repeating a caveat that he has used many times on the campaign trail, told reporters after voting in Florida.

Wearing a red "Make America Great Again" cap, he reiterated his previous criticism of electronic voting machines, suggesting they were less secure than paper ballots and would delay the outcome being known.

"They spend all this money on machines... If they would use paper ballots, voter ID, proof of citizenship, and one-day voting, it would all be over by 10 o'clock in the evening. It's crazy," he told reporters in West Palm Beach.

He added: "Do you know that paper is more sophisticated now than computers? If it's watermarked paper you cannot... It's unbelievable what happens with it. There's nothing you can do to cheat."

Asked about fears of unrest after the election and whether he would call on supporters to avoid violence, he criticized the question.

"I don't have to tell them that, that there'll be no violence. Of course there'll be no violence. My supporters are not violent people," Trump said.

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 7:55 PM 

Long lines of voters in tense US election

Millions of Americans are heading to vote in a presidential election defined by drama and uncertainty, with Kamala Harris and Donald Trump left to await the outcome of a desperately close race after months of intense campaigning.

The result — perhaps coming overnight, or not for several days — will either make Harris the first woman president in the country's history, or hand Trump a comeback that sends shock waves around the world.

The bitter rivals spent their final campaign day trying to get supporters out to the polls and courting any last undecided voters in the swing states expected to decide the outcome.

But Democratic vice president Harris, 60, and Republican former president Trump, 78, were in a dead-heat in opinion polls despite the most volatile White House contest of modern times.

After head-spinning twists — from Harris's dramatic entrance when President Joe Biden dropped out in July, to Trump riding out two assassination attempts and a criminal conviction — tens of millions of voters are expected to cast their ballots, on top of the 83 million who have already voted early.

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 7:45 PM 

 BREAKING NEWS 

Republican Trump casts his ballot

Republican nominee and former US president Donald Trump has cast his ballot in West Palm Beach, Florida.

"I feel very confidently," he tells reporters of his prospects, adding that the Republican voters have turned out in full force.

Trump calls this as his best campaign ever. "I just think we ran a very good campaign."

Opinion polls show the race is a dead heat.
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 6:30 PM 

US stocks edge higher on Election Day

US markets opened higher on Tuesday, as voters across the country headed to the polls in one of the closest-fought presidential races for decades, which carries significant economic consequences.

The polls pointed to a close race ahead of Election Day between Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris and the Republican former president, Donald Trump, raising the prospect of a long vote count and days of uncertainty about the result.

"I think the market sentiment is very much of a wait-and-see, which makes a great deal of sense in this environment," Art Hogan from B. Riley Wealth Management told AFP.

Shortly after the markets opened on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.1 percent at 41,848.30, while the broad-based S&P 500 rose 0.4 percent to 5,735.59.

The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 0.6 percent to 18,291.31, fueled by a more than 16 percent rise in the share price of defense software firm Palantir after it reported better-than-expected earnings results.

"There's obviously been a lot of uncertainty over the election, and, you know, whether it's uncertainty over who the next president will be or what the make-up of Congress will be," Hogan said. "It makes sense for investors to have a little nervousness and uncertainty."

"Once that uncertainty dissipates, meaning once we have results, I think the market then moves on rapidly to what the Fed has to say," he added, referring to this week's interest rate decision from the Federal Reserve.

Futures traders overwhelmingly expect the US central bank to announce a quarter percentage-point rate cut on Thursday, according to data from CME Group.
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 6:20 PM 

'Trump to vote in Florida'

CNN is reporting that Republican nominee and former president Donald Trump is to cast his vote in Florida "soon".

Meanwhile, Trump's supporters continue to head to polling stations to express their backing for his return to the White House.

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 6:10 PM 

📸  Voters continue to hit polling stations

Voters line up at a polling station at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Voters fill out their ballots at a polling station in New York City.

Damaris Lozada casts her ballot with her children, Jojo and Logan, at the Lucky Shoals Park Recreation Centre in Norcross, Georgia.

A roll of "I Voted" stickers sit on a table at a polling station in New York City.

Mother Julie Bufkin (R) chats with neighbours while pushing her daughter Alice's stroller, adorned with 'Reproductive Freedom' and 'When We Fight We Win' signs, in Tempe, Arizona. 

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 4:25 PM 

VP nominee Vance casts ballot

Republican nominee for vice-president, Senator JD Vance, is seen here checking out his ballot at a polling place in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Vance, 40, is the running mate of former US president Donald Trump.

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 4:00 PM 

📸  Polling under way in the US

In the city of Philadelphia in the state of Pennsylvania, these people line up to vote outside of a polling station on Election Day.

This man votes in a voting tent in Burnsville, North Carolina.

Philadelphia County board of elections staff are sworn-in before processing ballots at the ballot counting election warehouse on the outskirts of Philadelphia.

Below, the same staff sit at their respective machines as they wait for ballots to arrive.

It's going to be a very long day for them.

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 3:20 PM 

📸  US voters cast their ballot

It's approaching 7:30am in the US east coast on Election Day. Many voters began lining up at polling stations very early on Tuesday, ready to cast their ballot.

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 2:45 PM 

 WATCH    Polls open in East Village, NYC

Watch as a polling station opens in East Village, New York City, as voters arrive for their final opportunity to participate in the bitterly fought, tightly contested 2024 presidential race.


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 2:10 PM 

 BREAKING NEWS 

Election Day polls open

It's afternoon in Kampala and morning time in the US, where Election Day polling stations have opened on the east coast, kicking off the final opportunity for Americans to vote in the bitterly fought, tightly contested 2024 presidential race.

As mentioned earlier on this page, over 82 million people have already taken advantage of early voting to cast their ballots for either Republican Donald Trump or Democrat Kamala Harris.

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 2:06 PM 

A Trump-Harris tie: What happens?

A tie would force a so-called contingent election in Congress — something which has never happened in modern American history. The last time a tie forced Congress to pick the president was in the 1800 election, which pitted Thomas Jefferson against incumbent president John Adams.

Lawmakers in a badly divided House struggled mightily to agree, finally selecting Jefferson on their 36th ballot. The excruciating muddle led to the adoption four years later of the 12th Amendment to the US Constitution, to somewhat clarify procedures around the election.

This time, if such a House vote should be necessary, it would take place on January 6, 2025. How would that vote proceed?

One state, one vote

"Each state, regardless of population, casts a single vote for President in a contingent election," according to the Congressional Research Service (CRS).

In other words, Republican-leaning Wyoming with its city-sized population of 500,000 would have the same influence as Democratic California, where 39 million people live.

Though the US capital city Washington has three Electoral College votes, it would not get a vote in a contingent election, as it is not a state.

States with two or more representatives would need to hold an internal vote to determine which candidate to support, a CRS report said.

A candidate needs to win a majority of the 50 states, or 26 votes. At present, that would likely give Republicans the edge.

Specific rules to govern the process would likely have to be adopted by the House, potentially leading to intense disagreements and a protracted period of constitutional crisis.

It is not hard to imagine how such a process, at the end of a razor-close campaign, would weigh on the already badly frayed nerves of American voters, many of whom are convinced that the vote has been rife with irregularities.
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 2:00 PM 

A Trump-Harris tie: What happens?

So what exactly happens if neither Kamala Harris or Donald Trump achieves the Electoral College majority required to win the US election?

While not highly likely, such an outcome remains possible, tormenting Americans already perched painfully on the edge of their seats ahead of the November 5 election.

Under the US system, it is not the national popular vote that decides who becomes president, but a 538-member "Electoral College," in which each state gets as many "electors" as their representation in Congress.

Every state except Nebraska and Maine award all of their electors to whomever comes first in the state-wide popular vote.

If both Harris and Trump fail to reach the majority threshold of 270 electors, the US Constitution says that Congress would play a deciding role.

Specifically, the newly elected House of Representatives would select the president in January, while the Senate would designate the next vice president.

Several possible scenarios could produce a 269-269 Electoral College split.

One example would occur if Democrat Harris prevails in the states of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, while the Republican former president carries Georgia, Arizona, Nevada and North Carolina, plus a single left-leaning district in Nebraska.
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 1:40 PM 

History will be made — either way

A Trump comeback would be historic — the first non-consecutive second term for a US president since Grover Cleveland in 1893 and just the second ever.

Trump's return would instantly fuel international instability, with US allies in Europe and NATO alarmed by his isolationist "America First" policies. Trading partners are nervously watching his vow to impose sweeping import tariffs.

A Harris victory meanwhile would give the US its first Black woman and South Asian president — and signal an end to the Trump era which has dominated US politics for nearly a decade.

Trump has said he would not seek election again in 2028.

However, the Republican still refuses to admit he fairly lost the 2020 election to Biden and the trauma over his supporters' violent attack on the US Capitol to stop certification of the result remains heavy.

Trump has hinted that he would refuse to accept another loss, and in the final days of the campaign brought up baseless claims of election fraud while saying he should "never have left" the White House.

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 1:00 PM 

Trump, Harris tied in main swing states

Harris and Trump are effectively tied in the seven main swing states — Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin.

On the eve of the vote, Harris went all-in on the must-win state of Pennsylvania, rallying on the Philadelphia steps made famous in the "Rocky" movie and declaring: "momentum is on our side."

However "this could be one of the closest races in history — every single vote matters," cautioned Harris, who was joined by celebrities including Lady Gaga and Oprah Winfrey.

Trump — who would become the first convicted felon and oldest person to win the presidency — cast himself as the only solution to an apocalyptic vision of the country in terminal decline and overrun by "savage" migrants.

"With your vote tomorrow, we can fix every single problem our country faces and lead America — indeed, the world — to new heights of glory," Trump told his closing rally in Grand Rapids in the key swing state of Michigan, after touring North Carolina and Pennsylvania.

Harris meanwhile hammered home her opposition to Trump-backed abortion bans across the United States — one of her key vote-winning positions with crucial women voters.

But she also struck an upbeat note — and notably avoided mentioning Trump, after weeks of targeting him directly as a threat to democracy for his dark rhetoric and repeated threats to exact retribution on his political opponents.

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 12:15 PM 

 WATCH    'First in the nation'

As Americans get set to wake up to head to the polls, six voters of Dixville Notch, a village in the US state of New Hampshire, already cast their ballots at midnight, marking the first votes in the US election. The tiny town in the middle of the forest, near the Canadian border, has traditionally voted "first in the nation" since 1960.


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 12:00 PM 

 WATCH    Hippo taps Trump for win

The polls have put the US election on a knife-edge, but as Americans go to vote, Thailand's superstar baby hippo Moo Deng has predicted former president Donald Trump will regain the White House.


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 10:20 AM 

Is the US election really so close?

The United States stands on edge as polls suggest one of the closest presidential races in history between former president Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.

Major polling outlets show the candidates virtually deadlocked.

In battleground states on election eve, polling aggregator FiveThirtyEight reported a 47.8 percent tie in Pennsylvania, near-identical numbers in Nevada, and mere one-point differences in Wisconsin, Michigan, and North Carolina.

But these razor-thin margins may not tell the whole story.

"I wonder, is it really this close?" asked W. Joseph Campbell, professor at American University in Washington.

His questions stems from pollsters' troubled track record in recent elections and a potential overreaction to past failures.

The political establishment was blindsided in 2016 when Trump won despite trailing in polls, while Joe Biden's 2020 victory margin proved much narrower than predicted.

In 2022, Republicans secured only a slim Congressional majority despite forecasts of a "red wave."

"The 2020 presidential election was collectively the worst for pollsters in forty years and an embarrassment for many," Campbell said.

Trump's emergence on the political scene largely explains these polling mishaps. His supporters were consistently undercounted in 2016 and 2020, prompting polling companies to adjust their methodologies.

'Traumatic for pollsters'

History offers an intriguing parallel: In 1980, polls showed incumbent Jimmy Carter neck-and-neck with Ronald Reagan. Reagan ultimately won by 10 points, benefiting from a late surge while Carter lost support to a third-party candidate.

"I'm not saying that's going to be the model in 2024, but it is something to keep in mind," Campbell added.

Leading polling analysts openly acknowledged these challenges.

"No, you can't trust the polls... You can't safely assume that the candidate leading in the polls is going to win," wrote Nate Cohn, the New York Times chief political analyst and polling director.

Cohn explained that pollsters are working to correct systemic biases that emerged in the Trump era.

"It's hard to overstate how traumatic the 2016 and 2020 elections were for many pollsters. For some, another underestimate of Trump could be a major threat to their business and their livelihood."

However, he warned that while adjusting methods to better capture Trump voters, pollsters might now be underestimating Harris.

"On balance, these changes add up to a case for cautious optimism on better accuracy, but there are no guarantees," Cohn concluded.

Some experts suspect pollsters may be falling victim to groupthink, or "herding", adjusting results that deviate significantly from the consensus.

Professors Joshua Clinton and John Lapinski warned to NBC news: "State polls are showing not just an astonishingly tight race, but also an improbably tight race."

They suggest that "a risk-averse pollster who gets a 5-point margin in a race they think is tied may choose to 'adjust' the results to something closer to what other polls are showing, lest their outlier poll adversely affects their reputation..."

They said this raised a crucial question: "Is 2024 going to be as close as 2020 because our politics are stable, or do the polls in 2024 only look like the results of 2020 because of the decisions that state pollsters are making?"
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 10:05 AM 

📸  Harris, 60, eyes American history

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 10:00 AM 

📸  Trump, 78, eyes White House return

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 9:45 AM 

Harris, Trump end historic campaigns

Kamala Harris and Donald Trump made their final case Monday in the hours before Election Day, when voters will either choose America's first woman president or hand the Republican an unprecedented comeback likely to rattle the world.

With polls showing a dead heat, Trump promised to lead the United States to "new heights of glory" while Harris said the "momentum is on our side," as the rivals held their last rallies of the 2024 race in crucial battleground states.

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 9:00 AM 

New Hampshire hamlet tied

Voters in the US hamlet of Dixville Notch launched Election Day in the first minutes of Tuesday with a tied vote, mirroring the incredibly close national polls in the White House race.

Kamala Harris and Donald Trump each got three ballots in the tiny community in the northeastern state of New Hampshire which for decades has kicked off Election Day at the stroke of midnight Monday -- hours before the rest of the country's polling stations open.

The Democratic vice-president and Republican ex-president have been battling in a tense and exceptionally close race, with opinion polls largely tied.

To a gathered crowd of journalists, the vote opened with a rendition of the US national anthem performed on an accordion.

Electoral laws in New Hampshire allow municipalities with fewer than 100 residents to open their polling stations at midnight and to close them when all registered voters have fulfilled their civic duty.

Dixville Notch's residents voted unanimously for then candidate Joe Biden in 2020, reportedly only the second presidential hopeful to get all the votes since the midnight voting tradition began in 1960.

Most polling stations on the East Coast will open at 6am or 7am (2pm or 3pm Ugandan time) on Tuesday.

Dixville Notch voters handed a surprise unanimous victory to Republican White House hopeful Nikki Haley in New Hampshire's primary in January.

Haley ultimately quit the race due to an insurmountable Trump lead -- but Tuesday's vote shows that three voters opted not to back the billionaire in the general election.
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 8:35 AM 

 WATCH   'Every single vote matters'

As Election Day drew closer, Kamala Harris urged Americans to vote in one of the "closest races in history" as she gave her final campaign speech in the battleground US state of Pennsylvania.


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 8:15 AM 

 BREAKING NEWS 

First Election Day ballots cast

It is a quarter past midnight in Washington DC and officially Election Day. The first ballots have been cast in Dixville Notch in New Hampshire, with Donald Trump and Kamala Harris each getting three votes.

Six people voted in Dixville Notch — four Republican and two undeclared — and they will kicked off Election Day at the stroke of midnight. 

Below is the blank board seen hours before tally of votes were written on it and then, in the picture below, after it was filled.

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 8:00 AM 

An election of small margins

Take a look at the popular vote and electoral college vote dynamic.

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 7:55 AM 

Busy campaign season

Kamala Harris was thrown into the presidential race a little over 100 days ago (in late July) following the decision by President Joe Biden to drop out. She had to make a lot of ground in a contest featuring a former president vying to return to the White House: Donald Trump.

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 7:30 AM 

It's all systems go

Kamala Harris and Donald Trump held dueling rallies Monday in the final hours before Election Day, when Americans will either choose the first woman president in US history or deliver the Republican an unprecedented comeback likely to rattle the world.

With polls showing a dead heat, the candidates offered up starkly different visions as they spent their last day of campaigning in the too-close-to-call swing states that are set to tip the balance after polls close Tuesday.

Both rivals even held raucous events at the same time in Pittsburgh, a key city in the must-win battleground of Pennsylvania, as the race went down to the wire.

"Tomorrow is election day, and the momentum is on our side," Harris said, just before singer Katy Perry took to the stage.

Republican former president Trump, who brought his family members up on stage in the city, stuck to his darker rhetoric, saying Harris was "a disaster."

"We do not have to settle for weakness, incompetence, decline and decay. With your vote tomorrow we can fix every single problem our country faces," he said.

Trump held rallies in North Carolina and Pennsylvania ahead of a grand finale in Grand Rapids, Michigan — the same place where he closed his 2016 and 2020 campaigns.

Democratic Vice President Harris went all-in on Pennsylvania, building up to a rally on the Philadelphia Museum of Art steps made famous in the movie "Rocky," where she will be joined by celebrities including Lady Gaga and Oprah Winfrey.

'Fresh start'

Both sides say they are encouraged by early turnout, with more than 82 million people having cast ballots ahead of Election Day.

Superstar Taylor Swift, one of a series of celebrity endorsements for Harris, posted to her 283 million followers an "extremely important reminder" that Tuesday is the final chance to vote.

Joe Rogan, the host of the world's top podcast, announced on Monday that he was endorsing Trump, days after the former president appeared on his show.

Both Trump and Harris hoped their clashing messages will boost turnout among their supporters and win over any remaining undecided voters.

Speaking earlier in Reading, Pennsylvania, Trump pursued his apocalyptic vision of a United States in decline and overwhelmed by illegal immigrants, whom he described as "savages" and "animals."

Harris hammered home her opposition to Trump-backed abortion bans across the United States — one of her key vote-winning positions but took an upbeat, centrist note.

With Trump, at 78, being the oldest major party nominee ever to run for US president, Harris also played on the need for change.

"America is ready for a fresh start," Harris said in Pittsburgh. "It's time for a new generation of leadership."

Despite being tarred with criminal convictions and the scandal of his supporters' violent attack on Congress four years ago after he refused to accept the results of the 2020 election, Trump goes into Election Day with major advantages.

High tension

Trump has pressed home on voter concerns about the economy and illegal migration while his harsh rhetoric is nectar to his right-wing base.

His message struck home for first-time voter Ethan Wells, a 19-year-old restaurant cook in Michigan.

Biden "let a lot of illegals in, and they've been murdering and raping our own people," he told AFP. "When Trump was president, nobody messed with America."

Harris, 60, faced enormous challenges on being catapulted into the race only in July after Biden abruptly dropped out.

Yet in that short time, Biden's previously little-noticed vice president has galvanized the Democratic Party and stirred excitement among young voters and women after nearly a decade of political headlines dominated by Trump.

"It's kind of mind-boggling that the race is so close, because he's a convicted felon, the way he talks to women... the tariffs, everything", said Trish Kilby, 60, at Harris's Philadelphia rally.

"She's more about bringing the people together, whereas all he cares about is his top one percent."

The world is anxiously watching as the outcome will have major implications for conflicts in the Middle East and Russia's war in Ukraine, and for tackling climate change, which Trump calls a hoax.

The most immediate fear is that US democracy will buckle if Trump loses but refuses to accept defeat like he did four years ago, when his supporters stormed the US Capitol.

With Trump having narrowly survived an assassination attempt in July and police foiling a second plot, the fears of violence are very real.

In Washington, growing numbers of businesses and office buildings are being boarded up in case of unrest.
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 7:15 AM 

Trump supporters more skeptical

Meanwhile, a survey conducted by Pew Research Centre shows divided opinions on the integrity of this US election.

In both the Harris and Trump, the majority of their respective voters think the election will be conducted "somewhat well". But as you can see from the graphic below, skepticism over whether the election will be run well is higher in the Trump camp.

Additionally, most Trump supporters feel less confident that this vote will be secure from hacking or other technological threats.

Déjà vu.

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 7:00 AM 

When shall we know who won?

By the way, around 82 million people have already voted ahead of Tuesday, in what is called early voting. Yep, told you things work a little differently in the US. That number up there is more than half of the total ballots cast in 2020.

So the question is: when shall we know the identity of the next top occupant of the White House? AFP answers this and other questions for us:

▪️  How long is the count?

The first polls close at 6pm Eastern Time (which will be 2am Wednesday, Ugandan time) but when the race is tight, it could take days before a victor is projected. In 2020, US media declared Democratic candidate Joe Biden the winner on Saturday November 7, although polls closed the Tuesday before. In 2016 and 2012, voters had a shorter wait.

After votes are cast, local election officials, who may be appointed or elected, process and count them. Tallying methods vary from one location to the next.

Many states have changed election laws to allow mail-in or overseas votes to be prepared for counting ahead of Election Day, although Pennsylvania and Wisconsin have not made similar changes.

Both are battlegrounds that could swing towards either party. With mail-in ballots not allowed to be processed until November 5, this could slow counting. Especially close vote counts can also trigger recounts.

▪️ Who certifies it?

Rather than waiting for winners to be declared by local authorities, US news outlets call races based on what they see in the voting. But this process is not official and results still have to be certified at the state level, with every ballot accounted for.

The deadline for states to certify their results is December 11, and each state's appointed electors then cast their votes for the candidate who won in their popular vote. By December 25, electoral certificates of each state must be received by the President of the Senate, who is also the Vice-President — Harris.

On January 6, Congress counts and confirms the results, before the new president is inaugurated on January 20.

▪️ What may cause delays?

Certification is a formality, but experts warn that there are growing risks of obstructions. At least 22 county election officials voted in 2022 to delay certification in battleground states, Brookings experts noted in a commentary last month. This was nearly a 30 percent increase from 2020.

At least 35 election officials have "refused to certify election results and may be in a position to do so again," according to Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW). Successful obstruction could impact state and federal certification deadlines, the campaign group warned.

The certification process has come under scrutiny and been especially politicized since Trump refused to concede the 2020 election. In that race, dozens of legal challenges by Trump and his allies were tossed out by the courts.

There has been a deluge of lawsuits from both parties ahead of Election Day, which might also complicate the tabulation.
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 6:35 AM 

Speaking of the White House...

Both Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are no stranger to the White House, which is considered a symbol of the US presidency and government, and is also the official residence of the presidential family.

As the current vice-president, Harris's office is situated in the West Wing of the White House. Trump has been US president before — after Barack Obama's historic presidency and before Joe Biden's current leadership.

So, both candidates know their way around the White House.

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 6:15 AM 

So how does it work?

The US election, I mean.

Unlike in Uganda and in most other parts of the world, under the US system, citizens do not vote directly for their president. Instead, their ballots elect the 538 members of a group called the Electoral College, which then elects the president and vice-president.

Each state casts its Electoral College votes for the candidate that won its popular vote. Much larger states — that is, the ones with more representatives in the US Congress —get a larger share of the 538 Electoral College votes up for grabs.

That means Democratic Vice-President Kamala Harris and her Republican rival Donald Trump will be vying to get to the all-important 270 votes, which drives them beyond the halfway mark and guarantees them victory.

The winner then becomes the top resident of the White House.

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 6:00 AM 

Good morning!

It's 6am in Kampala (East Africa) and 10pm in Washington DC on the US east coast. Hello and welcome to New Vision's live text coverage of arguably the most followed election in the world as Americans get set to vote their next president.

It may not be news anymore that this high-stakes race between Vice-President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump is tighter than you could ever have imagined. That's exactly why we are here — and we shall be all the way to the very end when we get to learn the final result. Expect this year's race to go down to the wire, is what I can promise you.

I will do my very best to keep you up to date with what will be happening. Stick with us and let's ride along.