Donald Trump has won Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia and taken a lead over Kamala Harris in most of the other four battleground states that will decide the winner of the US presidential election, CBS projects.
According to CBS, Wisconsin is leaning towards Donald Trump and he is ahead in the other so-called Rust Belt state of Michigan. The results are not final.
Incomplete returns also suggest Donald Trump has a lead in Nevada, while the race remains tight in the other sun belt battleground of Arizona.
In more good news for Trump’s fellow Republicans, the party is projected to win majority control of the Senate.
As expected, Donald Trump has swept conservative strongholds from Florida to Idaho, while Kamala Harris won liberal states from New York to California, CBS projects.
Kamala Harris was expected to spend election night at Howard University in Washington DC, where she was an undergraduate, but it emerged after midnight that she would not attend.
Following the announcement by campaign co-chairman Cedric Richmond, the crowd all but disappeared from Harris HQ at the historically black college.
The party-like atmosphere of a few hours earlier at Howard had already turned sour as two swing states were called for Donald Trump.
Donald Trump was expected to appear shortly at his campaign watch party in West Palm Beach, Florida, where the mood was celebratory.
Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and Trump mega-donor, is spending election night with the Republican nominee. The billionaire posted a photo showing him locked in discussions with Trump overnight.
The result appears to be moving towards a seismic political comeback for Donald Trump.
The Republican may also have a friendly Congress with which to push his agenda though, Congress, with both chambers also up for grabs in Tuesday’s vote.
CBS projects Republicans will win control of the Senateafter wresting two seats in West Virginia and Ohio from the Democrats and beating off a stiff challenge in Texas.
Neither party seemed to have an overall edge in the House, which Republicans narrowly control.
Around 86 million voters cast their ballots early amid one of the most turbulent campaigns in recent American history.
Kamala Harris, 60, only became the Democratic Party candidate in July, after President Joe Biden withdrew from the race under pressure from within the party.
Donald Trump, 78, was the target of two assassination plots – narrowly avoiding a sniper’s bullet in Pennsylvania.
Donald Trump would become the first president to win non-consecutive terms in more than 130 years. He is also the only president to be impeached twice and the first former president to be criminally convicted.
