Kamala Harris cancels election night party as Trump claims victory

Kamala Harris looks set to lose her bid to become America’s first female president as her Republican rival Donald Trump is expected to sweep several key battleground states.

The vice president has yet to concede, although projections from the BBC’s American partner, CBS, suggest that Trump is on the precipice of a historic victory.

Harris canceled her expected election night appearance at Howard University in Washington DC, where she was an undergraduate, after Trump gained momentum as early results began trickling in.

The Republican subsequently swept the key battleground states of Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia, the BBC’s US partner CBS projects.

Trump also looks set to win in other key swing states, including Wisconsin and Michigan.

As expected, Trump has stormed to victory in conservative strongholds from Florida to Idaho, while Harris won liberal states from New York to California, CBS projects.

The Democratic nominee was scheduled to address supporters, but campaign co-chair Cedric Richmond announced shortly after midnight that she would not be attending.

The party-like atmosphere a few hours earlier at Howard had already soured as two swing states were called for Trump.

From Harris HQ, Democrat fundraiser Lindy Li told the BBC it was “pretty bleak right now”.

Vice President Harris, 60, only became the Democratic Party’s nominee in July after President Joe Biden withdrew from the race under pressure from the party. Had she claimed victory, the former California senator would have become the first woman, black woman and South Asian-American to win the presidency.

But data from the CBS exit poll suggests that the Democratic candidate – who campaigned strongly for abortion rights – may have underperformed with women.

About 54% of women voters cast their vote for her, the figures show. But Joe Biden won the support of 57% of women in 2020.

Black and Latino voters also appeared to be slightly less likely to support Harris than they were to support Biden four years ago, according to Associated Press exit poll data.

Some 86 million voters cast their ballots early during one of the most turbulent campaigns in recent American history.

The Republican Party appears to have enjoyed a resurgence across the country, winning a number of key congressional battles in key states. Control of both the US House and Senate was up for grabs Tuesday night.

CBS projects that the Republicans will win control of the Senate after wresting two seats in West Virginia and Ohio from Democrats and seeing a tough challenge in Texas.

Neither party appeared to have an overall advantage in the House, which Republicans narrowly control.

If the party regains control of both chambers, it would make it easier for Trump to push through his agenda — which includes mass deportations of illegal immigrants and sweeping tax cuts.

Both sides had armies of lawyers on standby for legal challenges on and after Election Day.

Law enforcement agencies nationwide were also on high alert for potential violence.

About 30 hoax bomb threats targeted election-related locations across the country on Tuesday, more than half of them in the state of Georgia alone, CBS reports.