US election 2024 live: most swing state polls closed as Harris and Trump pick up big electoral wins with New York and Texas | US elections 2024

Kamala Harris has won Illinois, the Associated Press reports, taking the 19 electoral votes in the Democrats’ midwestern stronghold.

No Republican has won the state since 1988.

I am at Donald Trump’s election watch party at the Palm Beach County Convention Center in West Palm Beach, Florida.

There are men in suits – often with red ties – and women in mostly red dresses. Other guests have gone full Maga with “Make America great again” caps and other regalia.

Most are gathered inside a black, cavernous exhibition hall, the focus of which is a giant US flag hanging from the ceiling, then a row of US flags on a stage where a lectern and microphone are set up. Unlike his 2016 party in New York, there is no sign of Maga caps displayed in glass cases like museum relics; however, a big pile of free Maga caps was on a table outside.

The hall is buzzing with conversation but dominated by giant TV screens showing Fox News’s coverage of election results with the volume turned up loud.

Elsewhere, people are standing in a queue to have their photo taken against a big black canvas that says: “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” Steve Bannon’s daughter Maureen is doing the rounds. And in one of the allocated press filing centres, former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani is podcasting away, providing a live commentary on events for anyone who will listen.

A helpful reminder from Guardian US data editor Will Craft:

Votes have started coming in across the east coast. But early US vote counts are misleading.

Large numbers of early votes and vote-by-mail ballots means that the vote count will shift as the night goes on, and votes from large, urban precincts might radically shift the count with one report.

States will be reporting totals throughout the night and it’s important to avoid the red or blue mirage.

Our results page is here:

Kamala Harris added blue states Delaware and New Jersey to her trove of electoral college wins, the Associated Press reports.

The news agency has yet to call any of the three swing states where polls have closed: Pennsylvania, Georgia and North Carolina.

Donald Trump has won Arkansas, the Associated Press reports, gaining its six electoral votes.

The state last voted for a Democrat in 1996, when Bill Clintonits former governor, ran successfully for a second term.

It’s closing time for polling places in Arkansas, the home state of Democratic former president Bill Clinton but otherwise a solidly red state.

Expect its six electoral votes to be quickly declared for Donald Trump.

Andy Kim is the winner of New Jersey’s Senate race, the Associated Press reports, making the Democratic congressman the first Korean American elected to Congress’s upper chamber.

Kim takes over from fellow Democrat Robert Menendezwho resigned his seat after being convicted of bribery charges. George Helmyalso a Democrat, was appointed to replace Menendez, but did not run for a full term.

Democrat Lisa Blunt Rochester has won the race for Delaware’s Senate seat, the Associated Press said, becoming both the first woman and first African American to represent the state in Congress’s upper chamber.

Rochester is currently the state’s at-large congresswoman, and broke the same barriers when first elected in 2016.

Republican Rick Scott has won re-election as Florida’s Senator, the Associated Press said, blocking Democrats from an upset victory in the increasingly Republican state that could have helped them preserve their majority in Congress’s upper chamber.

Democrats have a 51-seat majority in the chamber, but earlier lost the West Virginia seat held by retiring independent senator Joe Manchin. The party had hoped their candidate Debbie Mucarsel-Powell could oust Scott in the Sunshine state and give them another seat, but those hopes have been dashed.

They still have a chance to keep the majority, but it requires the re-election of Sherrod Brown in Ohio and Jon Tester in Montana, or a surprise victory by Colin Allred in Texas. All of those are red states.

The Associated Press has called Oklahoma, South Carolina, Florida and Tennessee for Donald Trumpand Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut for Kamala Harris.

None of these results are surprising, with the two candidates winning states that have supported their respective parties for years. If there is anything to note, it’s that Florida was called so quickly – when Trump first won in 2016, it was viewed as a swing state, but has since become reliably Republican.