America reaches Election Day and a stark choice between Trump and Harris

By ZEKE MILLER, MICHELLE L. PRICE and WILL WEISSERT, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — A statesmanlike run marked by upheaval and rancor approached its finale on Election Day as Americans decided whether to nonstop Donald Trump backmost to the White House oregon elevate Kamala Harris to the Oval Office.

Polls opened crossed the federation Tuesday greeting arsenic voters faced a stark prime betwixt 2 candidates who person offered drastically antithetic temperaments and visions for the world’s largest system and ascendant subject power.

Harris, the Democratic vice president, stands to beryllium the archetypal pistillate president if elected. She has promised to enactment crossed the aisle to tackle economical worries and different issues without radically departing from the people acceptable by President Joe Biden. Trump, the Republican erstwhile president, has vowed to regenerate thousands of national workers with loyalists, enforce sweeping tariffs connected allies and foes alike, and signifier the largest deportation cognition successful U.S. history.

Candidates for president and vice president of the United States, Democrats Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, and Republicans erstwhile President Donald Trump and Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, are seen connected portion of a mail-in predetermination ballot successful New York connected Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Patrick Sison)

The 2 candidates spent the waning hours of the campaign overlapping successful Pennsylvania, the biggest battleground state. They were trying to energize their bases arsenic good arsenic Americans inactive connected the obstruction oregon debating whether to ballot astatine all.

“It’s important, it’s my civic work and it’s important that I ballot for myself and I ballot for the ideology and the state which I supported for 22 years of my life,” said Ron Kessler, 54, an Air Force seasoned from Pennsylvania who said helium was voting for conscionable the 2nd time.

Harris and Trump entered Election Day focused connected 7 battleground states, 5 of them carried by Trump successful 2016 earlier flipping to Biden successful 2020: the “blue wall” of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin arsenic good arsenic Arizona and Georgia. Nevada and North Carolina, which Democrats and Republicans respectively carried successful the past 2 elections, besides were intimately contested.

The closeness of the contention and the fig of states successful play raised the likelihood that erstwhile again a victor mightiness not beryllium known connected predetermination night. There was 1 aboriginal harbinger from the New Hampshire hamlet of Dixville Notch, which by contented votes aft midnight connected Election Day. Dixville Notch divided betwixt Trump and Harris, with 3 votes for each.

In the 2020 statesmanlike contention it took 4 days to state a winner. Regardless, Trump has baselessly claimed that if helium lost, it would beryllium owed to fraud. Harris’ run was preparing for him to try to state victory before a victor is known connected Tuesday nighttime oregon to effort to contention the effect if she wins. Four years ago, Trump launched an effort to overturn the voters’ volition that ended successful the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

Trump planned to ballot successful his adopted location authorities of Florida connected Tuesday, past walk the time astatine his Mar-a-Lago property successful beforehand of a enactment astatine a adjacent normal center. Harris already voted by message successful her location authorities of California. She’ll person a ticker enactment astatine her alma mater, Howard University successful Washington.

Each campaigner would instrumentality the state into caller terrain

Harris, 60, would beryllium the archetypal woman, Black pistillate and idiosyncratic of South Asian descent to service arsenic president. She besides would beryllium the archetypal sitting vice president to triumph the White House successful 32 years.

A triumph would headdress a whirlwind run dissimilar immoderate different successful American history. Harris ascended to the apical of the Democratic ticket less than 4 months agone aft Biden, facing monolithic unit from his enactment aft a disastrous statement performance, ended his reelection bid.

Trump, 78, would beryllium the oldest president ever elected. He would besides beryllium the archetypal defeated president successful 132 years to triumph different word successful the White House, and the archetypal idiosyncratic convicted of a felony to instrumentality implicit the Oval Office.

Having left Washington abandoned by immoderate allies aft Jan. 6, Trump defeated younger rivals in the Republican superior and consolidated the enactment of longtime allies and harsh critics wrong his party. He survived 1 assassination attempt by millimeters astatine a July rally. Secret Service agents foiled a 2nd attempt in September.

A triumph for Trump would affirm that capable voters enactment aside warnings from galore of Trump’s erstwhile aides or alternatively prioritized concerns astir Biden and Harris’ stewardship of the system oregon the U.S.-Mexico border.

It would each but guarantee helium avoids going to prison after being recovered guilty of his relation successful hiding hush-money payments to an big movie histrion during his archetypal tally for president successful 2016. His sentencing successful that lawsuit could hap aboriginal this month. And upon taking office, Trump could end the national investigation into his effort to overturn the 2020 predetermination results.

The predetermination has immense stakes for America and the world

The imaginable turbulence of a 2nd Trump word has been magnified by his clasp of the Republican Party’s acold close and his disregard for long-held antiauthoritarian norms.

Trump has used harsh rhetoric against Harris and different Democrats, calling them “demonic,” and has suggested subject action against people helium calls “enemies from within.”

Harris, pointing to the warnings of Trump’s erstwhile aides, has labeled him a “fascist” and blamed Trump for putting women’s lives successful information by nominating 3 of the justices who overturned Roe v. Wade. In the closing hours of the campaign, she tried to onslaught a much affirmative code and went the full past time Monday without saying her Republican opponent’s name.

Heading into Election Day, federal, authorities and section officials expressed assurance successful the integrity of the nation’s predetermination systems. They nevertheless were braced to contend with what they accidental is an unprecedented level of overseas disinformation — peculiarly from Russia and Iran — arsenic good arsenic the anticipation of carnal unit oregon cyberattacks.

Both sides person armies of lawyers successful anticipation of ineligible challenges connected and aft Election Day. And instrumentality enforcement agencies nationwide are connected precocious alert for imaginable violence.

The result of the contention was being intimately watched astir the world, with the aboriginal of American enactment for Ukraine, U.S. fidelity to its planetary alliances and the nation’s committedness to basal up to autocrats hanging successful the balance.

Harris has vowed to proceed backing Kyiv’s defence against Russia’s full-scale 2022 invasion. Trump has sharply criticized Ukraine, praised Russian President Vladimir Putin and suggested he would promote Russia to onslaught NATO allies of the U.S. that Trump considers delinquent.

Voters nationwide besides were deciding thousands of different races that volition determine everything from power of Congress to authorities ballot measures connected termination access.

More than 82 million people voted early — shy of the grounds acceptable during the 2020 pandemic, erstwhile Trump encouraged Republicans to instrumentality to voting connected Election Day. This time, helium urged his voters to fastener down their ballots successful beforehand and they complied successful droves.

Associated Press writers Jill Colvin successful Palm Beach, Florida, Darlene Superville and Eric Tucker successful Washington, and Marc Levy successful Allentown, Pennsylvania, contributed to this report.