2024 US Election: Trump kicks off celebrations as a dejected Harris camp goes silent

The mood in the Democratic arena turned sombre as Donald Trump picked up two battleground states - North Carolina and Georgia - to put himself way ahead in the race to the White House against Kamala Harris. Trump took the lead as soon as polls closed and vote counting started. Democrats said the initial projections were as expected, but as the night progressed and more results came in, their hopes began to fade.

Harris cancelled her speech at Howard University in Washington, DC, while Trump started driving to his watch party from Mar-a-Lago. Thousands of her supporters, who were dancing and cheering only until minutes before, dispersed. The scene became completely silent.

In the race for 270 seats to register a win, Trump was always in the lead, but Harris managed to catch up a little later. However, she was always lagging behind. The race was always predicted to be a close one, with national polls showing Harris as holding a slight edge.

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However, as per Associated Press, Trump has 267 of the 270 electoral votes needed to win the election.

Elon Musk, SpaceX CEO and owner of social media platform X was busy the entire night posting messages in support of Trump, with one of them reading, "Game, set and match".

He was also present at the venue Trump gave his victory speech.

Two 'Swing states' swing in favour of Trump

The seven key swing states - North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada - were expected to decide who would become the new US president and the fate of the country. North Carolina was the first to go, with the Associated Press calling it for Trump.

Also Read:Donald Trump takes overall lead in White House race, securing over 50% of votes

The Republican camp turned jubilant as the mood soured in the Harris arena.

Georgia was next, the state that was in the limelight during the 2020 elections. It became the first state to flip from the 2020 results. At that time, Trump lost Georgia to Democrat Joe Biden by 11,779 votes. He pleaded with Georgia election officials to just find one more vote which could help him win.

Watch:US Elections 2024: Trump Takes Florida And 22 Other States

It is now a historic case in which Trump has been entangled for years. He was charged criminally in Georgia in a sweeping racketeering indictment.

Pennsylvania was the next to go in Trump's favour as he reclaimed it from the Democrats after Biden won it in 2020, flipping it after the Trump camp won it in 2016.

What about other battleground states?

Other battleground states are still too close to call, so the results are still awaited. Polling in Nevada closed quite late and the state doesn't disclose anything until the last person has voted. Mailed ballots would be added later and have mostly gone in favour of Democrats in the past.

However, Nevada is known to release the final results quite late and in the past has added more than 15 per cent of its vote after Election Day. AP reported that Trump led by about three points in the initial returns.

Meanwhile, Trump looks all set to become the next president of the United States, with several votes still left to count. But his supporters, and Trump himself, are already celebrating and gathering at the convention centre in West Palm Beach.