US Presidential Election Results 2024 Highlights: Trump, Harris close out campaigns with star-studded rallies in swing states

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The first in-person votes of the 2024 New Hampshire general election were cast at midnight in Dixville Notch, which consists of six registered voters this cycle, NBC News stated in an update.

The result was a tie between the two leaders. Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump each received three votes.

The polls opened at midnight and closed at 12:07 a.m. ET (10:30 pm IST) after all voters cast their ballots. (NBC News)

Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris delivered her final speech of the US election campaign in Philadelphia, on themes about coming together as a nation, according to NBC News.

"I am asking for your vote. And here is my pledge to you: As president, I pledge to seek common ground and common sense solutions to the challenges you face," Harris said.

"I pledge to listen to those who will be impacted by the decisions I will make. I pledge to listen to experts. I pledge to listen to people who disagree with me. Because, you see, I don't believe that people who disagree with me are the enemy. I'll give them a seat at the table. That's what real leaders do. That's what strong leaders do," she added. (NBC News)

At a rally in Philadephia, Oprah Winfrey projected the US election as an opportunity to fight for democracy in the nation, NBC News reported.

"If we don’t show up tomorrow, it is entirely possible that we will not have the opportunity to ever cast a ballot again," she told the crowd.

"We are voting to save ourselves from this precipice of danger where we now stand. All the anxiety and the fear you’re feeling, you’re feeling that because you sense the danger, and you change that with your vote. We are voting for healing over hate," she said. (NBC News)

The United States' federal law enforcement and election security agencies are debunking two new examples of Russian election disinformation on the eve of Election Day, highlighting attempts by foreign actors to sow doubt in the US voting process and warning that the efforts run the risk of inciting violence against election officials, the Associated Press reported.

In a joint statement, federal officials Monday pointed to a recent article shared by Russian actors falsely claiming that US officials across the swing states were planning to commit fraud, along with a video that falsely depicted an interview with an individual claiming election fraud in Arizona, AP quoted.

US intelligence revealed that Russia-linked influence actors “are manufacturing videos and creating fake articles to undermine the legitimacy of the election, instill fear in voters regarding the election process, and suggest Americans are using violence against each other due to political preferences,” read the statement.

Federal officials warned that Russia will likely release additional “manufactured content” on Election Day and poses “the most active threat” when it comes to foreign election influence. The statement also noted that Iran remains a “significant foreign influence threat to U.S. elections."

Russia, China and Iran have rejected claims that they are seeking to meddle with the US elections. (AP)

Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris knocked doors in Reading, Pennsylvania, as part of her campaign on the final day of the US presidential elections, news agency Reuters reported.

Harris' campaign team said its volunteers knocked on hundreds of thousands of doors in each of the battleground states this weekend. (Reuters)

With just a few hours to go before the commencement of voting in America, concerns about potential political violence have prompted officials to take a variety of measures to bolster security during and after Election Day, according to a Reuters report.

The measures includes a security fence that rings a Las Vegas building where a Nevada county tabulates votes, an Arizona sheriff's department put on high alert to guard against potential violence with drones and snipers on standby. Moreover, the National Guard has been or will be activated in 19 states so far to help maintain peace, Reuters report stated.

Alabama, Arizona, Delaware, Iowa, Illinois, North Carolina, New Mexico, Oregon, Wisconsin and Washington state have current National Guard missions while Washington DC, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia have troops on standby, the report stated quoting a defence official.

Both Democratic nominee Kamala Harris and Republican candidate Donald Trump predicted victory as they held rallies in Pennsylvania on the final day, close to the US presidential election, news agency Reuters reported.

In Pittsburgh, Trump offered what his campaign called his final closing message to voters: “We’ve been waiting four years for this.” After speaking on economic themes, Trump said: "We're going to win the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and it's going to be over."

In Allentown, Harris promised to be a president for “all Americans.” “We know it is time for a new generation of leadership in America … And make no mistake, we will win,” the Vice President told the crowd, according to the report. (Reuters)

Popular podcast host Joe Rogan endorsed Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump over a post on X (formerly Twitter) on the final day of campaigning, NBC News reported.

Rogan also supported Musk's endorsement of Trump in the same post. Rogan wrote that Musk "makes what I think is the most compelling case for Trump you’ll hear, and I agree with him every step of the way," in a post that included a more than two-hour interview with Musk.

"For the record, yes, that’s an endorsement of Trump," Rogan added.

Ohio senator and Donald’s Trump running mate for the US Presidential Elections this year, JD Vance, on his last day on the trail, visited La Crosse, Flint, Michigan, and then to Atlanta, before attending a concluding rally in Pennsylvania, according to NBC News.

“You know, for the last few weeks, my team has been telling me we’re doing good. We’re doing good. Just go out there, make sure people know what a disaster Kamala Harris has been. Make sure people know how great Donald J. Trump is. And that’s the message I’ve been carrying forward,” he said. “But you know, it’s the last day of the campaign, and I think today I’m just going to say whatever the hell I want to."

Vance mostly stuck to his speeches he delivered at previous rallies on the final day of campaigning. (NBC News)

Philadelphia rapper Meek Mill has announced his support for Democratic candidate Kamala Harris and released a new track, “Who you voting for” endorsing the vice president.

At the start of the song, the rapper lists out the reason why he is rooting for Kamala Harris over former President and Republican candidate Donald Trump.

“My homie said he vote for Trump, he want that stimulus / I want it too for him, but the way he moving venomous / I work for everything I got, earn all my privileges / they give immunity to cops, they gone probably finish us.”

Mill later says, “I ain’t vote for Cam-a-la,” mispronouncing Kamala, then saying: “I’m a probably vote Kamala, somebody call her.”

A 24 year old man has been arrested in Illinois for allegedly punching an election judge at a polling location, just days ahead of the final showdown of the US presidential election.

The man, who was identified as Daniel Schmidt, was charged with two counts of aggravated battery to a victim over 60 (Class 3 Felony), two counts of aggravated battery in a public place (Class 3 Felony), and five misdemeanor counts of resisting arrest and one misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct.

This case of violence during the early voting and election procedure adds to the growing list of attacks on the voting process and threats of violence, in order to create an atmosphere of distrust and fear toward the electoral system.

(Read more about the report)

Republican candidate Donald Trump is bound to address at least 10,000 to 12,000 supporters at a Pittsburgh rally as the upper deck at PPG Paints arena has been closed off.

According to NBC News, the crowd is lively with a fair number of students and a lot of people wearing reflective vests as Trump wore one last week after President Joe Biden’s “garbage” remark.

Ahead of the Election Day in the United States, the security has been tightened in the Washington, near the White House as pictures surfaced of plywoods covering pharmacy, restaurants windows. Fencing was also erected near the White House, reported Reuters news agency.

Former President Donald Trump’s campaign has defended the Republican candidate for his remarks where he said he would not mind if someone had to “shoot through the fake news” to reach him.

“To get me, somebody would have to shoot through the fake news – and I don’t mind that so much,” Trump, who complained about the bullet proof glass around him, said at a rally in Pennsylvania. He referred to the media as “bloodsuckers”.

The attack against the media and press freedom isn’t a new topic for the Republican candidate as he has mocked several reporters during the press conferences over the past decade since arriving on the political scene.

(Read more about the report)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris arrives to speak at a campaign rally in Memorial Hall at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pa., Monday, Nov. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

A state judge on Monday allowed Elon Musk's $1 million-a-day giveaway to swing state voters to proceed in Pennsylvania with one day to go before the tightly contested election between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, Musk’s favored candidate.

Tesla CEO Musk has already given away $16 million to registered swing state voters who qualified for the giveaway by signing his political petition and said the final winner will be announced on Election Day on Tuesday.

At a hearing in Philadelphia on Monday, Judge Angelo Foglietta rejected Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner’s bid to block the giveaways. Krasner alleged the payouts amounted to an illegal lottery with hazily defined rules.

(Reuters)

The Election Day began in the United States’ territory of Guam, where the current time is 8 am of November 5 and the polls are open.

Since Guam has no electoral college votes, voters don’t get a say in the making of the next US president though it is the first territory in the US to cast a vote on Election Day.

Guam residents are voting for a non-voting delegate in the U.S. House of Representatives, state Senate, state Supreme Court, intermediate appellate courts, and municipal government, reported NBC News.

Wrapping her election campaign with a rally on Election Day eve in Pennsylvania, Vice President Kamala Harris asked the crowd, supporting Democratic Party, “Are you ready to get out the vote? Are you ready to win?”

Pennsylvania, one of the key swing battleground states, has witnessed more money and manpower directed at it by the Harris campaign than any other battleground state.

“As we’re getting out the vote, let’s be intentional about building community, about building coalitions and reminding people, we all have so much more in common than what separates us," Harris said as reported by Reuters.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has said that it is keeping an eye on the election security threat and there has been an uptick in the reported electoral security breach, which could be due to heightened reporting information.

James Barnacle, deputy assistant director of the bureau's Criminal Investigative Division, said “So the threat reporting that we’re getting in here is a little more, not a huge volume increase, but people are more aware of reporting information to the FBI,” as reported by NBC News.

About 80 personnel from the FBI and about a dozen partner agencies are staffing the command post in the FBI’s Strategic Information Operations Center. The command post opened on November 1 and will run through at least November 9.

Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi cast her ballot and encouraged voters to choose Vice President Kamala Harris for the White House.

In a post on X, Pelosi uploaded a video of herself casting her ballot and urging voters to support Harris. “Know your power and show your power with your vote. I voted with great joy for Kamala Harris to be President and to have a Democratic Congress with Hakeem Jeffries as Speaker of the House,” Pelosi said.

With early voting coming to an end in Michigan, the unofficial result of the US presidential election is bound to be released by midday Wednesday, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson announced, reported NBC News.

The 2024 election result is poised to avoid the election results delay which plagued the 2020 electoral outcome as a new state law has come into effect in Michigan which allows the clerks to preprocess absentee ballots.

Until now, 3.2 million voters have cast their ballots in Michigan, according to Secretary Benson’s office. It added that 1.2 million voters participated in the state’s first year of early voting and 2 million were returning absentee ballots.

Elon Musk's pro-Trump group does not choose the winners of its $1 million-a-day giveaway to registered voters at random, but instead picks people who would be good spokespeople for its agenda, a lawyer for the billionaire said on Monday.

Musk lawyer Chris Gober was trying to persuade a Pennsylvania judge that the giveaway was not an "illegal lottery," as Philadelphia district attorney Lawrence Krasner alleged in a lawsuit seeking to block the contest ahead of Tuesday's U.S. presidential election.

"There is no prize to be won, instead recipients must fulfill contractual obligations to serve as a spokesperson for the PAC," Gober said in the hearing before Judge Angelo Foglietta, referring to Musk's political action committee, known as America PAC. The hearing in the battleground state comes just one day before Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican former President Donald Trump will square off in the tightly contested race. Musk and his political action committee are backing Trump.

Tesla CEO Musk's offer is limited to registered voters in the seven states expected to decide the election - Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. America PAC says its two remaining winners will be from Arizona and Michigan, meaning that Musk would likely be able to continue the giveaway even if Foglietta blocks the lottery.

(Reuters)

Former President Donald Trump has warned that if he gets elected, he might impose a 25% tariff on all Mexican imports until the United States enacts tighter border regulations.

During the first rally of the day in Raleigh, North Carolina, the Republican presidential nominee Trump said, “If Mexican leaders don’t stop this onslaught of criminals and drugs coming into our country, I’m going to immediately impose a 25% tariff on everything they send into the United States of America.”

During his tenure from 2016-2020, Trump had floated a 20% tariff rate on all products from across the world, while China was imposed with a 60% tariff rate.

Singer, songwriter Katy Perry, who is bound to appear in the final rally of Democratic candidate Kamala Harris in Pennsylvania, posted on social media that she filled her ballot and voted for the vice president.

In the X post, Katy Perry wrote, “This is Kamala Harris. She’s gonna be…well…We’re the only ones who can finish this sentence. VOTE!”

The Democratic National Committee has planned to deploy mobile billboards in swing states which are going to be key battlegrounds as the final measure to get voters to cast their ballot.

According to an official statement by the DNC, the billboard campaign comes under the $7 million paid media investment during the campaign cycle.

DNC Chair Jaime Harrison said, “The DNC's multimillion-dollar and multimedia 'I Will Vote' campaign is a testament to Democrats’ commitment to and investment in the many communities that make up our strong coalition of voters.”

Harrison further added, “Throughout this campaign, Democrats have worked with diverse vendors and talent that are reflective of our values as a party and the communities that we are reaching with the campaign,” as reported by NBC News.

The Franklin County Board of Elections, which is the only place where the early voting was taking place in Columbus, Ohio, closed last evening after the polling was held from 1pm to 5pm.

According to NBC News, the queue for the voting was long but there were voters who were willing to wait up to four hours to cast their ballots. Though some voters said they would head to their polling site tomorrow due to the rush.

Until 2pm yesterday, the early voting in Ohio set a record with 123,000 voters casting their ballots, said Aaron Sellers, the board's spokesman.

Rapper Cardi B criticised billionaire Elon Musk in a post on X over the latter's comments of calling her "another puppet" of Kamala Harris' campaign.

The Middle East has been a focal point in US foreign policy for decades, shaping American political narratives, policy decisions, and, crucially, presidential elections. While issues like domestic economics and healthcare are often seen as primary concerns for voters, foreign policy — especially concerning the Middle East — consistently emerges as a significant factor in shaping public opinion and electoral outcomes in the US.

This is due to the region’s impact on multiple aspects of American life, from national security to energy prices, as well as ideological and strategic alliances. The situation in the Middle East encompasses a range of critical issues, including terrorism, oil supply, and the U.S.-Israel relationship, all of which resonate deeply with American voters and have a substantial influence on presidential campaigns.

In recent decades, as US involvement in the region has grown, so has its influence on American politics. Republican and Democratic candidates frequently use Middle Eastern issues to define their platforms, appeal to key voting blocs, and differentiate themselves from their opponents. Read Mira Patel's report here

As the world has its eyes glued to the US elections 2024, our columnists express their views on its impact on India-US relations, and the different strands of policy consideration which could prescribe a policy for India’s engagement with America under the next administration.

“Any particular Indian policymakers’ preference for one or the other outcome will depend on their own priority issue. But the type of result will affect the approach India takes — and the adjustments it will need to make — not just towards the president and various American stakeholders, but other powers as well,” writes Tanvi Madan.

“Regardless of who takes the Oval Office, there seems to be a consensus that India-US bilateral relations are likely to continue without much hiccup,” Vivek Mishra writes.