State race calls are streaming in, but there’s no clear leader. Vice President Kamala Harris took Maryland and three New England states, while former President Donald J. Trump’s wins included Florida.
Most polling places are closed in Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Michigan, four battleground states. No widespread voting problems have been reported, though a number of bomb threats, none deemed credible, disrupted voting in some areas.
Gov. Jim Justice, a Republican, won his Senate race in West Virginia, as expected, flipping the first seat in the battle for control of the chamber.
Our veteran political correspondent Jonathan Weisman sums up this historic night:
Seven battleground states are likely to decide the presidency.
One of the most consequential presidential elections in the nation’s modern history is well underway, as voters flocked to churches, schools and community centers to shape the future of American democracy. The first states were called for former President Donald J. Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris according to their partisan leanings.
As of 8 p.m. Eastern time, most polls have closed in four of the seven swing states that will determine the outcome: Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Michigan, along with a number of other states across the country.
Bomb threats roiled polling places in swing states, including Georgia, Arizona and Michigan. Officials said none of the threats appeared to be credible, but at least in Georgia, some polls are staying around open a bit later as a result.
Facing such obstacles, voters are choosing which pathbreaking turn the country will take. Will Vice President Harris becomes the first woman to be president or will Mr. Trump become the first president in more than 120 years to return to office after being turned out four years earlier?
States off the battlefield were piling up in the expected columns. Mr. Trump won Florida, a former battleground that is now reliably red, and a slew of heavily Republican states. Ms. Harris has taken Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maryland, and Rhode Island.
More than 80 million voters cast ballots early, but tens of millions more waited for Election Day. The counting will extend beyond Tuesday, and determining the outcome of the presidential race could, too, as the candidates pursue the 270 electoral votes necessary to secure a majority of the Electoral College.
Beyond the White House, control of the narrowly divided Congress is also at stake. In the battle for control of the Senate, Republicans flipped their first seat — the state’s Republican governor, Jim Justice, will replace retiring Senator Joe Manchin III. Democrats will have to run the tables in the Republican states of Ohio and Montana to maintain their one-seat control of the Senate.
But late movement toward Democrats in key House seats could end the G.O.P.’s four-seat majority in the House.
Ten states are also voting on whether to add abortion-rights protections to state constitutions. Voters also have the power in some states to raise the minimum wage, legalize marijuana and end the partisan gerrymandering.
Despite the tension, fears of widespread violence or voter intimidation have, so far, not borne out.
Mr. Trump voted in Florida, then awaited returns at his seaside mansion, Mar-a-Lago. Ms. Harris, who voted by mail, stopped by the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington, D.C., to thank volunteers at a phone bank. She even lent a hand.
“I am well,” she said into one of the phones to a prospective supporter. “Have you voted already? You did? Thank you
