US Election 2024 Live: Donald Trump elected 47th president of United States
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The moment has finally arrived - and after millions of Americans turned up to vote in the 2024 US presidential election, Donald Trump has now claimed a decisive victory.
The Republican former president won over frustrated voters with bold promises that his fiery brand of America-first economic populism and conservative culture would make their lives better.
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Hide AdMr Trump flipped battleground states like Georgia, which had voted for Democrats four years ago, to achieve the victory and retained the closely contested state of North Carolina to leave supporters of vice-president Kamala Harris devastated.
Follow along here with The Scotsman’s live blog as we bring every update of this momentous vote, and the reactions from Scotland and around the world.
The outcome of this election will have a huge impact around the globe.
So let’s take a look at what’s happening.
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Read more here: US Election 2024 odds: The bookies think Harris will win the popular vote but Trump will be President
US Election 2024 Live: Follow along for election updates and reaction
Hello everyone! So it begins!
The polls will be closing in a few hours - and although we may not find out who will be the next President of the USA tonight, or even in the morning, it’s sure to be eventful.
Unless you’ve had your head blissfully buried in the sand over the last.. well, decade, you’ll know that current Vice President Kamala Harris and former President (and Scottish business owner...always gotta make it local) Donald Trump are battling it out over who will take the White House.
I’m going to be up all night with you watching for updates, throwing stats at you when you least expect it, and generally be your well informed buddy for tonight.
I’ve got my sugary snacks ready, my pot of coffee and two small dogs curled up already asleep.
Let’s do this.
I was about to share some interesting articles about the impact each potential President will have around the world... but breaking news on the BBC.
Capitol police arrest man carrying a flare gun near the White House.
Of course, 2020 did not see the peaceful transfer of power that has been seen in previous years, and it has been confirmed that extra security and extra measures have been taken this year in case of civil unrest.
Here is a video of the Philadelphia DA with a stark warning to anyone planning any trouble.
It is a worrying time...
Statistic alert
First stat of the night. How exciting.
One of the biggest talking points this election is abortion, and the recent implementation of strict abortion laws in various states, and of course, the over turning of Roe v Wade.
Women will be coming out in their millions to vote for her Harris, who had a prominent pro choice message. This might be enough to swing the election her way.
Its worth noting that actually, a majority of Americans believe that abortion should be legal in most or all cases.
The question is, is it an important enough issue for them to allow this belief to swing their vote?
Analysis:
Sticking with the abortion stat below - my own personal analysis and prediction is that this is what will swing the election in Harris’ favour.
Women will vote for her to protect their right to access healthcare, whether they publicly admit they are voting for her or not.
Women around the world will be keeping a sharp eye on the election tonight, as they are aware, where ever they are, how easily their rights can slip away from them.
As promised earlier...
As I promised earlier, here is an article written by our brilliant Investigations Correspondent.
As commentators keep saying, the election - as most US elections - will have major ramifications across the world, irrevocably shaping our future.
Best to know now as much as we can about how this could happen...
(I also just want to add that one of my dogs keeps trying to rest her small head on my laptop keyboard, so any rogue posts about treats or walks will not have been typed by me)
Things you might not know...
Every time the US election comes round, we all suddenly have to become experts in what is an extremely complicated system.
There is a whole ton of different structures to get your head around and that’s before you even get to the candidates.
My brilliant colleague Dave, who I reckon only knows anything because he learned it in a pub quiz, had a lot of fun today putting this piece together:
The celebrity vote
Both candidates have been endorsed by some pretty big names.
Kamala Harris counts Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Oprah and some of the cast of the Avengers movies amongst her fans.
Donald Trump has Hulk Hogan, Elon Musk and podcast host Joe Rogan among his.
Its hard to really know what the impact of a celebrity endorsement is - very few people have a fan base that will easily swing their vote to match their hero.
Although Taylor Swift is a name that really stands out here.
Her fans are absolutely dedicated enough to get interested in politics after she shared her Harris endorsement to her millions of Instagram followers, and she has been proven to shift the scale in the past.
The younger Swifties are more like to gravitate to Harris regardless of Taylor’s endorsement however, with the Democrats message resonating more with younger, and more importantly, female voters.
What does Scotland think?
Well - misleading headline, because Scotland doesn’t speak with one voice, so thinks an awful lot of things.
Scotland’s First Minister however, has been very clear.
First Minister John Swinney endorsed Kamala Harris , suggesting Donald Trump’s opposition to Scottish independence played a part in his conclusion.
Read more about this right here.
What does Trump think of Scotland?
Donald Trump wasn’t overly keen on the First Minister’s comments - and, unsurprisingly, said so.
The Trump business pointed the finger at the First Minister’s comments despite Mr Trump’s “unwavering commitment to Scotland” and labelled Mr Swinney’s remarks as an “insult”.
Read every single thing about this right here.
For all those spending the night on the site formerly known as Twitter, I hope you’re all seeing the same amount of West Wing gifs as I am... it’s helping.
Statistic time again
Guns are always a hot topic in America - and the question of regulating gun owners may seem like common sense to much of the world, but becomes a thorny constitutional issue in the US.
With the gun lobby, including the incredibly powerful NRA, it may seem like the issue is pretty much 50/50 with Americans, however, this is not the case.
The majority of Americans believe that it is too easy to buy a gun - and actually, to add to this, a majority of Americans believe in some form of control or regulation around guns.
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We’ll soon know who the next American President will be - and there are the states that should prove to be decisive.
In order to win, one of them will need to reach a majority of 270 electoral college votes out of the 538 available (535 electors from the 50 states and three from the federal District of Columbia).
And to get to that magic number they’ll need to win the popular vote in as many states as possible - particularly in the so-called ‘swing states’ where both parties attract almost equal support.
Scotland's getting involved....
The election isn’t just an American thing.. well, it is. Obviously.
But many Scottish celebrities have been heading over to help out, particularly with star power and finances.
Several Scottish stars who now live stateside have made scores of donations over the past year to political groups ahead of next week’s crunch election, according to an analysis by The Scotsman of thousands of individual US political contributions.
However, the bad news for Donald Trump, one of several former US presidents with strong Scottish heritage, is that none of the well-known ex-pats from his mother’s homeland are backing him or his party.
More fun and games on this side of the water....
Labour has been working hard to win overDonald Trumpin case he is re-elected, Health SecretaryWes Streetingsaid.
Polls have opened in theUS for Americans to start voting in what is set to be a neck-and-neck race for the USpresidency betweenKamala Harrisand Mr Trump.
Sir Keir Starmerwill have rocky terrain to navigate if Mr Trump wins, in part due to scathing criticism that current Cabinet ministers made of the Republican politician while Labour was in opposition and because of a row overLabour Partyvolunteers who travelled to theUSto support the Harris campaign.
The Health Secretary was asked about a 2017 post on social media in which he called Mr Trump an "odious, sad, little man".
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