Trump Takes Early Lead as Election Night Tensions Rise, Harris Campaign Remains Tight-Lipped

As former President Donald Trump secured victories in Georgia and North Carolina, the first two battleground states to fall in the 2024 presidential race, Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign opted to remain silent, choosing not to address her supporters early Wednesday morning, NBC News reports.

The decision to stay quiet reflected a palpable shift in mood amongst Harris’ campaign aides, supporters, and Democratic officials as vote totals in battleground states painted a picture of a tight race. While Harris aides initially expressed confidence in a victory, by the end of Tuesday, they were acknowledging a narrow path to success.

Panic set in among Democrats, who described experiencing flashbacks to Trump’s 2016 victory over Hillary Clinton. Adding to the unease, Harris’ campaign manager, Jennifer O’Malley Dillon, attempted to maintain optimism in an internal memo obtained by NBC News, but hours later, a Democratic congressman from one of those Blue Wall states expressed pessimism about the prospects for Harris in those contests.

The outcome of the House races remained unclear, with narrow margins, a series of West Coast races, and the potential for slow vote-counting suggesting that a call on which party would win the majority could take some time.

In a concerning development for Democrats, the share of voters identifying with their party hit the lowest mark this century. The two presidential candidates’ supporters split over the main issues facing the country on Election Day, with most Harris voters rating democracy as their top issue, while most Trump voters said the economy mattered most to them.

With North Carolina going to Trump, Harris’ most plausible path to winning 270 electoral votes — and becoming the first woman elected president — still ran through the “blue wall” states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin, along with Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District. Trump, who would become the first defeated president to reclaim the White House since Grover Cleveland in 1892, would hit the magic number by adding Georgia and Pennsylvania — or Georgia, Arizona, and either Michigan or Wisconsin — to his column.

Both candidates and their campaigns expressed confidence in the closing days that they were on track to win.

Despite their sense of success, 72% of voters said in NBC News exit polls that they are either angry or dissatisfied with the state of the country, with only 26% reporting that they are satisfied with or enthusiastic about it.

There were signs of demographic shifts in the electorate in the early exit polls. Trump’s popularity waned among white voters, while it ticked up among Black and Latino voters.

There had been no reports of major, widespread issues related to voting as of Thursday evening, though many states had hours left before polls closed. The most notable issue was in Georgia, where bomb threats directed at polling sites caused some temporary evacuations but did not appear to dramatically affect the vote.

There have been no signs of major cyberattacks, a concern after the 2016 presidential election. And snafus with scanning or counting ballots have been mostly minor and expected.