Three days after US Election Day, Joe Biden was finally confirmed as the 46th president of the United States.
A victory in Pennsylvania saw him exceed the 270 Electoral College votes required to make it to the White House.
Despite Donald Trump's continued protests, the result has been confirmed and legal challenges from Trump are unlikely to come to anything.
You can read the timeline of the historic election and how it played out below.
22:05
Donald Trump continues to push unfounded claims about 'illegal votes' on Twitter.
21:18
CNN commentator Van Jones' emotional reaction to Joe Biden's victory has gone viral.
Van, thank you for expressing the sorrow and relief that we all feel. My hope is that those who hoped for a different outcome will take a moment to empathize with the pain so many of us have felt over the past four years. pic.twitter.com/eqL1szT1Iz
— Michelle Obama (@MichelleObama) November 7, 2020
22:00
Donald Trump is continuing to push unfounded claims about 'illegal votes' on his Twitter this evening.
20:36
Paul Allen, of the Irish For Biden campaign, told BreakingNews.ie that a Spring time presidential visit to Ireland could be on the cards.
20:00
President Michael D Higgins has led the tributes to Joe Biden following his victory in the race for the White House.
19:09
Barack Obama has congratulated his former vice-president. He said: "We're fortunate that Joe's got what it takes to be President and already carries himself that way. Because when he walks into the White House in January, he'll face a series of extraordinary challenges no incoming President ever has – a raging pandemic, an unequal economy and justice system, a democracy at risk, and a climate in peril. "
Congratulations to my friends, @JoeBiden and @KamalaHarris — our next President and Vice President of the United States. pic.twitter.com/febgqxUi1y
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) November 7, 2020
18:24
British prime minister Boris Johnson has congratulated Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
Congratulations @JoeBiden and @KamalaHarris pic.twitter.com/xrpE99W4c4
— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) November 7, 2020
18:22
Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has congratulated both Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, adding that he hopes they pay a visit to Ireland soon.
Congratulations @joebiden and @kamalaharris. Our world needs American leadership and true American values. We know you can give it. Hope you can both make it to Ireland soon ♥️🇮🇪🇺🇸 KamalaHarris
— Leo Varadkar (@LeoVaradkar) November 7, 2020
17:40
Kamala Harris, who will become the first female vice-president of the United States, said: "This election is about so much more than Joe Biden or me. It’s about the soul of America and our willingness to fight for it. We have a lot of work ahead of us. Let’s get started."
17:20
Joe Biden said: "America, I’m honored that you have chosen me to lead our great country.
"The work ahead of us will be hard, but I promise you this: I will be a President for all Americans — whether you voted for me or not.
"I will keep the faith that you have placed in me."
16:51
Taoiseach Micheál Martin has congratulated Joe Biden on his victory.
I want to congratulate the new President Elect of the USA @JoeBiden Joe Biden has been a true friend of this nation throughout his life and I look forward to working with him in the years ahead. I also look forward to welcoming him back home when the circumstances allow! 🇮🇪 🇺🇸
— Micheál Martin (@MichealMartinTD) November 7, 2020
16:33
CNN and the Associated Press have called the election for Joe Biden.
15:33
Donald Trump has announced a press conference for 11.30am EST (4.30pm Irish time) in Philadelphia.
13:30
Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania John Fetterman has told CNN Donald Trump should "embrace math and let the country move on".
Mr Fetterman said he could say with certainty that the count would conclude today, but said Biden "may already be there" as remaining ballots continue to roll in from Democratic-leaning areas.
12:30
Counting has resumed in Pennsylvania where there is an estimated 81,000 ballots left to count, or approximately 4 per cent of the vote.
CNN are reporting that 93 per cent of the vote has now been counted in Nevada, 95 per cent in Arizona and 99 per cent in Georgia, with Biden leading in each state.
The Prime Minister of Fiji, Frank Bainimarama is the first world leader to congradulate Biden according to Sky News, despite no offical victory announcement.
10:15
Democratic Representaive, Bill Pascrel has said a watchdog is now looking into Donald Trump's use of the White House as an Election Day 'command centre' in breach of federal law.
The White House has denied the breach but the US Office of Special Council is investigating the matter according to Reuters.
Reuters are also reporting that Joe Biden's lead in Georgia has stretched to 7,248 votes.
Compounding Trump's woes, his top advisor, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows has been diagnosed with Covid-19.
08:00
Overnight, Joe Biden stopped short of claiming victory in a speech made in his home state of Delaware. Mr Biden said: “We’re going to win this race", citing his lead in Pennsylvania.
Donald Trump has been tweeting through the night, claiming Biden "should not wrongfully claim the office of the President".
Biden's razor-thin lead in Georgia will go for a recount, with officials there announcing the state's result was "too close to call".
22:05
As we head into another day of this election, a summary of the remaining vote counts.
Pennsylvania – Biden has a lead of 14,716 votes, or a 0.2 percentage point margin, as of 9pm Irish time on Friday, with 96 per cent of the estimated vote counted. Under Pennsylvania law, a recount is automatic if the margin of victory is less than or equal to 0.5 percentage point of the total vote.
Georgia – Biden is ahead of Trump by 1,564 votes as of 9pm Irish time on Friday, with 99 per cent of votes counted. Trump needs both Pennsylvania and Georgia to win a second term.
Nevada – Biden leads Trump by 20,137 votes, or 1.6 percentage points, with about 92 per cent of the vote counted.
20:45
Here is where things stand, three days after Tuesday's US presidential election.
- Joe Biden appears to be on the verge of the victory, with growing leads in Pennsylvania and Nevada.
- Biden is ahead of Donald Trump by more than 13,000 votes in Pennsylvania.
- Biden plans to deliver a primetime address tonight, and he may declare victory at that event.
- Georgia will recount its votes, with only 1,500 votes separating Biden and Trump in the state.
- Biden’s lead in Nevada has grown to more than 20,000 votes. However, counting is not over and will continue through the weekend.
20:21
The Republican National Committee is looking to raise at least $60 million (€50 million) to fund legal challenges brought by Donald Trump over the results of the presidential election, Reuters reports.
The Trump campaign has already filed lawsuits in several states following Tuesday's election.
19:49
Senator Bernie Sanders, a former rival to Joe Biden in the Democratic primary, has thanked progressive groups for their efforts to "make Biden's victory possible".
I want to thank progressive grassroots organizations for their extraordinary efforts in helping to make Biden's victory possible. Together, you built widespread support for Biden among young people, people of color and the working class. Congratulations. Let's keep going forward.
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) November 6, 2020
18:50
Donald Trump is vowing to continue his legal fight, even as Joe Biden edges closer to securing enough votes to win the presidency. Biden is expected to give a prime-time televised address tonight.
A statement from Trump said: “We believe the American people deserve to have full transparency into all vote counting and election certification, and that this is no longer about any single election.
“This is about the integrity of our entire election process. From the beginning we have said that all legal ballots must be counted and all illegal ballots should not be counted, yet we’ve met resistance for this basic principle by Democrats at every turn.
“We will pursue this process through every aspect of the law to guarantee the American people have confidence in our government. I will never give up fighting for you and our nation.”
18:34
Nevada’s Clark County, home to Democratic stronghold Las Vegas, still has 63,000 votes to be counted. So far every update from the area has helped Biden.
Officials in the state say there will be a final count on mail-in ballots by Sunday.
18:05
Republican senator Mitt Romney, who lost the 2012 presidential election to Barack Obama, has said Donald Trump’s claim that the election was rigged “damages the cause of freedom”.
“The President is within his rights to request recounts, to call for investigation of alleged voting irregularities where evidence exists, and to exhaust legal remedies,” he said in a statement posted on Twitter.
“Doing these things is consistent with our election process.
“He is wrong to say the election was rigged, corrupt and stolen.
“Doing so damages the cause of freedom here and around the world, weakens the institutions that lie in the foundation of the republic, and recklessly inflames destructive and dangerous passions.”
17:55
Philadelphia's election commissioner has said the final count of ballots in the city could take "several days". Approximately 40,000 ballots remain.
Mayor Jim Kenney of Philadelphia said the Trump campaign “has not produced one iota of evidence” of voter fraud in the city.
17:44
Joe Biden will make a public address later tonight, according to multiple campaign officials.
17:24
Pressure is mounting on Republican leaders to respond to Donald Trump's baseless claims of widespread electoral fraud and misconduct.
Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania said he saw no evidence to support Trump’s claim that Democrats are trying to “steal” the election and called the president’s words “very disturbing”.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell struck a neutral tone: “Every legal vote should be counted,” he tweeted.
Representative Adam Kinzinger, a Republican from Illinois, tweeted that the president’s claims of fraud are “getting insane”.
Read more: Republicans plead for faith in due process after Donald Trump’s fraud claim
16:45
Here is a summary of vote counts in the remaining battleground states.
Georgia – with 99 per cent of the vote tallied, Biden leads by 1,586 votes (49.5 per cent)
Pennsylvania – with 95 per cent of the vote tallied, Biden leads by 9,027 votes (49.4 per cent)
North Carolina – with 95 per cent of the vote tallied, Trump leads by 76,737 votes (50 per cent)
Nevada – with 91 per cent of the vote tallied, Biden leads by 22,076 (49.8 per cent)
16:20
Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat and the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, has given a press conference and addressed Democratic losses in Congress.
"We did not win every fight in the House. But we did win the war," she said.
15:55
Georgia will go to a recount.
Georgia’s secretary of state Brad Raffensperger said there would be a recount because the margin is “that small” in the potentially decisive state.
The Republican politician told reporters: “As we are closing in on a final count we can begin to look towards our next steps. With a margin that small there will be a recount in Georgia.
“The interest in our election obviously goes far behind Georgia’s borders. The final tally in Georgia at this point has huge implications for the entire country.
“The stakes are high and emotions are high on all sides. We will not let those debates distract us from our work, we will get it right and we will defend the integrity of our elections.”
15:30
The Biden campaign has released a statement.
"The American people will decide this election.
"And the United States government is perfectly capable of escorting trespassers out of the White House," spokesman Andrew Bates said.
15:13
Joe Biden is now ahead in Pennsylvania by 6,817 votes, according to Edison Research for Reuters.
Donald Trump was leading at one point by more than 500,000 votes. But the counting of millions of mail-in ballots couldn’t begin in Pennsylvania until Tuesday evening – those votes have skewed heavily in favour of Biden.
14:56
More reaction from Irish politicians to the developing election result in the US.
Minister for Tourism Catherine Martin said the tone of unity in Joe Biden’s speeches this week was “refreshing” and “badly needed” at present.
“The most important thing is that we respect democracy and we’ll see how it plays out,” she said.
“It is a very exciting few days.”
Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe said every vote in the US election must be counted.
He said it had been a “dramatic” week in US politics and there was always an invitation open to the sitting US president to visit Ireland.
“Let every vote be counted and the Irish Government will then work with the new president.”
He said he agreed with Catherine Martin that “words matter in politics”.
14:43
The Trump campaign has released a statement:
“This election is not over.
“The false projection of Joe Biden as the winner is based on results in four states that are far from final.
“Georgia is headed for a recount, where we are confident we will find ballots improperly harvested, and where President Trump will ultimately prevail," Matt Morgan, Trump 2020 campaign general counsel, said.
NEW statement from #Trump campaign. Claim “this election is not over;” point to “false projection of #JoeBiden as the winner” #Election2020 pic.twitter.com/Rw8lTOBvuq
— Suzanne Lynch (@suzannelynch1) November 6, 2020
13.51
Joe Biden has edged ahead of Donald Trump in the battleground state of Pennsylvania.
With 95 per cent of the estimated vote tallied so far, Mr Trump has 49.3 per cent while Mr Biden now holds 49.4 per cent, according to Edison Research.
13.50
Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said that every vote in the presidential race should be counted.
“Every vote should be counted and has to be counted,” he told Sky News.
“It’s a very close call and trends are emerging in a certain direction but we are looking forward to continuing that relationship with the newly elected president.”
13.25
More US Secret Service agents have been sent to Wilmington, Delaware, in anticipation of a potential Joe Biden presidential win, according to reports from the Washington Post and CNN.
12.31
In the battleground state of Pennsylvania - which would secure the presidency for Joe Biden - 95 per cent of the estimated vote has been tallied so far.
Mr Trump holds 49.5 per cent of the vote while Mr Biden holds 49.2 per cent, according to Edison Research.
An update is expected shortly.
12.17
Protests have taken place across America outside count centres by Donald Trump supporters amid the incumbent president’s claims of a “stolen” election.
Election officials in several US states have expressed fears about the safety of their workers, though the protests have not been violent or very large.
In the battleground state of Arizona, American conspiracy theorist Alex Jones addressed a crowd of hundreds at a voting centre, many of whom were armed.
Read more: US election officials concerned by threats and protesters
Read more: Leading conspiracy theorist joins armed protest amid Trump's 'stolen election' claim
11.06
Joe Biden's lead in Georgia has widened slightly to now stand at 1,096 votes.
An update from the key battleground of Pennsylvania is expected shortly as Philadelphia's city commissioner said there will be a vote count update in “the next hour or two” though it will not be the final number, according to CNN.
10.03
The counting of ballots is continuing in two keys states this morning – here are where things currently stand.
Pennsylvania – This state would take Joe Biden over the 270 electoral college votes needed to win the White House. Donald Trump's lead in the state has been shrinking, as he led with fewer than 20,000 votes overnight and tens of thousands remain to be counted – most from Democratic areas.
Georgia – Joe Biden has now taken the lead in this state whose 16 electoral college votes would leave him one short of the presidency. The reliably Republican state, which has not gone blue since 1992, now seems poised to go to Mr Biden.
Mr Trump cannot find a route to 270 electoral votes without both states, so his chances of securing reelection hinge on developments in Pennsylvania and Georgia over the coming hours.
9.38
Joe Biden has pulled ahead in the battleground state of Georgia by 917 votes, according to reports by CNN.
Read more: Joe Biden now leading Donald Trump in Georgia with White House in reach
8.50
Joe Biden is now trailing Donald Trump by just 463 votes in Georgia, narrowing a gap of more than 18,000 at the start of Thursday.
The battleground of Pennsylvania remains too close to call, but Mr Biden needs to only win it alone to claim the presidency, while his opponent needs to be victorious in both Georgia and Pennsylvania as well as North Carolina and Nevada.
7.46
Good morning. It was an eventful evening at the White House as we slept here in Ireland.
President Donald Trump has once more hit out at the integrity of the election, making unsupported allegations from the White House that Democrats were attempting to “rig” and “steal” the election.
Read more: Trump hits election integrity as votes still being counted
Major US television networks ABC, CBS and NBC all cut away from Mr Trump as he spoke, with anchors cautioning there was no evidence supporting his statements of fraudulent voting.
Read more: Networks cut away from Trump's White House address
Some Republicans are breaking with Mr Trump’s claims of Democrat corruption and attempts to falsely declare victory in the election, with one Republican representative from Illinois tweeting that the president’s claims of fraud were “getting insane".
Read more: Republicans desert Trump over baseless vote-fraud claims
21:45
Donald Trump has launched legal action in Pennsylvania seeking an emergency injunction barring it from counting ballots so long as Republican observers are not present as it said was required under state law.
Meanwhile, Joe Biden has called for calm and patience, reassuring his supporters that each ballot must be counted in a brief speech this evening. He added that he has no doubt that he and his running-mate, Kamala Harris will win.
21:15
Joe Biden is closing in on Donald Trump in key states including Georgia, where 98 per cent of the vote has reportedly been counted.
Trump currently leads there by just over 12,000 votes, with mail-in ballots from Democratic leaning areas of the state still being counted.
Meanwhile in Nevada, where Biden is currently leading, election officials have said there is still a collection of valid ballots that have not yet been received or counted, which will remain valid until tomorrow's cut-off point.
20:01
Facebook has taken down a rapidly growing group where supporters of Donald Trump posted misinformation, violent rhetoric and organised protests against the baseless claim that Democrats were stealing the election.
The "Stop the Steal" group had ballooned to more than 365,000 members in one day.
"The group was organised around the delegitimization of the election process, and we saw worrying calls for violence from some members of the group," a Facebook spokeswoman said in a statement.
19:43
A vote tally update from Pennsylvania, the most crucial state still in play.
With 92 per cent of the estimated vote tallied so far, Trump has 50.2 per cent and Biden has 48.5 per cent of the vote, according to Reuters.
Pennsylvania is worth 20 electoral college votes. If Biden wins the state, Trump has no electoral path to the presidency.
19:32
This election has seen plenty of vote shifts but ultimately it has left the US Congress much like it began.
It remains deeply split as voters resisted big changes despite the heated presidential race.
The Democrats will maintain their slim majority in the House of Representatives and Republicans are predicted to keep control of the Senate – the Democrats have made one gain in the Senate so far.
The outcome dampens Democratic demands for a bold new agenda, emboldens Republicans, and almost ensures partisan gridlock regardless of who wins the presidency.
Read more: Democrats falter in divided Congress
19:10
The Nevada secretary of state has confirmed that no further updates on the vote count will be made today. The next update is planned for about 5pm Irish time tomorrow.
As it stands, Joe Biden leads in Nevada by about 12,000 votes, 1 percentage point ahead of Donald Trump. Some 89 per cent of votes have been reported so far.
18:29
A judge has tossed out a lawsuit brought by Donald Trump's campaign in hopes of halting vote-counting in Michigan, Reuters reports.
The judge made the ruling during a court hearing today. She said she planned to issue a written ruling on Friday.
18:10
Donald Trump and Joe Biden offered widely different messages within minutes of one another on Twitter.
Be patient, folks. Votes are being counted, and we feel good about where we are.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) November 5, 2020
17:22
The latest figures from Nevada show Biden's lead growing marginally over Trump.
With 87 per cent of the estimated vote tallied so far, Trump has 48.5 per cent and Biden 49.5 per cent of the vote.
Nevada is worth six electoral college votes.
16:52
The Trump campaign has just announced another legal challenge to the electoral process in a closely fought state.
They are filing a lawsuit in Nevada alleging thousands of people cast ballots who no longer live in the state.
Here's a summary of the other legal battles Trump's lawyers will be working on:
Wisconsin – Trump's campaign has called for a recount in the state, where Biden leads by roughly 21,000 votes out of 3.3 million cast. Elections experts say a recount in Wisconsin is unlikely to alter the result.
Michigan – The campaign has filed a lawsuit to stop vote counting. Michigan secretary of state Jocelyn Benson, in charge of elections, called the Trump team's lawsuit "frivolous."
Georgia – Trump has filed a lawsuit to require that late-arriving ballots in one area are not counted.
Pennsylvania – Lawyers have asked the US Supreme Court to allow Trump to join a pending lawsuit filed by Pennsylvania Republicans over whether the state should be permitted to accept late-arriving ballots. The campaign has also filed a lawsuit to stop vote counting.
16:36
Joe Biden’s campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon has said it was clear he would be the next president.
“The counting is happening now in these states and they are moving to us as we see the counting throughout this morning, yesterday and into today, that counting is going to continue to show our path to victory,” she said.
“Joe Biden now has won more votes than any presidential candidate in history and we’re still counting – over 140 million votes have been counted so far, with more than 72 million of those votes going to vice president Biden.”
She said Donald Trump “knows he is losing” and had chosen to “push a flailing strategy, designed to prevent people’s votes from being counted”.
“What we’re seeing on these legal suits are that they are meritless and nothing more than an attempt to distract and delay what is now inevitable – Joe Biden will be the next president of the United States.”
Read more: Joe Biden’s team hails ‘positive story’ but urges supporters to ‘stay patient’
15:54
Twitter has flagged another post by Donald Trump as disputed and potentially misleading.
Trump's latest tweet said: "ANY VOTE THAT CAME IN AFTER ELECTION DAY WILL NOT BE COUNTED!"
It is normal in US elections for states to count votes for days, or even weeks, after voting ends.
Twitter has applied labels to multiple tweets sent by Trump in recent days.
15:20
Here is where things stand in the five swing states that continue to count ballots:
Arizona – Biden leads by 2.4 percentage points, or more than 68,000 votes, with about 14 per cent of the vote left to be counted. More results from one densely populated county are not expected until 7pm local time (2am Friday in Ireland).
Georgia – Trump is holding on to a lead of 0.4 percentage points, or 18,540 votes, with 4 per cent of the vote left to be counted. Results could be expected by noon local time (5pm Irish time), state officials said.
Nevada – Biden leads Trump by 7,647 votes, or 0.6 percentage points, with about 14 per cent of the vote left to be counted. An update is expected around 9am local time (5pm Irish time).
North Carolina – Trump leads by more than 76,000 votes, or 1.4 points, with about 5 per cent of the vote uncounted. State officials have said a full result would not be known until next week. The state allows mail-in ballots postmarked by Tuesday to be counted if they are received by November 12th.
Pennsylvania – Trump leads by 2.1 percentage points, or more than 135,000 votes, with 11 per cent of the vote outstanding. A final count may not be available until at least Friday. More than 763,000 mail-in votes are yet to be counted, giving Biden a chance to catch Trump.
14:50
An Irish relative of Joe Biden has spoken live on BBC News about the election.
Laurita Blewitt, a distant cousin of Biden's from Ballina, Co Mayo, said she had spoken to his campaign team an hour ago and they were all "feeling positive".
She talked about how Biden is a thoroughly "decent" man, full of empathy, dignity and respect for others.
She and other relatives from Mayo visited Biden in Washington in early 2017 as he ended his second term as US vice president. They saw Biden receive the Medal of Freedom from then US president Barack Obama.
Biden later visited Mayo in September 2017 and opened the county's first hospice. At the time Biden said he was "honoured" that the hospice will be forever linked with his late son, Beau, who died of brain cancer in 2015.
Read more: Joe Biden would be the most genuine Irish-American president since JFK
13:40
Joe Biden stands on the brink of winning the presidency, needing to clinch just one more battleground state to defeat Donald Trump.
Biden already has won the fiercely contested prizes of Michigan and Wisconsin, part of the “blue wall” that slipped away from Democrats four years ago.
Read more: Joe Biden needs one more battleground state to claim presidency
12:00
Democrat Joe Biden is edging closer to victory in the US presidential race as election officials tallied votes in the handful of states that will determine the outcome and protesters took to the streets.
Biden has narrow leads in Nevada and Arizona while Trump is watching his slim advantage fade in must-win states Pennsylvania and Georgia as mail-in and absentee votes were being counted.
The Republican president is clinging to a narrow lead in North Carolina as well, another must-win for him.
11:00
The dispute over vote counting has seen thousands of protesters take to the streets.
Many angry Trump supporters are demanding a halt to the counting of votes, while other backers of the president find themselves on the same side as the Biden camp by calling for all ballots to be tallied in marginal counties.
10:20
Donald Trump claims "damage has been done to the integrity of our system and to the Presidential Election itself".
09:00
Kremlin says lack of clarity at US election could have bad impact on global economy.
07:43
In the battleground state of Arizona, with 86% of the estimated vote tallied so far, Trump has 48.1% and Biden has 50.5% of vote - Edison Research
07:00
Today could be the day we find out who will occupy the White House for the next four years, with Joe Biden on the brink of victory in the US presidential election. Joe Biden currently has 253 Electoral College votes to Donald Trump's 214. A candidate needs 270 to claim the presidency.
Thursday 00.01
The Trump campaign files a lawsuit in a third state, Georgia, seeking to pause the vote count in another key battleground.
22.22
Donald Trump has laid claim "for Electoral Vote purposes" to Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina and Michigan.
Joe Biden is projected to win the state of Michigan, while the results of the other states are yet to be called.
21.27
Joe Biden has been projected as the winner in the battleground state of Michigan by both CNN and Sky News, a state with 16 electoral college votes.
21.15
Concluding his short statement in Delaware, Mr Biden said this was not his victory speech but said "I'm confident we'll emerge victorious".
"Every vote must be counted. No one is going to take our democracy away from us, not now, not ever," Mr Biden said.
A masked vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris stood alongside Mr Biden, who also wore a mask as he walked on and off stage.
21.13
Joe Biden is making a public statement in Wilmington, Delaware amid growing signs of confidence in the Democrat camp.
"Yesterday once again proved that democracy is the heartbeat of this nation," Mr Biden said. "Even in the face of the pandemic, more Americans voted in this election than ever before in American history.
"I'm not here to declare that we've won but I am here to report that when the count is finished, we believe that we will be the winners," Mr Biden said.
Mr Biden said he felt "very good" about Pennsylvania where mail ballots remain to be counted.
20.37
The Trump campaign has said it is suing to temporarily halt ballot counting in Pennsylvania until there is "meaningful transparency".
It said it is filing a suit to stop what it claims are Democratic officials "hiding" ballot counting and processing from Republic poll observers in the state.
It will seek to intervene in an ongoing Supreme Court case involving the deadline for receiving mail-in ballots.
Mr Trump’s campaign has also taken legal action over ballots being counted in Michigan, according to Trump 2020 campaign manager Bill Stepien.
19:55
Wisconsin is the third state to be "flipped" from Republican to Democrat.
Arizona and one of the electoral college votes in Nebraska were also won by Joe Biden from Donald Trump.
Amid growing signs of confidence in the Democrat camp, Biden is expected to make a public statement shortly.
19:35
Donald Trump’s campaign has already said it will “immediately” call for a recount in Wisconsin.
However, a recount is unlikely to change the final result in the state.
Joe Biden is ahead by more than 20,000 votes. A similar recount in the 2016 presidential election saw the result in Wisconsin change by a mere 131 votes.
After recount in 2011 race for WI Supreme Court, there was a swing of 300 votes. After recount in 2016 Presidential race in WI, @realDonaldTrump numbers went up by 131.
As I said, 20,000 is a high hurdle. #Election2020 https://t.co/CEr82eiCWH— Scott Walker (@ScottWalker) November 4, 2020
19:20
Joe Biden has won Wisconsin and 10 further electoral college votes.
19:10
Will Joe Biden get added to this map? Biden claims ancestry from the Cooley Peninsula in Co Louth and has some distant cousins in Ballina, Co Mayo.
22 out of 44 US Presidents have claimed Irish (or Ulster Scots) ancestry, across ten counties. The first was #7, Andrew Jackson, the most recent is #44, @BarackObama. @realDonaldTrump has no Irish ancestry, while @JoeBiden has roots in Louth, Mayo and Galway. #USElections2020 pic.twitter.com/eO69db6hlw
— Irish Political Maps (@IrishPolMaps) November 2, 2020
18:42
Joe Biden may win the presidency but overall it was a disappointing night for Democrats.
They are extending their control of the House of Representatives for two more years but with a shrunken majority.
The party had hoped for modest gains of perhaps 15 seats.
Click here to read more on this unexpected disappointment for the party.
18:17
Donald Trump’s campaign manager has said the president will “immediately” request a recount in the battleground state of Wisconsin.
Bill Stepien said in a statement: “The President is well within the threshold to request a recount and we will immediately do so.”
Neither candidate has yet achieved the 270 electoral college votes necessary to win and counting was still under way in the states which will decide the outcome.
18:03
Several states are still in play. Here is an overview of where things stand in each:
Wisconsin (10 electoral votes) – Almost all the votes are counted and Biden holds a slim lead. Result expected shortly.
Georgia (16 electoral votes) – There are roughly 250,000 ballots left to count, with the majority of those votes coming from traditionally Democratic areas.
Michigan (16 electoral votes) – Large, mostly Democratic voting areas, including Detroit, are still counting ballots. Unofficial tally likely today.
Nevada (6 electoral votes) – Counting is underway, but updated vote totals will not be released until Thursday afternoon.
North Carolina (15 electoral votes) – Most outstanding mail-in ballots are in the two of the state’s biggest counties. They have until November 12th to arrive, if postmarked by November 3rd.
Pennsylvania (20 electoral votes) – More than 1.4 million ballots are still to be counted. Many predict this industrial state, the most crucial to Trump's re-election chances, will be the last to declare.
17:35
The Associated Press is projecting three of Maine's four electoral college votes will go to Joe Biden. The final vote is yet to be called.
Maine is one of only two states where there is no winner-take-all of the electoral votes.
17:16
Donald Trump shows some doubt about his re-election chances on Twitter: “They are finding Biden votes all over the place — in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan. So bad for our Country!”
17:08
Lady Gaga has told her fellow Americans every one of their votes “will be counted and will matter” as the nation awaits the results of the election.
The singer, who endorsed Democratic contender Joe Biden, said on Twitter: “Every single vote in this country matters, will be counted and will matter! It is the emblem of our democracy!
“I have so much faith in the human spirit! We’ve got this America! Sending EVERYONE A BIG HUG!”
17:01
Joe Biden has become the presidential candidate to receive the most votes in a US election in history.
His current tally of more than 69,750,000 surpasses the 69,498,516 amassed by Barack Obama in 2008, the previous record.
Despite Biden’s achievement, the election remains too close to call due to the electoral college system.
16:53
An update on the count in Michigan – tens of thousands of ballots are still being counted and officials expect to have an unofficial tally by the end of the day.
16:30
Despite the confidence shown by both campaigns, there is still a lot of uncertainty about how the election will pan out.
The contest between Donald Trump and Joe Biden may remain on a knife-edge for days.
Both men are still in with a chance of winning enough electoral college votes from the undeclared states to secure the presidency.
Click here for our explainer on what happens next in this momentous and closely fought election.
16:12
An update on the count in Pennsylvania – state official Kathy Boockvar said they are approaching 50 per cent of mail ballots counted and vowed that every vote will be tallied before results are announced.
"There are still millions of ballots left to be counted," she told reporters. There are 10 times the number of mail ballots this year as in 2016, she said. "We are going to count every single ballot."
16:05
Donald Trump's campaign has said it would forge ahead with legal efforts to ensure "legally cast" votes were counted, and said it expected to win even as ballots in key states continue to be tallied.
"If we count all legal ballots, we win, the president wins," Bill Stepien told reporters on a conference call.
15:35
The Biden campaign believes it will take Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Nevada.
Campaign chief Jen O’Malley Dillon said: “We expect and we believe that we have already won Wisconsin.”
The other states were contingent on the remaining votes being counted but the Biden campaign is confident of victory.
Georgia is a “toss-up”, with many outstanding ballots in the Biden-leaning Atlanta area, O’Malley Dillon said.
North Carolina is “really tight” but “probably leaning towards Trump right now”, although it could be several days before the outcome is known.
O’Malley Dillon said: “Last night the president of the United States falsely claimed that he had won this race and then demanded that votes stop being counted.
“The American people get to pick their president, the president does not get to pick the people whose votes get counted.”
15:28
Joe Biden’s campaign chief Jen O’Malley Dillon said the Democratic candidate was “on track to win this election and he will be the next president of the United States”.
She said: “We believe we are on a clear path to victory. By this afternoon we expect that the vice president will have leads in states that put him over 270 electoral votes.
“Today the vice president will garner more votes than any presidential candidate in history and we are still counting.”
15:14
We won't rest until everyone's vote is counted. Tune in as my campaign manager @jomalleydillon and campaign adviser Bob Bauer give an update on where the race stands. https://t.co/Rwz4iR25B3
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) November 4, 2020
As Donald Trump complained and cast doubt on the electoral process, Joe Biden tweeted: “We won’t rest until everyone’s vote is counted.”
15:09
Donald Trump claims “surprise ballot dumps” are behind the shift in votes towards Joe Biden.
All mail-in and absentee ballots are valid and there is no evidence of large-scale voter fraud in the US.
14:58
"The political polling profession is done," leading Republican pollster Frank Luntz tells Axios. "It is devastating for my industry."
— Ben Tracy (@benstracy) November 4, 2020
Pity the pollsters.
One clear takeaway from this election is that the polls were far from accurate.
Most gave Joe Biden a strong lead in the race but results are much closer than many expected.
14:43
In a baffling address this morning, Donald Trump falsely claimed the election was already won.
He then said he would go to the US Supreme Court in a bid to suppress mail-in ballots.
But could Donald Trump challenge this in court?
This is uncharted territory but it's highly unlikely that Trump's bid to have postal votes discredited will come to anything.
For more on this, read our guide to the election and what we know so far.
14:30
Here's a recap of what we know so far:
- Joe Biden has 224 electoral votes and Donald Trump has 213 – a candidate needs 270 electoral votes to win.
- Results in Wisconsin are expected to be announced later today. Michigan will also declare a result on Wednesday.
- Nevada, Georgia, North Carolina and Pennsylvania may need several days to complete counting. Many absentee ballots have not yet been counted and are expected to skew towards Biden.
- Biden is the projected the winner of Arizona and its 11 electoral votes, the Associated Press says. This limits Trump’s path to victory.
- Biden could afford to lose Pennsylvania and still win the election if he takes Wisconsin and Michigan.
13:43
For both candidates, this election has always been about Pennsylvania and its 20 electoral college votes.
Donald Trump narrowly won the state in 2016 – winning again is critical to his chances at re-election.
Trump is leading by 700,000 votes but there are still more than 1.4 million vote-by-mail ballots left to count.
It could take days to tabulate them all.
Joe Biden has won absentee ballots counted in Pennsylvania by an overwhelming margin so far.
If Biden carried the remaining absentee ballots by a similar margin, he would win the state, Nate Cohn from the New York Times suggests.
If the PA SOS page is accurate, then there are enough absentee votes left for Biden to win Pennsylvania https://t.co/t9mxFVpeCQ
— Nate Cohn (@Nate_Cohn) November 4, 2020
13:21
US news anchors have rebuked Donald Trump after he falsely claimed on live television that he had won re-election even though votes are still being counted.
CBS News’s Norah O’Donnell said Mr Trump was “castrating the facts”.
“Donald Trump is losing right now both in the popular vote and the electoral vote and there are many states left to be called,” ABC News’s George Stephanopoulos said.
Savannah Guthrie of NBC News said: “The fact of the matter is we don’t know who won the election.”
Read more on the reaction to Trump's claim of “major fraud” in the election.
12:55
Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney has reacted to the unfolding US election results this morning.
Coveney said the election is “most definitely not over.”
“Like a number for people, I was up for most of the night. This is an extraordinarily important election for the US and for the world,” he said.
“The consequences of the election are significant.
“This election is not over and it won’t be over until all the votes are counted. So I think it is unwise for anyone regardless of who they are to be declaring the result before all the votes have been counted.”
On Twitter, the hashtags #Trump, #Biden and #USElections2020 are trending from Russia to Pakistan, Malaysia to Kenya and across Europe and Latin America, underscoring how much every region of the world sees the outcome as pivotal.
12:43
Michigan is still very close.
With 86 per cent of ballots counted in the state, Trump is marginally ahead of Biden by 26,932 votes – 49.4 per cent to 48.9 per cent.
12:34
With 99 per cent of votes counted, Joe Biden has taken a slim lead over Donald Trump in the midwestern state of Wisconsin.
The chair of the Democratic Party in the state, Ben Wikler, said Biden is up by 20,600 votes – a tally unlikely to change much.
Despite Biden's slim lead, the race still remains too close to be projected.
Given where we are, Wisconsin is likely to be pivotal in determining who wins the White House.
12:15
It's just after 7am in New York and Washington – many Americans will be waking up to the still inconclusive election results.
The race between Donald Trump and Joe Biden is set to rumble on...
One thing that is clear is that the polls were far from accurate – most had predicted a landslide victory for Biden.
Here is our round-up of where things stand and everything you need to know so far.
11:30
Vote counting in Nevada has ceased until November 5th but the latest polls suggest Biden may take a surprise victory in the state.
Biden currently has 49.4 per cent of the Nevada vote to Trump's 48.6 per cent.
That’s it for election results updates until 9:00 am on Nov. 5. Here’s what has been counted so far:
All in person early votes
All in person Election Day votes
All mail ballots through Nov. 2
1/2— Nevada Elections (@NVElect) November 4, 2020
11:18
Joe Biden is back as favourite to win the presidential election in online betting markets, a reversal of fortune for President Donald Trump who was favourite overnight, according to data from three aggregators.
British-based Smarkets exchange is giving Biden a 58 per cent chance, while New Zealand-based predictions market PredictIt had Biden at 63 per cent. Trump's chances on Smarkets were sitting at 41 per cent - a massive drop from 80 per cent overnight.
11:10
According to Decision Desk, the polls in Michigan are extremely tight at the moment with a slight lead for Trump.
Trump (R): 50 per cent (2,200,902 votes)
Biden (D): 48 per cent (2,130,695 votes)
Estimated: 80-94 per cent votes in
10:30
The states still counting votes are: Pennsylvania, Nevada, Arizona, Wisconsin, Georgia, North Carolina, Maine, Michigan and Alaska.
10:15
The Prime Minister of Slovenia has backed Donald Trump’s false claim that he has won the US election.
Right-wing populist Janez Jansa tweeted: “It’s pretty clear that American people have elected @realDonaldTrump @Mike_Pence for #4moreyears.”
He continued: “More delays and facts denying from #MSM (mainstream media), bigger the final triumph for #POTUS. Congratulations @GOP for strong results across the #US.”
09:50
Biden has a narrow lead in Wisconsin, according to Decision Desk.
Biden 1,551,268 49.29 per cent
Trump 1,549,127 49.22 per cent
3,147,142 votes counted. Estimated >95 per cent in
09:40
A Republican candidate for the state legislature in North Dakota who died from Covid-19 in October was elected on Tuesday night.
According to the Associated Press, Andahl died due to complications from coronavirus at the age of 55 in October.
09:35
Joe Biden has won Arizona, according to AP.
09:05
According to BBC's New York correspondent Nick Bryant, despite claims that the last election was an anomaly, more people have voted for Donald Trump in 2020 than in 2016.
09:00
Kanye West has said he will continue with his presidential ambitions as he appeared to concede in the 2020 race.
Sharing a photo on Twitter of himself in front of the electoral map as votes are counted across the US, he wrote: “WELP KANYE 2024.”
08:40
Biden Campaign say if Trump goes to Supreme Court to prevent "proper tabulation of votes," Democrats will have legal teams standing by to resist that effort.
08:10
Prominent Democratic opponents condemned Mr Trump’s claim of victory.
New York representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted: “Donald Trump’s premature claims of victory are illegitimate, dangerous, and authoritarian. Count the votes. Respect the results.”
And Minnesota congresswoman Ilhan Omar tweeted: “The irony of worrying about people turning America into Somalia, while allowing Trump to do literally what Somali dictators used to do.
“Wake up, he is destroying everything that sets us apart. We send election observers into other countries, we shouldn’t need ours monitored.”
07:30
Donald Trump said he would go to the US Supreme Court, claiming that there was a “massive fraud” in the election.
The president said: “This is a fraud on the American public, this is an embarrassment to our country.
“We were getting ready to win this election – frankly we did win this election.
“So our goal now is to ensure the integrity for the good of this nation. This is a very big moment.
“This is a major fraud on our nation.
“We want the law to be used in a proper manner. So we will be going to the US Supreme Court, we want all voting to stop.
“We don’t want them to find any ballots at 4am and add them to the list.”
Trump said “we had such a big night”, adding: “And we have all these announcers saying what happened, and then they said oh, because you know what happened?
“They knew they couldn’t win, so they said let’s go to court.
“And did I predict this… did I say this? I’ve been saying this from the day I heard they were going to send out tens of millions of ballots.
“I said exactly, because either they were going to win or if they didn’t win they’ll take us to court.”
07:25
Donald Trump has claimed that his voters are being “disenfranchised”.
Speaking at the White House he said: “Millions and millions of people voted for us tonight.
“A very sad group of people is trying to disenfranchise that group of people and we won’t stand for it. We will not stand for it.”
07:20
Donald Trump's White House address is starting.
06:44
Joe Biden won one electoral vote from Nebraska, with Donald Trump taking the other four.
Nebraska awards two electoral votes for winning the statewide vote, and one for each of the three Congressional Districts.
Mr Biden’s victory in the 2nd Congressional District, which includes Omaha – won by Mr Trump in 2016 – takes the Democrat to 224 votes, with his rival on 212 in the race to get to 270, with nine states still to be declared.
06:31
After Twitter hid Donald Trump’s tweet, Facebook also added a warning to the President’s post on their platform.
Underneath Mr Trump’s post claiming “they are trying to STEAL the election”, a message read: “Final results may be different from initial vote counts, as ballot counting will continue for days.”
06:19
Donald Trump has won the state of Texas.
06:15
Twitter has hidden a post from Donald Trump which claimed Democrats were trying to "steal" the election.
We placed a warning on a Tweet from @realDonaldTrump for making a potentially misleading claim about an election. This action is in line with our Civic Integrity Policy. More here: https://t.co/k6OkjNXEAm
— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) November 4, 2020
06:05
Biden tweeted: “It’s not my place or Donald Trump’s place to declare the winner of this election. It’s the voters’ place.”
It's not my place or Donald Trump's place to declare the winner of this election. It's the voters' place.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) November 4, 2020
05:56
After addressing his supporters, Joe Biden tweeted: “Keep the faith, guys. We’re gonna win this.”
Keep the faith, guys. We’re gonna win this.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) November 4, 2020
05:46
Democratic challenger Joe Biden has told supporters in Delaware “we are going to win this” but warned patience would be needed, and the election would not be over until every vote was counted. Biden said he was “on track” to win the race for the White House as he addressed supporters in Delaware.
05:38
In the biggest coup yet for Donald Trump, he was declared the victor in Florida, seen as one of the crucial states with its 29 electoral votes.
05:30
Donald Trump also won Montana and Iowa, another of the swing states he claimed in 2016.
05:23
Donald Trump has won the state of Ohio, one of the key bellwethers in a presidential election.
05:21
Joe Biden has won in Minnesota where Donald Trump campaigned hard in a state he narrowly lost to Hillary Clinton in 2016.
05:22
Did the opinion polls get the US election wrong (again)?
05:19
Joe Biden will deliver a statement at 12.30am EST (5.30am Irish time), according to his campaign management.
05:13
Fox News projects Trump win in battleground state of Iowa (6 electoral votes)
05:09
Joe Biden has won the state of Hawaii.
05:01
In Arizona, with 76% of estimated vote tallied so far, Biden has 53.6% and Trump has 45.0% - Edison Research
04:59
Joe Biden's deputy campaign manager Rufus Gifford is confident.
We’re going to win
— Rufus Gifford (@rufusgifford) November 4, 2020
04:53
Fox News Projects Trump win in battleground state of Texas (38 electoral votes).
04:31
Races are too early to call in the most fiercely contested and critical states on the map, including Florida, North Carolina, Georgia and Pennsylvania.
04:30
Fox News has just called Arizona for Joe Biden. This would give Biden a huge chance of winning, even if he loses Pennsylvania.
04:25
Officials in Wisconsin and Michigan have reportedly said they will not be announcing a winner tonight. Pennsylvania is expected to come in slowly.
04:12
Donald Trump has, as expected, won the state of Utah.
04: 05
Joe Biden claimed expected victories in the west coast states of Washington, Oregon and California, the state with the largest number of electoral votes.
04:01
Donald Trump has won the state of Idaho.
03:58
Joe Biden has won the states of New Hampshire and Colorado along with the District of Colombia. Donald Trump has won the states of Kansas and Missouri.
02:42
Time for some Congress news and in Georgia Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene, who expressed racist views and support for QAnon conspiracy theories, has won a seat in the House of Representatives.
Meanwhile, in Delaware, Democratic nominee Sarah McBride has become the first transgender person elected to the United States senate.
02:12
Trump has picked up more electoral votes with expected triumphs in North Dakota and South Dakota, AP reports.
02:02
Polls have now closed in 14 further states.
New York is projected to stay Democrat and its 29 electoral college votes go to Joe Biden.
Biden also wins the southern border state of New Mexico.
Donald Trump, as expected, is declared the winner in Nebraska, Louisiana and Wyoming.
Texas is still too close to call.
01:49
Donald Trump appears to have lost some support among white men and older people in Georgia and Virginia, key parts of his voter base, according to an exit poll from Edison Research.
While Trump is still winning the majority of those voters, some of them switched to supporting Joe Biden, Reuters reports.
Edison’s polls showed Trump winning seven in 10 white men in Georgia, which is down from an eight in 10 advantage over Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in 2016.
Trump is winning six in 10 voters who are at least 65 years old in Georgia, that is down from seven in 10 four years ago.
01:35
Donald Trump's campaign team are claiming victory in Florida. But the state is still very much in play and votes continue to be counted.
Trump has, however, won Arkansas and its six electoral college votes.
01:30
A first look at the voting patterns in the swing state of North Carolina – with 60 per cent of the vote tallied so far, Biden has 54.1 per cent and Trump 44.8 per cent, Reuters is reporting.
01:18
Donald Trump has won Alabama, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Tennessee, while Joe Biden has won Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Rhode Island.
Trump took 33 electoral votes for winning those four states, Biden adds 69 electoral votes to his total for winning seven states.
01:10
More polls have closed and we have the latest projections from the Associated Press.
Joe Biden claimed wins in Connecticut, his home state of Delaware, Illinois and Maryland.
Donald Trump has also picked up the electoral votes for the states of Alabama and Mississippi.
All of these are expected results and are the same as 2016 – we are yet to see a state 'flip'...
00:55
Rapper Kanye West has voted... for himself.
The singer and fashion designer tweeted that he was "voting for the first time in my life for the President of the United States, and it's for someone I truly trust ... me."
00:49
Republican incumbent Mitch McConnell has defeated Democratic challenger Amy McGrath in the race for the US Senate seat in Kentucky, Fox News reports.
McConnell is the current Senate majority leader and led the process to install Amy Coney Barrett as a Supreme Court justice in the weeks running up to the election.
00:40
Donald Trump wins the state of West Virginia and its five electoral college votes, the Associated Press reports.
Meanwhile, Joe Biden is projected to win the 13 electoral college votes of Virginia.
00:30
Commentators on conservative TV network Fox News are speculating that a high turnout of women voters could be swinging the votes for Biden tonight.
00:27
Voting is yet to close in the crucial state of Florida but predictions about which way it will go have already started.
Bellwether Florida county, and one of the largest nationwide that Trump carried in '16 seems to be headed to Biden this time. https://t.co/VR8hYSE95J
— David Lauter (@DavidLauter) November 4, 2020
00:20
Early projections just in as some of the first polls close.
Donald Trump has won the state of Kentucky, while Joe Biden has won the state of Vermont.
Trump took Kentucky’s eight electoral votes while Biden claimed Vermont’s three.
Biden is projected by Fox News to win Democratic-leaning Virginia in widely expected results. Indiana is expected to go to Trump.
Wednesday 00:00
Polls have closed in Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, South Carolina, Virginia and Vermont. Very early projections for these states will follow soon.
23:56
Results from North Carolina, a key battleground state, will be delayed by at least 45 minutes.
The polls were due to close at around 12.30am Irish time (7.30pm EST).
23:43
Results from an exit poll give us an insight into the issues that mattered most to US voters this time, Reuters reports.
A third of US voters listed the economy as the issue of most importance when deciding their choice for president while two out of 10 cited Covid-19, according to an Edison Research exit poll.
The coronavirus has infected more than 9.4 million people in the US this year and killed more than 230,000.
In the national exit poll, four out of 10 voters said they think the effort to contain the virus is going "very badly."
In the battleground states of Florida and North Carolina, five of 10 voters said the national response to the pandemic is going "somewhat or very badly."
Half the voters said it was more important to contain the coronavirus even if it hurts the economy, according to the poll.
23:26
Both candidates have taken to Twitter as voting enters its final half hour along much of the east coast.
Folks, time is running out to make your voice heard in this election. If you haven’t voted yet, go to https://t.co/EcbUdX2aPs to find your polling place and head there as soon as you can.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) November 3, 2020
23:18
Authorities in the US are monitoring voting and any threats to the election across the country from an operations centre outside Washington DC, run by the cyber-security unit of the Department of Homeland Security.
Officials there said there were no major problems detected early on Tuesday but urged the public to be wary and patient.
US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency director Christopher Krebs said from the centre that there was “some early indication of system disruption”, but did not elaborate.
23:10
Back to Lafayette Square in Washington DC where supporters of both candidates have gathered.
Debbie Boehm is a Trump supporter who believes the president is divinely ordained.
She told the Associated Press: “I believe President Trump was appointed and anointed by God to get our nation back on the right path.”
Boehm, a 53-year-old business owner from Dallas, Texas, is anti-abortion and said that is the most important issue for her during this election.
“Donald Trump supports life,” she said. “I feel like his agenda is life. He’s pro-family, look at how his children love him.”
Many polls suggest the president has been trailing in several key states. However, Boehm, who was wearing a cap bearing the slogan “Keeping America Great!” remains confident in his chances of winning.
She said: “I believe he’s going to win in a landslide victory.”
23:05
It is just past 6pm eastern time in the US, so the first polls are closing in Indiana and Kentucky.
Polls in the key state of Florida will start closing an hour from now.
22:59
The latest tally of early voting in the US shows that almost 102 million Americans cast their votes before election day, a total that represents 73 per cent of the total turnout of the 2016 presidential election.
The Associated Press tally reveals that the early vote in several states, including hotly contested Texas and Arizona, has already exceeded the total vote of four years ago.
Early voting – whether in-person or by post or absentee ballot – has swelled during the Covid-19 pandemic as voters have sought the safety and convenience it offers.
The greatest gains have been witnessed in Kentucky, where almost 13 times as many voters cast their ballots early as in 2016.
22:46
You may think a nation like the US would have a nice, straightforward way of electing its president. You would be sadly mistaken.
Instead, Americans on the “electoral college” system of converting votes into power – and its quirks have meant two of the last three presidents have entered the White House with fewer votes from the public than their opponents.
Understanding its complexities will be key to following the 2020 contest.
Read our explainer here on the electoral college and why 270 is the key number tonight.
22:29
How have Joe Biden and Donald Trump been spending the day?
Biden visited his childhood home and church in his native Scranton on Tuesday as part of a get-out-the-vote effort before awaiting election results in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware.
Biden and his wife, Jill, also visited his late son Beau Biden’s grave. Beau, a former Delaware attorney general, died of brain cancer in 2015 and had encouraged the former vice president to make another White House run.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump called into Fox News, where he predicted he will win by a larger electoral margin than he did in 2016.
Trump then invited hundreds of supporters to an election night party in the East Room of the White House.
He also paid a visit to his campaign headquarters in Arlington, Virginia.
“I’m not thinking about concession speech or acceptance speech yet,” he said in front of reporters. “Winning is easy, losing is never easy. Not for me it’s not.”
22:07
Donald Trump has spent four years in office as US president, but have you wondered what he might do with another four years?
He has consistently pointed to tax cuts and regulatory relief as key successes of his term.
Most of this year he has been defending his response to the coronavirus pandemic while fighting openly with scientists and medical experts about vaccines, treatments and more.
If he gets another chance in office, there is no indication of any big policy shift.
Click here for our look at how a second Trump term might pan out.
21:52
Supporters of both Donald Trump and Joe Biden have gathered near Lafayette Square in downtown Washington DC, a stone’s throw from the White House.
The area is at the heart of US power and nearby buildings include the FBI headquarters and the Treasury Department.
The street leading up to Lafayette Square was renamed Black Lives Matter Plaza Northwest in June and signs supporting the movement are plentiful.
Many businesses in downtown DC are boarded up in preparation for any unrest on election night while the White House itself is protected by a fence preventing anyone getting close.
There was a carnival atmosphere on Tuesday afternoon as supporters of Mr Trump and Mr Biden mixed without trouble, while a band performed and preachers delivered street sermons, the Associated Press reports.
21:35
Plenty of us in Ireland are staying up a bit later to follow the results across the Atlantic, but are you wondering what time to call it a night?
Though this year’s election is complicated by the historic level of mail-in ballots, we have some idea when key votes will be coming in.
Click here for our full guide.
21:23
Welcome to our rolling coverage of the 2020 US election results.
After a campaign that exposed the country's deep political divisions, Americans streamed to the polls today to choose either Republican incumbent Donald Trump or Democratic challenger Joe Biden to lead the nation for the next four years.
The vote is taking place against the unique background of the coronavirus pandemic, which has already claimed the lives of more than 230,000 Americans.
Earlier, it was confirmed that almost 100 million Americans have already cast their vote – suggesting this election could break turnout records.
All eyes tonight will be on the handful of battleground states that could decide the electoral college vote.
We'll bring you breaking news, updates and results as they emerge.
