AP News Summary at 11:59 p.m. EST

By The Associated Press

Trump wins North Carolina, holding off Harris challenge

WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump has won the battleground state of North Carolina. He fended off a challenge from Kamala Harris, who was looking to flip the state and expand her pathways to 270 electoral votes. Trump had made stops to the state in each of the last three full days of the campaign. He won North Carolina in both 2016 and 2020 by close margins. Harris campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon told staff in a memo that the “blue wall” of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin was now the Democrat’s “clearest path” to victory. Polls were closed in the other battlegrounds, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, Arizona, Wisconsin and Nevada, but the results there were too early to call.

The Latest: Trump wins North Carolina while votes are still being counted in other key states

Republican Donald Trump won North Carolina, capturing one of the seven heavily contested battlegrounds while votes in six other swing states were still being counted. In the race for Senate control, Republicans picked up a crucial win in West Virginia. Top House races are focused in New York and California, where Democrats are trying to claw back some of the 10 or so seats where Republicans have made surprising gains in recent years.

Early election takeaways: Trump weakens Democrats’ coalition

WASHINGTON (AP) — Even with a final outcome uncertain Tuesday night, the 2024 presidential election has already exposed the depths of a fractured nation as the candidates navigated a political realignment based on gender and class under the near-constant threat of misinformation and violence. Indeed, historians may ultimately remember this election as pivotal in the evolution of U.S. politics. But the biggest takeaways may be the most obvious. America is poised to elect either its first female president in Harris or its first president with a felony conviction in Trump, whose enduring political strength through chaos — much of it his own making — may be unparalleled.

Republicans are one seat away from a Senate majority with Cruz win in Texas and a pickup in Ohio

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans are one seat away from seizing the Senate majority. Firebrand Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas defeated Democrat Colin Allred, pushing the GOP closer to seizing control of the chamber. Democratic efforts to salvage their Senate majority slipped further out of reach with Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown in Ohio lost his reelection to Republican Bernie Moreno, a wealthy Trump-era newcomer. Moreno, an immigrant from Bogota, Colombia, who built a fortune as a luxury car dealer and blockchain entrepreneur, is backed by Donald Trump. Republicans already have flipped one Senate seat to deadlock the chamber.

Bomb threats briefly disrupt voting in swing states as Trump makes baseless Election Day claims

WASHINGTON (AP) — A series of bomb threats across multiple battleground states and baseless claims of wrongdoing by former President Donald Trump disrupted an otherwise smooth Election Day in a tumultuous presidential election. The bomb threats in parts of Arizona, Georgia and Pennsylvania turned out to be hoaxes, but they forced some polling places to evacuate and extend hours, and delayed the counting of some ballots. The FBI said many of Tuesday’s hoax bomb threats appeared to originate from Russian email domains. Despite no evidence of widespread problems, Trump made unsubstantiated claims related to elections in the battleground states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Michigan.

Missouri amendment clears way to overturn abortion ban while Florida keeps ban in place

WASHINGTON (AP) — Abortion rights advocates lost Tuesday on a Florida ballot measure but prevailed in four other states, including Missouri, where an amendment clears the way to undo one of the nation’s strictest bans. By rejecting adding abortion rights to their state constitution Tuesday, Florida voters kept a ban on abortion after the first six weeks of pregnancy in place. It’s the first time abortion rights groups have lost in a statewide ballot question since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and ended a national right to abortion in 2022. Maryland and Colorado voters adopted such a measure and New Yorkers passed an amendment to bar discrimination on the basis of pregnancy outcomes.

Marijuana legalization fails in Florida as numerous states approve citizen voting amendments

A costly campaign to legalize marijuana has failed in Florida, falling short of the supermajority needed for passage. The amendment was one of several high-profile marijuana measures being considered in states Tuesday, alongside 10 states that were settling measures on abortion and reproductive rights. The ballot featured more than 140 measures in states. Several states passed amendments barring noncitizens from voting — something already banned by federal law. Among the proposals defeated were a school choice measure in Kentucky, a redistricting measure in Ohio and the elimination of most property taxes in North Dakota.

AP VoteCast: Harris voters motivated by democracy, Trump supporters by inflation and immigration

WASHINGTON (AP) — Voters for Kamala Harris and Donald Trump who cast their ballots for Tuesday’s presidential election had vastly different motivations — reflecting a broader national divide on the problems the United States faces. AP VoteCast, an extensive survey of more than 115,000 voters nationwide, found that the fate of democracy appeared to be a primary driver for Vice President Harris’ supporters. It was a sign that the Democratic nominee’s persistent messaging in her campaign’s closing days accusing Trump of being a fascist may have broken through. By contrast, Trump’s supporters were largely focused on immigration and inflation — two issues that the former Republican president has been hammering since the start of his campaign.

Israel’s Netanyahu dismisses his defense minister as wars rage. Protests erupt across country

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dismissed his popular defense minister, Yoav Gallant, in a surprise announcement that came as the country is embroiled in wars on multiple fronts across the region. The move has sparked protests across the country. Netanyahu and Gallant have repeatedly been at odds over the war in Gaza. But Netanyahu had avoided firing his rival before taking the step as the world’s attention was focused on the U.S. presidential election. Netanyahu cited “significant gaps” and a “crisis of trust” between the men in his Tuesday evening announcement.

A week after Spain’s floods, families hope that the missing are alive with 89 unaccounted for

SEDAVI, Spain (AP) — Spanish authorities say that 89 people are confirmed to be missing one week after the catastrophic floods in the eastern Valencia region. It is the first figure of the missing to be made public. The number only corresponds to the eastern Valencia region, where 211 of the 217 confirmed deaths took place after the floods, which were caused by heavy rains on Oct. 29 and the next morning. They swamped entire communities in Spain’s Valencia region. Most people were caught off guard. Regional authorities have been heavily criticized for having issued alerts to mobile phones some two hours after the disaster had started.