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US election briefing: Trump on track to win popular vote as millions of Biden voters desert Harris

Republicans are on track to win the popular vote in a presidential election for the first time in 20 years, with Donald Trump leading Kamala Harris with 72.5m votes against nearly 68m on Wednesday night after winning the electoral college earlier in the day.

Although the vote count is unfinished, Trump is expected to meet the 74m votes he won in 2020, while Harris is on track to far underperform the 81m votes garnered in 2020 by her predecessor, Joe Biden.

Harris conceded on Wednesday afternoon, urging Americans devastated by the result to “not despair” but to stay engaged and remain vigilant in the fight to protect American democracy. You can read Harris’s concession speech in full here or watch it here.

Harris had called Trump to congratulate him earlier on Wednesday, as did Biden, who also invited his former opponent to meet him in the White House. Barack and Michelle Obama issued a statement congratulating the Republicans and praising Harris and running mate Tim Walz as “extraordinary public servants who ran a remarkable campaign”.

Here’s what else happened on Wednesday:

US presidential election news and updates

Special counsel prosecutors will shut down their criminal cases against Trump before he takes office, as his elevation to the presidency meant they would not proceed to trial. Other proceedings against him face uncertain futures.
Trump spent his first day as president-elect out of the public eye after addressing supporters in Florida during the wee hours of Wednesday morning. He will select personnel to serve under his leadership in the days and weeks ahead, his campaign said. Take a look at some of the cabinet contenders here.
A senior Republican in the House of Representatives has outlined plans for Trump’s first 100 days. In a letter, Steve Scalise said the federal government would “lock in the Trump tax cuts”, “unleash American energy” and “surge resources to the southern border” to fight illegal immigration. Scalise and Mike Johnson are running for re-election to their respective positions of House majority leader and House speaker.
Control of the House remained unclear on Wednesday, with Republicans ahead but short of a 218 majority, according to the Associated Press. Republicans hoped to add to their majority in the Senate.
More women voted for Harris, but by smaller margins than her Democratic predecessors, and Trump picked up a greater share of younger Americans than he did in 2020. Read more key exit poll takeaways here.
Where specific policy proposals were on the ballot, “red” US states passed progressive laws such as minimum wage protections, while “blue” states voted for conservative measures such as tough-on-crime initiatives. Abortion access measures won in seven states but fell short in three.
Wall Street and bitcoin rallied to fresh record highs and the dollar soared, while renewable energy stocks fell as experts warned Trump’s win would set back global climate action. Analysts continued to expect the US Federal Reserve to cut interest rates by a quarter point on Thursday, on the back of cooling inflation.
Mexico’s president has reassured her country that “there’s nothing to worry about” despite Trump’s threats of punishing tariffs, mass migrant deportations and US military strikes on organised crime groups in Mexican territory.
Leaders around the world have congratulated Trump, including from the United Kingdom, Australia and Europe, while global far-right figures celebrated.
Harris’s supporters expressed shock, grief and disillusionment as they listened to her concede at Howard University campus in Washington DC, while Democrats across the country are reflecting on what went wrong. Around the world, Americans living in Britain and Australia have grieved and celebrated the results with their local friends and sympathisers.
US pollsters came under fire for the third presidential election running after again underestimating Trump’s support and failing to foresee his emphatic ballot-box triumph.