Trump Wins Key Battleground State Pennsylvania

People complete their ballots as the sunset is reflected in the glass of a precinct in the Bloomfield neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on November 5, 2024. (Photo by Rebecca DROKE / AFP) Photo by REBECCA DROKE/AFP via Getty Images

Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump took Pennsylvania and its 19 electoral votes, according to an Associated Press projection at 2:24 a.m. ET.

Trump had also taken the first two battleground states, North Carolina and Georgia.

By 1 a.m., Harris’s path to victory had narrowed to a razor-thin margin, requiring wins in key counties of remaining swing states where Trump maintained leads. Pennsylvania presented a close race, which the Associated Press could not call until an estimated 95 percent of the vote was counted.

Despite gaining status as a “blue wall” state from the Clinton through the Obama administrations, Pennsylvania flipped for former President Donald Trump in 2016 by a narrow 0.73 percent margin, leading to his victory over former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. President Joe Biden won the state four years later by 1.17 percent.

Republicans had this year slashed their opponents’ statewide registration advantage to slightly more than 300,000 voters. In 2008, there were roughly 1 million more registered Democrats than Republicans in the state.

Both campaigns launched ground games in Pennsylvania. While Vice President Kamala Harris relied on a traditional get-out-the-vote effort with door-knockers pouring into communities from east to west, Trump turned to social media platform X CEO Elon Musk’s America PAC, which paid canvassers to drive turnout in key areas.

In 2020, the Associated Press did not call the state for Biden until Nov. 7, roughly three and a half days after polls closed.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.