| Donald Trump has won North Carolina, dashing Democrats' dreams of flipping the only battleground the former president won in 2020. Trump built an insurmountable lead with voters from less populated counties while Harris failed to make it up with Black and college-educated white voters in suburban counties.
The former president's victory marks the third time he's won the Southern swing state, which has 16 electoral votes, even as Republicans struggled with their scandal-plagued candidate for governor, Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson.
North Carolina, which hadn't turned blue since 2008, escaped Democrats again in 2024, even though Harris and Trump were locked in a margin-of-error battle in public polling. Harris, who is the first Black and South Asian woman to top a major party ticket, failed to animate Black voters at the same level as Barack Obama did in his first election. She also struggled to energize suburban, college-educated voters at the margin necessary to win the state. Her loss in the state may force Democrats' to consider whether North Carolina should still be considered a battleground state, or if it will stubbornly remain out of reach. Read the latest
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