IT’S OVER: Wisconsin the difference for PRESIDENT TRUMP

State’s 10 electoral votes win it

WASHINGTON — The Latest on Election Day 2016:

3:41 a.m.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is giving a thumbs-up to president-elect Donald Trump’s victory.

In a brief statement Wednesday, the Kremlin said Putin has sent Trump a telegram to congratulate him on winning. Putin expressed “his hope to work together for removing Russian-American relations from their crisis state.”

Putin also says he has confidence that building a constructive dialogue between Moscow and Washington one based on principles of equality, mutual respect and a real accounting each other’s positions is in the interest of both nations and the world.

Trump has drawn criticism for repeatedly

2:55 a.m.

Donald Trump has pledged to be a president “for all Americans.”

The president-elect, addressing supporters at his victory party in New York City, asked that the nation to come together, and promised to “represent every citizen of our land.”

He added that it was “time for America to bind the wounds of division” and “time for us to come together as one.”

He also declared his administration will be a time of “national growth and renewal.”

Trump said “America will no longer settle for anything but the best” and said that the nation will “dream big and bold and daring.”

2:50 a.m.

President-elect Donald Trump says Hillary Clinton called him to congratulate him on his victory.

Trump, addressing supporters at his victory party in New York City, said Wednesday that he “congratulated her and her family on a very, very hard-fought campaign.”

He added that “we owe her a major debt of gratitude” for her service.

The gracious sentiment was a far cry from Trump’s usually heated rhetoric about Clinton. He has suggested that she should go to jail and chants of “Lock her up!” were a staple at his campaign rallies.

2:45 a.m.

Vice President-elect Mike Pence is declaring Donald Trump’s victory “a historic night.”

Pence, Indiana’s governor, addressed Trump’s victory party in New York City early Wednesday.

Trump’s running mate said “the American people have spoken and the American people have elected their new champion.”

2:39 a.m.

Republican Chris Sununu has defeated Democrat Colin Van Ostern to become New Hampshire’s next governor and the nation’s youngest at 42.

He will replace Democratic Gov. Maggie Hassan, who ran for U.S. Senate. Sununu’s father, John H. Sununu, served as governor in the 1980s.

Both Chris Sununu and Van Ostern worked together on the governor’s Executive Council but spent much of the campaign criticizing each other’s day jobs.

Van Ostern argued that the Waterville Valley ski resort suffered under Sununu’s management, while Sununu said the few years Van Ostern spent working at Southern New Hampshire University and Stonyfield Yogurt hardly make him a business leader.

1:29 a.m.

Donald Trump has been elected president of the United States.

The Republican nominee won Wednesday after capturing Wisconsin’s 10 electoral votes, putting him over the 270 threshold.

Voters eager to shake up the nation’s political establishment picked the celebrity businessman to become the nation’s 45th president.

Trump rode an astonishing wave of support from voters seeking change and willing to accept a candidate loose with facts and accused of sexual misconduct.

He upset Democrat Hillary Clinton, who would have become the first woman to serve in the Oval Office.

Trump struck a populist tone and placed a hardline immigration stance at his campaign’s heart.

Trump rose to political fame after questioning whether President Barack Obama was born in the United States. He will now follow Obama into the White House.

1:22 a.m.

Donald Trump has arrived at his election night headquarters after winning the state of Pennsylvania.

Trump’s motorcade traveled from nearby Trump Tower to the midtown hotel where thousands of his supporters and hundreds of reporters are gathered.

Trump is expected to address the crowd.

2:08 a.m.

Republicans have officially retained control of the U.S. Senate.

It comes as Missouri Republican Roy Blunt and Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski won their two races in Tuesday’s election.

Republicans have a 51-47 edge in the Senate. Two races remain outstanding: In Louisiana, the seat will head to a runoff election next month. And in New Hampshire, Democrat Maggie Hassan and Republican Kelly Ayotte are locked in a too-close-to-call race.

1:05 a.m.

Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman says it has nothing more to say even as votes turn against her.

John Podesta told a crowd in New York early Wednesday that with states still uncalled “we’re not going to have anything else to say tonight.”

Clinton trails in the Electoral College count and Donald Trump is close to breaking the 270-vote threshold to become president.

Podesta told the crowd Clinton “has done an amazing job” and “is not done yet.”

12:56 a.m.

Hillary Clinton has won the statewide vote in Maine.

Clinton has won one of the state’s congressional districts, giving her three electoral votes. Trump has won one district in the state and wins one electoral vote.

Trump also won the remaining congressional district in Nebraska, which gives him another electoral vote.

Clinton now has 218 electoral votes. Her Republican opponent has 266, just four shy of the threshold needed to be elected president.

12:36 p.m.

Donald Trump has won Pennsylvania and its prize of 20 electoral votes.

Trump’s stunning victory in the key battleground state gives him 264 electoral votes.

It takes 270 electoral votes to win the presidency. Trump’s opponent, Hillary Clinton, has 215.

Pennsylvania last voted for a Republican for president in 1988. Trump repeatedly campaigned there, believing his populist message would resonate with the state’s working-class voters.

Clinton long viewed the state as a key part of her “firewall” and rallied in Philadelphia with President Barack Obama on Monday night. The Democrats also held their nominating convention in the city.

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12:30 p.m.

House Speaker Paul Ryan has congratulated Donald Trump on “his big night.”

A Ryan spokeswoman confirms that the Republican speaker called the Republican presidential nominee Tuesday evening. The spokeswoman, AshLee Strong, says they had “a very good conversation.”

She says, “The speaker congratulated Trump on his big night and also spoke with his good friend Gov. Mike Pence.”

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11:42 p.m.

The mood is dark at Hillary Clinton’s election night party.

Stony-faced supporters were crying and anxiously staring at the big screens showing election results. Some began leaving as the race wore on into the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Thousands had gathered at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City for Clinton’s election night party. The glass-ceilinged building was picked as a nod to what aides expected would be the historic election of the first female U.S. president.

Clinton, her family and close aides have spent hours ensconced in a suite at the Peninsula New York, a luxury hotel in midtown Manhattan.

—

11:30 p.m.

Donald Trump’s campaign manager Kellyanne Conway is describing the mood inside Trump Tower as “buoyant.”

She tells The Associated Press that the team is hopeful as results continue to roll in.

A Trump victory would represent a stunning upset against his rival Hillary Clinton.

Thousands of his supporters are gathered in a midtown Manhattan hotel ballroom watching the results on Fox.

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11:25 p.m.

Former Navy SEAL Eric Greitens has won the Missouri governor’s race, beating Democratic Attorney General Chris Koster. The contest offered voters a vivid choice between experience and a fresh start.

Greitens, a first-time Republican candidate, has touted himself as an outsider and pledged to tackle corruption in the state Capitol. Koster took the opposite approach, emphasizing that his nearly 22 years in elected office make him qualified to run state government.

Without a voting record, Greitens was running on his time as a Navy SEAL officer and founder of a charity for veterans, The Mission Continues. Greitens’ lengthy resume also includes stints as a Rhodes scholar and White House fellow, champion boxer and martial artist, a best-selling author and motivational speaker.

11:23 p.m.

Republicans have clinched continued House control for the new Congress. They’ll likely lose seats from their current historic high, but they won enough seats to extend their six-year streak of commanding the chamber.

With voting results still being counted early Wednesday, Republicans have won at least 218 House seats. That exceeds the number needed to control the chamber.

Democrats started the year hoping Donald Trump’s divisive presidential candidacy would cost Republicans bushels of House seats. His impact on down-ballot candidates proved spotty.

Republicans now control 247 seats in the House. With a smaller GOP majority, dissident hard-right conservatives could have added leverage to press House Speaker Paul Ryan and other party leaders on the budget and other issues.

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11:21 p.m.

Hillary Clinton has won Nevada and its six electoral votes.

Her victory there in the presidential election brings Clinton’s Electoral College total to 215. Republican Donald Trump has 244 votes.

It takes 270 electoral votes to win the presidency.

Clinton’s win in Nevada is the first time since the 1940s that the Democrats have carried the state in three consecutive elections.

The winner of the U.S. presidential election has failed to carry Nevada only once.

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11:05 p.m.

Democrat Jay Inslee has been re-elected governor of Washington, beating challenger Bill Bryant.

Inslee, a former congressman, touted his environmental record throughout the campaign. He said the state is requiring the biggest polluters to reduce emissions and is promoting alternative energy.

Bryant, a former Seattle Port commissioner, sharply criticized Inslee in the months leading up to the November election. He said Inslee had mismanaged state departments, especially the state’s mental health system. He also said Inslee had failed to come up with a plan to fund K-12 education, as mandated by the state Supreme Court.

—

11:02 p.m.

Donald Trump has won the battleground state of Iowa.

He was awarded the state’s six Electoral College votes early Wednesday.

Trump now has 244 electoral votes. His Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton has 209.

Iowa had voted for a Republican only once since 1984 but polls remained tight throughout the campaign. Trump proved popular with the state’s sizable evangelical population while Clinton and her allies campaigned frequently in its college towns.

—

10:53 p.m.

Donald Trump has won Utah.

The Republican nominee was awarded its six electoral college votes.

He now has 238 electoral votes. His Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton has 209.

Utah is normally one of the safest states on the map for Republicans. But the presence of independent Evan McMullin changed the calculation this year as polls consistently reflected a tight three-way race. Trump also had struggled with Mormons, who are normally reliably Republican voters.

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10:44 p.m.

Kate Brown has been re-elected governor of Oregon over Republican newcomer Bud Pierce.

Brown became governor in February 2015 after the resignation of John Kitzhaber over an influence-peddling scandal. Brown was then secretary of state and next in line to succeed him.

Tuesday’s gubernatorial vote was a special election to fill the remainder of Kitzhaber’s four-year term.

—

10:43 p.m.

Donald Trump’s victory in Ohio demonstrates the Republican nominee’s ability to energize working-class voters outside of America’s largest cities.

Mahoning County stands out as a working-class county where organized labor still maintains political clout. Trump didn’t win the county that surrounds Youngstown. But he might as well have.

Hillary Clinton won by just 3 percentage points and less than 3,500 votes. Four years ago, President Barack Obama outpaced Mitt Romney by almost 25,000 votes on his way to a 28-point margin in the county. Clinton fell more than 20,000 votes shy of Obama’s total.

Youngstown is represented in Congress by a Democrat who offers some of the same populist appeal to labor as Trump. But those loyalties to Rep. Tim Ryan apparently didn’t transfer to Clinton.

—

10:37 p.m.

Republican Lt. Gov. Phil Scott has won election as governor of Vermont.

He defeated Democrat Sue Minter.

The popular construction company executive and part-time race-car driver had served three two-year terms as Vermont’s part-time lieutenant governor. He was previously in the state Senate.

Scott takes over in January from Democratic Gov. Peter Shumlin, who decided not to seek a fourth two-year term.

—

10:36 p.m.

The crowd at Donald Trump’s election watch party is jubilant as returns continue to roll in putting him closer to 270 Electoral College votes.

Supporters packed into a hotel ballroom in midtown Manhattan are breaking into chants of “USA!” and embracing each other in groups.

Others are breaking into song, bellowing “God Bless America” at the top of their lungs.

The screens in the ballroom are turned to Fox News. When the station shows images of Clinton’s election headquarters, the room breaks into boos and chants of one of Trump’s slogans: “Drain the swamp!”

—

10:33 p.m.

Donald Trump has won Georgia.

The Republican nominee on Tuesday was awarded its 16 electoral votes.

Trump now has 232 electoral votes while his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton has 209.

The Democrats had some hopes that changing demographics in Georgia could allow then to flip the reliably Republican state but their efforts fell short.

—

10:29 p.m.

Hillary Clinton has won Washington state and its 12 electoral votes.

The victory in Tuesday’s elections brings the former secretary of state’s electoral vote total to 209. Republican Donald Trump has 216.

It takes 270 votes to win the presidency.

—

10:15 p.m.

California voters passed a ballot measure to legalize the recreational use of marijuana, giving a big boost to the campaign to end the drug’s national prohibition.

Adults older than 21 can legally possess up to an ounce of marijuana and grow six plants.

California was one of five states where votes were considering the legalization of recreational marijuana Tuesday. Four other states were considering measures to legalize medicinal marijuana.

So far, voters in Florida and North Dakota have also passed marijuana measures Tuesday.

Collectively, it’s the closest the U.S. has ever come to national referendum on marijuana.

—

10:15 p.m.

Arizona voters have booted Sheriff Joe Arpaio from office in his bid for a seventh term after his legal problems in a racial profiling case culminated in a criminal charge two weeks before Election Day.

The 84-year-old Republican became a national figure by cracking down on illegal immigration and forcing jail inmates to wear pink underwear. He lost to Democrat Paul Penzone on Tuesday.

The race became a referendum on Arpaio’s legal woes. Federal prosecutors brought a contempt-of-court charge stemming from his defiance of a judge’s order to stop carrying out patrols targeting Latinos.

Arpaio has faced criminal investigations in the past without being charged or losing his seat. That changed Tuesday despite a devoted base of supporters and strong fundraising, mainly from out-of-state donors.

He still faces the possibility of jail time.

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10:11 p.m.

Donald Trump has won battleground North Carolina and its 15 electoral votes.

The victory in Tuesday’s elections brings the billionaire’s electoral vote total to 216. Democrat Hillary Clinton has 197.

North Carolina was one of the hardest-fought contests of the election and is one of the map’s newest swing states. It consistently went for Republicans until Barack Obama captured it in 2008. Republican Mitt Romney narrowly won the state in 2012.

At least 270 electoral votes are needed to win the presidency.

—

10:06 p.m.

Hillary Clinton has won Oregon.

The Democratic nominee on Tuesday was awarded its seven electoral votes.

Clinton now has 197 electoral votes. Her Republican opponent Donald Trump has 201.

Several key battleground states have yet to be won.

—

10 p.m.

Hillary Clinton has won California and Hawaii. Donald Trump has won Idaho’s four electoral votes.

The results in the West bring Clinton’s electoral vote total to 190 and Trump’s to 201. It takes 270 votes to win the presidency.

The results were not surprising. California, with 55 electoral votes, has voted for Democrats beginning in 1992. Hawaii has chosen Democrats consistently since 1988.

Idaho has voted for Republicans beginning in 1968.

—

9:50 p.m.

Donald Trump has won the key battleground state of Florida.

Trump on Tuesday was awarded 29 electoral votes.

He now has 197 electoral votes. His Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton has 131.

Both candidates have spent an extraordinary amount of time in Florida, one of the most important prizes on the map. Trump calls Florida his “second home” and his campaign acknowledged that a win there is vital to his White House hopes.

Barack Obama captured the Sunshine State in both 2008 and 2012.

—

9:43 p.m.

Hillary Clinton has won Colorado.

The Democratic nominee captured its nine electoral votes Tuesday. She now has 131 total electoral votes while her Republican opponent Donald Trump has 168.

Colorado has become an attainable state for Democrats in recent years thanks to shifting demographics.

Clinton tried to woo a surge in Latino voters and the state’s college-educated whites while Trump repeatedly made pitches to Colorado’s large military population and swaths of rural voters.

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9:40 p.m.

Hillary Clinton has won Virginia.

The Democratic nominee has captured its 13 electoral votes.

Virginia was reliably Republican for decades until Barack Obama won it twice, thanks in part to huge turnout from Washington, D.C.’s suburbs. Clinton’s running mate, Tim Kaine, is a senator from Virginia, though Trump made a late push in the state.

The victory gives her 122 electoral votes. Her Republican opponent Donald Trump has 168.

—

9:37 p.m.

Donald Trump has won the electoral prize of Ohio, a state known for picking presidents.

The Republican wins the state’s 18 electoral votes in Tuesday’s election, bringing his total to 168. Hillary Clinton has 109.

Clinton had appeared ready to concede Ohio’s 18 electoral votes to Trump as polls showed him pulling ahead even in some traditionally Democratic blue-collar areas. But Trump struggled after release of a video in which he talked about groping women and kissing them without their permission.

Republicans held their nominating convention in Cleveland. Governor and one-time Republican presidential rival John Kasich refused to endorse Trump.

—

9:25 p.m.

Donald Trump has won Missouri.

The Republican nominee was awarded its 10 electoral votes. The result was not as a surprise, as the last Democratic victory in the Show Me State came in 1996.

Trump now has 150 electoral votes. His Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton has 109.

—

9:21 p.m.

Hillary Clinton has won New Mexico and its five electoral votes.

That brings her electoral college vote total in Tuesday’s election to 109. Republican Donald Trump has 140 votes.

—

10 p.m.

Republican Gary Herbert has been re-elected governor of Utah.

Herbert had a strong advantage in Tuesday’s elections and was considered the favorite in the conservative state. But many Utah conservatives were not enthused about GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump. And Herbert had vacillated on his support for the New York billionaire.

Herbert has been in office since 2009 and had been challenged by Democrat Mike Weinholtz, a wealthy former CEO of a medical staffing company.

—

9 p.m.

Donald Trump has won Montana.

The Republican presidential nominee on Tuesday was awarded the state’s three electoral votes.

The result was not a surprise, as Montana was considered a safely Republican state.

Trump now has 132 electoral votes. His Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton has 104 votes.

—

8:40 p.m.

Preliminary exit polls show the racial divides that were expected to define the 2016 presidential election.

Polls conducted for national media by Edison Research show Republican Donald Trump winning a majority of white voters while Democrat Hillary Clinton is drawing support from about three out of four nonwhite voters.

Trump’s support is strongest among whites without a college degree. He’s winning nearly two-thirds of them. Whites with college degrees are split between Trump and Clinton. Trump is winning both among white men and white women, though his margin is much higher among men.

Clinton’s strongest support comes from African-Americans. She’s winning about nine out of 10 black voters. She’s winning about two out of three Hispanics and Asian-Americans.

—

8:30 p.m.

Republican Donald Trump is maintaining Republicans’ advantage among white voters nationwide, but perhaps not by the usual margin that the party’s nominees have enjoyed.

Preliminary exit polls of voters who have already cast presidential ballots show Trump winning a majority of whites. He has not quite reached the roughly six-out-of-10 share that Mitt Romney notched four years ago in his unsuccessful challenge of President Barack Obama.

The difference appears to come among white women. Trump is posting about the same, if not a slightly wider margin among white men as Romney did in 2012. But his lead over Clinton among white women appears to be in single digits, short of Romney’s double-digit advantage four years ago.

—

8:28 p.m.

Donald Trump has won Louisiana and its eight electoral votes.

That extends his Electoral College total in Tuesday’s elections to 137, compared with Hillary Clinton’s 104.

History was on Donald Trump’s side in the state. Louisiana hasn’t given its electoral votes to a Democrat since Bill Clinton won 52 percent of the vote two decades ago.

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8:26 p.m.

Hillary Clinton has won Connecticut.

The Democratic nominee on Tuesday was awarded Connecticut’s seven electoral votes.

The result was not a surprise, as Connecticut was considered a safely Democratic state.

Clinton now has 104 electoral votes. Her Republican opponent Donald Trump has 129.