Republican nominee Donald Trump is projected to have won several crucial victories against Democratic rival Hillary Clinton as the race for US president pushes towards a close.
Projections reveal Trump winning the battleground states of Pennsylvania and Ohio, Florida, North Carolina – four critical states in the race for the Oval Office.
At 266 Trump is currently only four Electoral College votes from clinching the White House. It takes 270 votes to win the presidency, and Clinton only has 218.
At Clinton headquarters in New York early on Wednesday morning, Clinton campaign manager John Podesta told supporters get some sleep and to go home.
Clinton carried California, Colorado and Virginia.
The uncertainty sent Asian markets tumbling and Dow futures, reflecting investor concern over what a Trump presidency might mean for commerce and the market.
As Clinton’s team anxiously waited for results to roll in, the candidate tweeted to supporters, “Whatever happens tonight, thank you for everything.”
Florida is the largest of the “swing states” with 29 electoral votes.
The sunshine state is a “ break or make ” state for Trump, based on analyst Allan Lichtman, who has accurately predicted the results of the elections for the past 30 years.
The Gabriel Elizondo of Al Jazeera said that the nominee that wins Ohio traditionally wins the election.
“If you win Ohio, you win the presidency.”
US television networks have projected that Republicans will retain control of the lower chamber of Congress known as the House of Representatives, where all 435 seats were up for grabs.
While the state of Ohio was blue in the two previous elections, Tuesday’s result was not an unforeseen loss for Clinton.
Eighty percent of the people in the state of Ohio is white – compared to 65 percent nationwide – a demographic that favoured Trump.
Trump hinted on Tuesday that he’d refuse to accept election results if he loses.
“I need to see everything honest.”
Trump filed a suit against the Clark County Registrar of Voters in the state of Nevada, alleging that early voting stations were open longer in relation to the designated time.
A Nevada judge denied Trump’s request for state voting records on the grounds that the request would possibly place voters in danger of “ridicule and harassment”.
