CONCORD, N.H. – Presidential electors are gathering at state capitals across the country on Tuesday to cast their electoral votes in the 2024 election, a key step in formalizing President-elect Trump’s White House victory last month over Vice President Kamala Harris.
At the New Hampshire Statehouse, the state’s four electors cast ballots on behalf of Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, in a largely ceremonial vote.
Harris edged Trump by roughly three percentage points to carry New Hampshire, the only swing state in New England.
"This is the formal vote for President and Vice President of the United States," New Hampshire Secretary of State Dave Scanlan, who presided over the procedure, said. "Every state in the country right now is going through this process."
New Hampshire was one of four states, along with Indiana, Tennessee and Vermont, to lead off Tuesday's Electoral College voting.
When Americans cast their ballots in a White House election, they’re technically voting for state electors committed to supporting their choice for president and vice president. The electors are expected to vote in accordance with the outcome of the popular vote in their state.
The electoral votes from the states will be certified on Jan. 6 during a joint session of Congress. And Trump will be inaugurated as president two weeks later, on Jan. 20.
The political parties in each state choose their slate of electors ahead of the general election.
Trump convincingly won the presidential election, winning the popular vote for the first time in three tries, and carrying all seven of the crucial battleground states that were heavily contested.
The former and future president ended up winning the electoral vote, 312 to 226, over Harris.
Several Senate Democrats are pushing a constitutional amendment to abolish the Electoral College and replace it with a presidential election system where the winner of the popular vote wins the White House contest.
Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, and Peter Welch, D-Vt., introduced the proposed amendment, according to a press release.
"In 2000, before the general election, I introduced a bipartisan resolution to amend the Constitution and abolish the Electoral College. I still believe today that it is time to retire this 18th century invention that disenfranchises millions of Americans," Durbin said, according to the release. "The American people deserve to choose all their leaders, and I am proud to support this effort with Senators Schatz and Welch to empower voters."
"In an election, the person who gets the most votes should win. It’s that simple," Schatz stated. "No one’s vote should count for more based on where they live. The Electoral College is outdated and it’s undemocratic. It’s time to end it."
Welch claimed that "right now our elections aren't as representative as they should be because of the outdated and flawed electoral college."
GOP Sen. Mike Lee of Utah slammed the proposal, calling it "a phenomenally bad idea," in a post on X. "So naturally, Democrats are pushing it," he added.
Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., responded to the proposal by accusing the Senate Democrats of wanting "to trample the Constitution."
President-elect Donald Trump trounced Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election, winning both the Electoral College and the popular vote.
But there have been elections in U.S. history in which the winner of the Electoral College did not win the popular vote.
The most recent example was Trump's 2016 victory where former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton won the national popular vote but lost the Electoral College.
President-elect Donald Trump won the 2024 US presidential election with 312 electoral votes.
Allison Robbert-Pool/Getty Images
In the 2024 election, Donald Trump won 312 electoral votes to Kamala Harris' 226 electoral votes.
Each candidate sought to present themselves as the better steward of the economy.
But President-elect Trump emerged victorious, sweeping the seven major battleground states.
Headed into Election Day, the presidential race between Vice President Kamala Harris and Donald Trump appeared deadlocked, with polls showing a close race across the seven swing states.
But Trump came out on top, with the president-elect sweeping the battleground states and making critical gains among a broad slice of the electorate, from young voters and Latino men to suburban voters and rural voters.
The president-elect's victory came as he retained his long-standing advantage on economic issues through Election Day.
Here's a look at why the 2020 race between President Joe Biden and Trump was such a departure from this year's contest between Harris and Trump.
President Joe Biden's 2020 win in Arizona was a huge victory for Democrats.
Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post via Getty Images
Trump made significant inroads in the suburbs, where the economy was a key issue
Harris was hoping that strong support from suburban voters, especially among college-educated women, would aid her, with her campaign banking that her prosecutorial background would match up well against that of Trump — who has been embroiled in an array of legal issues over his push to overturn the 2020 election results.
While Harris performed well in many of the suburbs that paved the way for Biden's 2020 election, she simply did not win by the margins she needed to overcome Trump's burst in support from white voters without college degrees, as well as the drop-off in support from Latino and Asian voters compared to the president's performance.
This year, Trump won suburban voters 51% to 47%, per CNN exit polling, a four-point edge that allowed him to hold the line in areas where Democrats were hoping to run up the score. And the shift allowed him to flip Maricopa County, and thus, win back Arizona, which had been one of Biden's most impressive victories in 2020.
Similar to other groups, the economy was critical for suburban voters, with inflation and housing costs being paramount. In Arizona, a state dominated by Phoenix and its vast Maricopa-anchored suburbs, the economy was the second-most important issue for voters, only trailing the issue of democracy.
According to CNN exit polling, 42% of the Arizona electorate said the economy was in "poor" condition, and 89% of those voters backed Trump, compared to 10% for Harris. By comparison, only 6% of respondents considered the economy to be "excellent," and 99% of those voters supported Harris, with only 1% backing Trump.
Trump hammered home an economic message centered on lowering costs, forging ahead with new housing construction on federal land, and cutting government relations that he said hampered growth. In western states like Arizona and Nevada, where housing affordability has been a major issue, the issue took on added resonance. Harris had high-profile economic proposals of her own, including a $25,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers, but it wasn't enough to swing the race.
Vice President Kamala Harris worked to boost turnout in Philadelphia. But her campaign fell short in its efforts.
SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images
Turnout declined in key Democratic areas
After Biden exited the race in July and Harris stepped into her role as the Democratic Party's standard bearer, she was faced with running a 107-day campaign. While Harris had been Biden's No. 2 for over three years at that point, she was still unfamiliar to a considerable slice of the electorate.
Despite Biden's decline in support with groups that had fueled his 2020 victory — which included Black, Latino, and young voters — he was a known commodity. And Harris, in many ways, had to reintroduce herself to millions of Americans who were open to backing her but had reservations about the Biden administration on issues like inflation and border security.
But compared to 2020, turnout declined on the Democratic side.
Four years ago, the Biden-Harris ticket won over 81 million votes, compared to 74 million votes for Trump and then-Vice President Mike Pence. So far, Harris has earned just under 75 million votes, compared to a little over 77 million votes for Trump.
Democratic strength in New Jersey and New York fell sharply, with Harris faring worse than Biden in those solidly blue states.
Voters did boost their numbers in several key battlegrounds, though.
Georgia hit a turnout record of almost 5.3 million voters this year, and despite Harris losing the state by 2.2 points (50.7% to 48.5%), she earned more votes in the Peach State than Biden did when he won the state by 0.23 percent (49.47% to 49.24%) in 2020.
Harris won 2,548,017 votes in Georgia this year, compared to Biden's 2,473,633 votes four years ago. But Trump won 2,663,117 votes this year, giving him a 115,100-vote advantage over Harris.
In Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, more votes were tallied between the two major-party candidates this year compared to 2020, but this didn't benefit Harris as Democratic strength declined in cities like Detroit and Philadelphia.
For example, Harris won Philadelphia, the most populous city in Pennsylvania, by a hefty 79% to 20% margin. But in 2020, Biden won Philadelphia 81% to 18%. And while Biden earned 604,175 votes in the city, Harris currently has 568,571 votes there, according to NBC News.
Turnout fell across Philadelphia this year, allowing Trump to post gains in what has long been known as one of the most Democratic cities in the country.
