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CNN Live Event/Special
Trump Wins Indiana and Kentucky, Clinton Wins Vermont; Some Voting Extended in Key North Carolina County Due to Earlier Computer Problems; Standing By For Polls to Close in Three States. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired November 08, 2016 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[18:59:58] WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: The Democratic vice presidential candidate, he is from Virginia. They think they have a very good shot. Let's get ready.
And we have our first projections of the night. Take a look at this. Donald Trump we project will win in Kentucky with its eighth electoral votes. Donald Trump wins in Kentucky. Donald Trump also wins in Indiana with its 11 electoral votes as his running mates' home state. Both wins, Kentucky and Indiana for Donald Trump. We have more projections right now. We project that Hillary Clinton is the winner in Vermont, three electoral votes. Vermont, Hillary Clinton is the winner in Vermont. Bernie Sanders' home state. We have a key race alert right now.
Too early to call -- too early to call in Georgia with its 16 electoral votes. We cannot make a projection yet. Too early in Virginia with its 13 electoral votes. We cannot make a projection yet. And too early to call in South Carolina right now. Nine electoral votes at stake. Too early to call in that state as well. Let's take a look at the Electoral College count right now. The vote where it stands right now. You see Donald Trump takes a very early lead with 19 electoral votes.
Hillary Clinton has three. You need 270 to win the presidency. You see the colors there on the map. The red states, those are states that go to Donald Trump. The blue state Vermont up in the northeast. That goes Hillary Clinton. The yellow states, those are states we cannot yet make a projection. Too early to call right there.
Let's go over to Jake. Jake, the action in Virginia and Georgia is going to be intense.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Although I have to say, Virginia really of all the states on the map, Virginia is really the one that we're all keeping an eye on. Because Hillary Clinton and her team have not really factored Georgia in and nor they really gone in made a play for it. Virginia, if they don't win Virginia, that is going to be a real problem for them. That is one of the states they are absolutely relying upon. So we're going to be watching the results out of Virginia all night very closely.
DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: I totally agree and just to add to that on the flip side. Republicans privately thought that Virginia had been gone for some time. They are expecting to lose Virginia going into this. But they also say that in the past couple of election cycles, it has broken late. There's been a late surge for Republicans. Not enough though.
TAPPER: All right. Let's go to David Chalian right now who is our political editor who is looking at exit polls. And David, what are you seeing out of Virginia and Georgia?
DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: We're taking a look first in Virginia at the quality and the candidates that voters were looking for. Now that polls have closed, we can look at how they are splitting, Jake. Take a look here. By far and away, the top quality people were looking for were changed. The candidate that can bring about change. Forty percent of Virginia voters wanted a changed candidate. And look how they split here. Big Trump category. Trump got 79 percent of those voters. Hillary Clinton gets 15 percent of those Virginia voters.
We also looked at right experience. Now fewer voters in Virginia were looking for the candidate for right experience. But obviously it is an overwhelming Clinton category. Eighty nine percent to Trump's eight percent. Only about 24 percent of the electorate though was looking for a candidate with right experience. In Georgia, we were looking about that anger at the federal government, with satisfaction of the federal government. Take a look here. About a quarter of the electorate in Georgia was angry at the federal government. Twenty seven percent obviously a strong Trump category.
He wins the angry vote, 77 percent to Clinton's 17 percent in Georgia. And about a quarter of the electorate is actually satisfied with the federal government. How did the satisfied voters in Georgia vote? Overwhelmingly for Hillary Clinton. Eighty one percent for Clinton, 14 percent for Trump among the quarter of the electorate that is satisfied in Georgia tonight -- Jake.
TAPPER: All right. David, thanks so much. And Wolf, obviously if a large enough percentage of voters in any state or commonwealth goes to the polls wanting change and thinking Donald Trump is the instrument of that change, that does not bode well for Hillary Clinton.
BLITZER: Even Dana, if the Democrats don't win Georgia this time, four years from now, eight years from now, given the demographic trends, the think they have a shot.
BASH: It is certainly possible especially given the numbers that David Chalian was showing us tonight about how it looks a little bit like as we're talking about before. Virginia looked one, two, three cycles ago.
BLITZER: This is a moment though that once we start getting these first projections, Jake that everybody is going to be watching so closely to get trends for these other battleground states.
TAPPER: That is right. I mean, and the question is, how many Latinos turn out. How many college educated voters turn out? How big is the gender gap? What is the results in Virginia might be relevant to results we see in North Carolina or even in Pennsylvania.
BLITZER: Pennsylvania your home state, all of a sudden by all accounts it is in play.
TAPPER: Generally speaking, Republicans always seem to hear the siren song of Pennsylvania. And they go there and they try to compete and ultimately they're not able too. But it does seem as though Donald Trump has been able to really make it competitive outside of Philadelphia with the white, working class voters that make up so much of his natural base. He has really made that state or commonwealth rather a competitive one.
[19:05:03] BLITZER: It is a moment that we're watching very closely. I want to just check in with right now -- walk over to John King over at the magic wall. John, we're taking a very close look. You've been looking at this one county, bigger county in Indiana.
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Again, not necessarily instructive but legal counties, one of these, it's a Corke County in a sense that they have a great record of picking the winner, voting with the winner. Even when Indiana went red in 2012 if we go back in time. Legal county voted for President Obama just barely but he won the elections. So, I'm just looking, but waiting for the results to come in. We have about 44 percent of the vote in and Donald Trump is ahead by a sizable margin. So, if that holds up, either Donald Trump is going to be elected the next president or legal county's streak is going to end.
We will know that for hours. So, we'll see but they have been right in 15 straight presidential elections. They have been wrong only twice in the last hundred years in terms of picking the winner. And 44 percent, that tells you something. And that is just one of the streaks we're looking at. And this is a very unorthodox election so I suspect a lot of streaks might be broken tonight. No matter who wins. But one of the other things you do is I am trying to look in these early states for clues as to performance. Donald Trump over performing Mitt Romney in rural areas where we have white working class voters. These are one of the things you look at.
And so you just look at the county and you're looking Donald Trump is getting 67 percent. Again, it's only five percent of the vote. And so, it might not necessary hold up but then you go back and look, Mitt Romney got 60 percent in this county. So, there's a county where Donald Trump is running a little stronger, it doesn't necessarily matter in Indiana but if you're running stronger with those types of voters, what are you learning at other places? That's why again we're looking at Kentucky a lot. Let's come back to 2016, results are getting tonight.
BLITZER: Let's take a look at Florida. They are going to be closing at the top of the hour.
KING: Florida. Look at that. We have some votes in Florida.
BLITZER: Yes. KING: Let's see where those are coming from. One, it's always fun when you see the first votes come into the wall. You're trying to figure out where that from. Little Citrus County, it's only one percent of the population. But there you go, zero percent reporting there. But obviously some votes have come in. Some counties, early votes they load them up. They've had a lot of early voting, aggressive early voting in Florida. So what are we going to be looking for overall in Florida? That is the early lead right now and what are you going to look for, number one?
This is your big Democratic strongholds down here. Hillary Clinton, to win Florida has to run it up. Let's go back in time and look at this state. Florida was the closest state in the 2012 race. President Obama eked out a very narrow victory. The early voting there when they dumped those numbers in, that is critical. You heard the panel talking earlier about Democrats. They think they amped up the Latino vote to help them there. We'll see. What happens down here? A little battleground within the battleground. How does Donald Trump do in Palm Beach County? That is his second home. He thinks he's going to do very well in Florida. Is Donald Trump going to win Palm Beach County? I bet not. It is traditionally a big Democratic county.
But the margins within these counties matter. In a very close election, if these are friends of Donald Trump, if he can make it instead of 60, 40, make it a little bit closer. Those things matter. That's what we're going to watch as we start to watch results coming in in Florida. The key Democratic strongholds across here. I'll tell you Wolf, this is an anecdotal. You call people in these states. You email with people on Election Days.
The Democrats were very happy about their early voting. Hillsboro County where Tampa is, absolutely critical. Pinellas County, you go to the west out here in St. Petersburg, just more of a swing county. Critical for the Democrats. The Democrats were thrilled through an early voting there. Talking to a friend who knows the organizers out here today. So, the Democrats got some jitters today when they saw the long lines of Trump supporters. So, we're going to play this out.
BLITZER: All right. Stand by. I want to go to Mark Preston right now. Mark, the polls closed in North Carolina the bottom of the hour. But there are some important developments you are watching.
MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICS EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Yes, Wolf. We actually have some breaking news right now out at North Carolina. The North Carolina state board of elections has agreed to keep the polls open in eight precincts anywhere from about 20 minutes to 60 minutes. Now, this has to do, Wolf, with the fact that there was computer glitches -- there were computer glitches Wolf in some of the precincts earlier today. And those computer glitches caused long lines and people were being turned away from the polls.
Now the polls right now are scheduled to close at 7:30. So, some of them now will close at 8:30. Some will close a little bit sooner than that. The Durham County board of election have requested actually the polls should be opened for 90 minutes, Wolf. But they did not get the 90 minutes. They asked, as they said it was a computer glitch problem. And as we're looking to this right now, this is former Governor Jim Hunt. Before we had actually heard the ruling from the state board of elections, he said this is not an appropriate way to treat human beings.
It is heartbreaking and it follows a deeply troubling pattern of the disenfranchisement in the state of North Carolina. Now, Wolf, I should note in the state of North Carolina very important to Hillary Clinton. Durham is 38 percent African-American. Barack Obama won Durham by 76 percent in 2008 and in 2012 -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Interesting stuff. Very interesting indeed. We'll going to get back to you, Mark. You know, John Durham. Let's talk a little bit about Durham. They are going to get a little extra. The polls supposed to close there at the bottom of the hour in a few minutes from now. But they're going to stay open maybe as long as another hour.
KING: As Mark just explained, not as long as the Democrats had hoped for had requested but they do get the polls open longer. And as Mark noted, we're going to wait to watch this -- but let's go back for historical perspective. This is an overwhelmingly Democratic county. The African-American vote of the Democratic constituencies. And you see a state like this again. North Carolina like Florida, one of the most tightly contested states in the United States. So, each party knows where its voters are especially in the age of big data politics.
The Clinton campaign has a list. They know who they need to vote here in Durham County. And the question is, you check them off as you go and they try to turn people out. So, they are desperate to keep these polls open. Because in a state as close as North Carolina, Mitt Romney took it back from the Democrats. It's been traditionally Republican there. President Obama won it just barely 50/50 in 2008. So, in a state this closely contested, it's pretty obvious, every vote matters and so you have these arguments, and it's in a key area of the state.
[19:10:40] Not just Durham but the Raleigh, Durham area. You have the African-American base out of Durham. You have the research triangle of Raleigh, Durham. This is a key battleground within this battleground state. Absolutely critical to Hillary Clinton to run it up in these areas and absolutely critical for Donald Trump, his competition amongst, in the suburbs is very important here too. So, we'll be a little later counting those votes. Obviously in a state we expect to take us deep into the night.
BLITZER: Stay open as long as extra hour. Dana, we're getting our first projections in the balance of power in the U.S. Senate.
BASH: That's right, Wolf. We sure are. And let's start with the state of Vermont. Patrick Leahy already one of the longest serving senators in history, CNN can project will go on to win an eighth term defeating his Republican challenger Scott Milne. And now let's go to the state of Kentucky. Rand Paul, people remember, he started out his campaign running for president, dropped out and decided to run for reelection. CNN can project that he's won that seat defeating his Democratic challenger Jim Gray.
Now, let's go to South Carolina, Republican incumbent Tim Scott, CNN can project that he will defeat his Democratic challenger Thomas Dixon. Tim Scott being the first African-American ever to represent the South. Now, let's look at key races where we're watching very, very closely. Indiana, again this is an open seat, a Republican seat. Todd Young the Republican at this hour just about 10 percent of the vote in, is pretty far ahead. Evan Bayh, who is trying to get his old Senate seat back, turned that blue. We're going to be watching that very, very closely.
And now we have some, where the polls have not yet closed but we do see some numbers coming in. Marco Rubio, who is running for reelection is up pretty significantly but you see only two percent of the vote there. He's up by more than 60,000 votes. We're going to watch that very, very closely. And then another marquee race. This could determine whether or not Republicans keep the Senate. Incumbent Kelly Ayotte is trying to hold on to that defeat her Democratic challenger. The Governor Maggie Hassan, only one percent in there.
This is the one we're going to be watching incredibly closely all night long. So, let's look at the balance of power at this hour. Jake, you see there on the big board, 37 right now for Democrats. Thirty two for Republicans and 31 of the races that we're watching still not yet called. So, you know, some of the ones we just called were not big surprises.
TAPPER: No.
BASH: Still important for one Democrat and two Republicans to get in their column. Indiana to me is absolutely fascinating because the Democrats thought they could make that competitive by running somebody whose name is incredibly popular and well known. Evan Bayh in the whole Midwest especially Indiana. But it is unclear if he's going to be able to make it.
TAPPER: In a year where outsiders seem to be popular especially among Republican voters and Republican-leaning states like Indiana. Evan Bayh, former governor, former senator and in the state of Washington D.C. done a lot of lobbying. They recruited him to run promising that he would be able to win. We'll see what happens. It looks like it is much tougher than he banked on.
BASH: A lot tougher and he thought he could win because his name has been sort of the political gold standard there but maybe not in 2016.
TAPPER: Now his name of course is Father Birchbuyer (ph), a particular senator as well.
BLITZER: He is very well known in that state. We have a key race alert right now. Here are the results coming in from Florida. Two percent of the vote is in so far. 58.5 percent for Donald Trump. 30.2 percent for Hillary Clinton. Trump has an early lead of some 63,000 votes over Hillary Clinton. Only two percent of the vote is in in Florida. Twenty nine electoral votes are at stake there. And we're getting the first numbers coming in very very early from the state of Virginia. Hillary Clinton has some very slight lead. Look how close it is. 49.5 percent, 45.5 percent. Hillary Clinton's lead is only 294 votes. Very very early in Virginia. Early in Florida. We're watching both of those key states right now.
Let's go over to John King, the early votes in Florida. John, where are they coming in from?
KING: Mostly up here in the northern part of state? A rural part of the state a Republican part of state. Remember -- all of our votes are round up around these lines. We'll go back in time and look, 2012, this is largely Republican area. You got one county there in the middle, it's Democratic. So, it's a very small percentage of the vote. The major population centers around here. This is where the big fight if it's close, if it's close in Florida especially Orange County, a growing Latino population here in the Orlando area.
This is the big area of the Democrat, 60/40. Watch places where Democrats said they're early voting was significant among Latinos but if we come back to look where we are right now, this doesn't tell us much. Except these are conservative areas up here. You're up here, so you're looking here to see if Donald Trump can run up the numbers. Now, again, zero percent. So, these are just the first votes. Six hundred ninety two to 387. Very early in preliminary.
[19:15:32] But one of the things we're going to watch in a state like this, again, the closest state in 2012. How does it shape up when you go back and look. And right now, remember Romney at 63, Trump at 62.2. He's running about again very early returns where Mitt Romney was. Obviously he'd like to run a little stronger than that because President Obama just carried the state. But we'll watch out as we go through this small irrelatively 0.1 percent of the population. So, you're looking for early close in rural turnout, that is key to Donald Trump especially in a state like Florida, there's northern part of the state, which is the more Southern part of the state if you will bordering the southern states.
This is the much more conservative part of the state where Trump is campaigning on immigration on ObamaCare on taxes and spending issues, this is much more important here. So, we'll watch it. Early results. This doesn't tell us much except for these early counties are filling in the way Donald Trump would want them too.
BLITZER: Yes. More Democratic counties down in the Southern parts of Florida. We're just minutes away from the next round of poll closings including the battlegrounds of Ohio and North Carolina. North Carolina becoming even more crucial in these closing days of the presidential race. New results coming up right after a quick break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:20:35] BLITZER: You're looking live pictures of the White House. A beautiful night here in the nation's capital. This is what both candidates want. They want to be living there starting January 30th of next year. We're back here at the CNN Election Center. Once again, we want to welcome our viewers. We're standing by for the next wave of polls closings. Right now, we have a key race alert. Your latest numbers coming in, the key battleground state of Florida. More numbers and a 12 percent of the vote has now been counted. Donald Trump has a lead of 38,726. He's at 50 percent. 50.4 percent to Hillary Clinton. 47.1 percent. This could be at Florida. Twenty nine electoral votes, all of the polls by the way, Florida will close at the top of the hour. These are the numbers coming in. Right now it just changed. Trump's lead has -- up to 61,604 over Hillary Clinton. In Virginia and other key battleground states very early. Only one percent of the vote is in.
Trump has it 3500 vote lead over Hillary Clinton. Thirteen electoral votes at stake in Virginia. In Georgia, also very, very early right now, only one percent of the vote is in. Trump's lead 18 hundred plus over Hillary Clinton. Seventy three percent to 25 percent. Three key battleground states. All of America and indeed the world now waiting to learn who will be the next president of the United States. We're counting down to 7:30 p.m. Eastern, just minutes from now.
That is when the polls close in the key battleground states of Ohio and North Carolina. Two of the key races we're watching tonight. Polls are also closing in West Virginia. Together those states account for 38 of the 270 electoral votes needed to win the White House. Jake, both campaigns have invested a lot of time and money in Ohio and North Carolina.
TAPPER: Indeed. Although Ohio and North Carolina are generally considered must-wins for Donald Trump. North Carolina is one of the top races to watch. It could be the decider in this election and from what we're hearing, it could go down to the wire. We're keeping an eye on all the major battleground this evening including many key races where voters are still casting ballots. Right now, let's check in with our correspondents, who were at the major candidates headquarters in New York City.
Jim Acosta is joining us now. He is covering the Trump campaign. And Jim, what are you learning?
JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Jake, a senior advisor from Donald Trump's inner circle is sizing up the GOP candidates to me this way. His chances this way. Quote, it will take a miracle for us to win. That is the quote from a senior advisor inside Donald Trump's inner circle. This advisor went on to say that Trump was in such a deep hole after the release of that "Access Hollywood" tape. It was viewed inside the campaign that he was going to lose this race by a wide margin.
But the fact that Donald Trump has been able to close that gap in the final weeks of this campaign, that is seen as a major accomplishment inside the campaign. One that might actually save the Senate for the Republican Party. This advisor went on to say and we did observe this out on the campaign trail, that top advisers were urging Donald Trump just about every day, every chance that they could get that he had to stay disciplined, he had to stay on message, and that is also seen according to this adviser as a pretty stunning achievement here at the end of this campaign given these candidate's volatility at times -- Jake. TAPPER: All right. Jim Acosta who is in Manhattan with the Trump
campaign. Let's go a few blocks away to Manhattan, and the Clinton campaign where we find Jeff Zeleny. And Jeff, the Clinton campaign feeling confident but they are not counting their chickens.
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They certainly aren't, Jake. And inside the Clinton war room right now, this is what they are looking at. Ohio. Franklin County, Ohio where the Ohio State University is the city of Columbus is. I am told by advisors on the ground there that they are seeing greater than expected turnout throughout there and they attributed to a rally that Secretary Clinton held after that second debate right before voter registration and early voting started.
It was one of the biggest rallies of her campaign. So, that is where the organizing comes in. At the same time, they're also considered about a lower than expected turnout in Cleveland despite all of these star power she had from LeBron James, to Jay-Z, to Beyonce. They are watching the areas of Cleveland as well. And in North Carolina tonight, Jake where the polls close at 7:30, they are looking at these college towns university towns as well, if they are to win in North Carolina, it will be because of a spike in turnout there. We saw Michelle Obama with Hillary Clinton on campus there. We saw President Obama going from campus to campus. That is what they are hoping for tonight if they are to pull out a win in North Carolina -- Jake.
[19:25:06] TAPPER: All right. Jeff Zeleny in the Clinton campaign headquarters in Manhattan. Let's go to Wolf Blitzer right now.
BLITZER: We have a key race alert right now. All right. Take a look. Hillary Clinton now takes the lead in the state of Florida. Thirty percent of the vote is in. And she's got a significant 50,340 lead over Donald Trump. She's at 49.5 percent. Donald Trump at 47.7 percent. Remember Florida, Florida, Florida. Twenty nine electoral votes are at stake. All of a sudden Hillary Clinton has a lead there. Thirty percent of the vote is now in.
Let's go over to John King at the magic wall. John, I want to talk about Florida. All of a sudden a big chuck of votes came in and she's doing well.
KING: And a big chunk of votes from traditionally and very important Democratic areas. Miami Dade, look at the results so far, 61 percent to 36 percent. That is a small basket of votes from Miami Dade. It was still at zero percent right there. So, that is the first dump of early votes coming in from Miami Dade. Just to compare this. This is one of the things we're going to do all night. Especially in a state like Florida. They were so close right down at the wire four years ago. So, 61 to 36.
If you look at it there. Let's just go back and look, 62-38. That is running about the same. Very early votes running about the same. Significantly Wolf also, you hear a few minutes ago, talking about Florida and just after you left, Palm Beach county came in. Donald Trump has said he'll do well here, right? This is where Mar-A-Lago is. Donald Trump's second home. Well at the moment, so much. Again, we're very early. We have a long way to go in the count in Florida. And so when you see these early results, its early votes being dumped in for the most part. Let's see where we go through the night.
But that is exactly what Hillary Clinton needs to do. Sixty one to 37. When you look at that, you go back in time 58 to 41. And so, right now in these very, very, very early results, Hillary Clinton running up the percentages that she needs in Florida to withstand what will happen up here. When this starts to fill in up across the Northern part of the state, it is conservative. Another key area we're going to watch tonight is the Orlando area. This is an area of population growth. Especially Latino population growth.
Sixty two percent or 63 percent if you round it up to 34 percent right now and again very early. And let's just compare to go back four years ago. At 62 or 63, 59 President Obama. So, she's over performing a little bit in the early results. We'll watch it as we get through the night. So, he starts to look at a big state like this fill in. One of the things, 31 percent, when you get above halfway then you start worrying about what are we missing? Because are you missing a big baskets of either Democrat or Republican votes.
What we are missing so far that will be very significant, it's the whole Hillsboro County, Pinellas County, Tampa -- that's very important and it's a fierce competition. That is a swing area. We have a good fight. So we don't know anything about that yet. The rest of the map though filling in as you would expect it to in terms of these are Democratic strongholds, these are Republican areas and now we're going to wait for the swing area up here.
BLITZER: You know, we haven't got Broward County yet which is a hugely Democratic area. But take a look at Georgia. I want to quickly go to Georgia. Look what's going on in Georgia right now because it is all of a sudden still very early but you can see Donald Trump has a very significant lead in Georgia right now.
KING: Significant lead. But one percent of the vote and again, we're talking about very tiny rural counties. They are important to Donald Trump. Don't get me wrong. Every vote counts but we're looking at these very small counties where it's a 100 percent in from this Oglethorpe County. Two hundred and seventy votes to 80 votes. So it is not a big population center. You're not getting a ton of votes. But that is very important to Donald Trump to run it up. If the Democratic hopes hinge on giant turnout, in places like Atlanta, in places like Columbus, the African-American base or the Democrats, we'll see what happens there.
BLITZER: You know what, I want to go back to Florida for a moment, John. Florida, you can see the Miami Dade is doing well obviously for Hillary Clinton Palm Beach County. Broward, what happens four years ago in Broward County? How well does she have to do there?
KING: Well, we have nothing in so far. So, let's go back in time. So look at Broward County, 67. So, she needs to run up. These are your big Democratic turnout areas and its population centers as well. And again, you know it very well because of family history. The further south you go, the farther north you get is the way they say it in Florida. And so you watch this right here and you come back to 2016 --
BLITZER: One of these 36 percent of the vote is in --
KING: Thirty six percent now county. You start to look up here again. This is where the growth has been up in the central part of the state. Sixty three percent right here. Go back in time and look, 62 percent. So, she is equal or slightly above President Obama's performance right now when you look through it. And that is the key when you match this back in history. Democrats think and Republicans too think turnout is up in Florida, so you're going to watch the key counties, see if the percentages match up.
We're looking at one of the place up here. Tallahassee, Democratic area where the state capital is. Sixty two or 63 percent if you round it up for Secretary Clinton. Sixty one percent for the president four years ago. So, if you look at the early results in Florida, Wolf, we're up to almost 40 percent of the vote, Hillary Clinton at the moment performing in a way consistent with what for President Obama was a very narrow victory but a lot to fill in Donald Trump still in the hunt.
BLITZER: We're counting down to the bottom of the hour. Two key battleground states. They are getting ready to close. We're talking about North Carolina. A state that Barack Obama lost four years ago, carried eight years ago and Ohio. Republicans need to win Ohio in order to win the White House.
[19:30:06] Let's start with a CNN projection. CNN projects Donald Trump is the winner in West Virginia. Donald Trump will carry that state with five electoral votes. Trump gets another state, West Virginia.
[19:30:00] WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Republicans need to win Ohio in order to win the White House.
Let's start with a CNN projection. CNN projects Donald Trump is the winner in West Virginia. Donald Trump will carry that state with five electoral votes. Trump gets another state, West Virginia.
We have a key race alert right now.
Too early to call, too early to call in North Carolina. As you can see right there, 15 electoral votes, a state, a critically important battleground state. And Ohio, too early to call in Ohio right now, 18 electoral votes in Ohio. We're not able to make projections. Polls are closed in both states. Cannot make projections yet.
Let's take a look at the Electoral College map count, where we stand right now. You can see, Donald Trump has a lead. He has 24 electoral votes right now compared to three, three for Hillary Clinton. You need 270 to win the White House.
The blue state, that's Vermont. That is the state Hillary Clinton we projected will carry the red states. Those are states that Donald Trump. The yellow states too early to call. No projections in those state, at least not yet.
Let's go over to Jake. West Virginia not a surprise but we're waiting for Ohio and North Carolina.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: And let's take a look at Florida for one second, and the only reason I bring this up is because Alex Conan who is a senior strategist for Marco Rubio who's running for reelection there, pointed out just a few minutes ago that Marco Rubio was outperforming Donald Trump in absentee ballots in Miami Dade. The reason I bring it up is because one of things looking forward for the Republican is how do they win Democratic areas?
BLITZER: Take a look at this, 43 percent of the votes in Florida are now in. And all of a sudden now, Donald Trump takes lead. Almost 30,000-vote lead over Hillary Clinton. He's at 48.9 percent. Hillary Clinton is at 48.2 percent. Donald Trump now takes a slight lead over Hillary Clinton.
TAPPER: I suspect this is going to go back and forth, back and forth all night. If Donald Trump wins, if Hillary Clinton wins, it's going to be by a very small margin. That is how it happened in 2012 and 2008.
BLITZER: Dana, remind us why Florida is so important right now.
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Where do we start? First of all, just a raw numbers, because of the electoral votes. It is a very, very big prize electorally. But also because of the demographics and because it's gone back and forth, less so in the past couple of cycles. It's gone more Democratic, but historically it's gone back and forth between Republican and Democrat. It is a purple state.
And it is a place where this year, both of these candidates played so, so hard. And spent so much money, the most for lots of reasons, and primarily because it is so big and it is so diverse geographically and it is expensive when it comes to media markets. It is by far the one we're watching.
Even Donald Trump has said very publicly he doesn't think there is a path to him for White House without winning Florida.
TAPPER: We talked about the fact that Donald Trump really needs to run the table when it comes to a whole bunch of these big important battleground states. Hillary Clinton certainly needs a large chunk of them, but Donald Trump needs to run the table. It's hard to imagine the path to the White House for Donald Trump without the state of Florida.
BLITZER: Let's go over to John King over at the magic wall, and take a closer look at Florida right now.
Once again, John, 43 percent of the vote is in. And Trump has a slight lead over Hillary Clinton, 49.1 percent, 48.1 percent.
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And since you were here a few minutes ago, this is what happens -- you had some votes filling in down here. Sarasota County, Donald Trump had a rally here just the other day in Sarasota County.
He's winning 50.5 percent to 47 percent. But again, first, I want to go back and just look at the presidential history. Mitt Romney won this county a little bit bigger. So, we'll see, it is only the early results for Donald Trump.
But to the point Jake has made it is very important debate, because win or lose, the Republican Party is going to have a big debate after the election. So, let's look at what Jake was just talking about. Let's pull up Miami Dade County, right? You see Donald Trump, remember, 36.5, round up to 37 percent so far in Miami Dade. Look at the Marco Rubio performance, 47 percent. So, he's running ten points ahead of Donald Trump in Miami Dade.
Let's come back up here and look at Orange County where Orlando is, again, a swing area of the state. This part here is Democratic. You go across the I-40 corridors, swings back and forth. But there is Rubio just shy of 40 percent, let's look at Donald Trump, 34 percent.
So, this is the debate that's going to happen within Florida and across the country. People are going to look at the how the Senate candidates run. How the governor candidates run. And compare Donald Trump to Mitt Romney, compare Donald Trump to Republicans on the ballot, because we'll settle the presidential election tonight we think. But Republican Party is going to have this debate about who should lead it and what it should be about for a long time to come.
Now, as we watch, this up to 45 percent. So, a pretty quick count so far, but that's mostly the early votes being reported. So, now, we're going to wait for today's votes to be counted as well. And we went through this four years ago. We went to Jake's point, we went back and forth, and back and forth and Florida ended up here, 50 to 49 four years ago. And it sure looks like it is on track in the same ballpark tonight as we get to 46 percent of the votes so far.
[19:35:00] BLITZER: Because in the northern part of the state, pretty much Republican. Southern part of the state very often Democratic.
KING: In the East. The southwestern part of the state is Republican area. Eastern part of the state, Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach County, this is your Democratic stronghold. Every election, it comes down to the Democrats run up the vote total in these bottom three southeast counties to offset, you see a lot of red on this side of the state and up here across the top of the state.
BLITZER: And we have no results from Broward County yet. That is where Fort Lauderdale is.
KING: Right. Nothing yet at all there. And again, if you go back four years, this is a very important county for Democrats, 67 to 32. You want to run up it in these counties, in the southeast part of the state, again, Palm Beach, Broward, Miami Dade. You want to run it up there to offset some of this, as we go forward, as you come forward. We're missing these here just to offset all this. And you go back in
2012, but look, a whole lot of red, if you come out this way. Mostly here but also right in here and we did get as we come back, last time you were here, Hillsboro County is Tampa, Pinellas County is St. Pete. This is a swing, this is a swing area where the campaigns have had a fierce fight.
This tells you a lot. This one county tells you a lot about how tough the state is.
BLITZER: You know what I want to do, let's take a look at the United States, the national vote as it is coming in right now. Let's take a look and see where Donald Trump is as opposed to Hillary Clinton.
And take a look at this. Among the national vote, these are the votes that have already been counted Trump is winning nationally 52.7 percent, 44 percent for Hillary Clinton. He has 3,100,000. She has 2,600,000. Take a look at that.
KING: Well, we're going to go through this as we count. Look, we're only in this part of the country and we have only very preliminary results. But one of the conversations tonight, and one of the conversations some political strategists have had, will we have something like 2,000 again where win candidate wins the popular vote and somebody else wins the electoral vote?
If you're looking at the map now, Donald Trump is not winning all the states. He's just leading in. We have called some. We called Indiana, I believe, and Kentucky.
But if you are looking at the map early in the night, just because it is shaded doesn't tell you who won. It tells you who's leading. These are live results.
And as I'm talking sometimes, these results will change as we talk, because live results are coming in. Let's look up at this state. A traditional battleground state that's been leaning more and more Democratic but in Virginia at the moment, Donald Trump is leading 54- 41 percent. Most of the vote is coming in from Republican areas. So, no surprise there.
But here is one things we'll look at. We'll come out here, Fauquier County, this is an ex-urban area, now it's a suburb, used to the exurbs. But outside of D.C., Donald Trump running well out here. And the key issue when we get in closer. Loudoun County used to be Republican. Now become a Democratic-leaning suburb.
BLITZER: Twenty-eight of the vote is in there.
KING: Is 55 percent about right for Secretary Clinton? Fifty-two percent for President Obama when he won four years ago. One of the things we'll look at as we go through the night.
And again, back out here. This is one of the counties I always watch. Prince William County. Once Republican, now Democratic in part because of the college-educated women and the growing Latino population, 57 percent right now.
We just got the first votes in Fairfax County, I'll skip over there in a second, 57 percent there. You go back in time, 57 percent. So, it is running about what it takes for a Democratic victory even though Donald Trump is ahead at the moment. Fairfax County, 60 percent, she's running just shy of that at 58 percent and the results coming in so far. I suspect when I pull back out, it's a little bit closer now.
But Donald Trump still leading in part because as we expect in the more rural areas, Republican anyway, Donald Trump is running a healthy margin in the small counties in the southwestern part of the state. You see 71, 73. That's where his early lead is coming from. The challenge for Secretary Clinton, offset it up here when the vote comes in, when more of the vote comes in the D.C. suburbs.
BLITZER: Let's take a look at North Carolina right now. The polls closed there just a few moments ago.
KING: And we have very little so far, just 2 percent. And you are going to see this. Some of this is going to sound familiar throughout the night. In the rural areas Donald Trump has to run it up, so far, 63 percent to 35 percent. Remember, the polls are closed exempt for here, in Durham County. Some polling places have left open for after an hour I believe. That was Mark Preston's reporting a bit ago.
And this is a critical area for the Democrats. When you look and pull out. You see where we have the cities, Mark. One of the clues throughout the night about how close are we getting is you see the dots, see the cities, that is your population centers.
Do we have any votes from the population centers? If the answer is no, then not that it's insignificant but it's nothing to place a bit on because we have to wait for more of the votes to come in?
BLITZER: Very, very early, 2 percent of the vote is in. Donald Trump has a 20,000 vote lead but it is very, very early in North Carolina.
Ohio. Let's look at Ohio right now.
KING: Well, it is shaded blue at the moment and Hillary Clinton would love that. That would be game over for Donald Trump. But that is because this is all we have right here, 2.1 percent down in this part of the state.
BLITZER: All right. And you know what? I want to take a look at the electoral math right now national. Show us what's going on right now.
KING: Well, I can show you where we are. This is our map coming into the night, 268-204. The question is, can anything change here? Donald Trump has to change something to win the election. And so, you just show those early Ohio results here, we lean Ohio Republican. So, that one, you know, we expect, we just had very early results here.
For Donald Trump, the key challenge here -- Hillary Clinton is leading a 268 in our projection. And most Republicans even concede she'll win the state of Nevada our there. [19:40:02] So, the challenge for number one is to run the board among
the tossups, and then to find something up here blue, Wolf, to turn. That's the big challenge for Donald Trump. Can it be Pennsylvania? Can it be Michigan? Or he's leading early in Virginia, could he pull off a huge surprise in the state of Virginia?
BLITZER: Let's take a look, John. I want to take a look at the electoral college map right now. The big picture, 270 needed to win. Trump is ahead early with 24, he's got 24 electoral votes. Hillary Clinton has three electoral votes. Those three in Vermont so far.
More polls are about to be closed at the top of the hour. But you can see, the red states are the states that Donald Trump we projected has won and the blue state is Hillary Clinton states. The yellow states, those are states where the polls have closed but it is too early to call right now.
Let's go to Dana Bash. She's got a projection in the balance of power in the Senate.
BASH: That's right, Wolf. You said it's too early to call for the presidential, but in Ohio, CNN can project that Rob Portman, the incumbent Republican will go on to win another term, served another term in the U.S. Senate, defeating his Democratic opponent, the former Governor Ted Strickland. This was supposed to a nail biter but Rob Portman locked it up pretty early with the help of tens of millions of dollars from Republicans there. Big win for Rob Portman.
Let's look at other state where polls are closed but it's just too early to call. North Carolina, this is another that we will be watching all night long to see whether or not Democrats can take control of the U.S. Senate. Republican incumbent Richard Burr is fight to keep his seat, he's at this hour is just a little more than 42,000 votes ahead of his Democratic challenger Deborah Ross, but as you there, very, very early.
Now, I want to look back at Florida. Polls are not yet closed but you see we're getting some numbers in. Marco Rubio, the incumbent Republican is up pretty significantly against his Democratic challenger Patrick Murphy, about the half vote in and he's doing quite well there. Democrats pretty much gave up on that seat once Marco Rubio changed his mind and said he was going run for reelection.
Let's look at what all this means for the balance of power at this hour. Look at the big board Democrats right now have 37, Republicans have 33. There are 30 left that we are watching.
Big picture, Democrats are trying to pick up five seats in order to have a clean 51-seat majority and Republicans are obviously trying very hard to prevent that from happening.
TAPPER: Not a strong showing I have to say from Democrats as of now. Rob Portman, as you know, was supposed to be a seat as you said they were going to be able to pick off. They had the former governor, Ted Strickland, run against. But Democrats weeks ago pulled there. Rob Portman winning handily. Interestingly enough. Rob Portman saying after the "Access Hollywood"
tape came out that he would not support Donald Trump. He was going to write in Mike Pence which doesn't make much sense, but nonetheless, the voters there rewarded him with another term.
BASH: It is one of the themes we've heard from Mitch McConnell as he's trying to keep the seats in Republicans hands. Candidates matter, he learned that lesson the hard way when Republicans didn't take control for two cycles, where they should have, because of Republican candidates who made some pretty big mistakes. Rob Portman has been a very, very good candidate and ran as somebody who understands the state and it served him well.
TAPPER: Marco Rubio also a decent candidate. We'll see what happens with that race, Wolf Blitzer.
BLITZER: Yes, a lot of Republicans who don't like Trump, they're writing in all sorts of names on the course of this day.
Let's get a key race alert right now. We got a lot of results. Let's update you.
First of all, more than half of the vote in Florida is now in, 55 percent. Look at this, Donald Trump has a significant lead of 118,422 votes over Hillary Clinton, 49.7 percent to 47.4 percent. Florida, 29 electoral votes at stake. All the polls in Florida will close at the top of the hour.
North Carolina 10 percent of the vote is now in. Trump has a lead of more than 52,000 votes over Hillary Clinton, 54.5 percent to 43.3 percent. Fifteen electoral votes at stake in North Carolina.
In New Hampshire, New Hampshire, all of a sudden, we're getting votes in early. Only 1 percent of the vote is in, 337 vote lead for Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump in the state of New Hampshire with four electoral votes.
We're counting down to another round of poll closes. Just moments from now, the mother of all battlegrounds, Florida, that's coming up, along with the results from key races in Pennsylvania and New Hampshire.
Stay with us.
(CXOMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:48:39] BLITZER: All right. Look at this, we've got a key race alert. Look at Florida right now. Sixty-five percent of the vote is in, and all of a sudden, Hillary Clinton has taken the lead in the state of Florida. She's got a lead of 76,430 over Donald Trump. She's at 49.2 percent. Donald Trump is at 47.9 percent.
Hillary Clinton is now ahead of Donald Trump in Florida with its 29 electoral votes.
In North Carolina, 13 percent of the vote is now in. Trump is ahead with 74,969 votes over Hillary Clinton. Fifteen electoral votes in North Carolina.
We're getting 3 percent of the vote in Ohio right now. Trump has a lead in Ohio, 96,000 plus to Hillary Clinton's 82,000 plus. Eighteen electoral votes in Ohio.
We're getting more results coming in our key race alert. In Virginia now, 14 percent of the vote is in and Trump has 73,000 plus vote lead over Hillary Clinton, 54 percent to 41.2 percent. Thirteen electoral votes at stake in Virginia.
And in Georgia, only 2 percent of the vote is in but Trump has a lead of 31,977. Georgia, Trump has the lead with its 16 electoral votes at stake.
Let's go over to John King.
John, Florida has been going back and forth, back and forth, all of a sudden, Hillary Clinton is ahead by, what, a point and a half or so.
KING: And we're up to 65 percent of the vote. So, two-thirds of the vote in, the big question how quickly does the rest of it coming?
[19:50:03] We spent a lot of long nights in the state of Florida as it gets tight like this. And then, sometimes the vote count slows down. What are we looking at? Last time we checked, remember you were, we had nothing from Broward County. It still says zero percent. We'll get more later.
But 70 percent to 28 percent, again, you go back in time just to compare it up. That's at 67 percent for President Obama, almost 70 percent for Secretary Clinton. She's running a little ahead percentagewise so far in Broward County.
If you pull it out, I hate to say it but this map is filling in a lot like 2012. Democratic votes here. Democratic votes in the population center. Lot of Republican votes across the top here. That is this year.
Let's go back in time. Democratic votes here. Democratic votes here. Mostly Republican up here, was 50-49. Four years ago. Get ready, 48.9 to 48.2 so far this year.
Fascinating to watch. The population centers. Orange County is Orlando, 62 percent for Secretary Clinton. Then you move out to the west here, to Tampa, and the Hillsboro County, it's a bit closer, 53 to 43. Ten points there.
Look at this -- seven points there. So, she's running a little ahead in Hillsboro of where President Obama was. But then you move out here for Dallas County, and you got 49.8 percent to 46 percent here as you go out and look at it here.
So, it is just remarkably tight as we go through. Both of them over 3 million votes now. Up to 71 percent. So the vote count coming in very quickly in Florida, Wolf, by Hillary Clinton now with -- that is the biggest lead we've seen in the state so far for Hillary Clinton. And I'll put the emphasis on "so far", and we'll keep counting.
BLITZER: It's a real battle in Florida right now.
We're only moments from the biggest wave of poll closes in the presidential race. We're counting down to the top of the hour. That would be 8:00 p.m. Eastern, and that's when the last polling grounds close in the battleground states of Florida, Pennsylvania and New Hampshire. The polls also would be closing in Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Rhode Island and Tennessee.
Together, those contests have 172 electoral votes. That is a huge chunk of the 270 needed to win.
Jake, another presidential race where all eye right now are on Florida.
TAPPER: It's one of the critical states in this race. Donald Trump himself has said he doesn't see a path to the presidency for himself without the state of Florida, the 29 electoral votes.
We're following the last minute mad dash for all of these candidates in the battleground states. We're also getting new information inside the campaigns.
First to Sara Murray who is with the Trump campaign.
And, Sara, the votes are coming in. It is neck and neck in North Carolina, and neck and neck in Florida. What are you hearing from the campaign?
SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Well, Jake, as you know, Florida is, of course, always a source of heartburn. But for the Trump campaign their particular angst is not knowing how these independent voters are going to shake out tonight. If they're going to lean in favor of Donald Trump, if they're going the lean if favor of Hillary Clinton.
Now, I've talked to multiple sources who say they really don't have any information about these independent voters. It's been a struggle to get the kind of resources they need in Florida, to get the kind of money that they would need to be able to model this independent electorate. So even though Donald Trump himself has been personally interested in which way these independent voters are leaning, they just don't have any way to tell him. They are waiting to see the results just like we are.
So, flying a little blind tonight on one of their most important states, Jake.
TAPPER: Interesting.
Let's go now to Jeff Zeleny just a few blocks away of campaign headquarters. And, Jeff, the Clinton campaign knows they need Florida. They have
been saying for some time they feel better about Florida than they do about states such as North Carolina, states such as Ohio or an Iowa. What are you hearing from the Clinton team?
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Jake, the number is 29. That is one of the favorite numbers, the most important numbers inside the Clinton war room here at the Javits Center.
And the Clinton campaign is increasingly confident about Florida. The numbers that are coming in and also what they have been seeing on the ground throughout the day. They point to some specific counties across the county. Orange County, Osceola County, Hillsboro County, they believe they are outperforming Obama numbers. Of course, he won the state narrowly. Also, Duval County. They say Donald Trump is not doing as well as Mitt Romney.
This is the view of the Clinton campaign here. But, Jake, the reason she visited, Hillary Clinton, visited Broward County, a key Democratic area, three times in one week was to drive up that Democratic vote. They believe they have done it.
But one senior Clinton advisor I just talked to said the Hispanic numbers are rising through the roof. That is why we'll win Florida -- Jake.
TAPPER: All right. We'll see what actually happens.
Let's go to Wolf Blitzer right now has a key race alert.
BLITZER: We do have a key race alert.
Hillary Clinton has now taken the lead in Florida and North Carolina. Let's look at Florida first, 72 percent of the vote in. That's a big chunk of the vote. Hillary Clinton is now ahead by an impressive almost 172,000 votes other Donald Trump, 49.9 percent and 47.3 percent, 29 votes.
[19:55:07] All the polling in Florida closes at the top of the hour. But 72 percent is in, she's got 171,000 lead right now over Donald Trump.
And look at this, in North Carolina, 28 percent of the vote is in. She's ahead by 21, almost 22,000 votes over Donald Trump right now, 49.7 percent to 48 percent. Donald Trump slightly behind Hillary Clinton in North Carolina. He's also behind in Florida.
Let's go over to John King at the magic wall.
You're looking at North Carolina and Florida right now.
KING: I think we're going to spend a lot of time on that tonight. North Carolina, Florida, Florida, North Carolina, other states matter, too, but especially when you're looking at, does Donald Trump have a path? A comeback path to 270 electoral votes, Florida and North Carolina factor, huge. It's hard, it's almost impossible to get here without Florida. You
can have a variation without North Carolina, but it's a little bit pie in the sky. So, let's look at Florida.
Forty-nine-point-eight to 47.4, significantly the votes come in pretty quick, 72 percent. We'll see how quickly it comes in from here. But when you look at the map, Wolf, not to sound repetitive but this looks a lot like the 2012 map so far. And Hillary Clinton has to be very happy with the margins she's running up down here and the big Democratic strongholds, Palm Beach County, move down, Broward County, she's 70 percent there, Miami-Dade County, 64 percent.
She has to be very happy with this. The question is, you know, the votes total come in, do they match up to what she needs to offset?
Donald Trump is doing what the Republican needs to do, especially areas like this. You pull up Collier County. This is where Naples is. She's running at 61 percent.
Let's go back in time just for a check, 65 percent. So, a little bit under Romney there. We still don't have a lot of the votes here yet. Keep an eye on these things as we go through.
If you come up here, Jeff Zeleny was just talking about the Clinton campaign. These are the swing counties across here. What's their margin in the Tampa area, Hillsboro County. You see ten points right there. You go back in time. Seven points there.
So, she's over-performing the president there. This one has been closer, let's see if it stayed that way. This one has been closer where you have essentially two points there, if you look at it. That went --
BLITZER: Let's look at North Carolina John. All of a sudden in North Carolina she's ahead. She's ahead in North Carolina by a little more than a hundred thousand votes with 36 percent of the vote in?
KING: Thirty-six percent of the vote. But one thing to watch, especially when the lead swings is where the votes come from, right? So, what came in? Mecklenburg County. This is Charlotte. And she's winning huge.
This is why she jumped. When you got a big dump of votes from the Charlotte area, which is a Democratic stronghold, that's her total jump, you watch the votes come in, not that's insignificant. But this is what she needs to do.
So, just shy of 67 percent there. Go back in time, the president was at 61 percent here and he lost, remember, he narrowly lost North Carolina four years ago. So, if you're the Clinton campaign, you love that number and you hope that number stays up.
This is going to go up. This is small percentage of the vote still in one of the largest counties of the state. Now we have our first votes in Wake County, this was empty just a few minutes ago and again, 25 percent in. This is of enormous consequence to Secretary Clinton tonight in the
sense that if she wins this county by that margin, she will win the state of North Carolina.
We're only at 25 percent of the vote. The reason I say that, if you look at that margin there, 20-plus points, back to 2012, the president won by eleven and he lost the state. You go back to 2008, won it by 15.
This is almost 10 percent of the state population. It's an incredibly important for the Democrats. They left the polls open a little longer in Durham County. We still have nothing from Durham and this is a big basket of Democratic votes.
BLITZER: You know, let's go to Ohio quickly, John, because all of a sudden, we're getting some significant numbers coming in from Ohio, and Hillary Clinton is in the lead right now. You see, she's got 53 percent to his 43 percent, 12 percent of the vote in Ohio is now in.
KING: Only 12 percent, if this holds up, it's game over. Republicans don't win the White House without winning the state of Ohio. But again, you always ask the question, where do the votes come from.
And they are coming, Jeff Zeleny just mentioned this a moment ago. They're coming from Franklin County, Columbus. This is a Democratic county. That's a big healthy margin for Secretary Clinton. That is what you want here.
Let's again go back in time, 61 percent for the president four years ago when he won Ohio. A lot of the conversation here this year has even the Clinton campaign conceding in the final weeks that Ohio is one of the toughest for them to hold. They don't count on it. They would love it, but they don't count on it.
So, now, as we're watching what's happening here, one of the things you're going to watch is in the Youngstown area here, this is where Donald Trump has tried to sell, hey, the factories closed. Hey, I'll rip up NAFTA. My trade message.
The Youngstown area like this, she's getting at the moment, it's not a big percentage of the vote in yet, but she's getting 59 percent. Let's go back and check. So, she's running a little below the president there.
So, Wolf, we got a ways to go in Ohio as we watch it fill in. At the moment, the Clinton campaign is happy with what it sees, but we also have nothing yet, absolutely nothing out of Cleveland. So, we'll be counting for a while in Ohio and elsewhere.
BLITZER: You certainly will and we're getting ready for 16 states, 16 states, and the District of Columbia. They're going to be closing. All polling stations right at the top of the hour, including Florida, all the polling stations in Florida will be closed. That is emerging as critically important state. Pennsylvania closing right now.
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