Live: Donald Trump speaks as he nears US presidential victory

Republican Donald Trump is on track to return to the White House in the US presidential race against rival Vice President Kamala Harris.

The Associated Press news agency said earlier this morning that Kamala
Harris cannot lose Pennsylvania and reach 270 electoral votes, so with the state being called for Donald Trump, his path to the presidency looks clear.

Here’s all the latest:

7.38am

“America has given us an unprecedented and powerful mandate,” Mr Trump said as he hailed Republican victory in the Senate.

7.38am

Walking up to the stage at 2.25am local time to a raucous ovation as God Bless The USA by Lee Greenwood was played, the former president told the crowd: “This is a movement like nobody’s ever seen before, and frankly this was I believe the greatest political movement of all time. There’s never been anything like this in this country and maybe beyond.

“And now it’s going to reach a new level of importance because we’re going to help our country heal… we have a country that needs help and it needs help very badly. And we’re going to fix our borders. We’re going to fix everything about our country.

“We made history for a reason tonight and the reason is that it’s going to be just that. We overcame obstacles that nobody thought possible and it is now clear that we’ve achieved the most incredible political thing. Look what happened. Is this crazy?”

7.35am

Mr Trump has claimed he has won a “magnificent victory for the American people” in the US election, and said he will “help our country heal”.

7.30am

Mr Trump is addressing supporters in West Palm Beach, Florida, surrounded on stage by his family.

7.26am

Donald Trump has won the key swing state of Pennsylvania.

7.08am

Republican Monica De La Cruz of Texas has won re-election as her party showed growing strength along the US-Mexico border.

7.05am

7am

6.58am

John Curtis will succeed Mitt Romney in the US Senate after the Republican breezed to victory over his Democratic opponent Caroline Gleich in deeply red Utah.

6.53am

Donald Trump has won the 2nd Congressional District in Maine and one electoral vote.

6.45am

6.39am

A gathering of Democratic Party supporters at a London bar has largely emptied out after they watched Donald Trump maintain his lead in the US presidential election results.

Many of those at the Democrats Abroad UK event looked despondent, with some appearing close to tears as Ms Harris’s prospects of victory narrowed.

Few people who left the event on Tuesday night had returned early on Wednesday morning.

David Mulholland, 53, told the PA news agency: “It’s not looking good.”

Mr Mulholland, who is from New Orleans, added: “Especially with the guy who’s basically been given a green light by the Supreme Court to be a dictator.”

6.30am

6.20am

A UK-based Democrat at a London gathering of party supporters said the night has “got worse and worse” for Kamala Harris.

Jill Turetzky, who votes in South Carolina, told the PA news agency: “I showed up today really excited. I was just watching everything that Kamala’s done, I’d read her autobiography – I love her.

“And it started going wrong and got worse and worse. There are still some states and it is still possible, but it’s very, very unlikely.”

Ms Turetzky, 55, said she was “sad” about how the election night had unfolded.

She added: “You can look around the room, there were more than 400 to start and now so many people have gone.”

6.17am

Kamala Harris has won New Hampshire.

6.03am

Donald Trump has won the 1st Congressional District in Nebraska and one electoral vote.

6am

Donald Trump has won the swing state of Georgia.

5.56am

5.51am

A Harris adviser has said the vice president will not speak on election night and that the campaign believes ‘we still have votes to count’.

5.47am

5.45am

Voters have elected two black women to serve simultaneously in the US Senate for the first time. Delaware’s Lisa Blunt Rochester and Maryland’s Angela Alsobrooks prevailed in their races, doubling the number of black women ever elected to the Senate – from two to four.

5.41am

Donald Trump is reported to be heading from his Florida estate to his election watch party in Palm Beach.

5.37am

5.30am

5.22am

Abortion rights advocates lost on a Florida ballot measure but prevailed in four other states, including Missouri, where an amendment clears the way to undo one of the nation’s strictest bans.

5.10am

Kamala Harris has won the 2nd Congressional District in Nebraska and one electoral vote.

5.08am

The Republicans have won a US Senate majority, seizing control of the chamber for the first time in four years.

5.05am

Democrat Nancy Pelosi has won re-election to the US House of Representatives in California’s 11th Congressional District.

5.02am

Kamala Harris has won Hawaii.

4.57am

4.50am

Democratic senator Amy Klobuchar has won a fourth term, defeating anti-establishment Republican and former NBA player Royce White in Minnesota.

4.49am

4.44am

Republican Lauren Boebert has won election to the US House of Representatives in Colorado’s 4th Congressional District.

4.43am

Kamala Harris has won the state of Virginia.

4.42am

Republican Ted Cruz has won re-election to US Senate from Texas. Republicans are one seat away from a Senate majority after flipping a critical seat in Ohio and holding the seat in Texas.

4.39am

4.35am

Kamala Harris has won the state of New Mexico.

4.30am

Republican Bernie Moreno has won election to US Senate from Ohio, beating incumbent Sherrod Brown.

4.24am

Kamala Harris has won Oregon.

4.23am

Donald Trump has won in the swing state of North Carolina.

4.10am

Crucial battleground states including Georgia, Pennsylvania and North Carolina are yet to be called, and could tip the balance in the contest to be the next US president.

4.05am

A bar hosting Democratic Party supporters in London went virtually silent as a television network showed Donald Trump narrowly ahead in swing states.

Some UK-based Democrats held their head in their hands as concern spread that Kamala Harris is not doing well enough in the vital battleground states.

There were shouts of “No, that can’t be right” as projections on CNN showed Mr Trump strongly ahead among Latino voters in Michigan.

4am

A spokesperson for Republicans Abroad has said Democrats are on course for a “shellacking” and that Kamala Harris’ path to victory is “getting narrower and narrower”.

Sara Elliot told Times Radio: “I think that we will probably know the winner before 6am London time tonight. It does not look like it’s going to be close at all.

“New York Times has just predicted that Donald Trump will win the popular vote in addition to the electoral college. And he looks slated to win not only the Sun Belt, but the Blue Wall as well. This is what we would call in America a shellacking, a thumping.

“It is definitely not what we expected in some ways, being that the polls were as close as they are.”

She continued: “Her just path to victory is getting narrower and narrower, and it doesn’t look possible. So this is a real realignment for the Republican Party, because this is a very unique coalition that has crossed the finish line, or appears to be crossing the finish line. But it is also a new day in America.

“You know, 70% of Americans felt that the country was on the wrong track. The main issues in this campaign have been the economy and immigration. And those are the issues that Donald Trump polls much better than Kamala Harris.

“And again, there is a huge gender gap in this election campaign. Male vote is coming out for Donald Trump and the female vote coming out for Kamala Harris.”

4am

Democrat Sarah McBride has been elected to the US House of Representatives and will become the first openly transgender person to serve in Congress. Ms McBride easily defeated Republican John Whalen III in the race for Delaware’s lone House seat.