On-air election coverage on American Family Radio is under way. Check it out at AFR.net.
All times are central.
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12:36 a.m.
Our guys are wrapping up their coverage on AFR, and we're wrapping up the live blog here.
We leave you with all signs pointing to Donald Trump in the White House. Wisconsin and Michigan are still counting, and Trump has comfortable leads in both.
Fox News has just called Minnesota for Harris, but Trump is leading in both Nevada and Arizona.
The electoral count at this time is 267-226.
Good night.
12:23 a.m.
CNN is saying Trump will soon address his supporters, Ed says. Many analysts have warned of stall tactics and lawsuits after the election. If Trump closes strong and wins in Wisconsin or Michigan -- He's leading handily in both -- it will strengthen his case against any challenges.
Trump is leading the popular vote too.
"Democrats are going to have to reckon with the fact that America chose Trump," Tim says.
"It shows what a catastrophe the Biden-Harris administration has been," Ed says. "The problems Americans are facing are not just ideological differences. It's the economy, the border and, lurking in the background, the threat of our young men going to war."
12:20 a.m.
Fox News just called Pennsylvania and its 19 votes for Trump. That makes the count 267-216. Trump needs three electoral votes for the win. Alaska and its three votes would make Trump the winner.
12:06 a.m.
The New York Times now gives Trump a 95 percent chance for victory. Commentary on various networks is following the same theme.
Tim puts it in very southern terms for listeners: "Kamala Harris faces a fourth-and-40 and is going to need a Hail Mary."
11:50 p.m.
Fox has called Georgia for Trump and has added its 16 electoral votes to his column. Trump 248, Harris 216.
11:48 p.m.
A spokesperson for the Kamala Harris campaign has told supporters they will not hear from the vice president tonight, Fred says. He believes that could be a “white flag” from the campaign.
11:25 p.m.
While we’re waiting on key battleground states, The New York Times now shows Trump with a 91 percent chance of victory. The newspaper notes that Trump has won North Carolina and will “very likely” win Georgia. “To win, Harris will probably need to sweep Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin – but Trump has an advantage in all three.”
11:13 p.m.
The Georgia secretary of state has announced that "Trump has an insurmountable lead and will carry the state," Walker says.
11:12 p.m.
It's the day after Election Day in the eastern time zone, and we're waiting on Georgia, Pennsylvania and Michigan from there.
10:54 p.m.
Some battleground updates
Fox has called Virginia for Harris giving her 212 electoral votes to Trump’s 232.
Pennsylvania: Trump leads 51.38 to 47.62 with 81.61 percent reporting.
Michigan: Trump leads 51.61 to 46.67.
Wisconsin: Trump leads 51.17 to 47.36 with 73.95 percent reporting.
Minnesota: Harris leads 53.02 to 44.86 with 52.52 reporting.
10:47 p.m.
Ed says if Trump wins he hopes there would not be a “revenge tour” so to speak but an effort to reach out to Democrats to find measure to ensure that resources of government are never again used to silence opposing viewpoints.
“I think the American people are sick and tired of the name-calling,” Ed says.
10:44 p.m.
Fox News just added North Carolina and its 16 votes to the Trump column. That brings his total to 232. Fox still has not called Georgia and shows Trump with a lead of 50.99 percent to Harris’48.29 percent with 91.02 percent reporting.
10:41 p.m.
Republicans have secured control of the Senate with at least 51 seats. That figure could reach 53 or 54, Fred says.
Right now, Republicans have 166 House seats, compared to 117 for Democrats. It takes 218 seats to control the House.
10:27 p.m.
If these leads hold, Trump wins and Republicans hold the Senate and House – they currently lead in both – Democrats are going to have to strongly consider their platform.
“They banked everything on abortion,” Fred said.
“And that’s over. It was important in 2022,” Tim says.
Democrats will also have to admit that Harris was a weak candidate, Fred says.
10:07 p.m.
Fox News has added California (54), Oregon (8) and Washington (12) for Harris, bringing the electoral college count to 216 for Trump, 193 for Harris.
9:48 p.m.
With a Trump presidency hopeful, and Republicans leading for control of the Senate and House, here’s what at stake, Tim says:
“The big picture here is to have our country returned to constitutional governance. Presidential candidates come and go. We have a constitutional republic. That’s the history of the United States, and it’s served us well, but you can lose that to socialism and big-governance philosophies. Trump will hold up the ideas of our founding fathers. He will appoint judges. Kamala Harris will appoint far-left judges and Supreme Court justices. Our children and grandchildren, it will have enormous effects on their lives out into the future.”
9:40 p.m.
Fox has called Iowa and its six votes for Trump. Newsmax has called Georgia for Trump. The Fox total has Trump at 211 electoral votes. Georgia would bring that total to 227.
9:36 p.m.
As Tim and AFR host Alex McFarland express confidence in Trump’s performance, Alex gives a lot of credit to Christians in action.
“We’ve been doing a lot of praying. In Charlotte, First Presbyterian has just had a 24-hour prayer vigil. There are still some God-fearing Americans out there who understand,” Alex says.
9:23 p.m.
Harris has taken the lead in Virginia at 49.41 percent to 48.96 with 66.98 reporting.
9:16 p.m.
Walker says The New York Times is projecting that Trump will win the popular vote. There's a 78 percent chance that will happen, they say.
9:15 p.m.
Some battleground partials
Pennsylvania: Trump leads 50.15 to 48.94 with 50.05 percent reporting.
Wisconsin: Trump leads 50.63 to 47.85 with 41.65 reporting.
Michigan: Harris leads 49.95 to 48.30 with 17.79 percent reporting.
Georgia: Trump leads 51.94 to 47.38 with 82.07 percent reporting.
North Carolina: Trump leads 52.22 to 46.71 with 70.41 percent reporting.
Virginia: Trump leads 49.65 percent to 48.70 with 64.6 percent reporting.
9:02 p.m.
Fox News just called Montana (4 votes) and Utah (6 votes) for Trump, giving him a 205-117 electoral college lead.
8:57 p.m.
Walker is monitoring four different sites for calling races. One, Decision Desk HQ, has called North Carolina for Trump, he says.
Fox shows Trump ahead 52.01 to 46.93 in North Carolina.
In Georgia, Trump is ahead 52.19 to 47.16.
With roughly 38 percent reporting in Pennsylvania, Harris leads 50.35 to 48.74.
“I don’t want to go to midnight or 1 a.m., and they’re wringing their hands over do we get Pennsylvania, or do we lose the whole thing? If I’m the Trump campaign, I wouldn’t be banking on Pennsylvania giving us their final tally tonight,” Walker says.
8:51 p.m.
Looking at the House and Senate, Ellis says she feels good about Republican control of the Senate but is less confident about the House.
8:44 p.m.
Fox News has called New Hampshire, and its four electoral college votes, for Harris. The electoral count is now 195 for Trump, 117 for Harris. It's 270 for the win.
8:43 p.m.
Walker brings up the topic of rhetoric from the Left calling Trump a fascist and Nazi.
“Their demonization of conservatives and Republicans has been pretty effective over the last decade. If Trump wins, is this a blow to their rhetoric,” he asks Jenna Ellis.
“I hope so,” she says. “I really hope this has just been one of these cycles that the Democrats have overplayed their hand in terms of this rhetoric, even to Joe Biden calling Trump supporters garbage.”
It’s different when conservatives call Harris a Marxist because that’s her worldview, Ellis said.
8:27 p.m.
In Texas, Ted Cruz’ Senate race against Democratic challenge Brandon Allred has gained national attention.
Currently, with 62 percent reporting, Cruz leads 51.5 percent to 46.5 percent, according to Real Clear Politics.
That seat has now been called for Cruz, Fred says.
8:22 p.m.
Regarding Georgia, Ed notes, Atlanta is usually the last to report its votes.
"I expect it to tighten quite a bit," he said.
8:18 p.m.
While Florida is a big win, abortion is also on the ballot in Arizona, Colorado, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New York, Nevada and South Dakota.
8:16 p.m.
Currently, Fox shows Trump leading in North Carolina 51.96 percent to 47.03 percent with almost 42 percent of precincts reporting.
Georgia has Trump leading 52.66 to 46.73 with 69.2 percent reporting.
8:13 p.m.
Harris has an early lead of 60-38 with less than 20 percent reporting. Harris is up 52-45 in Michigan with just 10 percent reporting. We’re not seeing county-by-count numbers in those states.
Associated Press has called Ohio and it's 17 electoral votes for Trump.
8:06 p.m.
Fox News has called Texas, Louisiana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming and Kansas for Trump. Colorado and New York have been called for Harris. The electoral count is 178-113, Trump. It's 270 for the win.
8:01 p.m.
Whatever happens this evening, the final count is not likely to be a landslide for Trump, Walker says.
“The Trump campaign, some of their surrogates have been saying landslide, landslide. Some of the Left has been saying landslide for Harris. I don’t think we’re going to see a landslide. We’re still a divided nation.”
Sometimes division changes when people start paying bills, Fred says.
“When you start having to pay for groceries you start scratching your head and say, ‘Why is my grocery bill up 20 percent?’ People start asking, ‘Why doesn’t the government do something about this.”
This is why the Biden administration has worked so hard to forgive student loans.
“They think they’re investing in voters, but what those young people don’t realize is, later on you’ll pay for this. I think that perhaps some of the ingredient going into the cake tonight.”
Walker notes research that says that average age for a homeowner in the U.S. is 56.
“That’s terrible. You’ve got young people who can’t get into their first homes.”
7:46 p.m.
The DeSantis pushback against efforts from the Left is a big deal.
Rios, a Florida resident and longtime AFR host, says the governor's success is grounded in his skill as a communicator.
DeSantis laid out his case against the Amendments, outlining weaknesses in their attempted reach and in how they were written.
He made his last appeal to Floridians on American Family Radio with Jenna Ellis on Monday.
DeSantis doesn't beat an issue to death.
"He doesn’t belabor it, he’s just very good at explaining. And he’s fearless. He doesn’t care what people think. He persuades in a way that people understand," Rios said.
In Florida, both of these amendments required a 60 percent threshold to win. That wasn't the case in some other states abortion was written into constitutions with only a 50 percent standard necessary.
7:39 p.m.
As the night rolls on, Sandy Rios is optimistic but cautious.
“I really don’t want to get excited. It’s early. We felt optimistic in 2020, and we had the rug pulled out from under us,” she said.
Her optimism comes in part, though, from what she sees as successful election integrity efforts by Republicans.
“We’ve seen several things happen in the last weeks and even today where there was some monkey business going on,” she said. “There’s been a remedy for a lot of these things.”
Today, voting centers were shut down in Georgia amid claims of a bomb threat by the Russians. There was pushback against those claims, and now those precincts are staying open later.
7:26 p.m.
Walker says Trump is up about 300,000 votes in Georgia, though the state has not been called. Trump is up seven points in Baldwin County, Georgia, a state Biden won four years ago.
7:22 p.m.
Tim says, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has just posted on X that Amendment 3 (legalization of marijuana) has failed, and Amendment 4 (unrestricted taxpayer-funded abortion) has also failed.
"Ron DeSantis went to the mat for the pro-life community in his home state of Florida, and he won tonight," Tim says.
The failure of Amendment 4 keeps Florida's abortion ban after six weeks on the books.
Since the fall of Roe v. Wade in 2022 the plan for the pro-abortion crowd has been to work to enshrine it in state constitutions, and they've had a good measure of success.
In addition to advancing their cause, Amendment 4 was seen as a way of weakening DeSantis in a state he's helped become very conservative.
7:19 p.m.
The electoral college currently has Trump leading 105-72. That is expected to tighten considerably when New York is called for Harris with its 28 votes.
7:16 p.m.
Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito would like to retire from the Supreme Court, Tim notes. That could happen within a year if Trump wins.
“Clarence Thomas is in his mid-70s. He’d like to go to the house, but he doesn’t want to do that with a Democrat president,” Tim said.
In terms of the makeup of the Supreme Court, GOP control of the Senate is just as important as Trump in the White House.
7:10 p.m.
While a lot of states have been called for Trump early, this was all expected.
"There are not going to be a lot of surprises … except those battleground states," Ed notes.
North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Ohio have not been called.
If Trump is to have the night many expect, the rural turnout has to be strong.
"It's been said that Pennsylvania is Pittsburgh and Philadelphia with Alabama in the middle," Ed said.
7:04 p.m.
Fox News has now called Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi, Missouri and Oklahoma for Trump, Illinois for Harris. The count is now 105-72 for Trump.
North Carolina and Georgia, each with 16 electoral votes, are still too close to call, Fox reports.
6:57 p.m.
Fox News has called South Carolina for Trump. None of the biggest states have been called, but the electoral college count is now 32-3. Polls close in Pennsylvania and a number of others in a couple of minutes. Many analysts do not expect vote totals from from Pennsylvania anytime soon.
6:51 p.m.
Donald Trump has carried a great deal of momentum into Election Day.
There’s a good reason for that, Tim says: the Trump indictment by Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg.
“He wasn’t the only reason, but Alvin Bragg, he drove down to Mar-a-lago from New York, and delivered a big 'ol can of rocket fuel to the campaign. When Trump got indicted the left DeSantis in his dust. (Bragg) turned Donald Trump from a pariah to a sympathetic figure.”
If Trump wins he should give Bragg a thank-you phone call, Tim says.
6:47 p.m.
It’s a different election landscape for the GOP because of work done in some key states.
“Florida, North Carolina and Ohio are not pretty red states. We’ll see what plays out with North Carolina, but Trump’s won it twice,” Walker notes.
Those three give a feeling of confidence that was absent in years past.
“Republicans go into Election Night in a better position than they did, six, eight or 10 years ago,” Walker said.
6:41 p.m.
The current electoral college count with Kentucky, Indiana, West Virginia (Trump) and Vermont (Harris) called is 23-3 in favor of Trump.
Trump is carrying a 10-point lead in Florida right now without reporting from the conservative Panhandle section of the state.
6:38 p.m.
Fox News has called the West Virginia Senate race for Gov. Jim Justice over Glenn Elliott, the Democrat. Justice was considered the heavy favorite.
“It’s taking Joe Manchin’s Senate seat and flipping it from Democrat to Republican. That’s a really big deal more broadly to the judiciary being in charge with the Republicans,” said Abe, shortly after joining the show.
There are other Senate elections in play, but if Republicans pick up no other seats this single result puts the Senate in GOP control.
6:33 p.m.
Fox News has called West Virginia for Trump.
6:30 p.m.
One of the reasons the Red Wave didn’t happen in the 2022 mid-terms is the fact that the president was not on the ballot, many have said.
It seems likely Republicans will gain control of the Senate but could lose the House, some polls show.
The Texas Senate race between Ted Cruz and Democrat challenge Brandon Allred has been called a toss-up by Real Clear Politics.
“We know that’s not going to be a toss-up,” Walker said.
“But I’ll say this. That’s uncomfortably close,” Ed said.
Cruz told Fox’s Sean Hannity recently that he’s not receiving Republican cash because of outgoing Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
“The Senate Republicans have given him zero dollars yet they’ve been funding a former Republican governor in Maryland who has zero shot,” Walker said.
6:26 p.m.
Walker shared coverage from CNN and others that said 70 percent of voters in exit polls were dissatisfied with the direction of the country.
“Fresh on peoples’ minds is the last four years. Trump kept asking at his rallies, ‘Are you better off than you were four years ago?’ That’s been very effective,” Fred said.
6:22 p.m.
While early voting numbers have excited a lot of Republicans, the fact remains that GOP voters -- hopefully -- also performed well today on Election Day, Walker notes.
6:18 p.m.
Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council has joined the show.
Early trends are positive for Republicans, he says, not only in how people are voting but where they live.
“The fact that we’ve had over 80 million votes cast, over 50 percent of what was cast in total in 2020. What we’re seeing in these trends is Republicans early voted this time in higher numbers in many cases than the Democrats. What we’ve also seen is lower turnout in the urban areas in some swing states and higher turnout in the rural areas. So the trends bode well for Republicans.”
6:13 p.m.
Fox has called Indiana and Kentucky for Trump, Vermont for Harris.
More than 84 million ballots were cast early, Fred noted.
6:10 p.m.
Ed Vitagliano opened the coverage with this commentary.
“The Bible is filled with warnings against corrupt governments. It’s also filled with judging unbelieving nations that were not in covenant with God. He would at times reach out to them as he did sending Jonah. Whatever happens tonight folks, everyone here in this studio is praying for righteousness to prevail and our nation to return to God. We need to remember that prayer still works, and God will continue to call America back to Himself. We need to be hopeful, not despairing, with whatever happens tonight.”
5:25 p.m.
Some final poll averages from RealClearPolling.com:
General Election -- Harris 48.7, Trump 48.6
Electoral College – Trump 219, Harris 211, Toss-ups 108
Key Battleground States – Arizona, Trump 2.8; Nevada, Trump 0.6; Wisconsin, Harris 0.4; Michigan, Harris 0.5; Pennsylvania, Trump 0.4; North Carolina, Trump 1.2; Georgia, Trump 1.3.
