Black day for Democrats The five most important facts from election night

The USA has voted. Donald Trump leads, Kamala Harris needs a minor miracle. All developments at a glance.

Millions of voters have cast their ballots. Now the first election results are coming in. blue News provides you with an overview of the night's events.

This article is updated regularly. This version is from 8 am.

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Both former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris have been declared the winner in the secured states. So far, there have been no surprises.

States for Trump include Florida, Texas and South Carolina. Harris has won the expected Democratic strongholds such as California and New York.

A candidate must win the majority of the 538 electoral votes - i.e. 270 - to win the election.

All results in the US showdownThis is the current state of play in the crucial swing states

The polls are now closed in all seven decisive swing states. It is already clear that Trump has won North Carolina, Georgia and Pennsylvania. Trump is also ahead in other swing states. There is practically no hope left for Harris.

Realistically, no. Harris would now have to win almost all the remaining states - including Republican strongholds such as Alaska - to turn the result around. In fact, the race for the presidency is over.

In addition to the president, the elections will decide the majorities in the US Congress. All 435 seats in the House of Representatives and 34 of the 100 Senate seats are up for election.

Senator Joe Manchin, who votes Democratic and has no party affiliation, has already lost his seat to Republican Jim Justice. Republican candidate Bernie Moreno has also won one of the Senate seats for the state of Ohio. He defeated the Democratic incumbent Sherrod Brown, as reported by the AP news agency on the basis of voter surveys and initial vote counts.

The loss of Brown's seat is a major setback for the Democrats. The Republicans achieved the decisive breakthrough in the Senate shortly after midnight (local time) with the victory of Senator Deb Fischer from Nebraska, who defended her seat against the independent challenger Dan Osborn. They scored another important victory in the race for a Senate seat in Ohio, where Bernie Moreno defeated Democratic incumbent Sherrod Brown. Early on election night, the Republicans were also able to win a Senate seat for West Virginia, laying a solid foundation for taking back the chamber.

Sarah McBride is the first openly trans person to be elected to the US Senate. The 34-year-old Democrat, who is currently a member of the Delaware State Senate, easily beat Republican John Whalen on Tuesday (local time).

She has already made a name for herself as an LGBTQ activist and raised more than three million dollars in campaign donations from across the country. McBride also caused a sensation in 2016 with her appearance at the Democratic Party conference. She was the first openly trans person to give a speech at a major party convention.

There have been no riots or similar incidents so far. In some states, including Pennsylvania and Georgia in particular, there have been bomb threats against polling stations, according to the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Many of these threats "appeared to originate from Russian email domains", explained FBI spokeswoman Savannah Syms.

So far, however, none of these threats have proven to be credible, she added. The public should "remain vigilant". According to police in Georgia, more than 30 polling stations were affected, some of which were briefly closed to ensure that no explosives were planted there.

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