US election 2024: The key moments of the night so far

As the UK wakes up, Donald Trump has declared victory in this year's US election.

The result has not yet been confirmed, but his success in key battleground states, including Pennsylvania, means victory appears to be certain.

Follow live: Trump declares 'magnificent victory'

While Mr Trump headed to Palm Beach to address his supporters, aides for his Democratic presidential rival Kamala Harris said she would not be speaking tonight.

As the world waits for the result of the US election to be confirmed, these are the key moments of polling night so far.

Trump declares victory

Mr Trump, who was previously president between 2017 and 2021, gave a victory speech to a crowd of jubilant supporters in Florida - despite votes in key states still being counted.

However, at the time of the speech Trump had won the key battleground states of Georgia, Pennsylvania and North Carolina and was leading in several others.

The 78-year-old told a huge crowd of supporters that "this will truly be the golden age of America".

"We're going to help our country heal, we have a country that needs help and it needs help very badly," he said while doubling down on his promise to crack down on illegal immigration.

Ms Harris, the current vice president, had been scheduled to make a speech at Howard University but the mood among her supporters grew sombre as the night went on.

Cedric Richmond, co-chair of the Harris campaign, said she will now not address her supporters until later on Wednesday.

Trump takes first three swing states

The first key result came at around 11.30pm EST (4.30am UK) - a projected win for Mr Trump in North Carolina.

Republicans have won the battleground state for the last three elections - but always by a small margin.

An hour later Mr Trump secured another projected swing state victory in Georgia.

It's typically a Republican state, but President Joe Biden became the first Democrat to win it since Bill Clinton's win there in 1992.

Just after 2am local time (7am UK), Mr Trump took Pennsylvania, according to NBC projection data, the most valuable of the swing states in terms of Electoral College votes.

Republicans projected to win the Senate

Minutes after the Republicans' projected win in Georgia, it was announced they were also set to take control of the Senate.

NBC forecast that the GOP will take 51 seats to the Democrats' 40.

The fate of the House of Representatives is still undecided, but if Mr Trump wins the White House and both houses of Congress - he would be able to pass laws far more easily.

'Russian' bomb threats close polling stations

Polling stations in several of the seven battleground states were subject to bomb threats throughout Tuesday.

The security threats, which were all confirmed "non-credible" by the FBI, briefly stopped people from voting in Fulton County and DeKalb County, Georgia.

There were also hoaxes in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Arizona, but voting was not impacted there.

Two counties in North Carolina reported brief polling station closures due to computer and printer issues.

Both Georgia and North Carolina said they would have to extend voting hours as a result - but ultimately the official statewide polls closed on time - with some allowed to continue voting beyond the deadline.

Brad Raffensperger, Georgia's secretary of state, claimed the fake bomb threats had come from Russian IP addresses.

"They're up to mischief, it seems. They don't want us to have a smooth, fair and accurate election, and if they can get us to fight among ourselves, they can count that as a victory," he said.

A spokesperson for the Russian embassy in Washington described claims of interference as "malicious slander", adding: "As President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly stressed, we respect the will of the American people."

Russia has been accused of interfering in other recent US elections, particularly the 2016 race that saw Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton.

Read more
What are the seven battleground states?
When will we know who's won?
The experts' views from key states

Internet claims a 'fake Melania' voted alongside Trump

When footage emerged on social media of Melania Trump voting alongside Mr Trump in Florida it was met with conspiracy theories it was not actually her.

Mr and Mrs Trump cast their ballots at Mandel Recreation Center in Palm Beach late on Tuesday afternoon.

But people online claimed it was a "fake Melania", questioning her appearance and speculating that Mr Trump had used a body double instead.

One post on X, which garnered thousands of views, captioned a clip of the former first lady: "That's not Melania. This is insane."

Sky News analysed the video and compared it with photos taken of Mrs Trump by the Reuters news agency - which show her by her husband's side at the same precinct - proving that it was her.

It's not the first time 'fake Melania' has trended online. Mrs Trump's rare appearances on this year's campaign trail - in stark contrast to the 2016 and 2020 races - sparked speculation the former president was using a lookalike to stand in for his wife at previous events.

Mrs Trump introduced her husband and X founder Elon Musk on stage at his rally at Madison Square Gardens late last month - and is reported to have taken part in private fundraisers, including one at Trump Tower in New York.

Florida fails to guarantee abortions - but other states succeed

A bid to guarantee abortion rights in Florida's constitution failed to get enough votes.

The proposal on the ballot would have allowed women to terminate pregnancies up to 24 weeks. Currently, the law only allows them up to six weeks - before most women know they are pregnant.

It's a victory for Republican Governor Ron DeSantis who has campaigned heavily against 'Amendment 4' with state-funded TV adverts and threats of criminal charges for TV channels that aired ads supporting it.

The amendment won majority support - but ultimately failed to get the 60% needed for it to become state law.

Abortion was on the ballot in 10 states after the Supreme Court voted to overturn Roe v Wade in 2022.

In contrast to Florida, Arizona has voted to change its abortion restrictions from 15 weeks to 24 weeks, according to NBC projections.

Democrat-safe states Colorado and New York were among those that voted to protect reproductive rights, NBC projected.

In New York, the constitution will now guarantee that people can't be denied their rights based on "pregnancy outcomes" as well as race, religion, and other protected characteristics.

In Colorado, reproductive rights will become part of the state constitution - barring state authorities from trying to impose a local ban - and the current constitutional ban against public-funded abortions will be lifted.

According to an NBC exit poll, only 14% of voters ranked abortion as the most important issue of the election overall - compared to 35% who said democracy.

Trump claims 'massive cheating' in Philadelphia

Donald Trump made more false claims of election fraud, saying there was "talk of massive cheating in Philadelphia" before polls closed there on Tuesday evening.

He said there was "law enforcement coming!" to investigate his claims in the Pennsylvania city - but there was no evidence of this.

Twenty minutes later he posted again on his Truth Social media platform that police were also out investigating electoral fraud claims in Detroit, Michigan.

The state's district attorney Larry Krasner said there was "no factual basis in these allegations".

"If Donald J. Trump has any facts to support his wild allegations, we want them now. Right now. We are not holding our breath," he wrote on X.

Both Pennsylvania and Michigan are among the seven battleground states that historically decide who wins the White House.

Mr Trump filed more than 60 lawsuits over claims of voter fraud in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, and Washington DC in 2020.

(c) Sky News 2024: US election 2024: The key moments of the night so far