On a night with thousands of data points bombarding viewers’ screens, it can be difficult to piece together a clear picture of the overall results. That’s why we compiled an hour-by-hour blueprint to help you follow along with what we’re watching, and hopefully gain some valuable insight into national trends even before many votes get counted.
Barring an unforeseen landslide for either candidate, a clear outcome in the presidential race is unlikely to emerge before midnight. Georgia and North Carolina are the likeliest to provide calls before then, since they close their polls in the 7 p.m. EST hour and typically count their votes quickly. The other five presidential Toss Up states — Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — either close later in the night or have laws that tend to lengthen their tabulation process. Information in those states may not become fully apparent until Wednesday morning, particularly if mail-in votes are counted at separate times than those cast in-person.
Calls in the battleground Senate races may slightly precede calls in the presidential race, since most polls indicate that
Subscribe Today
Our subscribers have first access to individual race pages for each House, Senate and Governors race, which will include race ratings (each race is rated on a seven-point scale) and a narrative analysis pertaining to that race.