BREAKING: Trump wins North Carolina

With 16 electoral votes, North Carolina has been called a win for former President Donald Trump. It was called by 9:30 pm, which is substantially earlier than expectations, by Decision Desk. North Carolina was a state that both campaigns sought to win, but in the final days of the campaign season, Kamala Harris' campaign pulled ad dollars out of the state to focus on other areas of the country.

With 55% of the votes reporting in, Decision Desk called the race in the state for Trump with 51.1% of the tallied votes. Harris had 47.8% at the time it was called. 

In 2020, Trump won with 49.93% of the vote to Biden's 48.59%. There were concerns this year that voting would be difficult in the state due to Hurricane Helene, which devastated the western part of the state, killing many residents and laying waste to homes and towns.

At time of writing, Trump is favored to win in many of the election trackers, including from The New York Times. Including North Carolina, Trump currently holds 242 of the 270 electoral votes he needs to secure the win, per Decision Desk. 

Results in other battleground states are still too early to call, though polls have closed. Many states said that they do not anticipate having their votes fully tallied until well after Election Day.