Trump, Clinton in tight race

Democrat candidate hopeful as results from 15 states are awaited
Early results of the United States presidential election – as at 5:05am – gave Republican Donald Trump an unexpected surge – against the grain of all projections. But Democrat Hilary Clinton supporters remained confident of clinching a close race.
The balance of political power is teetering on a knife-edge as a handful of swing states will determine the final outcome.
As at 5:05 am, with results of 35 of the 50 states projected, Trump had secured 201 Electoral College votes to Clinton’s 190. The winning figure is 270.
The Republican won Ohio and Florida, two battle ground states.
Clinton won in California, the state with 55 electoral college votes.
A half-dozen ‘swing’ states, those that don’t reliably lean Republican or Democrat, were undecided as vote tallies went on. Key battles were unfolding in Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania – with Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia also up in the air.
Trump will need to win at least four of those six states to have a plausible path to the White House.
Cheers rang out at the Trump victory party inside a Manhattan hotel ballroom every time Florida updates flashed on giant screens. Yet a senior Trump campaign official admitted to CNN as the results poured in: “It will take a miracle for us to win.” Florida was the deciding state in the 2000 election between George W. Bush and Al Gore.
A major recount dispute meant that the result was not known for more than a month after balloting.
Initial results gave Clinton victories in Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont, Virginia and the District of Columbia. Trump claimed wins in Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina, , Tennessee and West Virginia. Results in the states gave Trump an electoral college lead of 129-97.
With preliminary election results flooding in on the east coast, the Republicans have been projected to retain control of the House of Representatives.
The news, while not unexpected, confirms that this will not be a wave election for the Democrats. The balance of the Senate also leads towards the GOP after one key challenger, Evan Bayh, lost a race to reclaim his Indiana Senate seat.
What isn’t clear is the margin that Republicans will have in the House. Pre-election projections by UVA’s Center for Politics suggested that Democrats would gain at least thirteen seats in the House, leaving the Republicans with just a 33 seat margin instead of their current 49 seat advantage.
The news suggests that regardless of the result in the presidential election, we can expect gridlock in a legislature where neither party will hold an overwhelming advantage over the other.
Even the likely future of Speaker of the House Paul Ryan is on the line. While his party controlling the House would normally guarantee him reelection, concerns with his waffling support of Donald Trump could cost him support among his caucus. If Democrats pick off Republicans in more moderate districts who are likely to back Ryan, it could make the House Republican caucus more conservative and deliver a new Speaker more in line with Trump—especially if the New York developer wins the White House.
As at 4am the Republican had 118 House seats to Democrats’ 86.
In the Senate race, it was 42 for Republicans and 41 for Democrats.
In the governor’s election Democrats won 12 states while the Republicans had gained 29 states.
#The Nation