Kamala Harris makes history as first woman of color elected US vice-president

California senator, who is of Indian and Jamaican heritage, will be first elected woman in White House

Kamala Harris has become vice-president-elect of the US, the first time in history that a woman, and a woman of color, has been elected to such a position in the White House.

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Biden: ‘We’re going to win this race’ as election count puts him on the cusp of victory – video

Presidential hopeful Joe Biden has said 'we're going to win this race' as crucial states trend in his favour as vote counting in the US election continues. Biden, who stands on the cusp of victory, said late on Friday he was on track to claim 300 electoral votes. The former vice-president has already urged unity during the count after Donald Trump moved to sow doubt about the election process without presenting any evidence. 'We may be opponents, but we're not enemies,' Biden said. 'We're Americans'

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‘Democracy works’: Biden addresses nation as vote count shows him on brink of victory – live

A campaign aide has also tested positive, Bloomberg reports. CNN and NBC have also confirmed the Meadows has contracted Covid-19.

Worth noting that Mark Meadows was at the election night party at the White House Tuesday that hundreds of people attended. Officials said everyone would be tested beforehand.

Mark Meadows has tested positive for coronavirus, according to reporters from Bloomberg news.

BREAKING: Trump's chief of staff, Mark Meadows, has the coronavirus. Meadows informed a close circle of advisers after the election.

Story by me, @tylerpager and @MarioDParker out soon.

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US election 2020: will Donald Trump accept the result?

Joe Biden was still leading Donald Trump in the tense race to the critical 270 electoral votes as counting continued in key states. Jonathan Freedland describes an election that has provided one clear message: the US remains divided

Joe Biden is tantalisingly close to securing the presidency, as votes continue to be counted in key states after an election with a record turnout and record numbers of postal votes. Donald Trump, watching his grip on the presidency being eroded, has threatened legal action, recounts, and even a halt to all ballot counting.

The Guardian’s Jonathan Freedland tells Rachel Humphreys that the president set the tone for a disputed election result with an extraordinary statement in the White House on election night, and has continued to question the legitimacy of the process.

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US election 2020 live: Biden wins Michigan in vital step towards presidency as Trump tries to challenge results

With more votes in populous, Democratic counties left to be counted, Donald Trump’s lead in Georgia has shrunk to 47,000 votes.

Hi there, it’s Maanvi Singh – reporting from the West Coast.

The Trump campaign has filed a lawsuit seeking to pause vote count in Georgia, the AP reports, as officials continue counting tens of thousands of ballots in the state.

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Joe Biden: ‘When the count is finished, we believe we will be the winner’ – video

Joe Biden expressed confidence in his victory in the presidential election, he stressed he was not ‘declaring’ victory but said it was ‘clear’ he would hit the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency.

On the election results, Biden emphasised all votes should be counted and he characterised his potential win as non-partisan, calling once again for unity in the US

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Democracy in Trumpland: I won because I say so | Ed Pilkington

While the president indulged his victory fantasy, Democrats had a night of part hope, part soul-searching

It was the grand, carefully choreographed victory speech that Donald Trump never got to make in 2016. Hail to the Chief was playing in the background as the president took to the stage around 2am, a phalanx of Stars and Stripes at his back and in front of him a maskless crowd of progeny and devotees screaming “We love you!”

In 2016 Trump was so stunned by his own unexpected triumph that he looked quite taken aback. His victory speech was written in such a hurry it contained profuse praise for Hillary Clinton, the woman who had been subjected to chants of “lock her up”.

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Faith v fraud: Biden and Trump react during the US election count – video

With the US presidential election count still too close to call, Joe Biden said he was optimistic about the outcome and that it the race was not over until every vote had been counted. Meanwhile, Donald Trump falsely claimed he had already won and spoke of a fraud against the American public

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Mark Kelly on Senate win in Arizona: ‘Tonight is about getting to work’ – video

Mark Kelly, the Democrat and former astronaut, focused on bipartisanship in a speech shortly before he was declared the winner of the Senate race in Arizona. 'I’m confident that when all the votes are counted, we’re going to be successful in this mission,’ Kelly told supporters. ‘The work starts now.’

The retired US navy captain, who ran his campaign by playing up his outsider status in politics, said: 'Our state doesn't need a Democrat senator or a Republican senator. We need an Arizona senator. There is nothing we can't achieve if we work together'

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US election 2020 live: Trump and Biden pick up wins as votes counted in Florida

The AP has confirmed that Senator John Cornyn has won another Senate term in Texas, defeating Democratic candidate MJ Hegar.

BREAKING: Republican John Cornyn wins reelection to U.S. Senate from Texas. #APracecall at 9:06 p.m. CST. #Election2020 #TXelection https://t.co/lGfinjTqT4

Donald Trump has won Kansas and its 6 electoral votes, the AP just announced.

BREAKING: Donald Trump wins Kansas. #APracecall at 9:00 p.m. CST. #Election2020

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Which swing states could decide the US election? – video explainer

Joe Biden is leading ​Donald Trump in the national polls for the presidential election, but that doesn’t guarantee ​the Democratic candidate victory. Hillary Clinton also had a clear lead over Trump in the polls for almost the entire 2016 campaign and ended up losing in the electoral college.

​Because the presidential ​voting system assigns each state a number of electoral college votes, which​ go to the state’s victor regardless of the​ margin of victory (with the exception of Nebraska and Maine), a handful of swing states will ​probably decide the election and be targeted heavily by campaigners.

The Guardian’s Lauren Gambino examines how the race is developing in the areas that could decide the election

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Trump has gone a long way toward hindering democracy in other countries

The president has questioned American democracy for four years, creating challenges abroad

The last time a Republican won the popular vote for president, the winning candidate declared that the spread of democracy was central to American security.

“It is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world,” said George W Bush in his second inaugural address in 2005.

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Joe Biden: from a campaign that almost collapsed to fighting Trump for the presidency

The former vice-president lost the first three primaries but victory in South Carolina set him up as the alternative – and antithesis – to Trump

Just days before one of the most extraordinary presidential elections in US history, the Democratic nominee, Joe Biden, finds himself flush with cash, polling ahead of Donald Trump in state and national polls, and on a bold last-minute campaign offensive in parts of the country his Republican opponent won in 2016, and would usually be able to depend on for support.

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Trump falsely claims at Michigan rally ‘our doctors get more money if someone dies of Covid’ – live

In several of his rallies this week, Donald Trump has accused the media of focusing on the coronavirus crisis only for political purposes, in order to damage him.

Barack Obama has trolled him for it in rallies in Florida, where the former president warned that America could not afford four more years of Trump and needed to put Joe Biden into the White House next week.

A federal judge this afternoon ordered the US Postal Service (USPS) to adopt “extraordinary measures” at some processing locations to ensure the timely delivery of millions of ballots before Tuesday’s presidential election.

US district judge Emmet Sullivan said he was ordering the measures in places where election mail processing scores for completed ballots returned by voters were below 90% for at least two days from October 26-28.

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The polls point to a Biden victory but can they be trusted this time?

Although polling averages gave Clinton the edge over Trump in 2016 there are significant differences in the evidence today

For months, activists and Democratic party officials have been telling Joe Biden supporters that the only answer to the question “can we trust the polls?” is to go out and vote for Biden, and then get others to do the same.

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If Biden wins what would the first 100 days of his presidency look like?

If he succeeds in defeating Trump, the Democrat will have to urgently tackle the pandemic and rebuild global relationships

If Joe Biden wins the 2020 US election against Donald Trump next week, the new president-elect will face enormous pressures to implement a laundry list of priorities on a range of issues from foreign policy to the climate crisis, reversing many of the stark changes implemented by his predecessor.

Related: From climate to China, how Joe Biden is plotting America’s restoration

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US Senate to hold final vote on Amy Coney Barrett confirmation – live

Here again is a link to the interview with Donald Trump published on Sunday by 60 Minutes, an institution in US television news known for editorial balance and seriousness of purpose. Significantly, the program also reaches millions of older voters, who overwhelmingly supported Trump in 2016 but who appear to be splitting their vote this year between the candidates.

In this clip, via Vox’s Aaron Rupar, Trump whines about the difficulty level of the questions he is being confronted with, after interviewer Lesley Stahl refuses to endorse one of his conspiracy theories about the Russia investigation.

I don’t understand how anyone can watch this and draw any conclusion other than Trump is completely unfit for his job pic.twitter.com/DA87zGehXI

Hello and welcome to our round-the-clock coverage as the 2020 US election enters its final lap. Only eight days to go.

On Sunday, the number of early voters in the election surpassed 58m, the number who voted early in 2016. That means the 2020 election will mark the first time in history that more than half of the overall US vote was cast early.

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Senate votes on Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation to supreme court – live

Voting has begun...

As McConnell continues his cynical, revisionist version of how we’ve ended up at this moment – awaiting the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett – the supreme court, one member short, is still working.

Just now, the court upheld a federal appeals court ruling that blocks a deadline extension for mail-in-ballots, awarding a victory for Republicans in a crusade against expanding voting rights and access.

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