President Donald Trump said he felt “confident” after casting his vote in Palm Beach, Florida, even as polls show the race with him and Kamala Harris is virtually tied.
The 78-year-old was accompanied by his wife Melania, who kept her sunglasses on while her husband answered journalists’ questions just hours before polls closed in what would be one of the closest elections in history. .
The former first lady responded to a brief question about how she was feeling: “Very good.” Thank you.’
The former president, wearing his trademark “Make America Great Again” hat, answered many questions and criticized reports of chaos at polling stations across the country. He also wore a sticker that said “I voted.”
“It’s crazy,” he said. “I’ve just heard that in certain states it’s going to be a long time.”
He specifically mentioned Pennsylvania, the battleground state that could decide the winner. Polls show the race there is tied.
—They told me that in Pennsylvania they won’t have an answer for two or three days. “I think it’s an absolute scandal if that’s the case,” Trump said. ‘In certain states it’s going to be a long time and it won’t even be close. It won’t be that close. They say I will win the state but it will take a long time to certify it.”
Donald Trump and Melania Trump after voting in Florida
He argued that if more Republicans voted than Democrats, he should be declared the winner. There is no way to know whether Republicans voted for him or an alternative.
‘It seems we have a very substantial advantage. It seems that today we have many more Republicans voting than Democrats. If you have a lead and we have a bigger vote, that means you’re doing very well. They have to call a winner. And they should announce a winner, yes,’ he said.
But he said he would concede if he lost a “fair” election.
‘If they are a fair election, I would be the first to admit it if I lost. And so far I think it’s been fair,” he said. Trump, during the election campaign, has indicated that he does not trust the voting process and could question the results if Harris wins.
“I ran a great campaign. I think it was perhaps the best of the three. We did very well in the first, much better in the second. Something happened. And this was the best… I would say it was the best campaign we did,” he said.
Trump admitted that regardless of the outcome of the presidential race, it would be his last campaign.
“I think so,” he said, adding that he feels “sad and very fulfilled.”
“I think we’re going to have a great victory today,” Trump said.
The former president also criticized Oprah Winfrey for endorsing Harris, saying that he had been on her show and that “she had been to Mar-a-Lago many times.”
There appears to be strong voter interest across the country, with long queues at polling stations across the country. Vote counting will extend beyond Tuesday’s election night and it is unclear when there will be a final result.
In the 2020 presidential race, it took four days to declare a winner. Regardless, Trump has baselessly claimed that if he were to lose, it would be due to fraud.
The former president will spend the day at his Mar-a-Lago estate before a party at a nearby convention center.
Donald Trump walks with Melania after voting at the Mandel Recreation Center in Palm Beach
Trump opted to vote in person on Tuesday. Figures from the Division of Elections showed that 50% of Floridians voted early by mail.
Trump can legally vote even if he is a convicted felon.
The former president was convicted this year in New York State Court of falsifying records.
The state of Florida generally prohibits felons from voting until they have completed their sentence or have their voting rights restored through the State Clemency Board.
But those rules don’t apply to Trump, since Florida law also stipulates that those convicted out of state are subject to the election laws of the state in which they were convicted.
New York State law that allows felons to vote as long as they are not incarcerated. Therefore, Trump can vote in Florida.
Trump is scheduled to be sentenced in New York on Nov. 26 and could face probation or up to four years in prison.
Donald Trump – with his wife Melania – said this would be his last campaign
Donald Trump held what he said was his last campaign rally. He said he had detained more than 900 of them.
Kamala Harris and Doug Emhoff at Harris’ final rally in Philadelphia
The former president held his final campaign rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in the early hours of Tuesday morning, after spending the day campaigning.
Taking the stage shortly after midnight, Trump ranted at Harris, saying “No one lies like this Kamala” and calls her a “person with a very low IQ.”
His comments came on a day when Harris’ campaign highlighted that she had not mentioned Trump’s name in the process.
Trump falsely claimed that Harris only had a few hundred people at her rally, even though she drew thousands on Monday.
Harris made his closing argument at a rally in Philadelphia. He spent Monday making multiple stops in the critical swing state of Pennsylvania.
Rudy Giuliani was seen in a car outside the Palm Beach voting center where Trump voted.
Rudy Giuliani greets spectators
Harris and Trump entered Election Day focused on seven battleground states, five of them won by Trump in 2016 before flipping to Joe Biden in 2020: the “blue wall” of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, as well as Arizona and Georgia .
Nevada and North Carolina, which Democrats and Republicans won respectively in the last two elections, were also close.
Trump, 78, would be the oldest president ever elected. He would also be the first defeated president in 132 years to win another term in the White House, and the first person convicted of a felony to assume the Oval Office.