US Elections

Trump wins key prize of Ohio, Clinton takes Virginia and Colorado

Donald Trump will win the key state of Ohio, CNN projects, a key victory as he and Hillary Clinton wage an epic battle for swing states that will decide the race for the presidency.

The Ohio victory is especially important for Trump as no Republican has won the White House without taking the Buckeye State. That result and his strong position in Florida make it increasingly possible Trump has a path to the 270 electoral votes needed to win.

Just how unprecedented is this election ?

  • For the first time, you have a woman a step away from being president. That alone makes this campaign unique. And yet you don't hear much buzz about it, probably because Clinton herself rarely mentions it.

The non Americans' guide to US elections

When's the election?

Can you bring your gun to vote?

On Friday, a Trump supporter showed up to a Loudoun County polling station in Virginia, sporting a handgun in his waistband as he offered sample Republican ballots to voters outside.

"And as a voter, I felt intimidated," Erika Cotti told CNN. "As my son and I walked away, I heard the man with the gun say... you're voting for Crooked Hillary."

But elections officials say the man broke no laws, as Virginia is an open carry state -- meaning that individuals are generally allowed to carry an unconcealed weapon in public.

Lonely life of black Trump activist

Inside the wood-panelled sanctuary of a small, North Philadelphia church, a group of men - and one woman - are busily folding handouts and talking strategy.

"I'm gonna be the one they attack," says Bruce Carter, gesturing to his T-shirt which says TRUMP in large red lettering. "They're comin' for me."

Calvin Tucker, a tall, nattily dressed Trump surrogate in a coat, tie and Make America Great Again cap, acts the moment.

"'Wow - you're supporting Trump?' … 'Man, what are you doing?'" he says, then answers himself: "Hey - we gotta try something different."

Ohio taps National Guard to defend election system from hackers

"Lets face it: Cyberwarfare is a new front for the military, for business and now for elections," said Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted.

To combat that threat, Husted has done something unprecedented in the state's history. He's called on the Ohio National Guard's elite cyberprotection unit to help secure the election.

The National Guard takes orders from the state's governor. The Ohio National Guard cyber unit's election mission consists of specialized teams running penetration tests on the state's computer networks.

Donald Trump mocks hip hop as 'talking'

"The language is so bad and as they were singing -- singing right? Was it talking or singing? Right? But the language was so bad," Trump said Monday during his first of five rallies the day before Election Day.

Trump's apparent criticism of rap and hip-hop comes in spite of the GOP nominee's repeated attempts to appeal to African-American voters during the final months of his campaign. It also comes as Clinton has ramped up get out the vote efforts in recent days by targeting young and African-American voters in particular.

'Assassination attempt' retweet excused

"It's scary -- I mean, all the coverage is usually about our protesters wreaking havoc and making people feel afraid, and it certainly goes both ways," Conway said Sunday during the at-times contentious interview with CNN's Jake Tapper on "State of the Union."

"I'm glad nobody was hurt, but it does remind you that in these closing days -- especially as the polls tighten -- many of us are getting more death threats, getting more angry messages on social media and elsewhere, and it's a pretty fraught environment there," she said.

FBI clears Clinton -- again

"Based on our review, we have not changed our conclusions that we expressed in July," Comey wrote in the new letter to congressional committee chairmen.

Comey dropped a bombshell on the presidential race last month when he sent a letter to Congress saying the FBI had discovered emails in a separate investigation that could be connected to the now-closed probe of whether Clinton mishandled classified information. The move infuriated Democrats and emboldened Republican nominee Donald Trump.

Donald Trump's mind readers try to win him voters

They are Donald Trump's secret political weapon. His campaign paid more than $5 million in September alone to Cambridge Analytica, which claims it can convince voters to back him by tailoring Trump's political ads to their personalities.

Their approach combines micro-targeting, already in use in political campaigning, with psychological profiling. The company gathers up to 5,000 pieces of data about a potential voter to create a psychological profile, then adapts political ads to his or her personality and beliefs.