out the democrats have sought for a long time. they think they have a shot. virginia, they really, really need virginia right now. the democratic vice presidential candidate is from virginia. they think they have a very good shot. let's get ready. and we have our first promises of the night. take a look at this. donald trump we project will win in kentucky with its eighth electoral votes. donald trump wins in kentucky. donald trump also wins in indiana with its 11 electoral votes as running mates' home state. both win, kentucky and indiana for donald trump. we have more projections right now. we project that hillary clinton is the winner in vermont, three electoral votes. vermont, hillary clinton is the winner in vermont. bernie sanders' home state. we have a key race i lettalert t now. too early to call in georgia

with its 16 electoral votes. we cannot make a projection yet. too early in virginia with its 13 electoral votes. and too early to call in south carolina right now. nine electoral votes at stake. too early to call in that state as well. donald trump takes a very early lead with 19 electoral votes. hillary clinton with three. you need 270 to win the presidency. you see the color there is on the map. the red states, those are states that go to donald trump. the blue state up in the northeast, vermont. that goes hillary clinton. the yellow states are states we cannot yet make a projection. too early to call right there. let's go over to jake. the action in virginia and georgia is going to be intense. >> although i have to say, virginia really of all the states on the map virginia is really the one we're all keeping an eye on. hibbert and her team have not reallyllary clinton and her tea

have not really factored virginia if in. if they don't win virginia it is going to be a problem. so we're going to be watching the results very close. >> i totally agree and to add to that on the flip side. republicans privately thought that virginia had been gone for some time. they are expecting to lose virginia going into this. but they also say that in the past couple of election cycles it's broken late. there's been a late surge for republicans. not enough though. >> david chalian. our political editor. look 59 exit polls. what are you seeing? >> we can look at how they are splitting. take a look here.

we also looked at right experience. fewer voters in virginia were looking for the candidate for right experience. but 89% for clinton to trump's 8%. only about 24% of the electrorate was looking for a candidate with about a quarter of the electorate is actually satisfied with the government. and obviously if a large enough percentage of voters in any state or commonwealth goes

to the polls wanting change and thinking crump is the zrumt of that change it does not bode vel for hillary clinton. >> it is certainly possible. >> once we start getting the first projection, everybody is going to be watching so closely to get twrend for the other battleground states. >> right. and the question is how many latinos turn out. mow college educated voters toumpblt how big is the gender gap. the resulteds in virginia might be relevant to results we see in north carolina or even in pennsylvania. >> pennsylvania your home state, all of a sudden by all accounts it is in play. >> generally speaking, republicans always seem to hear the siren song of pennsylvania. and they go there and they try to compete and ultimately they

are not able to. but it does seem as though donald trump has been able to really make it competitive outside of philadelphia with the white, working class voters that make up so much of his natural base. he's really made that commonwealth a competitive one. >> it is a moment that we're watching very closely. i want to just check in with -- walk over the john king at the magic wall. >> this county is a county in a sense they have a great record of voting with the winner. so i'm just looking, waiting for the results to come in. we have about 44% of the vote in and donald trump is ahead by a sizable marge. if that holds up. either donald trump is going to be elected the next president or the county's streak is going to end. they have been right in 15

straight presidential elections and wrong only twice in the last many years. and this is a very unorthodox election so i suspect a lot of streaks might be broken tonight. no matter who wins. and the other thing is early states for clues as to performance. is donald trump over performing romney donald trump is getting 67 prkts. five park . >> let's take a look at florida. they are going to be closing at the top of the hour. >> we have some votes in florida. always fun when you see the first votes come into the wall. obviously some votes have come

in. some county's early votes they load them up. so what are we going to be looking for overall in florida? that is the early lead right now and what are you going to look for number one? this is your big democratic stronghold down here. to win florida hillary clinton has to run it up. going back in time florida was the closest state in the 2012 race. president obama eked out a narrow victory. the early voting is critical. you heard the panel talking earlier about democrats. they think they amped up the lati latino vote to help them there. how does donald trump do in palm beach county? he thinks he's going to be very well in florida. is he going to win palm beach county? i think not. it is traditionally very democratic. but the margins within the counties matter. if instead of 60 already 40 he can make it a little closer. those things matter. that's what we're going to

watch. the key democratic strongholds across here. this is an ecdotal. the democrats were very happy about early voting. hillsboro county absolutely critical. west of st. peter burg. talking to a friend and said the democrats got some jitter seeing the long lines of trump supports. >> polls close in north carolina at the bottom of the hour but some important developments you are watching. >> we have breaking news right now out at north carolina. the north carolina state board of elections has agreed to keep the polls open in eight precincts anywhere from about 20 minutes to 60 minutes. this has to do, wolf, with the fact that there was computer glitches -- there were computer glitches in some of the precincts earlier today. and those computer glitches caused long lines and people

were being turned away from the polls. now the polls right now are scheduled to close at 7:30. some will close at 8:30. some a little sooner than that. the durham county board requested 90 minutes. and they did not get that. before we had actually heard the ruling from the state board of elections he said this is not an appropriate way to treat human beings. it is heartbreaking and follows a deeply troubling pattern of the disenfranchisement in the state of north carolina. i should note the state of north carolina very important to hillary clinton. durham is 38% african american. barack obama won durham by 86% in 2008 and in 2012 wolf. >> interesting stuff. we'll get back to you mark. john durham. they are going to get a little extra time. staying open maybe as long as an

hour. >> at as long as as they had requested but they do get the polls open longer. and let's go back for historical perspective. this is overwhelmingly democratic county. the african american vote of the democratic stitches -- constituencies. each party knows where its voters are. the clinton campaign has a list. they know who they need to vote here in durham county. the question is you check them off as you go and so they are desperate to keep the polls open. because in a state as close as north carolina, mitt romney took it back from the democrats. it's been traditional republican there. president obama won it just barely in 2015. and it is in a key area of the state. not just durham but the raleigh, durham area. the research triangle. this is a key battleground within this battleground state.

absolutely critical to hillary clinton to run it up in these areas and absolutely critical for donald trump, his competition in the suburbs is very important here too. we'll be a little later counting those votes. obviously in a state we expect to take us deep into the night. >> stay open as long as as extra hour. we're getting our first projections in the balance of power in the u.s. senate. >> that's right, wolf. we sure are. and let's start with the state of vermont. patrick leahy already one of the longest serving senators in history will go on to win an eighth term defeating his republican challenger. and now to the state of kentucky. rand paul, starting running for president, dropped out and decided to run for reelection. cnn can project he's won that seat defeating his democratic challenger jim gray. now to south carolina, republican incumbent tim scott, cnn can project that he will defeat his democratic challenger thomas dixon.

tim scott being the first african american ever to represent the south. now look at key races where we are watching very, very closely. indiana, this is a open seat, a republican seat. todd young the republican at this hour just about 10% of the vote in, is pretty far ahead. evan bayh, trying to get his seat back. we're going to be watching very closely. and now places where the polls have not yet closed but numbers coming in. marco rubio, who is running for reelection is up pretty significantly but only 2% of the vote. he's up by more than 60,000 voits. watching that very closely. and then another marquee race. this could determine whether or not republicans keep the senate. incumbent kelly ayotte is trying to hold on to that defeat her democratic challenger. maggie hassan there. only 1% in. one we're going to be watching

incredibly closely all night long. let's look at the balance of power this hour. 37 for democrats. 32 for republicans and 31 of the races that we're watching still not yet called. so some of the ones we just called were not big surprises. still important for one democrat and two republicans to get in their column. indiana to me is absolutely fascinating because the democrats thought they could make that competitive by running somebody who's name is incredibly popular and well known in evan bayh but it is unclear if he's going to be able to make it. >> in a year where outsiders seem to be popular. especially among republican voters and republican-leaning states like indiana. evan bayh, former governor, former senator and in the state of washington d.c. done a lobbying. they recruited him to run. we'll see what happens. looks like it is much tougher than he banked on.

>> a lot tougher. and he thought he could win because his name as been the political gold standard but maybe not in 2016. >> and -- a particular senator as well. >> very well known in that state. a key race alert right now. here are the results coming in from florida. 2% of the vote is in so far. 58.a for donald trump. 30.2% for hillary clinton. only 2% of the vote is in in florida. 29 electoral votes are at stake there. and we're getting the first numbers coming in very very early from the state of virginia. hillary clinton has a very slight lead. look how close it is. 49.5 to 45.5%. very very early in virginia. early in florida. we're watching both of those key states right now. john king, the early votes in florida. where are they coming in from? >> mostly up here in the

northern part of state? a rural part of the state a republican part of state. all of our votes are right up around these lines. 2012, this is largely republican area. one county in the middle democratic. very small percentage of the vote. the major population centers around here. this is where the big fight is in florida. especially orange county growing latino population here in the orlando area. this is a big area of the democrat, 60/40. this doesn't tell us much. except these are conservative areas up here. looking to see if donald trump can run up the numbers. again 0%. these are just the first vote. 692-387. very early in preliminary. but one of the things you are going to watch, the closest state in 2012. how does it shape up when you go back and look. and rom at 63, trump at 62.3. he's running about where mitt romney was. obviously he'd like to run a

little strong ore because 39 obama just carried the state. we'll watch it. this is much more important here. early results. this doesn't tell us much except for the early counties filling if the way donald trump would want. >> minute there is the next round of poll closes in ohio and north carolina. north carolina becoming even more crucial in the closing days of the presidential race. new results coming up right after a quick break.

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next year. we're substantial doubting by for the next weave of poll closes. the key battleground state of florida. 12% of the vote has now been counted. donald trump has a lead of 38,000. this could be it. florida 29 electoral votes, all of the polls will close at the top of the hour. these are the numbers coming in right now. trump's lead up to 61,000 over hillary clinton. in virginia and other key battleground states very early. only one factpercent of the vot in. trump leading over hillary clinton. 13 electoral votes in virginia. only one percent of the vote is in. trump's lead 18 hundred plus over hillary clinton.

73% to 25. all of america and indeed the world now waiting to learn who will be the next president of the united states. we're counting down to 7:30 p.m. eastern, minutes from now. that is when the polls close in key battleground states of ohio and north carolina. two of the key races we're watching tonight. polls also closing in west virginia. together those states account for 38 of the 270 votes needed to win the white house. both campaigns have invested a lot of time and money in north carolina and ohio. >> ohio and north carolina are generally considered must-wins for donald trump. north carolina could be the decide ner this election and from what we're hearing it could go down to the wire. keeping an eye on all major battleground this p evening. let's check in with our correspondents in new york city. jim acosta joining us.

>> a key advisor from donald trump's inner circle is sizing up the gop candidates to me this way. his chances this way. quote, it will take a miracle for us to win. that is the quote from a senior advisor inside donald trump's winner circle. this advisor went on to say that trump was in such a deep hole after the release of that accuraciho "access hollywood" tape. but the fact he's been able to close the gap has been seen as the major accomplishment inside the campaign. the advisor went on to say that urging donald trump to stay on message. and that also a stunning achievement here at the end of this campaign given thee

candidate's volatility at times. >> let's go a few blocks to the clinton campaign where we find jeff zeleny. and the clinton campaign feeling confident but not counting their chickens. >> they certainly aren't. and inside the war room right now this is what they are looking. a ohio. frank lynn county ohio. the city of columbus. i'm told by advisors they are seeing greater than expected turnout and attribute to a rally that secretary clinton after the second debate right before early voting started. it was one of the biggest rammings of her campaign. -- watching the areas of the cleveland as well. and in north carolina tonight. where the polls close at 7:30, they are looking at these

college town, university towns as well. if they are to win in north carolina it will be because of a spike in turnout there. we saw michelle obama with hillary clinton on campus there. we saw president obama going from campus to campus. that is what they are hoping for tonight if they are to pull out a win in north carolina. >> jeff zeleny and the clinton campaign headquarters in manhattan. >> we have a key race alert right now. take a look. hillary clinton now takes the lead in the state of florida. 30% of the vote is in. and she's got a significant 50,340 lead over donald trump. she's at 49.5%. donald trump at 47.7%. remember florida, florida, florida. 29 electoral votes are at stake. all of a sudden hillary clinton has a lead there. 30% of the vote is now in. let's go over to john king at the magic wall. i want to talk about florida.

all of a sudden a big chuck of votes came in and she's doing well. >> a big chunk of votes from traditionally and very important democratic areas. miami dade, 61% to 36%. that is a small basket of votes from miami dade. that is the first dump of early votes from miami dade. just to compare this. this is one thing we're going to do all night. especially in florida. 61-36. back and look, 62-38. about the same. and just after you left, palm beach county came in. donald trump has said he'll do well here. this is where mar l-a-lago is. at the moment so much. we have a long way to go. so early votes being dumped in for the most part. let's see where we go through the night. that is what hillary clinton needs to do. 61 37. when you look at that back in time 58-61. right now in the very early results hillary clinton running up the percentages she needs in

florida to withstand what will happen up here. when this fills in, it is conservative. another key area we're going to watch is the orlando area. this is an area of population growth. especially latino growth. 62 or 63% if you round it up to 34 right now and again very early. and let's compare to it four years ago at 6 2 or 63. 59 president obama. so you start to look like a state like this fill in. when you get above halfway you worry about what are we missing? are you missing big baskets of the either democrat or republican votes. it's a fierce competition. the rest of the map filling in as you would expect it to in terms of these are democratic strongholds and these are republican areas and we're going to wait for the swing area. >> and haven't got broward county yet which is a hugely

democratic area. take a look at georgia. look what's going on in georgia right. now because it is all of a sudden still very early but you can see donald trump has a very significant lead in georgia right now. >> significant lead. 1% of the vote and we're talk act very tiny rural counties. they are important to donald trump. every vote counts but looking at very small counties. so it is not a big population center. but that is very important to run it for donald trump. if the democratic hopes hinge on giant turnout, wooelg see what happens there. >> i want to go back to florida for a moment, john. florida you can see miami dade is doing well for hillary clinton palm beach. broward, how well does she have to do there? >> we have nothing in so far. back in time. 67. she needs to run up.

these are your big democratic turnout areas and population centers as well. and you know it very well because of family history. the further south you go the farther north you go is the way they say it in florida. and so back too 2016 -- >> 36% of the vote is in. >> and look up here again. this is where the growth has been up in the central part of the state. 63% right here. back in time, 62%. equal or slightly above president obama's performance and that is the key when you match this back in history. democrats think and republicans too think turnout is up in florida is so you watch the percentages. and tallahassee, 62 or 63% if you round it up for secretary clinton. 61% for the president four years ago. early results in florida hillary clinton at the moment performs in a way consistent with what for president obama was a narrow victory. >> we're counting down to the bottom of the hour.

two key battleground states. they are getting ready to close. we're talking about north carolina. a state that barack obama lost four years ago, carried eight years and ohio. republicans need to win ohio in order to win the white house. let's start with a cnn projection. cnn projects donald trump is the winner in west virginia. donald trump will carry that state with five electoral votes. trump gets another state, west virginia. we have a key race alert right now. too early to call in north carolina. and ohio, too early to call in ohio right now. 18 electoral voles in ohio. we're not able to make projections. polls are closed in both states. cannot make projections yet. let's take a look at the electoral college map count. donald trump has a lead.

24 electoral votes right now compared to 3. three for hillary clinton. you need 270 to win the white house. the blue state, that is vermont. that is the state hillary clinton has been projected. red states those for donald trump. the yellow states too early to call. no projections in those state, at least not yet. jake, west virginia not a surprise but we're waiting for ohio and north carolina. >> and florida for a second. the only reason i bring this supervisor because alex conan a senior strategist for marco rubio who's running for reelection there, pointed out just a few minutes ago that marco rubio was outperforming donald trump in absentee ballots in miami dade. the reason i bring it up is because one of the things looking forward for the republican party is how do they win democratic areas? >> take a look at this. 43% of the votes in florida are now in. and all of a sudden now donald trump takes lead.

almost 30 vothousand over hilla clinton. donald trump now takes a slight lead over hillary clinton. >> i suspect this is going to go pack and forth all night. if donald trump win, if hillary clinton wins it is going to be by a very small margin. that is how it happened in 2012 and 2008. >> remind us why florida is so important right now dana. >> where do we start? first of all just a the raw 234ur78 numbers because of the electoral votes. it is a very big prize electorally. and also because of the demographics and because it's gone back and forth. less so in the past couple of cycles. but historically it's gone back and forth between republican and democrat. it is a purple state. and a state this year where both candidates campaigned so so hard. and spent so much money for lots of reasons, it is so big and so diverse gee graphically and it

is expensive when it comes to media markets. it is by far the one we're watching. and even donald trump has said very publicly he doesn't think there is a path to him for white house without winning florida. >> we talked about the fact that donald trump really needs to run the table when it comes to these baghd battleground states. it is hard to imagine the path to the white house without the state of florida for donald trump. >> let's go to john king at the magic wall and take a closer look at florida. 43% of the vote is in. and trump has a slight lead over hillary clinton. 49.1%. 48.1%. and since you were here a few minutes ago. votes filled in here. and down here. saraso sarasota county. he's winning but again, first i want to go back and look at the history. it is only the early results for donald trump but to the point jake made it is very important. win or lose the republican party

is going to have a big debate after the election. let's pull up miami dade. donald trump, the 36.5, round up to 37% in miami dade. marco rubio, 37%. he's running ten points ahead of donald trump in miami daddy. and looking at orange county whe where. there is rubio just shy of 40%. donald trump, 34%. this is the debate that is going to happen within florida and across the country. people are going to look another the how the senate candidates run. how the governor candidates run. and compare everything because we'll settle the presidential election tonight we think. but republican party is going to have this debate about who should lead it and what it should be about for a long time to come. a pretty quick count so far but that is mostly early votes being reported. so now we're going to wait for today's votes to be counted as well. and we went through this four

years ago. and back and bother and back and forth in florida and florida ended up here. and it sure looks like it is on track in the same ballpark tonight. >> in the northern part of the state pretty much republican. southern part of the state very often democratic. >> in the east. >> southwestern part of the state is republican area. eastern part of the state, miami dade and palm beach county, your democratic stronghold. every election the democrats run up the vote total. a lot of red on this side of the state and up here across the top of the state. >> no results from broward county yet. that is where fort lauderdale is. >> if you go back four years this is a very important county for democrats. palm beach, broward, miami dade. you want to run it up there to offset this. we're missing these here just to offset all this.

and 2012 a whole lot of red. if you come out this way. mostly here but also right in here and we did get as we come back, last time you were here, hillsboro county is tampa. this is st. pete. this is a swing area where the campaigns have had a fierce fight. this one county. >> let's take a look at the united states, the national vote as it is coming in right now. let's take a look and see where donald trump is as opposed to hillary clinton. and take a look at this. among the national vote, these are the votes that have already been counted trump is winning nationally 52.7, 44% for hillary clinton. he had 3100,000, take a look at that. >> we're only in this part of the country and preliminary results but one of the conversations tonight, will we have something like 2,000 again where win candidate wins the popular vote and somebody else wins the electoral. donald trump is not winning all the states.

we have called some. indiana and kentucky. but if you are looking at the map early in the night, just because it is shaded doesn't tell you who won. and as i'm talking the results will change because live results are coming in. looking up at this state. a traditional battleground state that's been leading more and more democratic but in virginia at the moment donald trump is leading 54-4 %. most of the vote is coming in from republican areas. no surprise there. here is one thick we'll look at. outside of d.c. donald trump running well out here. and the key issue when we get in closer. loudoun county. used to be republican. now a democratic-leaning suburb. >> 28% is in there. >> is 58 more secretary clinton. 52 for president obama when he won four years ago. and back out here. this is one of the counties i always watch. prince william county. once republican, now democratic in part because of the college

educated women and the growing latino population. and we just got the first votes in ffrgs. 57% there. it is running about what it takes for a democratic victory even though donald trump is ahead at the moment. ffrairfax county. donald trump still leading in part because as we expect in the more rural areas, republican anyway, donald trump is running a healthy margin in the small counties in the southwestern part of the state. that is where his early lead is coming from. the challenge for secretary clinton, offset it up here when the vote comes in in the d.c. suburb. >> in north carolina, the polls closed there a few moments ago. >> and very little so far. just 2%. and you are going to see this. some of this is going to sound familiar throughout the night. in the rural areas donald trump has to run it up. 63-35%. remember the polls are closed exempt for here.

in durham county. and this is a critical area for the democrats. when you look and pull out. you see where we have the cities. one of the clues throughout the night about how close are we getting is you see the dot, the cities, that is your population centers. do we have any votes if 2 population krirnts if the answer is no not that it's insignificant but we have to wait for the votes to come? >> 2% of the vote is. donald trump has a 20,000 vote lead but it is very very early in north carolina. ohio. let's look at ohio right now. >> well it is shaded blue at the moment and hillary clinton would love that. that would be game over for donald trump. but that is because this is all we have right here. 2.1% down in this part of the state. >> and i want to take a look at the electoral math right now national. show us what's going on right now? >> i can show you where we are. this is our map coming into the night. 268-204. donald trump has to change something to quinn twin the ele.

very early results here. for donald trump the key challenge. hillary clinton is leading a 268 in the projection. and most republicans even concede nevada to her. the challenge for number one is to run the board among the toss ups and then to find something up here blue to turn. that is the challenge for donald trump. pennsylvania? michigan? or he's leading early in virginia umt. could he pull off a huge surprise there. >> the big picture, 280 needed to win. -- 270. trump is ahead early with 24 electoral votes. hillary clinton with three electoral votes. those three in vermont so far. more polls are about to be closed at the top of the hour. but the red states are the states donald trump we project has won and the blue state is hillary clinton states. the yellow states are states where the polls have closed but it is too early to call. dana bash has a projection in

the balance of power in the senate. >> in ohio rob portman will go on. this was supposed to be a nail biter but rob portman locked it up pretty early with the help of tens of millions of dollars from republicans there. big win for rob portman. let's look at other state where is the polls are closed but too early to call. north carolina, we'll be watching all night long. rishd bury is fighting to keep

his his --. >> marco rubio about the half vote in and he's doing quite well there. democrats pretty much gave up on that seat once marco rubio said he was going run for reelection. let's look at what all this means for the balance of power. democrats 37. republicans 33. there are 30 left that we are watching. big picture, democrats are trying to pick up five seats to have a majority and republicans are obviously trying very hard to prevent that from happening. >> not a strong showing i have to say from democrats. rob portman was supposed to be a seat as you said they were going to be able to pull off. but democrats weeks ago pulled out of there. rob portman winning handily. interestingly enough. rob portman saying after the "access hollywood" tape came out

that he would not support donald trump. he was going to write in mike pence which doesn't make much sense but none the less the voters there rewarded him with another term. >> it is one of the themes we've heard from mitch mcconnell as he's trying to key seats in republicans hands. rob portman has been a very good candidate and ran as somebody who understands the state and it served him well. >> marco rubio also a decent candidate. we'll see what happens with that race. >> a lot of republicans who don't like trump are writing in all sorts of names on the course of this day. let's get a key race alert right now. we got a lot of results. let's update you. more than half of the vote in florida is now in.

florida, 29 electoral votes at stake. all the polls in florida will close at the top of the hour. north carolina 10% of the vote is now in. trump has a lead of more than 52,000 votes over hillary clinton. 54.5% to 43.3%. 15 electoral votes at stake in north carolina. in new hampshire, new hampshire all of the we're getting votes in early. only 1% of the vote is in. 337 vote lead for hillary clinton over donald trump in the state of new hampshire with four electoral votes. we're counting down to another round of poll closes. just moments from now the mother of all battlegrounds, florida. that's coming up along with the results from key races in pennsylvania and new hampshire. stay with us. ♪

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florida. hillary clinton is up again. >> how quickly does it all come in. sometimes the vote count slows down. what are we looking at? last time we had nothing from broward county. still says zero percent. going back in time to compare. secretary a little ahead percentagewise so far. if you pull it out. i hate to say it but this map is filling in a lot like 2012. democratic votes here. democratic votes in the population center. lot of republican votes across the top here. that is this year. going back in time. democratic votes here. democratic votes here. mostly republican up here. was 50-49.

four years ago. get ready. 48.9 to 48.2 so far this year. fascinating to watch. the population centers. orange county is orlando. out west tampa, hillsboro county. 53-43. ten points there. -- seven points there. she's running a little ahead in hillsboro. but then it here and you have 49.8% to 46% here as you go out and look at it here. so it is just remarkably tight as we go through. both over 3 million votes now. up to 71%. so the vote count coming in very quickly in florida. that is the biggest lead we've seen in the state so far for hillary clinton. and i'll put the emphasis on "so far" and we'll keep counting. >> a real battle in florida. only moments from the biggest wave of poll closes in the presidential race. counting down to the top of the hour, 8:00 p.m. eastern is when the last polling grounds close

in florida, pennsylvania and new hampshire. also in alabama, delaware, the district of colombia. illinois, maine, maryland. massachusetts, mississippi, missouri, rhode island and tennessee. together thocontests have 172 electoral votes. that is a huge chunk of what's needed to win. jake, another presidential race where all eye are on florida. >> one of the critical states in the race. donald trump himself has said he doesn't see a path to the presidency for himself without the state of florida. the 29 electoral votes. we're following the last minute mad dash for all of these candidates in the battleground states. we're also getting new information inside the campaigns. first to sara murray whose with the trump campaign. and sara the votes are coming in. neck and neck in north carolina and neck and neck in florida. what are you hearing from the

campaign? >> as you know florida is always a source of heartburn but for the trump campaign their particular angst is not knowing how these independent voters are going to shake out tonight. if they are going to lean in favor of donald trump, if they are going the lean if favor of hillary clinton. now i've talked to multiple sources who say they really don't have any information about these independent voters. it's been a struggle to get the kind of resources they need in florida, to get the kind of money they would need to be able to model this independent electorate. so even though donald trump himself has been personally interested in which way the independent voters are learning they just don't have any way to tell him. they are waiting to see the results just like we are. so flying a little blind tonight on would have been thoerz most important states, jake. >> and jeff zeleny a few blocks away at campaign headquarters. the clinton campaign knows they need florida. they have been saying for some time they feel better about florida than they do about states such as north carolina, such as ohio or an iowa.

what are you hearing from the clinton team. >> the number is 29. that is one of the favorite numbers, the most important numbers inside the clinton war room here. and the clinton campaign is increasingly confident about florida. the numbers coming in and also what they have been seeing on the ground throughout the day. pointing to some specific counties. orange county, osceola, hillsboro. they believe they are outperforming obama numbers. also duval county. they say donald trump is not doing as well as mitt romney. this is the view of the clinton campaign here. but the reason she visited, hillary clinton, visited broward county a key democratic area, three times in one week was to drive up the democratic vote. they believe they have done it. one senior clinton advisor i just talked to said the hispanic numbers are rising through the roof. that is why we'll win florida. >> we'll see what actually happens. wolf blitzer right now has a key race alert. >> we do have a key race alert.

hillary clinton has now taken the lead in florida and north carolina. let's look at florida first. 7 % of the vote in. -- 72%. hillary clinton is now ahead by an impressive almost 172,000 votes other donald trump. 49.9% and 47.3%. all the polling in florida closes at the top of the hour. she leads now over donald trump. in north carolina, 28% of the vote is in. she's ahead by 21, almost 22,000 votes over donald trump right now. 49.7% to 48%. donald trump slightly behind hillary clinton in north carolina. he's also behind in florida. let's go to john king at the

wall. >> significantly the votes coming in quick. 72%. when you look at the map, wolf, not to sound repetitive but this looks a lot like the 2012 map so far. and hillary clinton has to be very happy with the votes she's pulling out down here. >> donald trump, collier county. a little under romney there. still not is a lot of the votes there yet. these are the swing counties

across here. the tampa area. hillsboro county. ten points right there. back in time. seven points there. she's overperforming the president there. this one has been closer, where you have essentially two points there. if you look at it. that went -- >> let's look at north carolina john. all of a sudden in north carolina she's ahead. she's ahead in north carolina by a little more than a hundred thousand votes with 36% of the vote? >> 36% of the vote. but one thing to watch especially when the lead swings is where the votes come from. what came in member becklenburg. this is charlotte. this is huge. this is why she jumped. a big dump of votes from the democratic stronghold. watch when the votes come in, not that's insignificant. but this is what she needs to

do. this is going to go up. that is small percentage of the vote still. now in wake county. this was empty a few minutes ago and 25% in. this is of enormous consequence to secretary clinton tonight in the sense that if she wins this county but that margin she will win the state of north carolina. we're only at 25% of the vote. the reason i say that, if you look at that margin there, 20-plus points, back to 2012 the president won by eleven and he lost the state. back to 2008. won it by 15. this is almost 10% of the state population. incredibly important for the democrats. they left the polls open a little longer in durham county. we still have nothing from durham and this is a big basket of democratic votes. >> all of a sudden in ohio we're getting significant numbers and hillary clinton is in the lead right now. she's got 53% to his 43%. 12% of the vote in ohio is in. >> if this holds up it is game

over. republicans county win the white house without the state of ohio. but again you always where do the votes come from. and they are coming. a moment ago they are coming from franklin county. columbus. this is a democratic county. a big healthy margin fur secretary clinton. that is what you want here. back in time, 61% for the president four years ago in ohio. a lot of the conversation here this year is even the clinton campaign conceding in the final weeks that ohio is one of the toughest to hold. they don't count on it. they would wluf it but they don't count on it.love it but t don't count on it. this is where donald trump has tried to sell hey the factories closed. nafta. the trade message. she's getting 59%. she's running a little below the president. and she's got a little ways to go. the clinton the happy at the moment but also nothing yet out of cleveland so we'll be counting for a while in ohio and elsewhere.

>> certainly will and we're getting ready for 16 states, 16 states, and the district of colombia going to be closing. all polling stations in florida will be closed at the top of the hour. that is i merging as the critically important state. pennsylvania close right now. hillary clinton wins in isle with its 20 electric votes. a win for hillary clinton. in new jersey. governor christie is the governor there but hillary clinton is the winner in new jersey with 14 electoral votes. hillary clinton wins in new jersey. in ma we projects will go to hillary clinton. massachusetts. let's move to maryland. ten electoral votes. we project hillary clinton wins in maryland. she'll carry that state. an important win for hillary clinton in the state of maryland. more wins for hillary clinton coming in right