tonight, breaking news. decision night. it all comes down to this. >> and america's best days are still ahead of us. if we reach for them together. >> the new adventure isin >> on this historic night, who will it be? hillary clinton or donald trump? just moments away from the first polls closing. voters lined up across the nation to make their voices heard. the candidates, after criss-crossing the nation, end up just a mile apart tonight as the results roll in. but will it be a contested race?

challenge. our election force is out in force with the campaigns and in crucial battlegrounds as tonight america finally decides who will be the next president of the united states. "nightly news" begins right now. decision night in america. this is "nbc nightly news" with lester holt. >> and good evening from the nbc news election center where tonight we are covering the dramatic presidential campaign like no other. the candidates' final arguments reminding us one last time of their strikingly opposite visions of america. donald trump vowing one more time to build a border wall. hillary clinton talking about bridging divides. today turn-out at polling places across the country has been brisk. there's a lot of excitement out there. voters seem eager to put their stamp on this election and for it to be over. watching it all, trump and clinton, who on

us, here on the west side of manhattan. our team is in place, starting with andrea mitchell at clinton headquarters. andrea, good evening. >> reporter: hillary clinton has been working towards for decades. now we are only hours away from finding out if it's going to happen. tonight her team telling us, they are tired, but confident. on the day when she could make history, hillary and bill clinton casting their votes this morning. counting on the outcome of this election. what it means for our country and i'll do the very best i can, if i'm fortunate enough to win today. >> reporter: the clinton team tonight hunkered down in a new york hotel. nbc news learning two speeches are being written. both appealing for unity, a theme clinton's been previewing. >> we have to bridge the divides in this country. >> reporter: this afternoon, speculating on what bill clinton would be called if she

likely outcome, but i'll tell you, some of the other suggestions, first dude. >> reporter: tonight, though, confident in their get out the vet effort, clinton aides nervous about some battlegrounds. their top worry, north carolina. and other states like michigan, new hampshire, and even pennsylvania. no accident clinton made a 1:00 a.m. stop in raleigh, a raucous crowd cheering the candidate and lady gaga. >> this is sure worth staying up for. >> reporter: before at independence hall for springsteen. ? even if we're just dancing in the dark ? >> reporter: and an unprecedented joint appearance by the clintons and obamas. a president fighting for her and also his legacy. >> i'm asking you to work as hard as you can this one last day to elect my fellow americans, this fighter, this stateswoman, this mother, this grandmother, this

president of the united states of america, hillary clinton! >> reporter: and this personal moment. president obama easing the way for the woman he wants to succeed him. >> let's make history together! >> reporter: a notable return to the trail for this last hoorah, huma abedin, at the center of that e-mail fire storm. the issue that's cost clinton the trust of so many voters all year. still the mood now, exuberant, even playful as her advisers do the new social craze called the mannequin challenge. by 3:30 a.m., a welcome home celebration and the long wait for results begins. just take a look at the ceiling above her when she comes here to the javits center to speak tonight. it is glass. remember when hillary clinton lost last time, she said she had at least created 18 million cracks in the glass ceiling. tonight she hopes to

new york, thanks. just across town from the clinton camp, donald trump is huddled with family, friends and advisers. nbc's katy tur has followed the trump campaign since the very beginning, and has more with the finish line in sight tonight. >> reporter: donald trump was cheered and heckled this morning as he went out to vote. this new york city hometown crowd, a microcosm of the country, divided. after 511 days, it all comes down to this is a great opportunity. this tremendous enthusiasm. >> reporter: will trump's protest campaign turn into a protest administration? as the hours ticked by, trump was in his manhattan skyscraper, but he wasn't staying quiet. >> if you do lose tonight, what's your next move? >> i'm going to have to see under what circumstances. honestly, look, i want everything to be really, really smooth, and really, really

importance of that. i was very good in history. >> trump tweeting late, this election is far from over. go, florida. 18 months ago, glinding down the golden escalator, trump changed this country. his campaign would capture the frustration of millions of americans who felt left behind and wronged by their government. to them, his crass honesty was a breath of fresh air. >> he says things that i would probably say. >> he's our saviour. >> reporter: to trump was toxic. no one knows what will happen to trump supporters, those married in a shotgun wedding to the republican party. >> that activism that he's awakened, that populism, i don't suspect is going to go away anytime soon. now trump, a man who never served in the military, shocked and insulted his way through 2016, stands on the precipice of the highest office in the land. >> the election is now. can you believe? it's today! it's today. it's unbelievable.

michigan, trump ended his campaign, the same way he began it. >> don't worry about it, we'll build a wall. don't worry about it. >> reporter: then shortly after 1:00 a.m., trump signed off for the last time. >> and we will make america great again! thank you, everybody. thank you. god bless you, everybody. >> reporter: donald trump is watching rn his team is optimistic, touting epic turn-out in white republican counties in michigan and new hampshire. two new hampshire sources tell me, they aren't nearly as confident. one describing that state as close, tense, and sickening. lester? >> katy tur tonight, thank you. as we await the first results of the presidential election, we're getting a look at some early exit poll insight into the mood of the voters and why people are voting. for a closer look at

lester. one of the biggest headlines we are seeing so far in our early exit polls has to do with the group we've been talking about this whole campaign. that's college-educated white female voters who went for barack obama in 2008, mitt romney in 2012, and look what's happening now. they are breaking for clinton. according to this early data, by 8%. remember what happened in 2012. it was the flip side that went for romney by 6%. here's some news for donald trump's campaign. check out what's happening with white wo degrees. they are breaking for donald trump by 24%. this is decisive. especially when you compare it to the 2012 numbers. you can see donald trump is out-performing where mitt romney was. he won that group with 20% of the vote. so what does this tell us? it's not necessarily the gender gap that we'll be talking about all night. it's the education gap. specifically when it comes to white women voters. >> hallie jackson

tonight? >> we got a big clue very early. look at all the major poll closings by 8:00. georgia and virginia are going to give us clues. north carolina, ohio, florida, pennsylvania. we're going to know early how late of a night this is going to be. for instance, virginia and georgia, are these quick calls, or do they take us a while? the longer we take, the more likely it's a good night for trump. let me tell you one thing, because florida is gonna be perhaps the biggest story the night. so watch what happens if florida ends up blue. if it does, trump has to sweep everything here, throw this new hampshire, and he's got to win michigan and pennsylvania in order to pull it off. the point is this. florida is gonna tell us everything tonight as far as the path for donald trump. >> all right, chuck, we're also joined by the rest of our

story line here. who controls the senate at the end of this night. >> it may be a cliffhanger. we may not know by the end of the night. about a third of the seats in the senate are up for grabs. republicans are defending 24 of them. these have become all-out battles in a handful of states. nevada, wisconsin, illinois, missouri, indiana, pennsylvania, north carolina, florida, and new hampshire. the democrats have to net four or five seats to get control of the senate, depending on who wins the presidency. but it's going to be a nail-biter of a night. some of these races are exceedingly close. >> and history could be made tonight. how hard is it going to be for whomever the next president is to unite this divided country? >> it's a transformational election. if hillary clinton wins, it will be two terms of an african american in the white house and then hillary clinton. if donald trump wins

the republican party? if he loses, does the republican party then become a smaller mostly white blplace that doesn't know where it wants to go and how it wants to get there. but whoever wins, you got to put the country back together again and that means a lot of high temperatures have to be lowered in the next year at least. >> and chuck, some of that healing will have to begin tonight. one of them has to make a concession speech. >> tonight the most important speech is the concession speh. then, look, later in the week, it's really important for the president elect. tonight, the concession speech will tell us how hard it will be to heal this country. >> you mentioned all eyes on florida, critical battleground state. nbc's gabe gutierrez is standing by in miami to give us a picture of things down there. gabe. >> reporter: lester, good evening. with about half of eligible voters voting early or absentee. this was an election

miami-dade county telling us, it's about time that the rest of the country paid attention to the latino surge. 36% of early hispanic voters were voting for the first time. and across the country, according to the pew research centre, there were four million more hispanic eligible voters this year than back in 2012. the critical question for the trump campaign, can even a strong showing in northern florida be enough to keep his presidential hopes alive? tonight. we're back in a moment with breaking news on problems at the polls and the latest on concerns over the security of your vote. we'll be right back. [vo] wells fargo is making changes to make things right. first, all customers who have been impacted will be fully refunded. second, a confirmation will be sent when new personal or small business checking, savings or

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we're back now with just minutes to go until the first wave of poll closings. for some americans simply casting a ballot of the a battle unto itself today with long lines in several states. while in pennsylvania, there are multiple reports of voting machine glitches, and the trump campaign launching a lawsuit in nevada over polling hours. let's get to nbc's pete williams. pete, put a question of how the whole process worked in early voting. trump's lawyers say election officials in four mostly democratic polling places in las vegas illegally stayed open beyond the posted closing time and allowed people to vote who got in line after the polls closed. his lawyers asked the state court judge to set the ballots and vo voting machines from those precincts aside and reveal the name of all the poll workers. but in a brief

said it would lead to harassment. >> do you watch twitter? have you watched any cable news show? there are internet -- the vernacular -- trolls who could get this information and harass people who just want to help their fellow citizens vote. >> reporter: the lawsuit seemed intended to lay the ground work for a later challenge with at most a few hundred votes at stake. in pennsylvania, scattered complaints that when they pressed the button for democratic candidates. no comment from the state, but officials in one county said they haven't seen the machines do that. and for about half an hour, colorado's voter registration line was offline. they were given provisional ballots. but no widespread reports of voter intimidation or fraud. >> pete, thank you very much. let's turn now to nbc's cynthia mcfadden who has brought us reporting about the government's efforts to secure this election and concerns of outside

tonight? >> after months of anxiety about russian mettling, u.s. sources tell nbc news, that cyber hygiene of all 50 states is clean, and there are no signs of dangerous intrusions into any election systems or the nation's critical infrastructure due in large part to an intense covert campaign by the u.s., including this, the fbi went to more than a hundred known and suspected russian intelligence operatives in various dipl m and individually warned them to back off and stay home today. good news on the intelligence front. >> cynthia and pete, good to have you both here. we're back in a moment with the critical gender gap among voters. will women voters decide the next president? president? woman: it's been a journey to get where i am. and i didn't get here alone. there were people who listened along the way. people who gave me options.

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we're back on this decision night in america, with the first results expected to start rolling in just moments from now. nbc's christian welker has a closer look at the critical role women voters may play tonight. ? ? i want to see you be brave ? >> reporter: in an election year where the first female major party candidate could make history -- >> this campaign is abou >> reporter: -- tonight women voters could make the critical difference. >> i have an important duty. more than ever. first of all, to vote for the first woman president. >> reporter: the clinton campaign hoping donald trump's controversial comments will cost him. >> grab them by the [ bleep ]. >> reporter: republican candidates have struggled to win over women, but this year the gender gap is unusually high. polls before today showing women favoring

defined this election and it's not just because there's the first woman candidate for president. it's always because women have emerged as a key swing group np. >> in new hampshire, we found divided opinions. >> i'm very bothered by the language that trump uses against women. >> is there one thing that bothered you the most? >> just his attitude about having his way with them and feeling like he can do whatever he wants with em women say they're with him. >> why would you vote for trump? >> because i'm tired of the politicians. >> reporter: his top surrogate, daughter ivanka. >> he is color blind and gender neutral. >> reporter: polls show him leading by white women. but among college educated women, down by 32. among latinos, down by 50. the question tonight, will history be too much for trump to overcome. >> if hillary clinton can run for president,

>> reporter: kristen welker, nbc news, new york. back to the big question, can america unite after this long, contentious campaign? decision 2016 coverage is sponsored by amazon echo. your path to retirement may not always be clear. but at t. rowe price, we can help guide your retirement savings. so wherever your retirement journey takes you, we can help you reach your goals. call us or your advisor t. rowe price. invest with confidence.

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finally, on this historic night, after months of 24 long, angry, and divisive campaign, here is the g can this country come together and unite after this election is finally, some might say mercifully, over? our harry smith found some encouraging signs today. >> reporter: the polls were crowded today. red state and blue state, and all the in between. we waited in line and we brought our kids. this is how it's supposed to be. >> every election, she comes. you'll be ready, won't you? >> reporter: for some moms and daughters, it meant even more. >> if hillary clinton

>> yeah. >> reporter: the idea that history might be made, electing the first woman president brought hundreds and hundreds of visitors to the grave of suffragist susan b. anthony. the people at mt. hope cemetery said they never saw anything like it. >> this is an amazing day. >> reporter: isn't it? after months of acrimony, we couldn't wait to vote. but what about manchester's unity cafe to find out. >> i'm really hoping that we can get more unified as a country and get behind each other and pretty much go back to basics. >> reporter: we didn't ask anyone who they were voting for or which party they belonged to. we asked about tomorrow. >> america was kind of founded on people coming to a common consensus to get things done. that's what i think should happen.

unite and move forward past this election because it's not just about the election, it's about our future. >> reporter: elections are an act of civic faith, entrusting our beliefs to a person we think best represents them. and would we even bother to vote if we didn't truly believe in america itself? harry smith, nbc news, manchester, new hampshire. and that will do it for us on "nightly news" on this tuesday night. a reminder, the first polls close just team is assembled here, and our special coverage continues right now.

from nbc news, decision night in america. here is lester holt. >> here we go, ladies and gentlemen. welcome to decision night in america here at nbc's democracy plaza. it is 7:00 p.m. in the east, polls have just closed in six states. we have our first projections up on the face of 30 rockefeller plaza. nbc news projects that donald trump will win the state of indiana. we project, donald trump will win in kentucky as well. vermont goes to hillary clinton. the projected winner in vermont. we're watching virginia. the polls have closed there. too early to call, clinton however leading in virginia. georgia, also, too close to call. and south carolina, too early to call. trump leads in south carolina.