very good strong margin. that's what's happening right now. can you watch the bottom of your screen for local race results as they come in. >> we will see you again in just a few moments for news channel 8 at 11:00. this is locker room talk. >> tonight your vote counts and history is made. the battle is over. the debate are through. it all co now the most comprehensive election coverage anywhere in this 8 on your side election night special. >> good evening. i'm jennifer leigh. >> i'm keith cate. thanks for joining us tonight. news channel 8 has results running live throughout this newscast at the bottom of your screen. a live look now at the watch parties in new york city, both

we have live team coverage call over the tampa bay. we are live now at the hillary clinton watch party. she has lost florida, but can she win the presidency? >> reporter: you are hearing a lot of cheering behind me, keith, because we're seeing that a lot of these races have been called in just the last few minutes for hillary clinton. ago, the associated press, however, has called florida for donald trump. so it's been kind of a roller coaster of emotions all night long. there have been a few people that left. a few people stayed. the room is still filled with a lot of folks. i spoke to a couple of voters a short time ago. they expressed now telling this very close vote really is and that america truly is a divided

are so divided, but we can't break people apart. we need to bring people together. >> i mean it still remains to be seen. it's tighter than i think anyone would like to be experiencing right now, but people need to be patient. >> reporter: again we've seen a lot of people taking off, a lot of dejected faces, but then we just a few moments ago saw a lot of people cheering. so people are still hopeful here in the clinton watch party will tighten up and hillary clinton in their hopes and wishes that she could bring home a victory. >> rod, they had to be feeling pretty good when they saw hillsborough county go hillary clinton's way. usually hillsborough county is the deciding factor along the i- 4 corridor, but as it turns out, not this year. >> reporter: well, it's interesting. 19 of the last 20 elections when hillsborough county voted for that candidate, that candidate won the presidency.

about, that namely tampa mayor bob buckhorn about why that is. it's a pretty good litmus because this area really is kind of a microcosm of what the country looks like as a whole. so a lot of people were hopeful that would be the case. when the numbers started coming in early, you heard cheering because a lot of states were projected for hillary clinton, but those numbers started slowing down quite a bit. in fact, this was the loudest we've heard this crowd since a couple hours ago when the really first closed. >> donald trump is an up orthodox candidate. he has -- an unorthodox candidate and he has changed things, the state of florida including hillsborough county. >> reporter: it has been an unorthodox race for sure. >> meantime donald trump supporters no doubt want a solid defeat of hillary clinton tonight. >> melanie michael joins us now from a donald trump rally at the hyatt in sarasota. i'm imagining many are hopeful he can pull out a win across the country.

good evening from the hyatt where it's been a packed house all night long. we're talking hundreds of hundreds of people at the republican watch party for donald trump. the feeling has been energetic, a lot of hopefulness. there again has been a massive crowd all evening. we've seen men, women, children, even dogs running through the ballroom literally cheering fo excited throughout the evening. congressman buchanon was here earlier with his family getting the crowd excited in a rally style atmosphere. now folks are just watching the returns very carefully and it has been a nail biter, but with some of the states we've seen going for trump i think there are going to be a lot of folks it seems to be celebrating tonight. here in sarasota a lot of people very excited with what they have seen so far. guys, back to you.

tonight we're joined by florida newsman brendan mclaughlin here to give his prospective as a long time political observer. we've been watching the effects in particular with wall street. >> you can't help but notice what's going on here with wall street. we were watching the excitement. there was thinking hillary clinton was going to win. the dow was up. the s&p was up after a nine what do you make of this big slide? >> the markets hate uncertainty and donald trump is uncertain. hillary clinton for all her warts or matters is sort of a known commodity even -- merits is sort of a known commodity. even if you don't like her politics, she's the devil you know. donald trump is someone who has never held a governmental position and he is poised possibly to hold the most senior political job in the world.

somewhere, the futures down about 4%. oil is down. gold is up. the bond is up. the safety hedge investment. >> it's a global reaction to what's happening tonight. what do you think about florida because we've covered florida politics a while? we were standing in tallahassee when there was this connested situation between al gore and george bush and here we are a close race in florida. were you surprised such a nail biter? >> yeah. it's not that close, though. this race here. >> by comparison not, but still it's a close race. >> the threshold for a recount is 1/2 a percent. it stands to reit out this is not be such -- to reason it should not be such a big surprise donald trump won. this race is not over yet, but

something democrats in this country will have a very hard time assimilating because it's something that the pundits and pollsters and surveyors for the last month or two or three have been telling us is almost inconceivable, but here it could very well happen. >> will that mean you think the democrats will have to are the so of go back to the drawing board because they got in so wrong? >> it's going to take a while. i think the democrats will continue to be angry at donald trump and at the republicans who voted for him and at hillary clinton for >> that has not happened. this election is not over. this night is just getting started, but thank you for your insight. we'll come back to you, i'm sure. there were a handful of problems reported at polling sites in the about a area and around the -- bay area and around the country. even donald trump tried to get early votes thrown out with a

feared. >> reporter: for those who experienced frustration at the symbols, it certainly wasn't good, but some thought they weren't going to get to vote at all. imagine showing up and not having anything to vote with. in van ness, california, missing voting machines led to long limes. some voters were -- lines. some voters were left waiting what caused that delay in california. also imagine not having the luxury of early voting like we do here. voters in the kansas city metro area spent hours waiting in line to cast their ballot reaching all the way around the block. missouri does not have early voting. some of the voters stood in line an hour, at least two. some lined up at 5 a.m. an hour before the polling

votes. again some problems nationwide, but some problems in the bay area. earlier today news channel 8's chip osowski spoke to one voter who contact the 8 on your side after having issues at the polls today. one of the issues had to do with ballots not being scanned. chip will have that story for us shortly. >> there is a lot more to get to this election night. coming up next we'll take you to miami where marco rubio's campaign is tonight's results. >> a different vibe at patrick

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returning now to our your vote counts coverage. >> election results are coming

of that senate race. >> senator marco rubio retains his seat with 52% of the vote. 99% of the precincts reporting. we think there are a couple south florida counties that may still be out at this point. patrick murphy congressman trying to make a my for the senate seat only getting 44% -- a play for the senate seat only getting 44% of the vote and paul stanton with 2%. this race became one of the biggest races to watch this marco rubio running for a second term after dropping out from the presidential race. candace mccowan is live with the campaign in miami. we talked about how interesting it is to learn donald trump wins the state of florida of marco rubio who never really embraced donald trump won his race against patrick murphy. it's kind of interesting to see

>> reporter: this is a very exciting night for marco rubio. you talk about back in february when he lost to donald trump and mentioned that first thing when he got on stage tonight saying this is a much better feeling being on stage after winning. he took the stage around 8:45 this evening. he called his opponent, congressman patrick murphy earlier, congratulated him on a great race and said he has a bright futu will be okay despite the turnout of tonight's presidential race. he never said donald trump's name. rubio did talk about how conversations about politics need to change after this election season. >> in the days and weeks to come i hope we as a people in florida will set the example in this great state while we can disagree on issues, we cannot share a country where people hate each other because of

>> reporter: this is senator rubio walking off the stage with it his wife and kids obviously in a great mood going back to the senate for six years. epromsed not to -- he promised not to run for president again in four years. >> outperforming donald trump in many areas. so he is once again the senator from the great state of florida in miami tonight, candace on the democratic decide congressman patrick murphy hoped to unseat rubio attacking the congressman on his attendance record. he had some powerful friends on his side with hillary clinton and president obama, but tonight he fell short. murphy hoped for a photo finish, but he just couldn't pull it off even though the polls narrowed in recent days. >> reporter: certainly was not the outcome he expected.

polls officially closed it became clear he was not going to win. he called rubio to congratulate him. patrick murphy had thought this election was in the bag until marco rubio joined the race in march. since then rubio took off with the lead and never took back. it was a very ugly campaign with sharp attacks back and forth. murphy faced a very uphill battle struggling with name recognition. the democrats pulled his tv able and murphy urged his supporters to put away his divisiveness and stand by their newly elected senator. >> too often it's seen the negative attacks and partisanship would overshadow the issues so important to floridians. i don't know if our country can take another election quite like this one. >> reporter: murphy did end with an optimistic tone urging

marco rubio. obviously very disappointed, but he remained upbeat to the end. we are just getting started with our your vote counts 2016 election coverage. >> this is a live look in new york city, donald trump's campaign headquarters, reason to celebrate, but it's still early. we'll have a live report coming

right now let's get back to our your vote counts coverage. tonight the center of the political universe shifts from polling places coast to coast to two spots in new york city. >> let's get right to our meredyth live at the midtown hotel in downtown manhattan where donald trump is right now. >> reporter: good evening to you. we are write on the third floor -- right on the third floor where it really feel like the center of the universe as the results trickle in from florida, pennsylvania, myself. you name the state, the people here in this room, donald trump

know governor mike pence are watching this very closely. you get the sense of enthusiasm and optimism that was not there when we first got here about 6 p.m. tonight. it really does feel like a different room since this night has evolved so far. as you guys have monitored the results, the numbers continue to trickle in. the only tv network they're watching in here is fox news. so they are only seeing this from the one source. we're trying to watch this and new york times, all the results coming in. when you speak to the people here, there's no doubt they are here to support donald trump and they really believe that they are in it to win it at this point. obviously these results will come in late into the night. we have not seen donald trump here or his wife. his family put a photo out on twitter. you can hear some of the crowds as they show a live picture from the ballroom.

here. what's been fascinating as we've watched is how much this changes by every state that gets called. we'll be here throughout the night. >> they're probably roaring because donald trump picked up north carolina as well now, so another win for donald trump. >> mark meredyth live for us in new york city, thank you. the fight over legalizing medical marijuana in florida was another hot item on the ballot. the results for that controversial amendment 2 are in. you see channel 8's jeff patterson live in orlando. you're there with amendment 2 supporters. what's their reaction to all of this, jeff? >> reporter: yeah, good evening, keith. actually a lot of the supporters have gone home. they called this one relatively early here tonight. amendment 2 needing 60% of the vote in florida to be passed. of course, it got much more than that. more than 70% of the voters in florida now say that they

tonight for united for care. they have campaigned for this issue for several years. they had a measure on the ballot in 24 teen that got -- in 2014 that got 58% of the vote. a mother with two sons that have autism has fought for this initiative for six years. she says the passage of this amendment will allow her sons to get treatment that they this like i said almost six years now out on the street with signs, you know, away from them sometimes unfortunately. so now mommy gets to take a break and be with her kids and tomorrow we'll be calling doctors to see if we can get someone to recommend this. >> nobody will be able to go out tomorrow and get medical marijuana in the state of florida. the legislature, department of

marijuana can be administered and sold legally in the state of florida. so a lot of work yet to be done for these folks, keith. >> i correct myself, jeff. we had a wrong graphic. this needed more than 60% to pass. amendment 2 gets much more than that. it is now in favor in florida, thank you. jeff patterson live in orlando tonight. with the polls closing out west the race for the white house coulding winding down finally. >> coming -- could be winding down to hillary clinton's election headquarters in new york city.

sports on news channel 8 is sponsored by your gulf coast honda dealers about. >> we are back with your -- dealers. >> we are back with your vote coverage counts on news channel 8 and regardless of the results the 2016 presidential election has already been a historic one with hillary clinton's nomination. >> as the first female

jim osmond is live in new york city at clinton's campaign headquarters. i have to imagine the mood there much more subdued than over at the trump house. >> reporter: very much so and they're only about a mile down the road at the hilton midtown. the folks that may not have a job tomorrow are the pollsters because something is wrong with these polls that at the end of the day didn't come to fruition. pennsylvania, michigan she's behind and some of the counties that reagan won over democrats it seems that trump is winning in some of those areas as well. so we've got pennsylvania that's in doubt, michigan that's in doubt, north carolina's gone, florida already gone for trump and so you're looking at almost a 50/50 math in the electoral votes. the winner will only have 275, 280 in the electoral votes.

i suspect we won't see hillary clinton out here any time soon to look at that glass ceiling, let alone declare victory. jim osmond reporting live tonight, news channel 8. >> thank you, jim in new york. you know what's interesting he points out about the pollsters, anybody that got it right if it turns out donald trump wins, every one of those pollsters will say i got it right. >> such an interesting race. >> but ag the night is young. we haven't even done weather yet, have we steve? over to you. yeah. i'm here to remind you we're here to do some weather. we've got the stars and stripes, not much breeze, east wind 4 miles per hour, 69 degrees, pleasant weather conditions. you can see from this shot from andrea walker beautiful on the bay tonight, fantastic. tony also sending us a beautiful shot at sunset. not everyone was watching

it's 65 degrees, 75 degrees at noon, 79 degrees at 3 p.m. we pick up a few more cloud tomorrow as a result of a cold front moving through. very pleasant evening if you've been outside today. temperature dew point relation, humidity isn't too high, temperatures cooling document. we'll hold onto that same thing despite the fact this cold front is coming through, deeper moisture here, but still relatively dry. we won't deepen the moisture. we aren't expecting much in the showers as the cold front pushes through. you can see the forecast as we head throughout the wake-up period. increasing clouds throughout the day associated with this cold front slowly sinking southward later wednesday. skies clearing, drawing in slightly cooler and drier air, a bit of a breeze thursday afternoon way light northeast wind. 65 degrees our forecast low, a mild start to the day with mostly sunny skies topping out

comparison we had 83 degrees but expect more clouds tomorrow, rain chance running at 10% or less. thursday and friday looks like a fairly nice day for veterans day and the heart walk coming up saturday, upper 70s. overnight low temperatures in the upper 60s near 50 degrees into next week, really nice range of weather. we might see a few extra clouds associated with that front tomorrow. >> no matter where you are this election you at least have the weather to be happy about. >> you can at least count on the weather in florida this time of year. the results of the 13th congressional district between charlie crist and david jolly are also in. >> coming up next we'll have a report from david jolly's camp. >> then we check in with paul mueller at charlie crist headquarters and hear more results for the state

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tonight your vote counts, it's a close race to the finish and news channel 8 is on your side every step of the way with the most comprehensive election night team coverage. here are keith cate and jennifer leigh. >> welcome back to our special election night coverage. >> thank you for staying with us for an extended edition of news channel 8 at 11:00. right now a live look in new york city where thousands of donald trump supporters are anxiouslaw just 2 miles away it's the same story for hillary clinton supporters. thousands are standing by waiting on the results to come in. news channel 8 is covering all of the races that matter to you from new york city to all across the bay. we have team coverage on all of the very important races. let's look at the district 13 congressional race and start things off. about 3 percentage points separate win are charlie crist

rally. crist has 52% and david jolly over 48% there. >> we are familiar with both these guys, both gentlemen. they ran great races, but it was charlie crist's night. let's continue our team coverage now in st. petersburg. peter bernard is live at david jolly's watch party in st. petersburg. disappointing, humbling night, a lot of emotion as well, peter. >> reporter: absolutely. the party you can see the hall behind me is empty. the crews are putting away all the gear, disappointed but not dejected is how i would scribe david jolly how he suspected his defeat tonight. a crowd of several hundred people witnessed the congressman promise to forge ahead with his efforts to reform washington d.c. here's what it looked like earlier tonight. friend and supporters offered

of encourage -- words of encouragement. he told the group he plans to remain involved trying to change the culture in washington d.c. >> i'll tell you in, folks. we -- this, folks. we may not have won the campaign last night, but washington, look out. things are going to change. we will not stop until members of congress, are you ready for this? stop rigging the system for their own political survival and instead start working for the american people. [ ee >> there you heard it. jolly pledged to bring radical common sense to the u.s. congress, his insistence trying to limit fundraising by members cost him financial support and may have cost help the race in this case. >> thank you, peter. a lot of voters believe democratic challenger charlie crist had a hometown advantage.

it's quiet there now, but it was a party earlier. >> reporter: it is quiet now. crist and his supporters have come and gone. this was a huge political comeback. he has served this state for years not only as governor, but also state attorney general and the short list for potential vp picks for john mccain in the 2008 election. he was raised in st. petersburg and calls the area home. he said the race was difficult and he talked about his him an opponent, not an enemy. he said he's fighting for seniors for social security. he'll protect the environment and make sure kids get a good education. take a listen. >> he wants to do right for everybody. >> i'm just very humble. i'm so grateful to all the people who helped us do this, the180,000 some pinellas county residents that were kind to us

>> reporter: i'm paul mueller, news channel 8. >> thank you, paul. ail number of voters across the tampa bay area contacted 8 on your side after having some issues at the polls in florida today. one of the issues had to do with ballots not being scanned. news channel 8's chip osowski is live for us tonight. what's one of the biggest want to make sure barring mechanical or human issues that their vote is counted. i spoke with a couple many plant city who told me they have a problem trusting those who are running things. >> i can't trust people like this. i mean again they may be honest people, but how do you know? i mean how do you know your vote's going to count? time in just want to see my vote go through the machine. >> reporter: i spoke with a

precinct. she said everything was going fine. they went to stick her ballot in that machine and it immediately kicked it out. one of the workers took the ballot, put it in a lock box. she came back at 7:00 after the polls closed and watch her ballot and several others be counted by that very same machine. she told me after that experience she felt like she was even a bigger part of the controversial amendment are in. >> coming up we'll give you a closer look at the solar energy vote that had a lot of people

our your vote count coverage tells now with amendment 1. florida's biggest power company spent millions to pass the amendment, but it failed to win the approval of voters tonight after that campaign. the no on amendment 1 organizers celebrated a very big victory tonight. >> reporter: they did, jen. the party here broke up early, but everybody went home happy knowing they had really seized a victory out from under the big utilities that spent a whole lot of money, something like $26 million to passes this amendment, whereas the grassroots organizers who were against it spent very little. they relied on newspaper

>> it's a testament to the power of social media, all the media markets across the state of florida, every newspaper editorialized no on 1, great victory across the state. the big utilities went down in flames tonight. >> reporter: one of the critical parts of the success was a coalition of conservatives and liberals who don't agree on much else, but they came together on this and that's all that mattered on el the day away from all those big utilities that spent all those millions of dollars to pass amend. 1. >> mark douglas live -- amendment 1. >> mark douglas live in tampa, thank you. >> we have much more analysis and reaction to tonight's results coming up. >> here's some more results as we speak for district 12.

>> we want to give you a live look at the tampa news center upstairs tonight, daniel woodrum one of our producers, our team working hard to bring you the best coverage possible for this very important election. as you look at them, we'll take

the state of florida has been called for donald trump, but it's been a very close race. >> there's still important states yet to be called. again it's not over. our team coverage continues with josh benson and form early florida secretary of state our good friend kurt browning.

there's a few states up for grabs right now, but florida about a 130,000 vote difference. now in your history you get below the 1 percentage point, i hate to say the r word, but what do you see? >> recounts are something election officials don't want to deal it's arduousen and it just delays the results. so the vote total differs tonight was large enough that florida does not need to worry about a recount. other states depending on their laws they very well may go to a recount. >> a lot of people anticipated florida would be razor thin, but now it's looking like there are other states, michigan still on the border, wisconsin, pennsylvania. what are your thoughts on how

tonight? >> personally i didn't think we would see the number of electoral votes that donald trump got. personally i didn't think so. i mean florida was a toss-up. north carolina, pennsylvania i think is still out, but at this point now what's happening is that we run out of electoral votes. it's going to be who has the most. i don't think anybody really expected it to be neck and neck pretty much the whole night. >> now we just wait to see the votes come in. >> to the ve coverage on the way.

all hand make sure your vote counts. voter turnout shattered records in florida this year. more than 6.5 million people voted early in permanent or by mail-in ballot. that alone made up 70% of all votes cast as of today, but what do the numbers tell us about who voted? 8 on your side's stacie schaible is live in the news center for to us break it down. >> florida goes to donald trump, but it was extremely close as expected.

polls telling us who would vote for trump and clinton florida had some interesting results. this is where hillary clinton topped donald trump, among black voters. she was up by 80%. hispanic voters up by29%. with female voters a 5% margin. clinton did better with younger voters ages 18 to 44 winning more than half that group. now let's look on the other side and donald trump. he outperformed among white voters by 28%, but it was surprisingly tighter in two other groups. trump garnered the most male voters in florida but only by 7% and with independent voters 4% separated the two. some other interesting numbers, trump had the edge with older voters and clinton with younger voters. they pretty much broke even among college graduates and those without a degree which

again nbc projecting donald trump the winner in florida tonight. back to you. >> we are still waiting on some of the other states to be called in this historic race for the white house. coming up next we'll go back to new york and check in with the clinton campaign one

we are making sure your vote counts joining us from new york city at the clinton campaign headquarters where there was an expectation of joy much earlier in the evening. there was the thinking that hillary clinton was going to clinch this early, but that's not the case. it's turning into a long night for everyone. >> reporter: it's a long night for everyone and it's very, very quiet here for an election

they're sitting at church waiting for a pastor to come. it really is a sense of just reflection about how potentially this may happen. i mean it's not confirmed obviously that donald trump will win or whether she will win, but clearly this is not how they thought this night was going to go. i will tell you in some sense if she does lose tonight, it may be one, a rejection of the clintons. keith, we talk about the presidential election always about the future and when comey came out with that letter about her e-mails a few weeks ago, it may be that some voters said wait a second. i don't want to go back to that. i don't want to go back to the clinton and that kind of thing and also identity politics don't work as well in general elections and presidential campaigns and that may be playing out as well. we'll keep you posted and stay tuned to news channel 8 for the latest on the presidential

>> we were together in iowa when this all started with donald trump. we watched him and the enthusiasm he had there, much more so than hillary clinton. bernie sanders had tremendous enthusiasm and as this campaign wore along, we saw it here in florida over and over again donald trump continuing to draw big crowds. don't you think that enthusiasm played some sort of role maybe pollstda -- pollsters didn't pick up on? >> reporter: i think in some sense maybe people didn't tell the pollster who they were voting for or may have lied? i hate to say that. it seems as though some people maybe didn't tell the pollsters when they were thinking. i was setting up a booth in pennsylvania and one woman said she had four clinton women and four trump women, but the four

maybe there were folks who just weren't telling the pollsters what was going on. >> we will be right back.

nbc news has projects projected donald trump is the winner -- projected donald trump is the winner in florida 49%-48%, gary johnson pulling 2% of vote at this point. each remaining third party candidate had 1% of the vote in florida. >> it so close it will require a recount in florida. a number of states are still too close to call including michigan, pennsylvania, new hampshire and wisconsin. >> you can catch some election coverage on www.wfla.com as these results continue to come in throughout the night. we will be here, our team is in the news center watching these results come in. >> you know what the best part is after tomorrow? no more commercials.

of florida on this presidential election this year. >> what about the robocalls,