Presidential Election Live: Donald Trump Nears Victory, but Hillary Clinton Refuses to Concede

Hillary Clinton refused to concede the presidential contest early Wednesday even as Donald J. Trump built a lead in a series of battleground states, upending months of polling that had given the advantage to Mrs. Clinton and putting him on the verge of seizing back the White House for Republicans.

Shortly after 2 a.m., John D. Podesta, the chairman of Mrs. Clinton’s campaign, addressed Democrats, saying that “they are still counting votes, and every vote counts” and declaring that “she is not done yet.”

Just after 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, Mr. Trump was declared the victor in Florida, earning him the state’s 29 electoral votes and giving him a more certain grip on the presidential contest with Mrs. Clinton. About two hours later, he added Pennsylvania to his column.

Reaction to the prospect of a Trump presidency rippled across the globe, with financial markets abroad falling as American television networks raised the prospect that Mrs. Clinton might lose. Asian markets were trading sharply lower, down around two percentage points, and in the United States, Dow Jones futures were down as much as 800 points in after-hours trading.

Several hours after polls closed, the vote margins separating Mr. Trump and Mrs. Clinton remained razor thin in states that would determine the outcome of the presidential contest, with voters clearly demonstrating the polarized nature of the American electorate.

Campaign advisers to Mrs. Clinton watched with increasing alarm on Tuesday night as healthy leads that had been predicted in polling for much of the past several months appeared to evaporate as votes were tallied. Mr. Trump also won North Carolina and Ohio, and he was clinging to small leads in Michigan and Wisconsin. - Read More

Presidential Election Live: Donald Trump Nears Victory, but Hillary Clinton Refuses to Concede

Clinton vs. Trump: Voters Have Their Say on Election Day - nytimes