PORTLAND, United States — Oregon police and National Guard troops in camouflage trucks pursued far-left protesters around the US city of Portland as a riot was declared late Wednesday, making at least 10 arrests.

The northwestern city that has seen continuous protests since summer had been placed on high alert by Governor Kate Brown, who extended an election-night emergency order amid fears of violent clashes over the contested US polls.

A heavy law enforcement presence flooded the streets after a handful of demonstrators broke off from hundreds-strong anti-Trump protests to shatter storefront windows, and a man believed to have thrown a Molotov cocktail was arrested.

The Multnomah County Sheriff's Office cited "widespread violence" in the city's downtown area, including glass bottles thrown at police who advanced on demonstrators.

An AFP journalist at the scene witnessed two arrests during a skirmish on a street corner that left protester Michael Ream with a bloodied face.

"It's the same thing it always is -- just horrible conduct of the police force and the terrible legacy that they carry every day," the 38-year-old PhD student told AFP as police handcuffed him.

Asked whether this week's contested election had brought him to the streets, he replied: "More or less. I mean, I haven't been out (protesting) in a while."

Portland has seen months of clashes between police and demonstrators, angered at the repeated killings of Black Americans by law enforcement officers across the country.

The protesters involved in Wednesday's clashes had earlier attended a 300-strong peaceful rally in a downtown park hosted by a coalition of anti-capitalist groups featuring lectures, music and slogans including "The Vote is Over. The Fight Goes On."

Rally organizer Evan Burchfield told AFP the city had been using the police as a "tool of political repression" for years and that "nothing is actually going to change" if Joe Biden is elected.

Another group of protesters who had gathered by Portland's river Wednesday vowed to "protect the results" of Tuesday's close-run election and held banners proclaiming "Count Every Vote." 

"We want Trump out of office, that's the main focus," one rally leader told the crowd, to loud cheers.

Several of the demonstrators were openly carrying firearms, including rifles, and one anti-racism and anti-imperialism banner showed an image of an assault rifle, with the slogan "We Don't Want Biden. We Want Revenge."

By AFP

Joe Biden stopped short of declaring victory, but said he and Kamala Harris believe they will win. 

“It’s clear that we’re winning enough states to reach 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency. I’m not here to declare that we’ve won. But I am here to report, when the count is finished, we believe we will be the winners,” Biden said in comments from Delaware. 

He said he and Harris are on track to receive the most votes ever in American history and said every vote must be counted. 

He pledged to be a president for all Americans, not just Democrats. Once the election and counting are behind finished, it will be time to “put the harsh rhetoric of the campaign behind us, to lower the temperature, to see each other again, to listen to one another, to hear each other again, and respect and care for one another. To unite, to heal, to come together as a nation. I know this won’t be easy. I’m not naïve. Neither of us are. I know how deep and hard the opposing views are in our country on so many things. But I also know this as well. To make progress, we have to stop treating our opponents as enemies. We are not enemies.”

CNN projected a Joe Biden win in Wisconsin, flipping the northern state that voted Republican four years ago. 

President Donald Trump’s campaign team has called for a recount in the state. “There have been reports of irregularities in several Wisconsin counties which raise serious doubts about the validity of the results,” said campaign manager Bill Stepien. “The president is well within the threshold to request a recount and we will immediately do so.”  

Trump’s campaign has also filed a law suit to halt counting in Michigan, claiming they have not been given “meaningful access to numerous counting locations to observe the opening of ballots and the counting process.”  

Biden has a narrow lead in Michigan, according to CNN. 

Biden's promise to re enter the Iran nuclear deal would be a "huge mistake," said a former Trump national security advisor.

Lt. Gen. Herbert Raymond McMaster called the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, which President Donald Trump has withdrawn from, "deeply flawed" and "a political disaster masquerading as a diplomatic triumph", he said on the latest episode of Al-Monitor's podcast series, 'On the Middle East.'

"What's immensely important now, and what the biggest accomplishment ofthe Trump administration has been, is to put the economic pressure on the regime, to force a choice, and ultimately, it will be up to the Iranian people to voice a desire tochange the nature of their government," he added.

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden's campaign manager condemned President Trump's White House speech in the early hours of Tuesday, describing it as "outrageous, unprecedented, and incorrect."

“The president’s statement tonight about trying to shut down the counting of duly cast ballots was outrageous, unprecedented, and incorrect. It was outrageous because it is a naked effort to take away the democratic rights of American citizens," Jen O’Malley Dillon said in a statement.

She reassured Democrats, "the counting will not stop.”

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani says the next US president's actions could be significant for Iran, reported state media on Tuesday, as American election results come out.

“We want the US to return to the law and the international and bilateral treaties and respect the people of Iran. We want to have respect, instead of sanctions," said Rouhani in a cabinet meeting on Wednesday morning, according to state-outlet IRNA.

"If the US lifts the unfair sanctions and offers respect, then our situation would change. If they abandon threats and use respect, then the conditions would change. For us the principles, method, policy is important, otherwise individual or political party is not important,” he claimed. 

Rouhani added that Iran is operating on the assumption that the US will not change its behavior, saying Tehran has planned to withstand the sanctions and the difficult economic situation. 

Despite President Donald Trump declaring victory in his late night address, the unprecedented number of mail-in and early voters has led to a longer-than-usual vote count in some states.

In Pennsylvania, only 39% of mail-in votes have been counted, reports CNN, making up 1.5 million votes left to be counted of the 2.5 million votes cast.

Based on CNN's projections, Joe Biden has 220 electoral votes while Donald Trump has 213 electoral votes. Candidates need 270 votes to win the presidency.

Democrat Joe Biden has taken the state of Maine, reports the Associated Press, gaining four more electoral votes.

US President Donald Trump has prematurely declared victory in the 2020 presidential elections, falsely saying all the legitimate votes have been counted.

"A very sad group of people is trying to disenfranchise" the people who voted for Trump, said the President from the White House's East Room early Wednesday, despite there being no evidence of widespread voter fraud.

"Most importantly, we are winning Pennsylvania by a tremendous amount," said the President, claiming victory in Georgia. "Arizona, we have a lot of life in that."

"This is a fraud, this is an embarrassment to our country," said the Trump, taking issue with legally cast votes that has already happened, but not counted. 

"Frankly, we did win this election," added the President, saying they will be going to the Supreme Court to ballots in states potentially that could still fall to the Democrats, namely Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Georgia.

"There is no natural path" to immediately contesting the elections at the Supreme Court, said Republican lawyer Ben Ginsburg on CNN, saying lawyers need to first contest the votes under each state's law.

"It is a distressing moment for me as a longtime Republican," he added, saying the President is openly trying to disenfranchise voters.

CNN projects Montana's three electoral votes going to Donald Trump, bring the incumbent president to 213.

Biden still holds a tight lead, holding 220. Candidates need 270 electoral college votes to secure the presidency.

President Donald Trump's big win in Florida owes much to his strident denunciation of leftist governments in Latin America, which resonated loud and clear with conservative Hispanics in the southeastern state.

In Florida, this demographic is led by Cubans who loathe the communist government in Havana, against which Trump adopted a hard line during his presidency and the campaign for the White House.

In Miami's Little Havana neighborhood, dozens of Cubans listened to salsa music and waved American flags Tuesday night as they celebrated Trump's victory in Florida, and its rich prize of 29 electoral votes.

The state famous for its tight presidential races was seen as critical to Trump's reelection bid against Democrat Joe Biden. 

Outside the famous Cafe Versailles, a popular Spanish song urging people to vote for Trump rang out.

"Freedom for Cuba!" one woman shouted as TV crews filmed her.

Trump won Florida because of his anti-communist rhetoric and also because of his popularity among rural whites, experts said.

"The Democrats lost the Hispanic vote. Not just among the Cubans. Also the Venezuelans, Argentines, Bolivians, Colombians. They are all pro-Trump here," said Eduardo Gamarra, a professor of political science at Florida International University (FIU).

Anti-racism protests that swept America after the police killing of George Floyd in May did not persuade Florida Latinos to vote for Biden -- who unlike Trump supports the Black Lives Matter movement -- as they do not identify with Blacks in the United States, Gamarra said.

South Americans living in Florida tend to come from the middle and upper class in their home countries, the scholar said.

"But Latinos in the rest of the country have a different image of themselves because of their social origin, and are more committed to the debate on civil rights," he said.

According to Gamarra, Black Lives Matter actually hurt Biden among Latinos in the Sunshine State. 

- 'Praying' for Trump to win -
Take Carlos Rizo, a Cuban who was watching the election returns at home and "praying" for Trump to win.

He said Black Lives Matter is a leftist ploy to undermine democracy -- an opinion not uncommon among the state's Latinos.

"Everybody knows what Black Lives Matter is and what they have provoked," Rizo, a 53-year-old truck driver, told AFP.

He said BLM and the loose leftist grouping called Antifa were used by the Democrats "to create panic and terror."  

Jorge Duany, head of the Cuban Research Institute at FIU, said it's not just Hispanics -- they make up 20 percent of the electorate in the Sunshine State -- that fueled Trump's win.

You can win without them if you capture the support of rural Floridians, Duany said.

But the "tight relationship" Trump cultivated with the Cuban and Venezuelan communities in Miami yielded good results, he said.

"Those two groups are not decisive when it comes to the overall win but they must have tipped the balance in Trump's favor," said Duany.

Biden was slow to campaign in Florida and slow to react to Trump's depiction of him as the face of the far left who would usher in socialism in the US, he added.

by Leila Macor for AFP

Twitter on Wednesday flagged a tweet in which President Donald Trump accused Democrats of trying to steal the presidential election.

"We are up BIG, but they are trying to STEAL the Election," Trump wrote on Twitter moments after Biden told supporters he expected to win.

Twitter labeled the Trump tweet, saying "some or all of the content shared in this Tweet is disputed and might be misleading about an election or other civic process."

By AFP

Democrat Joe Biden has won Rhode Island, which hold four electoral votes, reports CNN. 

Incumbent President Donald Trump is still down in the road to 270 electoral votes, holding 171, against Biden's 219, according to the news channel.

CNN projects Joe Biden winning one electoral vote in Nebraska, and Trump winning four in the split state.

Democrats are on track to win this election, claims Democratic candidate Joe Biden, despite the Associated Press just calling the important state of Florida for Trump.

Speak in his home city of Wilmington, Biden said, "it is going to take time to count the votes, but we are going to win Pennslyvania."

"I am optimistic about this outcome," he added, as he goes neck to neck against incumbent President Donald Trump.

Fox has called the strategic states of Florida and Texas for Donald Trump, but withdrew their calling of Arizona for Biden.

AFP has called Florida, Iowa for Trump, and Minnesota for Biden.

Right-wing-leaning Fox News has predicted that President Donald Trump has taken the key state of Florida, however, other news outlets maintain its too early to call.

Fox is also the only major channel to call Arizona for former Vice-President Joe Biden, which would be the first major surprise of the night for the presidential race.

Democratic candidates in Delaware and Vermont made history Tuesday when they became the first openly transgender legislators in their states.

President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden are battling it out for the White House, with polls gradually closing across the United States Tuesday -- and then a long night of waiting for results ahead.

The first results are trickling in, with US media projecting wins for the Republican incumbent so far in 17 states including Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Oklahoma and Tennessee -- all states he won in 2016.

Biden has captured 16 states including his home state Delaware and big prizes California and New York, as well as the US capital. As with Trump, so far, all states claimed by Biden were won by Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016.

So far, that gives Biden 209 electoral votes and Trump a maximum of 116, because Nebraska splits its electoral votes based on congressional district (see note below). 

The magic number is 270. Observers expect the hotly contested race for the White House to come down to a handful of key battleground states that have yet to be called.

The following is a list of the states won by each candidate and the corresponding number of electoral votes, based on the projections of US media including CNN, Fox News, MSNBC/NBC News, ABC, CBS and The New York Times. 

TRUMP (116)*
Alabama (9)

Arkansas (6)

Indiana (11)

Kansas (6)

Kentucky (8)

Louisiana (8)

Mississippi (6)

Missouri (10)

Nebraska (5) *

North Dakota (3)

Oklahoma (7)

South Carolina (9)

South Dakota (3)

Tennessee (11)

Utah (6)

West Virginia (5)

Wyoming (3)

BIDEN (209)
California (55)

Colorado (9)

Connecticut (7)

Delaware (3)

District of Columbia (3)

Illinois (20)

Maryland (10)

Massachusetts (11)

New Hampshire (4)

New Jersey (14)

New Mexico (5)

New York (29)

Oregon (7)

Rhode Island (4)

Vermont (3)

Virginia (13)

Washington (12)

* Nebraska splits its five electoral votes -- two electors are assigned based on the plurality of votes in the state, and the other three are awarded based on congressional district. Biden could eventually peel at least one of these votes away.

By AFP

Joe Biden has taken California, Oregon, Washington, reports AFP, bringing the former Vice-President to 192  electoral votes.

Trump wins Missouri, while Biden takes New Hampshire, CNN predicts. Polls in the major state of California are about to close.

The Democratic party is set to maintain control in the House of Representatives and potentially expand its influence, FOX news has reported. 

"The Fox News Decision Desk can now project that Democrats will retain control of the House of Representatives and expand their majority by at least five seats," it said. 

"This is a major boost for Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has pledged to roll back much of Trump’s first-term agenda if he loses reelection," it added.

 

An adviser to Donald Trump has told CBS news that Florida is crucial to a Repbulican victory.

"If Florida goes for Biden, then the game is over. But if Florida does go for Trump, then boy, game on," the adviser said.

The race in Florida has been extremely tight, with the lead constantly changing as more votes are counted.

Trump is currently leading the race in the southern state, with 50,6 percent of the vote, according to Reuters.  91 percent of all expected votes have been counted. 

Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell is expected to be reelected in Kentucky, according to polling from AP and Fox News. 

Trump is also expected to win in Kentucky - deemed a safe seat for the Republican party. 

McConnell was first elected to the Senate in 1984 and is Kentucky's longest serving senator. 

Follow live updates on the presidential election as President Donald Trump and Former Vice President Joe Biden compete for the White House.