2024-11-06 18:15:03
People stand in line to vote at Joslyn Park vote center in Santa Monica, California on Tuesday.
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This story originally appeared as part of NPR’s live coverage of the 2024 election. For more election coverage from the NPR Network head to our live updates page.
The Associated Press has called California for Vice President Kamala Harris, giving her a sizeable influx of electoral votes.
California holds 54 electoral votes, the most of any state in the country (it actually lost one for the first time after the 2020 Census). Its polls closed at 11 p.m. ET.
The state, which is home to some 39 million people, supported Republicans for much of the late 20th century but has reliably voted blue in recent years.
President Joe Biden won the state by some 30 points over Trump in 2020, the fourth consecutive election in which the Democratic nominee got more than 60% of the California vote.
Californians can take credit for two presidents in particular: Richard Nixon, who was born there, and Ronald Reagan, who served two terms as its governor before reaching the White House.
Of course, another famous resident of the Golden State — and one with presidential ambitions — is none other then Harris.
Harris was born in Oakland, spent some of her childhood in California and moved back for law school. She served two terms as California’s attorney general from 2011 to 2017, and represented the state in the U.S. Senate from 2017 to 2021.
While the California race call gives Harris a boost, all eyes are trained on the seven crucial swing states that are likely to decide the election.
