Washington
Democrats Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar have won re-election to the US House of Representative in the 13th District of Michigan and in Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District respectively.
Ilhan Omar, Somali American, 38, defeated her Republican challenger, African American businessman Lacy Johnson. Rashida Tlaib of Palestinian descent and Ilhan Omar both are Muslims and were criticized by US President Donald Trump in the past.
On the other hand, Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden are battling it out for the White House, with polls closed across the United States Tuesday — and a long night of waiting for results in key battlegrounds on the cards.
The results are flowing in, with US media projecting wins for the Republican incumbent so far in Texas, Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Montana, lowa, Ohio, Idaho, Utah, Kansas, South Carolina, Louisiana, North and South Dakota, Oklahoma and Tennessee.
Biden has captured his home state Delaware and big prizes California and New York, Minnesota, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Colorado, 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 238 electoral votes and Trump a maximum of 213, because Nebraska splits its electoral votes based on congressional district.
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.—AP
