Why AP called Michigan for Trump

WASHINGTON — Donald Trump's lead in the “blue wall” state of Michigan became insurmountable after he improved his margin in Detroit's county and won overwhelmingly in Republican-leaning parts of the state, closing off Vice President Kamala Harris' path to victory.

As in other battleground states, Trump's victory in Michigan, called at 12:54 p.m. Wednesday, came at the margins.

Harris still carried the populous Democratic redoubt of Wayne County, but not at the level President Joe Biden did four years ago. Even if Harris had won 9 out of 10 of the ballots left to be counted she couldn't have caught Trump at the time the race was called.

Trump won in deep red and more moderate GOP counties and kept within about a percentage point of Harris in politically split parts of the state.

CANDIDATES: President: Harris (D) vs. Trump (R) vs. Chase Oliver (Libertarian) vs. Jill Stein (Green) vs. Randall Terry (U.S. Taxpayers Party) v. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (Natural Law Party) vs. Joseph Kishore vs. Cornel West.

WINNER: Trump.

POLL CLOSING TIME: 8 p.m. & 9 p.m. ET. Michigan covers two time zones, so most of the state started reporting results while some voters in the Upper Peninsula were casting ballots until 9 p.m. ET.

ABOUT THE RACE:

Michigan played a decisive role in determining the presidency in the previous two White House contests.

The state was one of three presidential battlegrounds, along with Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, that went narrowly for Trump in 2016 after almost 30 years of supporting Democrats for president. Four years later, Democrat Joe Biden won all three states back for Democrats, with a margin in Michigan of about 154,000 votes out of more than 5.5 million votes cast.

The outcome of this year’s election teetered on a knife’s edge. Some working-class areas of the state with generational ties to Democrats gravitated toward Trump. Meanwhile, the former GOP stronghold of Grand Rapids has trended Democratic.

Trump and Harris campaigned heavily in pursuit of Michigan’s 15 electoral votes since becoming their parties’ nominees, with a focus on populous Detroit and its suburbs and Kent County in the west, home of Grand Rapids and a key swing area of the state.

WHY AP CALLED THE RACE: Trump's lead in populous Wayne County, home to Detroit and Dearborn, improved on his performance there four years ago, and Harris couldn't close the gap with the remaining number of votes left to be counted.