Donald Trump claims he's 'very confident' of victory in US election race after casting his ballot

5 November 2024, 18:32 | Updated: 5 November 2024, 18:40

Donald Trump has said he is "very confident" of victory after casting his ballot in the US presidential election.

After voting in Florida, Republican Mr Trump said he had heard his campaign was doing "very well".

Opinion polls suggest the contest between Democrat Kamala Harris and Mr Trump is neck-and-neck.

Mr Trump told reporters that he had no regrets about his third run for the White House, and said it was his best campaign.

He was elected in 2016, and then lost in 2020 in acrimonious fashion after claiming the vote had been stolen from him.

“Look, I ran a great campaign,” Trump said. “I think it was maybe the best of the three."

Follow our live blog for the latest updates and analysis as we head into election day.

You can also join Shelagh Fogarty, Jon Sopel, and our teams across the US for comprehensive election updates and analysis through the night on America Decides. Watch live on Global Player from 10pm on Tuesday.

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He added: "We did great in the first one. We did much better in the second one but something happened.

"And this was the best. I would say this was the best campaign we’ve run.”

He added that he didn't want "any violence,” regardless of the result. Mr Trump claimed: “Of course there’ll be no violence; my supporters are not violent people.”

Mr Trump's election defeat was met with conspiratorial disbelief by many of his supporters, culminating in the storming of the Capitol two months later.

In 2024, both Mr Trump and Ms Harris made their final campaign push with American voters in so-called swing states such as Arizona, Georgia and Pennsylvania, where the race is expected to be close.

Under the US voting system, a total of 270 votes in what is known as the electoral college are needed to win the presidential election.

Ms Harris narrowly leads Mr Trump in the final prediction by YouGov ahead of the US election, with the pollster predicting she has 240 electoral votes, Trump 218, while a further 80 remain uncertain.

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Key issues in the race to be the next US president include security on the US's southern border with Mexico, abortion rights and reducing inflation.

Labour has been working hard to win over Mr Trump in case he is re-elected, Health Secretary Wes Streeting said.

He said that Foreign Secretary David Lammy, who has called Mr Trump a "neo-Nazi-sympathising sociopath" in the past, has strong relationships with people around the former president, including his vice presidential nominee JD Vance.

Though Labour and Mr Trump "may not be ideological bedfellows", if he is elected "there will be a really good working relationship", the Health Secretary told LBC.

He pointed to Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, who attended a rally in the US on Monday night in support of Trump.

"[Mr Farage] was reflecting overnight that whatever some of the noise we've heard about, you know that legal action or indeed things that we said about President Trump in the past, that we'll be able to work effectively together as partners and and as allies."

Mr Farage meanwhile said he rated Joe Biden's presidency as "catastrophic" and Ms Harris's vice presidency as "nul points".

"She's a terrible candidate," he told LBC about the Democrat hopeful.

How to follow the 2024 Presidential Election

Follow our live blog for the latest updates and analysis as we head into election night.

You can also join Shelagh Fogarty, Jon Sopel, and our teams across the US for comprehensive election updates and analysis through the night on America Decides.

Watch live on Global Player from 10pm on Tuesday.