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Election Day 2024: Here are the swing counties to watch
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Election Day 2024: Here are the swing counties to watch

In a deeply divided nation, the election is a true showdown between Democrats Kamala Harris and republican Donald Trumpthat is to say the result of 2024 election will depend heavily on several key battlefield states.

This means that the results will also depend on several counties.

From 2012 to 2016, more than 200 counties switched from former President Barack Obama to Trump. In 2020, less than half that number moved from Trump to President Biden, according to NPR.

Here are the counties to watch in each of the seven swing states as Election Day unfolds.

MORE: Follow the results live here on election night

Arizona

Maricopa County, Arizonabecame the nation’s ultimate county swing — a place that could determine whether Democrat Kamala Harris or Republican Donald Trump will be the next president and which party controls the U.S. Senate.

The county, home to Phoenix and dozens of other communities, is so closely divided politically that it sometimes takes more than a week to find out who won. This year, election officials warn it could take up to 13 days to tabulate all the results. ballots in Maricopa.

Pima County, which includes Tucson, Arizona’s second-largest city, is considered another important county to watch. The traditionally Democratic-leaning county could bring more votes to Harris in the 2024 election.

Georgia

The top 20 counties in terms of total voter turnout percentage so far were all won by Trump in 2020, although Biden won the entire state.

The bluer counties in the Atlanta metro area are still significantly larger than rural counties where turnout is high — but in a race that narrowed to fewer than 12,000 votes in 2020, every ballot voting is essential.

The top three counties in terms of turnout are Towns, Oconee and Dawson – which were won by Trump in 2020.

In contrast, Henry, Cobb and Fulton counties – the third being that of the city of Atlanta itself – saw fewer of their total active voting population turn out before Election Day, but more ballots were cast. been filed so far.

Michigan

Some of the key counties to watch in Michigan include Wayne County (home to Detroit) and Kent County (home to Grand Rapids).

Kent County, which is in the western part of the state, could point to where Michigan is headed.

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It was once a Republican stronghold, but has become more Democratic in recent years. It was one of only three counties in the state to move from Trump in 2016 to Biden in 2020.

Metro Detroit’s suburbs will also be important. Saginaw County went from Obama in 2012 to Trump in 2016 and then to Biden in 2020.

Nevada

Politicians in Washoe County, Nevada call the county “the fastest growing county.” The county, which encompasses Reno, is the second most populous county in the state.

In 2020, Biden won Washoe by 4.5 points. Democratic votes in that county could offset losses in Clark County, which includes Las Vegas, where the Republican Party has made gains in recent years, according to political data expert David Wasserman.

North Carolina

In North Carolina, Harris’ margins in Wake and Mecklenburg counties, home respectively to Raleigh, the state capital, and Charlotte, the state’s largest city, will reveal just how much Trump will have to oust less populated rural areas that he dominated. , according to the Associated Press.

Cabarrus County, in suburban Charlotte, also went red in the previous two elections, although Trump’s margin fell from 20 points in 2016 to nine in 2020.

Meanwhile, Nash County, located near Raleigh, flipped from Trump in 2016 to Biden in 2020, but won by a razor-thin margin.

Pennsylvania

In Pennsylvania, Harris needs strong turnout in blue Philadelphia, but she also seeks to solidify Democrats’ advantage in the arc of suburban counties to the north and west of the city.

She campaigned aggressively in Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery counties, where Biden improved on Clinton’s margins of victory in 2016. The Philadelphia metro area, including the four pass counties, accounts for 43 percent of the voice from Pennsylvania.

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It’s important to note that Northampton County has chosen the winner of the presidential election three times since 1920, and the area is a battleground again this year, according to the Post-Gazette. As in Erie County, voters shifted from Barack Obama to Trump to Joe Biden.

Wisconsin

Harris and Trump held separate rallies within seven miles of each other in Milwaukee, Wisconsin Friday night, as part of a final push to get out the vote in the swing state’s largest city.

According to local reports, four counties will determine who could win the swing state: Dane, Door, Milwaukee and Waukesha.

Biden won 181,000 more votes in Dane County than Trump in 2020, and Milwaukee County had a 183,000 vote advantage for Biden.

Meanwhile, in Waukesha County, Trump garnered 55,000 more votes than Biden. Door County was red in 2016 and turned blue in 2020.