Donald Trump wins North Carolina, kneecapping Kamala's path to the White House

President Donald Trump has won North Carolina once again, picking up the key battleground state's 16 electoral votes.

Around 9:22 p.m. ET, the Decision Desk HQ called the Tar Heel state for Trump. The Associated Press subsequently called it around 11:20 p.m. ET. At the time of publication, Trump had a comfortable lead, 50.8% to 48.1% with 88% of the votes counted

Jill Stein of the Green Party and Libertarian Chase Oliver both failed to clinch half a percentage point.

Exit polls indicated that the sexes split as expected, with 57% of men voting for Trump and 56% of women voting for Kamala Harris, reported NBC News. Trump secured roughly 61% of the white vote, 12% of the black vote, and 48% of the Hispanic vote.

Trump even made history: He won Anson County, which is more than 44% black. A Republican has won that county in a presidential election only once since the 1870s.

According to the Associated Press, the issues that decided the election in North Carolina were the economy, immigration, abortion, and health care, in that order.

Former Obama adviser David Axelrod recently told Mike Murphy of the podcast "Hacks on Tap" that if Harris won North Carolina, Trump, who held some of his final rallies in the state, would be "in deep trouble." It appears that Harris now has major troubles of her own.

Republican North Carolina gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson was not so fortunate, trailing the state's Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein by roughly 13 percentage points.

Republicans Brad Knott, Richard Hudson, Tim Moore, David Rouzer, Mark Harris, Pat Harrigan, Virginia Foxx, Addison McDowell, Greg Murphy, and Chuck Edwards all appear to have locked down or kept seats in the U.S. Congress.

Editor's note: This article has been updated to reflect that a Republican presidential candidate has won Anson County once since the 1870s. A previous version claimed no Republican had won it since the 1870s.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!