'Let's give each other a chance': US president-elect Joe Biden calls for unity in moving victory speech

Just to recap where we're at - the Democrats are currently leading Republicans at 135-111.

Donald Trump has bagged Missouri, a safe red state with 10 electoral votes.

Joe Biden is projected to win Virginia, which has 13 electoral votes. Important note here - Mr Biden is currently trailing Mr Trump in the live count, but votes from the safe Democratic parts of Virginia are yet to be counted. On the assumption that Mr Biden will win those areas, it's assumed he will thus take the state.

We're still waiting for a definitive answer on Florida, a key swing state with 29 electoral votes. Mr Trump is currently leading Mr Biden there at 51.3 per cent to 47.8 per cent, with more than 90 per cent of votes counted. Some media outlets have already called the state for Mr Trump - we're holding off for now. 

Joe Biden is projected to bag New Mexico, a safe state for Democrats with five electoral votes.

Blake Stage has travelled from Shellharbour to attend Sydney’s Conservative Political Action Conference on US election day, as he keeps his fingers crossed for a Donald Trump win.

Mr Stage supported Mr Trump at the last election, despite some uncertainty about how he would govern and keep his promises, because he thought questions about Hilary Clinton’s character were stronger.

He said Mr Trump’s performance as president had solidified his support.

“He stuck to his word, he’s kept his promises, he’s governed sensibly,” Mr Stage told SBS News. “His economic reforms that he said that he would implement, he’s implemented them, and we’ve seen really strong median income growth.”

Blake Stage has travelled from Shellharbour to attend Sydney’s Conservative Political Action Conference. Source: SBS / SBS/Jodie Stephens

Mr Stage said he was feeling optimistic about Mr Trump’s chances.

“It looks tight and I am concerned at this stage, but I still think he’ll pull it off,” he said. “I think he’ll have a lot of silent support, quiet support, from people who just wanted to get on with their lives.”

- Jodie Stephens

In unsurprising news, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has emerged victorious in New York.

The 31-year-old said that serving for New York's 14th Congressional District has been the "greatest honour, privilege and responsibility" of her life.

Ms Ocasio-Cortez was up against first-time Republican challenger John Cummings, whose campaign focused on Republican resentment of Ms Ocasio-Cortez as a rising star of the Democratic Party's left wing.

Donald Trump has won Kansas, which has six electoral votes.

With 70 per cent of the votes in, Mr Trump is currently leading Joe Biden in this state at 52-46.

More than 90 per cent of the votes have been counted in Florida, one of the most vital battleground states of this election.

But it's still too close to call, with President Donald Trump narrowly leading his opponent Joe Biden, 51.2 per cent to 47.7 per cent.

Victory in Florida will be crucial for Mr Trump's chances at a second term, who won the state by just over one per cent in 2016.

You can read my colleague Emma Brancatisano's full breakdown of the Florida vote here.

A woman who has promoted the baseless conspiracy theory QAnon and made Islamophobic and anti-Semitic comments has won a seat in the US Congress.

Marjorie Taylor Greene, who had never run for political office before, took out Georgia's 14th Congressional District on Wednesday (AEDT), earning herself a seat in the US House of Representatives.

The QAnon movement is a baseless and widely debunked conspiracy theory that posits President Donald Trump is fighting a global cabal of child sex predators.

Read the full story by Rashida Yosufzai here.

Expat Democrat supporter Karen Banes from Florida told SBS News she’s concerned the United States has never been more divided.  

Ms Banes said witnessing the division in her home country has been “heartbreaking”.

”It breaks up families, marriages, friendship - I’ve just never seen it like this before,” she said. 

“[People] are just really divided and they need to come together and there needs to be a peaceful way for us to come together as a country.”

Ms Banes said she believed this election is the "most important" she's ever voted in. 

“It’s an election of a generation - there is nothing more important that what is going on today,” she said. 

“America stands for so much - and we have not been the country that I’ve been proud of and I want us to be the country we were before.”

American expat Karen Banes. Source: SBS / SBS News

- Tom Stayner

Donald Trump has won South Carolina, which has nine electoral votes. 

In a historic win for the LGBTQI+ community, Sarah McBride has been elected to Delaware's state Senate.

This makes Ms McBride the first openly transgender state senator in the US.

The 30-year-old has built a career focused on securing LGBTQI+ equality, and has previously worked in roles at the Human Rights Campaign and Equality Delaware.

Ms McBride made history at the Democratic National Convention in 2016 after she became the first transgender person to speak at a major-party convention.

Joe Biden has won Colorado.

Colorado has nine electoral votes, and has voted Democrat since 2008. 

This brings Mr Biden to 126 votes, compared to 80 for Donald Trump.

With results yet to appear in several key battleground states, including Florida, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, it's still early days. 

Top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell has held onto his Kentucky seat, winning a seventh term.

The prominent Trump ally defeated Democrat Amy McGrath, a retired Marine combat pilot.

This wasn't a particularly surprising win, but the question now is whether Mr McConnell becomes Majority Leader in the next Senate.

Donald Trump has won five more safe Republican seats: North Dakota (three electoral votes), South Dakota (three electoral votes), Wyoming (three electoral votes), and Louisiana (eight electoral votes). 

Joe Biden has picked up New York, with a massive 29 electoral votes, and Rhode Island (four electoral college votes). 

And with that, I'm signing off and passing you into the very capable hands of my colleague Gavin Fernando, who will take you right through election night. Thanks for reading. 

A Georgia woman who has promoted the far-right QAnon conspiracy theory has won a seat in the US House of Representatives, meaning the controversial and widely debunked movement will soon have a voice in Congress.

Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene, who had never run for political office before, was well ahead and projected to win her race for US House District 14, AFP reported, some two months after President Donald Trump hailed her as a "future Republican star."

But her promotion of QAnon - a far-right movement claiming that President Trump is waging a secret war against a global liberal cult of Satan-worshipping pedophiles - has raised eyebrows.

The latest states to be called are:

Arkansas (six electoral votes), Mississippi (six electoral votes), and Alabama (nine electoral votes) for Donald Trump, all extremely safe Red states.

Joe Biden has nabbed Connecticut (seven electoral votes), also super safe for the Democrats. 

That leaves Mr Biden with 88 electoral college votes, to President Trump's 63. 

Hundreds of Joe Biden supporters have rallied outside the White House on election night, blasting music and dancing.

The area, recently named Black Lives Matter (BLM) Plaza by the mayor of Washington, was the focal point of opposition to President Donald Trump during racial justice protests over summer. 

Dozens of the city's police watched the crowds, who were kept hundreds of meters away from the White House perimeter by a fence surrounding Lafayette Square. A new, unscaleable barricade has also gone up inside the perimeter.

People gather in Black Lives Matter Plaza near White House on election day. Source: AP

"I'm here to celebrate, hopefully, the president getting out of here, an early celebration," Malik Williams, a 27-year-old school counsellor from Maryland, told AFP.

Mr Williams, who took part in the BLM protests, said he was buoyed by the polls and early voting records, adding: "I think everything will work itself out."

"I'm not honestly not concerned at all, I think he's gonna lose and I think it'll be a historic loss," he added.

Some had travelled from far and wide to be in the US capital on election day.

A person in a Donald Trump costume joins the protesters. Source: AP

Ruby Estoy, 40, and her friend Concetta Leanza, 34, together with Leanza's terrier Hercules came from Florida on Sunday.

"We came here just to feel the energy and to be here, and to really make sure that our voices get heard," Ms Estoy said.

The pair, who both work in the financial sector, said they voted early for Biden, but added they are "unsure" how their candidate would perform in their home state - a traditional battleground that is leaning toward Trump, according to polls.

"Vote him out!" she added.

AFP

SBS News' reporter Tom Stayner is at an Democrats Abroad event at PJ O'Reilly's pub in Canberra. 

One attendee, Nikhil Clementi from Tennessee, told SBS News the American people were faced with a choice - they could continue to go to the “extremist right” or bring the country back to the centre.

“If Trump wins that’s really going to be harmful to American democracy,” he said.

Nikhil James Clementi from Tennessee. Source: SBS / SBS News

“The American people are faced with a choice they can either continue the way that they’re going with Donald Trump to the extremist right or they can go with Biden bring it back to the centre.”

He said he’s hopeful of a Joe Biden victory but worried about the possibility of another four years of division in America. 

“There has been violence over racial issues that simply for a first world country these shouldn’t be issues that we’re facing.”

Just as we wrote the last update, a batch of new safe states have been called.

Joe Biden has now taken Delaware (six electoral votes), New Jersey (14 electoral votes) and Massachusetts (11 electoral votes). All safe Democratic seats. 

On the other hand, Donald Trump has won Tennessee (11 electoral votes), also a safe Red state.

Meanwhile, our reporter Jodie Stephens has arrived at the Conservative Political Action Conference held in Sydney, where some of the biggest conservative names in Australia - think broadcaster Alan Jones, MP Craig Kelly, and commentator Bettina Arndt - have gathered to mark the election.

In an obvious nod to Donald Trump, they've been handing out "Fake News" passes to media.

Meanwhile at CPAC in Sydney. Source: SBS / SBS News

Joe Biden has retained Democratic stronghold Maryland (10 electoral college votes), while Donald Trump has taken Oklahoma (seven electoral college votes).

That means the running totals are: 26 electoral college votes for the Democrats, versus 31 for the Republicans. Remember the magic number to win is 270, so we have plenty to go yet.