Fox News and NBC News projected a win for Donald Trump in North Carolina as the Republican nominee overturned Hillary Clinton’s narrow polling lead in the battleground state on Tuesday night, surging past the Democratic nominee to a key victory.
Trump lagged behind Clinton in North Carolina in the final weeks of the election following the leak of an “Access Hollywood” tape from 2005 that captured comments the Republican nominee made on a hot mic about grabbing women by the genitals.
A handful of polls showed Clinton holding a narrow, but consistent, lead over the Republican nominee. TPM’s PollTracker Average showed Clinton leading Trump by 1.5 points before returns rolled in Tuesday night.
Both candidates visited the state in the final days of the election in a bid to secure its critical votes, and Trump made a particularly fatalistic election eve pitch to North Carolina voters, telling them that they had “one day until the election” to make their dreams come true.
“The world hates us,” he told the crowd at a rally in Raleigh, promising that would change on Election Day.
The state’s Republican Party bragged Sunday about an 8.5 percent decrease in black early voting turnout in North Carolina this year, touting the lower numbers in a press release. Turning out the black vote in the state was seen as crucial to Clinton’s chances.
