Election day live: Turnout soars in first major vote since Trump took office

With hours to go until polls close on California’s House redistricting ballot initiative, President Donald Trump and his aides are already attempting to undermine the result with seemingly unfounded claims of widespread fraud.

The president took to Truth Social just hours after polls opened across the Golden State to claim that the “unconstitutional” vote on whether to temporarily adopt a congressional district map to counter GOP-led redistricting efforts in Texas is “a giant scam” because “the entire process, in particular the Voting itself, is RIGGED.”

Trump then added: “All “Mail-In” Ballots, where the Republicans in that State are “Shut Out,” is under very serious legal and criminal review. STAY TUNED!”

Andrew Feinberg has the story.

More than 735,000 people cast their ballots in New York City’s mayoral race during the nine days of early voting.

As of 3 p.m. ET Tuesday, more than 1.4 million people have voted, according to the NYC Board of Elections.

Ballots are still being cast. Polls close at 9 p.m. ET.

The president has handed out a series of endorsements for Republican candidates over the last two days.

Yet he still has not thrown his support behind Virginia Republican gubernatorial candidate Winsome Earle-Sears.

Trump urged residents in Virginia and New Jersey, where two gubernatorial races are playing out, to “VOTE REPUBLICAN” but didn’t mention the GOP candidate by name.

If she wins, Earle-Sears, the sitting lieutenant governor of the state, could become the first Black woman to be elected governor of any state.

Expert warns of ‘troubling pattern’ after bomb threats at New Jersey polling places.

“Bomb threats at polling places in New Jersey today follow a troubling pattern. Election officials are now seeing coordinated threats not just in federal election years, but in off-year local elections too. This is becoming a consistent tactic to disrupt voting and intimidate election workers,” Tim Harper, a senior analyst at the Center for Democracy & Technology, said in a social media post.

Emailed threats were sent to several polling places in New Jersey Tuesday morning, disrupting voting; law enforcement has since determined they weren’t credible.

“We’ve already seen the stakes: in 2024, over 100 bomb threats tied to Russian-linked actors targeted election operations nationwide. Because of strong preparation and federal support, voting continued with minimal disruption,” he said.

But in March, the Elections Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center, which provided real-time threat detection, was defunded.

“And unlike in past cycles, CISA did not issue public guidance this year about likely threats to voting operations. That leaves state and local officials with less warning and fewer resources — even as threats increase,” Harper said.

When asked about President Donald Trump’s unsubstantiated claim that voting i California was “rigged,” Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the White House is “looking into” executive action on elections.

The administration is working on an executive order “to strengthen our elections in this country,” she said at a Tuesday press conference, but provided few details beyond that.

“And like any executive order, of course, any executive order the President signs is within his full executive authority and within the confines of the law,” she added.

On Monday, President Donald Trump cautioned against voting GOP mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa, claiming a vote for him “is a vote for Mamdani,” whom he has described as a “communist.”

Instead, the president suggested voting for Andrew Cuomo.

“Whether you personally like Andrew Cuomo or not, you really have no choice. You must vote for him, and hope he does a fantastic job. He is capable of it, Mamdani is not!” he wrote on Truth Social.

Speaking to Fox News Tuesday, Cuomo, who is running as an independent candidate, said: “The president does not support me. The president opposes Zohran Mamdani.”

Trump believes Mamdani is a “communist” and an “existential threat,” Cuomo added. “I believe he’s a socialist and an existential threat.”

Kentucky’s Secretary of State reminded residents that they can’t cast ballots today — because the state isn’t holding an election.

The reminder came after the state received calls about polls being closed, Michael Adams said in a social media post.

“You cannot vote today in Kentucky for the mayor of New York City or the Governor of Virginia. Sorry,” he wrote.