International: Former President Donald Trump secured a crucial victory in North Carolina on Tuesday, marking his win in the first battleground state of the 2024 election. With this win, Trump keeps his path to reaching the necessary 270 electoral votes alive. 

According to races called by the Associated Press up to 10:09 am (IST), 230 electoral votes had gone to Republican candidate Trump and 192 to Democratic Party's Kamala Harris.

Trump wins North Carolina

Former President Donald Trump won the battleground state of North Carolina on Tuesday, the Associated Press said at 9.50 am. Trump receives the state's 16 electoral votes after defeating Democratic nominee Kamala Harris.

When the AP declared Trump the winner, he was leading by over 130,000 votes with nearly 90% of the expected votes counted. Compared to the 2020 election, voter turnout was up in many areas that Trump was carrying, but down in many areas that Harris was winning. Trump beat Biden in North Carolina in 2020 by less than 2 percentage points.

Trump also won the state in 2016 and 2020, but Democrats had been optimistic they could reverse previous outcomes with campaign spending, canvassing and Harris rallies.

They also tried to link Trump to embattled Republican gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson. But Trump and running mate JD Vance visited North Carolina often during the fall campaign, pushing a more protectionist economic agenda and promises to crack down on illegal immigration and the southern border. 

The Magic number 270 

What's all this hubbub about 270? It's not about the 270 whales stranded this fall on Australia's island state of Tasmania. It's not about congestion on Interstate 270 feeding commuters into Washington, DC It's about who's going to sit in the White House for the next four years. Nearly 2.9 million more people voted for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election, but she still lost.

Donald Trump won the elections in 2016 because he took the Electoral College, under a system set up in the US Constitution and refined through the centuries. This is where the magic number comes into play. To win the White House, a candidate must win at least 270 electoral votes.

That's a majority of the 538 that are up for grabs in the 50 states.