washington – Associated Press announced the president-elect Donald Trump The winner in Arizona on Saturday night increased his overall lead after voting updates in Maricopa and other counties, leaving the state well out of the Vice President’s reach Kamala Harris.

When the AP called the race at 9:21 p.m. ET, Trump was leading Harris by nearly 185,000 votes, 52.6% to 46.4%. Harris needed to win about seven out of every ten votes of the approximately 443,000 remaining uncounted ballots; this rate increased steadily as additional votes were counted.

Trump swept all seven of the now hotly contested presidential battlegrounds, winning 312 electoral votes compared to Harris’ 226 votes. The number required for the Presidency is 270.

In 2020, President Joe Biden narrowly carried the state ahead of Trump, but won Maricopa County by 50 percentage points to 48. On Saturday, Trump was leading Harris 52 to 47.

The EP declares the winner only when it determines that the trailing candidate cannot close the gap and surpass the vote leader.

Let’s take a look at how the AP calls this race:

CANDIDATES: President: Harris (D) vs. Trump(R) vs. Chase Oliver (Libertarian) vs. Jill Stein (Green).

WINNER: Trump.

SURVEY CLOSING TIME: Tuesday at 21:00 ET. Arizona does not release votes until all precincts have reported or one hour after all polls close, whichever is earlier, usually 10 p.m. ET.

ABOUT THE RACE: Both Harris and Trump crossed this border state, where immigration is a major issue, multiple times before Election Day.

Trump has put immigration at the center of his candidacy and has vowed to deport people without legal documents, while Harris has called for tighter security at the border as well as pathways to citizenship.

Independent voters make up the largest bloc in the state, followed by Republicans and then Democrats, who have managed to win Senate races and the governorship since 2018.

Biden became the second Democrat to win the state in more than 70 years.

Both candidates made a push for vote-rich Maricopa County, home to Phoenix, Mesa and Tempe. While Trump carried the district by 3 points in 2016, Biden won by 2 points four years later. Arizona is primarily an early voting state. In 2016, just over three-quarters of the votes were cast early. In 2020, this rate increased to almost 90%.

WHY AP CALLED THE RACE:

In statewide elections going back a dozen years, Democrats have always represented four counties in both winning and losing campaigns: Apache, Coconino, Pima and Santa Cruz.

Harris had large leads over Trump in all four counties but fared significantly lower than Biden’s performance in 2020.

He was behind Trump in Maricopa County, which Biden won in 2020 and was a must-win county for Democratic candidates statewide in the last election.

Although Harris only briefly led during the statewide vote count on election night, Trump has consistently led since then.

AP’s analysis of Arizona’s voting history and county-level political demographics showed there is no scenario that would allow Harris to close the gap. The analysis also showed that even if the remaining updates showed the vote shifting in Harris’ favor, they would not be enough to give her the lead.

___

Learn more about how and why the AP announces the winners of the US elections: Explaining the 2024 Election, A series from the Associated Press that aims to help make sense of American democracy. The AP receives support from several private foundations to improve its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about the EP’s democracy initiative Here. AP is solely responsible for all content.